So your average webcomicker knows a little something about gettin’ the work out to the eyeballs; this necessarily involves a certain level of self-promotion. Some are good at it, some not so much. Some are lightning rods for controversy, and some toil away quietly, delivering the product every damn day without fail.

Enter Brad Guigar. As of today, he’s done 2000 strips for the web, counting the old Greystone Inn and the new Evil, Inc. Guigar knows how to organize things, knows how to draw attention to worthy causes.

And in a world full of hiatuses (hiati?) and late comics, he knows how to draw, whether he feels like it or not (although I have a feeling that he mostly feels like it), cranking along in silent satisfaction that he’s doing his best work each and every day. A toast then, to one of the unstoppable machines of webcomics.

For a comic that only has 22 strips under it’s belt, One Liners is really rather funny. Another shocking… shock is that the art is also extremely competent right from the get go. I particularily like the character design. Our antihero is dressed all in black, mask included, with a white brimmed hat. For no reason. No reason other than it looks really cool. Although the supporting cast aren’t dressed like demented super heroes, they are all well formed enough to be memorable in their own right too, even if two of them are called Ashton.

I appreciate that the humour in this strip isn’t going to be for everyone. This strip is brimming with sexual passive aggression, as well as the regular kind. Unusually, it’s just enough to be edgy as well as funny, but not too much as to be over the top and cringe-worthy.

I don’t think I’ve ever recommended a comic to anyone that has less than 50 strips, but this is the exception. If you’re looking for a new comic to read but you don’t want to traul through a few years of archives, One Liners is the one for you.

Unless, of course, it’s not.

From Brad Guigar:

The Blank Label Comics Fund-Raiser for Paul Taylor has officially ended. Including BLC auctions, direct donations to Taylor, and non-BLC-affiliated auctions, over $10,770 in funds for the Taylor family.

In August, Paul’s first child was born prematurely with serious health problems. The baby spent his first month in the world in a hospital. He’s home now, but that means the bills are soon to follow. This money will put a dent in those bills.

Blank Label extends a heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated.

It’s not too late to help. Go to Paul’s site and make a donation directly to Paul through his PayPal donation button which appears under the comic on the left-hand side of the screen (look for Monica wearing a “SUPPORT WAPSI” T-shirt).

Coincidentally, today is the day that Waspi Square returns with all-new strips; if you haven’t read it before, now’s a great time to jump in.

Some days, it’s easy to figure out what you’re going to write about. I noticed a bit of bad news over the weekend, catching up on my trawls (and then several of you emailed me about it, as well). Since the Spring, we at Fleen have been big fans of The Kea’s Nest, which is sadly shutting its metaphorical doors. We first became aware of The Kea back in April, when he considered going for one of the open writer slots here at Fleen, but he decided that daily was more than he wanted to write.

So he started his own webcomics blog, and it kicked ass. As the author of more than one lackluster piece of writing, I can’t express how tough it is to bring that level of wordcrafting to fruition every single time. But even the greatest gift of expression takes time to shape properly, leading The Kea to tell us:

But the internet is encroaching on my real life in bad ways. My wife isn’t part of the web and a wedge is growing between us. So I won’t be coming back to The Kea’s Nest unfortunately.

To which I say: Good choice! There’s things that are really important in life, and then there’s blogging about webcomics. I loved reading your stuff, TK, and I’m going to miss it, especially with the decline in webcomics commentary that’s going on these days. Lots of writers have found that Life interferes with what we’d rather be doing — Eric‘s run ragged by his job; Joe‘s got other stuff on his plate for the immediate future; I’d be on hiatus myself right now (because I’m in a class that’s consuming most of my free hours) if not for my wife generously stepping up to do stuff that I should be doing around our home. (Aside: if you like reading my stuff, drop her a little note of thanks in the comments … except for you, Ryan North! Stay the hell away from my wife!).

But the things we love aren’t as important as the people we love, and you’re making the right choice for you and your family. We’re going to keep you on the blogroll over there to the right for as long as the pages return, because even as a too-small archive there’s some great writing there. And if you ever get the urge to do an occasional piece about webcomickry that won’t put a strain on the other parts of your life, there will be space for you here.

A number of people have been thinking about success in webcomics lately. First up, Jennie Breeden of The Devil’s Panties — if you saw her on stage at SDCC, you could tell that she’s thought a lot about how to make it in [web]comics, and I don’t think I enjoyed meeting anybody as much as her. She’s put a lot of her ideas down in a new FAQ, and if she lets me, I’m going to excerpt her excellent advice when I get around to making the Webcomics School recaps into something more permanent.

But even with all this methodical planning, is she still evil enough to go after guys in kilts with a leaf blower? And should you listen to her?

Yes, she is, and yes, you should.

