I was kind of hoping the shirt would distract from the moustache.

Matt Boyd + Rich Stevens = YES. Boyd makes it sound like those old El Grande Historia del Rock compilation albums I used to find in the dollar bin during my regular pilgrimages to 12th & Poplar and the musical shrine therein.

Several points on contact on the WOWIO question (including comments from helpful readers) all agree — money comes from ads in the eBooks; to sum up — advertisers pay WOWIO, WOWIO splits with creators, allowing books at prices like “free”.

Downloaders of these free books have to provide certain information about themselves for purposes of authentication. To quote:

Signing up for a WOWIO account requires that you authenticate your identity. This is necessary to protect the content of our publishing partners and provide readers with free ebooks. WOWIO is currently available to U.S. residents only.

Authentication options include:

• a non-anonymous email address
• a credit card
• a scan of an ID like a driver’s license

It is stated that credit card info and ID scans are not retained “after the authentication process”. No disrespect to WOWIO or the many creators using the service to distribute their stuff, but there’s no way in hell that I’d ever transmit either of those things to somebody offering me something for free. Why yes, I am a cynical sumbitch, thank you.

In addition to authenticating, you will be asked:

to enter personal information, including contact information and information regarding your personal interests and preferences. …

WOWIO collects and uses your personal information primarily for the purpose of subsidizing the price of ebooks available on the WOWIO site. Sponsors pay for the opportunity to present their products and services to you, and in return you get free books. Your personal information is shared with sponsors and other clients and partners of WOWIO in aggregate only. No personal identifying information is available to clients or partners. [emphasis original]

Addendum to the earlier Cycle o’ Money: Advertisers pay WOWIO, WOWIO splits with creators, you get free books, you get sold to advertisers. The farming of marketing info isn’t unique, and it is one of the things that makes our economy work. But I found this bit interesting: when talking about how WOWIO will never disclose info about you personally except in extraordinary circumstances (subpeona, other legal compliances, etc.), there was this tidbit:

… in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: … (b) protect and defend the rights or property of WOWIO

Okay, Not A Lawyer, but that’s pretty damn broad. The lack of boilerplate we will not sell or give away information about you text is worth considering. I’m not saying that WOWIO is a bad service or a bad deal (really, I have no opinion on it), but you’ll want to keep in mind that these free books aren’t really free, and you’ll have to decide for yourself if reading them (and supporting their creators) is a sufficient benefit to Brand:You.

Last week I found out, somewhat to my surprise (though, really, I shouldn’t be surprised at all), that there are still about eighty-five hundred MILLION webcomics I’ve never even heard of (such as this one and this one..and, uh, this one too). I had a look at them–thanks for the suggestions!–and it was interesting to compare them to the list of webcomics I’d ended up showing the poor suckers captive audience in my office.

Here’s the list I mentioned last week, which is sort of a short list of my favorites.

Cat and Girl. This is one of the few webcomics I actually read (as a minicomic) before I ever started thinking about webcomics. Wacky Icelandic t-shirts, quirky pop culture references; what’s not to love? If I only knew about it during grad school…

Diesel Sweeties. One of my favorites. I know us Fleen folk get a fair amount of grief about the whole Rah! Rah! Dumbrella! criticism, but over time DS has proven itself as one of the very few webcomics to which I return on a regular basis even though I have friends who’ve lost interest in it (though one, who has gotten back into it lately, recently exclaimed on the phone, “Hey, Diesel Sweeties is kinda dirty!” which made me laugh like crazy).

And he’s got killer t-shirts, trumped perhaps only by Creatures In My Head. I swear, I look at this site and I start this bizarre Pavlovian drooling (less nasty than it sounds, really) over the shirts. Please, fellas, Halloween–the most awesomest holiday ever–is mere weeks away. What marvels do you have on tap for this year?!

