This time last week: $260,000; today: $495,000.
That’s not a typo, Child’s Play nearly doubled its take in a week. The dinner/auction has yet to happen, and there are still more than two weeks to go. I know that I suggested that people seek to beat the official goal of $600,000, but I didn’t think you’d do it so quickly. You rock.
Editor’s note: Been a busy year for Scott Kurtz, what with the Eisner, the convention travel, and the killer revamp on the PvP site. And Kris Straub‘s released four books, a CD, and a new website. So how else to deal with all those demands on your time other than diving into co-producing and co-writing a new animated series for the web? Kurtz and Straub were kind enough to take the time to answer some questions about the upcoming series, how to use Flash to good effect, and Scott’s Dad.
Kurtz: Well, it’s a whole different animal isn’t it? Blamimations are us dicking around and Blind Ferret is us doing it for real. We’re learning so much behind the scenes about what goes into producing a real animated series. We had a big discussion with Ryan [Sohmer] last night about taking over the voice directing completely and what all goes into that. By the end of the conversation, we decided not to take it over, but to just dip our foot in the pool because we want to learn more before we’re responsible for that whole shebang.
We’re still probably going to do more Blamimations because they are fun and silly to make.
Straub: I’m not even sure the Blamimations qualify as PVP when you get right down to it. I think the fact that it was Brent and Cole and stuff went off the rails close to the beginning. Scott is doing his Livecasts now at Talkshoe, which are kind of like Blamimations freed from their PvP moorings. Nonetheless we’ll keep doing them from time to time, and I know I’m folding that TechnologiMagiTude™ into halfpixel.com.
Not sure of the connection, but Jeff’s interview with Spike from last week has been blog-linked by a porn starlet (NSFW, obviously) named Cherry Rain.
I’m not sure if she’s trying to claim authorship, or just blew (ha, ha!) her attempt to link to us, but there you have it. Jeff Lowrey: porn stars like his words.
Two of Fleen’s favorites have pieces of pure, distilled fun for you. From the star-dripping reaches of Beverly Hills, you have photos from the launch party for Dave Kellett’s second Sheldon collection, The Good, The Bad & The Pugly, and the very good news that Google has reinstated his AdSense account. Hooray for Kellett!
And kickin’ it East Coast style, Rich Stevens reports that enough newspapers (including the mighty Detroit News) have signed up for Diesel Sweeties to ensure a successful launch. But! There’s still lots of papers to convert to the cause, so check out the list that Stevens has provided of newspapers that could use a gentle nudge in the right direction. Stevens, ever a classy guy, asks that you:
Please, don’t talk smack about other comics when you write in. Every strip is somebody’s favorite. Just let them know who you are and that you’d like them to consider Diesel Sweeties from United Feature Syndicate for a slot on their comics page.
Please address your letter to the Features Editor. A paper letter is best, but an email would also be appreciated
And if you do, you can make it official: send Stevens a copy of the letter, and you will receive documentation that you liked Diesel Sweeties before it sold out. There are privileges to having this card, and you want to receive one. Hooray for Stevens! And Hooray for Zoidberg!
So here I am, slightly rocking like a weather phenomenon. I sat down today and read the entire archive of Minus. It was one of the most refreshing, enjoyable reads that I’ve had in quite a while.
The strip is done by Ryan Armand, who makes time to carefully and delicately paint and ink each strip onto a 15×20″ illustration board. He says that he likes to think that he is illustrating a comic strip for a newspaper in the early 20th century. To me this is an interesting creative choice, since a number of comics are set in present day or the salaciously tempting future.
The main character in all of the strips is Minus; a quiet, creative little girl who just might have some magic up her sleeves. I instantly liked her, probably because she carries herself with a sweet innocence that is hard to come by anymore. The comic itself feels like it was created in the mind of a child, and each strip is the product of Minus’s wild imagination.
There is no one continuous plot line. It is mainly little Minus getting into mischief and trouble. There are a few strips that are connected together, but these are usually three to four strips at best.
No matter if there is a storyline or not, there is an undeniable sense of whimsy and fairy tale-ness within Minus. It is difficult for me to put into words the thoughts this comic invokes.
The best way to get my point across is for you to close your eyes for a moment and think about your favorite childhood moment. Can you feel the sun on your arms? Can you feel the warm breeze as you climb that tree to get a better view?
That is what Minus recreates in an astounding little girl, who just wants to have fun being young.
