Well, if Paul Southworth hasn’t managed to completely destroy all of my journalistic credibility with his fiascos and snarkery, then hopefully some of you all will read the following interview with David C. Simon, who creates Crimson Dark.
You may wish to back up and read Friday’s edition if you missed it; it’s been a while since Chris Onstad threw a simple three-panel strip at us, and it was a marvel of simplicity, hilarity, and revulsion at Lyle‘s behavior. He’s a bit feisty for a guy who was thrown out of Mr Band, isn’t he?
Today, Mr Bear‘s language is supple and Shakespearean. Téodor is kindly in his concern for others and gets to use the word teabagged. And we all learned a little something about Taleggio.
In other news, it’s a bittersweet Valentine’s Day coming up, what with Bruno wrapping and all. But you can cheer yourself up immensely come Wednesday if you get in on the pre-orders for The Case of Atlantis, which means that you could get life-size Sheriff Pony Temporary Tattoos! And nothin’ says romance like a space pony that craps vanilla ice cream inscribed on the body of your beloved.
So with the Wikibattle now engaged further and further from the realms of logic. Short form:
How about some good news instead? Alert reader Geiseric sent us a link to the Yale Daily News, about a program at the New Haven Free Public Library that’s using webcomics to teach literacy and writing skills. Project creator John Baird previously used the technique when teaching English in Taiwan:
“The breakthrough occurred when I came across [a comic] … with the text blanked out,� he said. “Students then filled in the blank comics in English using whatever language skills they possessed.�
No clue what [a comic] means, but there’s been a prior example or two of webcomics being used to this end, both overseas and stateside, so I can offer a guess. More good news:
Although it has only been a few months since the program began, Baird said, he has noticed his students’ writing skills improve significantly. He encourages students to observe cues in the pictures when writing in dialogue — a method he feels teaches them how to creates scenes that are situation-appropriate. If the students see an angry person in the comic, he said, they learn not to use words that connote happiness. With time, they are also encouraged to draw their own comics.
Of course, you can see where this is going:
This chain of logic will eventually encompass everything and everyone that you know, love, or might love you someday. To spare the Wikicrowd any further anguish, I’m pre-emptively declaring both Fleen and myself to be non-notable. However, given the perversity of the situation, I rather expect to be getting emails that I’ve been duly enshrined, and proposed for deletion. You know — just another Friday afternoon.
Update: The Fleen Request Line just got a dedication request. “Owen” sends out todays Beevnicks to “Brad” and “Paul”.
Looks like Evil, Inc. has been un-un-un-deleted, and may exist at Wikipedia again. But Ugly Hill is apparently “on the bubble”, as the sports types say. I may be a bit biased on this one, but what the HELL people? Printed material, association with a publisher, an honest-to-god sex scandal, what more do you want?
As fun as gettin’ into crap-fights on the internet can be, it’s ultimately self-defeating. So here’s the solution: let’s just all agree that Wikipedia isn’t interested in our little slice o’ culture; that’s fine, and they’re probably still smarting about the chickens thing. Then we get them to keep one page up that says, Look, we don’t like webcomics, so if you’re interested, go to Comixpedia’s fork and we’ll call it even.
Redirect every article on webcomics to that portal page, and just like some horribly, deranged Lucy episode, we draw a line down the middle of the Internet They can have their half, and we may then spend our days not being annoyed at people who apparently think that — despite the number of people who create and read webcomics daily — we just don’t measure up to the standards of notable and worthy culture.
So it seems that the First Great Webcomics Wikipurge of Aught-Seven (hmmm, is this web-based video non-notable?) is back on again; Howard Tayler first raised the alarm on behalf of his BLC-mate Brad Guigar and others on Monday. By yesterday, strips were restored, then later yesterday more deletionists hopped on the bandwagon. So Byzantine is the logic behind this dustup that Tayler appears to be on the verge of a frothing, white-hot rage (please note that Tayler is about the most polite guy I’ve ever met outside of Canada, so frothing, white-hot rage needs to be read as in comparison to his normal, placid state).