Many of the others I pointed out in the office are webcomics I’ve written about before, like Exploding Dog and Teaching Baby Paranoia. While I don’t know Questionable Content all that well, it made the list, along with one of my perpetual favorites, High Maintenance Machine (with cool new site design!). And I still really enjoy reading Minimalist Stick Figure Theater. (Plus, y’know, we’re actually kind of pro-Comic Sans here in the office, for all of the font and typeset geekery which goes on here).

And I’m not sure I could show people webcomics and not mention one of my newer favorites (Scene Language) and one of my long-standing favorites (Overcompensating, which I especially love when it goes over-the-top with referencing a whole stack of other webcomics). I’m, embarrassingly, a little out of the loop on Scary Go Round at present, but I adore it (especially the color work and the wacky hand-lettered stuff from a while back).

This is like the worst list ever for newbies, isn’t it? Oops. (But you know what everyone went nuts over? Creatures In My Head. No joke.)

Unrelated, I loved this question in the comments: Have you had the ‘No, I’m not a republican, that’s a character from a book’ conversation yet?”. I don’t think anyone who sees me near my car makes that assumption, and certainly not the ones who recognize this. Yeah.

Okay, I get it, sort of. Dave Kellett‘s wired into the Hollywood Elite, attracting the attention of luminaries such as Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Alyson Hannigan, and his wife Gloria Calderón Kellett.

I get that being tied into that power structure allows you to have the contacts to do what normally only the the targets of front-page coverage of US Weekly and InTouch Weekly get to do: throw a party in swanky Beverly Hills locales and have other people pay for it. I don’t resent that he’s able to do these things and I’m not, nor that he hasn’t seen fit to throw such a party for anything less than the launches of his various books (although if he felt like throwing such a party for, say, a celebration of webcomics journalism, that’d be might awesome of him).

What I don’t get is, exactly what the heck goes into the drinks known as the Squee and the Sheer Awesomeness? ‘Cause I got a bar and shakers right here in my dining room and a fairly good collection of ingredients and tools, but I ain’t grindin’ up lizard or nothing. While we contemplate such, be sure to pick up your own copy of 62% More Awesome, which I believe you will find as compelling a purchase as I did.

The long-awaited Wondermark film is here! Thrill to the debate of [web]comics luminaries as they decide: [David Malki !] vs Comic-Con: Who’s Better?

Highlights include daring aerial footage, special appearances by comics legends Stan “The Man” Lee and Scott McCloud, and a loving, lingering, longing closeup on Dave Kellett‘s junk (07:56, for those of you playing along at home). The soundtrack includes the original song, Comic-Con (I Have Loved You) (music: Kris Straub; lyrics: Erica Stephens, performed by Kris and the Straubtones); it’s a tear-jerker that’s sure to dominate MOR playlists for the next five years.

After seeing the movie countless times, I give it eight thumbs up and recommend you run out to get the Special Edition DVD with bonus features just as soon as it’s released.

Confidential to Andy Runton: You faithless whore. You never told me your mom doesn’t like facial hair.

Wired issue 15.09 (on stands today) has a pretty extensive profile on Penny Aracde (perhaps the first instance in a Condé Nast magazine of somebody calling their artistic/business partner a douche); it’s not online yet, but may be soon. Be interesting to see if PA gets a bump out of it — I’d imagine the demographics of “reads Wired” and “has heard of Penny Arcade” overlap pretty substantially.

In other news, fake history gets a workout in the new collaborative project The International History Club, with contributions from the likes of Chris VanGompel, Chris Jones, and Chad Diaz, Wiz Rollins, and KC Green. History is more frightening than I remember it.