Breaking-er News:: David Malki ! informs us that his first auction for Child’s Play netted nearly $250; second of three auctions is now live.
Breaking News: You can win a pair of tickets to tomorrow’s Child’s Play dinner/auction by drawing a three-panel comic that includes:
Details here, you have until tomorrow to enter.
Our news roundup starts with Child’s Play, where we remind those of you with a free evening in your schedule that tomorrow is the last day to buy tickets for the annual dinner/auction; Kristin tells us more than 225 tickets have been sold so far, so brush off the black tie and learn which fork is which so you don’t embarass yourself in front of all those people. Likewise, the Fünde Razor is tonight in Brooklyn, so get over there for some Guitar Hero II and good works.
In other news, we’ve heard about a number of comics recently, and wanted to share:
Got news you want to share? Send it in.
It’s turning into BLC Week around here: books by Howard Tayler, Kris Straub and Dave Kellett have arrived at my homestead in the past few days, which will have to be read and reviewed (big ups to Kellett who charged $4.25 for shipping/handling, and spent $4.05 of it on postage … you can’t get unskilled immigrant labor to do as much handling as he did for $0.20!). Interview soon with Straub and Scott Kurtz regarding the PvP animated series. And Paul Southworth went and got hisself invited to speak at Vericon, on the hallowed campus of Harvard University, along with such luminaries as R Stevens, Jeff Rowland, and Shaenon Garrity (who is mysteriously missing from the Vericon speakers page). Good times for the BLC crew.
But we’re here today to talk about Evan (no last name, sorry), who’s five days into being a webcartoonist. Normally, we at Fleen wait until there’s a bit more of an archive before we profile a new strip, but there won’t necessarily be a lot more strips, because Evan is only going to be a webcartoonist for one month.
As the second in a series of month-long challenges (in November, he ate $1.00 of food per day), Evan has set himself a goal:
For the month of December, I’m drawing a web comic every day. I’m not an artist, never wanted to be one, and have never drawn anything more complicated than a smiley face in my life. Still, I’ve always enjoyed comics, so this is my chance to try my own.
Each drawing is occompanied by a short description of what I was thinking while I was drawing it. I’m a pretty firm believer that over explaining a joke is the fastest way to ruin it, so read the comic first (click to enlarge) and then click on the comments section to read my thoughts.
For a self-described ‘not an artist’, Evan’s doing better than expected; he started off looking a bit like John Callahan (although presumably with a full complement of motor control), and by Day 4, he’s already as visually polished as, say, Scott Adams.
Lots of webcomics were started on a whim, out of malice, or a sense of boredom (possibly all three), so you can’t really say that Evan’s in bad company. We’ll check back on at the end of the month to find out if the cartooning bug bit, or if he’s going to move onto a new temporary hobby (maybe future ‘for a month’ reports could feature cartoons of the wacky misadventures?). In the meantime, check out Cartoonist for a Month to see how his skills evolve.
And on the off chance that they don’t, he’s convinced his friends Rob, Erin, and Tim to play along; at present, Erin’s in the lead (she’s already picked a theme — true life at a credit union).
This week, I talk to Chris VonGompel, the man behind, in front of, beside, and otherwise fully responsible for the webcomic Hockey Zombie.
Before we dive right in to what promises (and delivers, but not pizza) to be one of my more interesting interviews, I’m going to take a moment to re-extend an invitation to any and all webcomic creators who’d like to be interviewed. I want to talk to YOU.
And now, here’s Chris.
Editor’s note: As noted on this page previously, Sheldon creator Dave Kellett has renounced the world of syndication and gone out on his own. Kellett’s a smart guy with an extensive background in the history of comics and syndication, and we’ve spoken to him previously on this topic at length, so we thought it would make sense to talk to him again and follow up on his big shift.
Kellett: Pretty darn good, so far.
I’ve been amazed to see the positive response to the new site. The first few weeks have resulted in millions of pageviews, book sales have been great, unexpected opportunities have opened up, and the outpouring of genuine kindness from other cartoonists and from readers has been really energizing. It’s made me incredibly excited about my cartooning, about the future of the strip, and about my next steps in life.
I know it’s been waaaaay too long since I’ve written anything. But I figured I would come back to let you all know that I will make a triumph return to webcomic stuffs with an upcoming review of Minus of Koala Wallop. I haven’t forgotten about you Wallop-ites, I just got a serious case of Strep Throat and difficult finals. I’ll be posting this review on Wednesday, so keep your eyes open for it.