As of last night, it was claimed that at least the Evil, Inc. article was back again “for good”, but as of this writing (7 February, approximately 16:42 GMT), it ain’t showin’ up for me, and I’ve got a clear cache so the problem’s not on my end. In any event, it appears that there’s only one way to fix this:
On that happy note, we at Fleen would like to thank Sam Logan for the floor map, which does indeed show this year’s Sexy Lagoon; Logan sends along the following color key:
Not sure who that is in the gray; hope they like awesome, ’cause it’s gonna be in high concentrations in this part of the floor. But Logan wonders politely in his email (and I agree), When will SDCC expand the space offered for webcomics? That’s a lot of creators (from at least four countries, by my count) with a lot of fans crammed into a small space; next year may require a larger zone be set aside to avoid crushing crowds.
Editor’s note: It seems that there is an interview this week, Jeff‘s assertions to the contrary notwithstanding. Everybody thank Fleen Guest Interviewer Paul Southworth for stepping up to the plate, and turning the tables. Looks like another Southworth-related dollar will be hitting the mail this week.
Jeff Lowrey: Because if I’m going to pretend to be a journalist, webcomics is about the least important thing I can possibly be a journalist on, and interviews are part of journalism.
Southworth: Have you ever learned something about an artist or writer you couldn’t publish? Can you go into detail about what kind of animal it was, and how Dave Kellett managed to escape criminal prosecution?
Lowrey: Spike refused to answer a couple of questions for the official interview, but provided subtext answers for them otherwise. Dave Kellett is and was “on the lamb” in more senses than one, and we’re all just counting the days until the cows come home.
I thought I’d point out the best shirt to give your special man/woman/transformer this Valentine’s Day. Check this shit out. Go show your love to Beaver and Steve by purchasing this shirt. Then go show your love by giving the shirt to your better half or enemy. It works both ways.
Since I’m pimping out shirts today, here is one worth a gander. Nothing beats Quincy sporting snazzy medical duds. It may not be suitable for Valentine’s Day, but it might just do the trick for a break-up gift. Just a thought.
You still have time to get webcomics-themed Valentine’s Day cards; in addition to those previously announced, you now have some from Keenspot stalwart Chris Daly‘s Striptease (and if you’re rushed for time, there’s no shipping on this one; Daly sends you a PDF and you print ’em yourself).
And while not strictly for Valentine’s Day, there are awesome greeting cards featuring T-Rex available from Quack!Media. Seriously, it’s right there in the URL: awesomedetail.php. If you get your order in time, cards 1, 2, 3, 6, 10 and 12 are V-Day appropriate.
The mailbag is gettin’ a mite full of webcomics that cry out for review; rather than taking the time to go through each thoroughly and do a full writeup, we’re grabbin’ random strips and doing the free association thing. The validity of these minireviews is highly suspect, but it’s not fair to leave ’em in limbo forever.
Popped Culture, by Justin Stewart: The problem with pop culture gags is, even when your audience hasn’t heard them before, they think that they might have, so it’s tough to stay ahead of the curve and come up with jokes that get past the meh stage. That being said, little bits of weirdness (like season salt) help Popped Culture feel fresher than you’d expect. Also: velociraptors, so all former NASA roboticists are advised to stay away.
Random: Do you love Canadian webcomics and want them to win awards?
Natural 20s, by Tyler and Mimi: The art in this thing appears to be the perfect intersection of a Nintendo Mii, Scott Pilgrim, and Genndy Tartakovsky‘s sketchbook. Into this oasis of cute is thrown a surprisingly sharp sense of humor, what with screwin’ unicorns and all (no permalink to that strip yet, but odds are it’ll eventually be #59). Plus, check out the moustache on that guy! It’s like looking in the mirror.
Random: Weirdly rambling hate mail to Rich Stevens.
Captain Excelsior, by Zach Weiner and Chris Jones: Ever wonder what a bitter, washed-up Superman hittin’ on chicks would look like? Well, you don’t have long to wait, ’cause that happens within the first three strips. Our heroes are just as rotten as we are, so they’ve got no possibility but to improve as metahuman beings. Great fun potential.
Random: Wapsi Square has gotten pretty darn dynamic in its staging; Paul Taylor’s had some significant challenges in his personal life over the past year (hopefully improving), which may account for the simpler layouts that’ve been seen for a while now. Coincidentally, Girly creator Josh Lesnick trepidatiously took Taylor to task not long ago over the (in his view) unnecessarily-static turn the art had taken, so perhaps the feedback and art changes are related? In related news, apparently I’m a moron who dishes out blinding praise to Taylor, which is apparently unwarranted and unhelpful. I just report ’em, folks.
I was too distracted by the SuperBowl to conduct an interview.
Sorry. Next week, for sure.