From the Milestones Department:

• Benj Christensen’s I Am Geek hits one hundred strips,
• Kevin Wasden’s Technosaurs starts book 2, and
• Jason Sigler (my nemesis at Digital Strips, The Midnight Cartooner) celebrates the 3rd anniversary of The Amazing Superzeros with that most superhero-y of all traditions: the big-ass cast splash panel

And finally, a new project for all of us here at Fleen: Scott asks:

What’s the deal with Wowio? How is it ‘compensating’ its content creators? The site’s ‘about’ page briefly and vaguely mentions sponsorship, which can mean a bunch of different things, and the Wowio site itself doesn’t seem to have ads. I figure if anyone knows, it’s the good folks at Fleen, and if I’ve got the question, then others may be wondering, too. (The current ‘most downloaded’ eBook on the site is a Sore Thumbs collection, btw.)

Good question, Scott. We’ll look into it and get you an answer as soon as we can.

Wow. Lots of stuff on a dreary Monday. Let’s hop to it, shall we?

• Moving beyond “GRRRRRAAAAHHH!”: the Little Dee press conference. If any of those strips feature questions I asked Baldwin, I’m gonna have to buy the damn things. Thanks for destroying my budget, The Internet’s Chris Baldwin!
• Speaking of strip-buying, classic 2001-era Wapsi Square strips are up for auction; Paul Taylor says that when that year’s gone, he’s moving on to 2002. Check out the current art up for grabs at the main Wapsi page and keep in mind: for every strip that you don’t bid on, you are personally taking food out of Taylor’s infant son’s mouth you heartless monster.
• Did I ever tell the story about how my sister interviewed for a job on the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile™? She didn’t get it, but considering one of the darker moments in Wienermobile™ history, maybe that’s for the best. I love the little guy up in the cabin, screaming in panic.
• Webcomics-related wacky event alert go! Marty Day writes to inform us of a Kaiju Tribute art show/music event on August 24th at the Ottobar in Baltimore. That leaves you just four days to finish up your giant rubber lizard costume and prepare to stomp Tokyo! Webcomics related people showcasing their work include Nick “Ghostfreehood” Borkowicz Jamie Noguchi, Onezumi, Chris Impink, and Ross Nover.
• Nothing says “August” like thoughts of organizing the coming year (that would be 2008, sparky) — luckily for you, Gabe Strine has recently announced Another Year of This Crap, the 2008 Brinkerhoff calendar. Get yours before it’s too late!
• As long as we’re speaking of rabbits, Lem would like you to know that:
  

  … recently I have been hired/conscripted to work on a story-based comic for a story (prose, not comic) compilation book called The Maker’s Mark — Remnants by Freak Ash Books.

  It has Robots. In the Wild West. And stuff.

  The comic is updating weekly, only 9 pages long; the idea, is the prologue comic runs, the book comes out and they link together. Then artists and writers would come in and add additional material on the website which links back into the book again.

• And finally: Rule 34 raises its ugly head yet again. Please be sure to unplug the power before submitting.

In my experience, the only thing that can get consumers more het-up than the phone company is the cable company. Howard Tayler’s mad at the former, whereas Karen Ellis is merely amused.

For all and sundry waiting anxiously for David Malki !‘s soon-to-be-award-winning film which did not launch today as promised, I am responsible for the delay. But as the delay will result in said film being more awesome, you’re welcome.

Remixing, guerrilla continuity, or hopeless MarySue-ism? Eric Burns issues a call for a cabal (his word, I swear) of webcartooners to swoop in and repurpose FOOB. Provactive idea (partly disturbing, partly “stoopidly” naive, partly awesome, and a soupçon of lawsuit waiting to happen), with bonus points for his use of “roadside”. Look for Resentful Knocked-Up Liz “an” Closeted Gay Anthony cosplayers at WebFoobCon ’09.

Finally, in less-horrifying Great Frozen North thoughts:

• TCAF, and
• Ryan North, Male Model Guy

Despite the risk of this column beginning to sound vaguely like a gossip column, I’ll proceed. I have a wacky day job making custom rubber stamps, and recently we fielded a few orders from some very notable webcomics folks. I ran around the office, very excited, waving hands and exclaiming, Hey, y’all, look at this order! and ending with What do you mean you don’t know who [name redacted] is! Have you seen his website?! Here, lemme show you…. So I accidentally got to introduce my entire office to a bunch of cool webcomics, which was kind of interesting. These are not folks who really even read comics, let alone comics on the web. “Webcomics” was mostly an alien concept, actually, to most of them.