Next up is Andy Bell, who did a presentation on making it in webcomics for Parsons/The New School; the talk fleshed out a lot of these points, but there’s a hidden message on the last slide, so be sure to go through the entire thing. Since many people know Parson primarily through TV’s Project Runway, I’d like to invite Bravo to consider Project: Webcomic; I think that T Campbell’s blog said he’s looking for a gig, so we can have him host it. I’m serious, this could be cool.

From Owen Dunne, guy with the Fox option, success means changes:

Sept 27

Sorry the YDK updates have been so sporadic.

As you may be aware, I’ve been working on a YDK pilot script, and that’s been taking quite a bit of my time. It’s not that easy, because it’s writing for Hollywood, and that’s different than just writing. The whole thing about YDK, the comic, is to take a life story, edit it down to four panels and illustrate it. Scriptwriting, on the other hand, requires that I take that same four panel story and stretch it out to forty pages. Which isn’t to say that it’s hard, it’s not. But doing it so the powers that be think it’s funny enough is.

So it’s a learning process, but a fun one. I’ve met some incredibly talented people who have been more than kind with their expertise and knowledge of the business.

One of these days I’m going to write a long piece about this process. Until then, I appreciate your patience.

The common thread we’ve got here is that if you want to be an overnight success, you’re going to have to work really hard at it for a long time in semi-obscurity. But the possibility is out there, and it’s in your hands alone. Go do good work, and show us what you got.

I see that Gary has split his side over today’s Dr. McNinja strip. I must say, I was a little envious of him, laughing till he cried and what-not. That is until I read today’s Dinosaur Comic. I tried not to laugh, I strived to keep my mouth shut….especially since I was in the middle of Biology class. But you can’t draw a comic involving sexy dinosaur facial-hair without bursting into a case of the giggles. And then comes the giggle loop, but that’s a different story.

In case anybody wants to see Scott McCloud at Princeton next week, the main university website is kind of useless. I did a bit of digging, and there’s better information found here. Some details (like when the tour started) are wrong, but at least it lists the time (4:30pm on Thursday, October 5) and location (Jimmy Stewart Theater on Nassau Street).

No info on tickets or pricing (if any), but another page says that “All members of the Princeton community are invited to attend”, which sounds like an open door policy to me.

I literally had tears in my eyes after reading yesterday’s Dr. McNinja. It’s not even so much the thought of an enraged Benjamin Franklin driving a speeding Honda Accord over two ninjas while flipping them off; it’s the text that appeared when placing the mouse over the image. Allow me to quote:

You don’t grow up thinking one day you’ll draw a picture that has both a pissed off gorilla AND a pissed off Ben Franklin on it. Not to mention a dinosaur coughing up a hot dog.

In my personal webcomics quote file, that one goes right next to Stop salting ham! And I, for one, am very glad that although he didn’t grow up thinking it, Chris Hastings did draw such a picture, and that Kent Archer inked it, and that I get to see it. Good job, guys.

There is an unexpected treat to be found in the White Ninja guest week. Guest weeks are usually a fun distraction, but this week at Whitey has been solid gold. I for one, have been looking forward to a Dr McNinja/White Ninja cross over for quite some time. Seeing the more realistically drawn art with the same surreal humour gives the Dr McNinja strip a real edge.

Steven Cloud‘s effort may not be as laugh-out-loud funny, but seeing his striking style in black and white makes me wish that he would employ it more in BOASAS, where he feels more at home with the comedic style.

Sam Logan‘s strip started off the guest week, and I would love to get in to some detailed analysis of his strip. The thing is, there just isn’t any point. All you have to do is look at the fifth panel  and see how Sam has taken the White Ninja humour and given it his unique spin.

I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Between travelling all over the northeastern tier of the continent and getting yelled at by Customs (man, that takes me back), and laptop troubles, it’s pretty impressive to note that Winterview #1 has been posted.

“Winterviews”, for those of you just joining in, are a series of video interviews being conducted by Winter McCloud and edited by her sister Sky, as they meet people on the year-long book-promotion death march jaunt known as the Making Comics 50 State Tour. Less than three weeks in, working in hotel rooms at the back seat of a minivan, producing a series of videocasts with subjects like Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman? Did I mention that Winter and Sky are 11 and 13, respectively? Or that Sky is presenting at places like MIT about the tour?

To my jaded eye, Scott can be even prouder of his daughters than of Making Comics. And if anybody knows Customs agents on the Niagara crossing, find the guy that yelled at Scott and let him know that he’s a jerk.

Next up for Clan McCloud: Chapter 5½ hits soon, and talks in Princeton, Barcelona (not open to the public), SPX, and DC. Fleen invites reports from the field from any who are able to attend these goings-on.