And then, a few days later, I ran into two other awesome webcomics creators while running errands in town. They author two of the webcomics I had ended up showing off in the office, and it got me thinking about what webcomics are, basically, representative in some way (or, if that’s even really possible, given the huge amount of webcomics out there) of the field or are particularly innovative. It also got the gears turning, again, what things draw me to a certain webcomic and what things are offputting. Embarrassing Admission #1: I’ve never been able to get into Achewood, despite lots of recommendations from smart people whose opinions I value. I swear, I tried–it’s just not resonating with me somehow. I haven’t been able to figure out what it is in specific, but…yeah. No.

It also got me thinking about subculture. I have one of those rad Republicans for Voldemort bumperstickers on my car, and since I put it on there I’ve been seeing a lot of others on other cars. It’s weird for me to have a bumpersticker in common with someone else even though I have a few on the car (mostly music, but there’s also the older style of this design). In a much more corporate setting this week, I ended up explaining webcomics to a Harry Potter fan who’d seen the bumpersticker on my car in the parking lot, and really wanted to find out where it came from! Not a conversation I was expecting to have in that work context.

Weirdly, while giving blood earlier this week, these ideas kind of fused. I’m one of those folks who has to stay a bit later than the other kids and ends up with lovely bruises. (Always fun to explain at work.) I was thinking about what to write this week, with an eye toward becoming a little more critical now that I’m past the 6-months mark with this column (Totally Embarrassing Admission #2; I completely missed it…), and so I don’t quite feel like a newbie anymore, though I also don’t by any means feel well-schooled yet in all of this.

But I’m schooled enough to recognize Jeph Jacques! I was walking to my car after being sprung from the post-donation eat-cookies-and-relax holding pen, and thought, Oh, cool! I’ll say hi! as we passed, and then realized it would be kind of awkward somehow, since I’m not really a regular reader and, well, the rational brain kicked in just in time: hello, blood loss makes you sound even crazier than usual…. Still, I wonder: do webcomics artists get recognized and stopped on the street the way other famous (or famous-ish) artists might? Or does the web allow or even promote a kind of anonymity somehow, some kind of distance from that sort of fame?

Anyway, it links in a little since I’d argue that Questionable Content might be one of those, y’know, gateway webcomics which hooks readers in, and gets them clicking back. His readership’s pretty loyal from what I’ve heard; more so than most of the other webcomics I’ve considered in the past (though last week’s column on Wes Molebash’s work prompted much more talk on that topic than I’d expected). For example, when I mentioned to folks way back last February that I was picking up this column, almost everyone mentioned QC. (Embarrassing Admission #3: I haven’t made it all the way through the archives yet. I’m sorry! I know this is bad; I know.)

So, I guess what I’m asking is more on the Recommend Stuff topic. But what would you recommend to the person who has never read webcomics–and, really, more to the point: why those webcomics? What should I have shown the folks in my office? (Next week I’ll tell you what I did actually show them.) What do you feel is distinctive, notable work in current webcomics?

I’m going to intentionally keep the field wide open on this question, even though in this column I’ve been working with an eye toward some of the less-well-known pieces or things which are new from already-established creators, and so forth. It’s not intended as a top 10 list (I think there are already quite a few?) or any kind of ranking system, exactly, but I wonder what webcomics pop up on many lists. I have a few guesses–the lovely Scary Go Round being at the top of that list–but I’m curious…

Ah, springtime, when the fancy of a webcomics blogger turns to webcomics. Yeah, well, it’s almost Spring in the Antipodes, so deal. I’m gettin’ my webcomics love on today.

• Why is it I like this guy so much more when he’s in heavy shadow? Memnon Vanderbeam was supposed to be the sort of stuffy buffoon that you could laugh at, and instead Kris Straub has had to once again go and remind us that even stuffy buffoons are people. With feelings. Add to that an artificial intelligence that’s likewise become a whole personality, and even a makeover to the site, and Starslip Crisis has moved up another couple notches in my Daily Read Order. This will make the sting when Straub is inevitably, tragically cut down in his prime (current most likely scenario: hit on the head with a rock from outer space) all the deeper. Damn you, Straub — why did you make me have to love you?
• Everything I just said about the sting of loss, by the bye, applies this morning to Digger, which has sprung several weeks of filler on us due to a cross-country shift of residence on the part of creator Ursula Vernon. Fleen wishes Vernon safe travels, fulfilling new opportunities, and dare we hope for a new Digger print collection?
• Man, I love the Pudu every time he shows up. To my eye, it looks like today he’s not trying to talk underwater, but sending up little floating written notes. I really hope those fish can read.
• Set your alarm clocks: at some indeterminate time tomorrow, David Malki !‘s hopes and dreams will come to fruition. No, not the charter plane service for webcomickers travelling to conventions (can you imagine Ryan North or Jeph Jaques trying to squeeze into anything smaller than a 777?). We’re talking about his long-in-the-making indy documentary slash tragic love story Me vs. Comic-Con: Who’s Better? From the delightful dream-crusher himself:
  

  You guys are going to love this stunning piece of cinema, in which comics luminaries go shockingly on the record serving up the real dish on the relative qualities of me vs. the world’s largest pop culture convention. Teaser: two separate people say that I’m hairier.

  Prediction: Malki !’s hirsuite ways will make him the darling of the festival circuit until his stunning sweep of every award at Sundance. If he can get Kris Straub on the soundtrack, you can throw in the Grammys for good measure. Then they’ll embark on a months-long coke bender with all their fancy new Hollywood friends, waking each morning with but one thought in their heads: don’t roll over don’t roll over Oh Jesus god please don’t let there be no skinny-ass chick with dry hair named Summer there.

• And lastly, why I love Jennie Breeden even more than Kris Straub — in a new interview, talking about the drive needed to succeed:
  

  [Her boyfriend] said that the world won’t end if you don’t update. But yes, yes it will.

  Words to live by, kiddies. See y’all tomorrow.

Tyler Martin does the charming all-ages webcomic Wally & Osborne, at their own site and over Lunchbox Funnies way. And as of yesterday, he’s a dad. Congrats to the new family, and best of luck to the new little guy for having to grow up with a Dad that’s a cartoonist. How on earth will you be embarassed in your teen years about how uncool your dad is? Reminds me of how Neil Gaiman once told the story about his daughter being unable to successfully complete her goth phase, because all her friends would get giggly and ask her for his autograph instead of being mopey.

So as not to overshadow the wee tyke’s achievement at making it into the world, some brief news bits from around webcomics:

• Brock Heasley’s SuperFogeys (think Grumps meets Legends of the Superheroes) is publishing its first print collection next month; pre-orders are available now.
• Einser Award loser Brad Guigar’s Evil, Inc. (“A corporation by supervillians, for supervillians, because you can do more evil if you do it legally” … now that’s an elevator pitch) is wrapping up a year-long story arc for the next week and a half or so. With typical Guigarian promotional skill, he calls on his loyal readers (or henchpeople) to get the word out this is a good point for jumping-on.

  Pretty clever, actually — get somebody hooked on Nexting their way through a year’s worth of setup (critical to understand the modestly-titled Climactic Conclusion), you’ve probably got ’em as a long term reader. Trying to bring in new audience or to convert a casual reader to committed? Find some of your stronger work 6 – 12 months back and tell ’em that’s a good place to start.