So, the New York Times has discovered webcomics (sorta), as described here, here, and elsewhere; one wonders if between DJ Coffman and Drunk Duck, Platinum Studios will actually publish a comic book one day.

Ironically, the Times coverage of webcomics appears about the same time as some other media outlets. First up, over at the web version of Wizard, an interview with evil genius Jon Rosenberg. I don’t read Wizard, but I gather that a number of people are finding their web content much better than their print content. Rosenberg, who seems to be conquering the media these days, will also be the subject of a print article in Business 2.0 (estimated for December’s issue); the thrust of the article is likely to be about merchandising and how small merchants (like webcomics) can use the ‘net to accomplish their goals.

What this media blitz is really saying to me is, once again, collectives matter. Wizard ran their interview with Rich Stevens not long ago; in numerous interviews since his syndication deal, Stevens has been talking up his Dumbrella-mates. Following the B2.0 piece on Rosenberg, who knows what kinds of interest might be drummed up in Messers Rowland, Allison, Cloud, Brown, and Bell (some of whom appear as background elements in the photos taken to accompany the story). Heck, in the Wizard piece, Rosenberg also pushed Dayfree and Blank Label — even if yours is a strip in either of those collectives that Rosenberg didn’t mean to pimp, it got pimped anyway by association. That’s a powerful incentive for an ambitious webcomicker to a) join/form a collective; b) not suck; and c) make sure your fellow creators don’t suck, either.

Speaking of Blank Label, Paul Taylor has announced October 2nd as the target return date for Wapsi Square. Speaking purely for myself, Taylor should take as long as he needs to take care of his family; I’ll be waiting when he’s ready to get back to us. In the meantime, check out the photo of his son; that is one powerfully adorable picture right there. If you haven’t done so yet, consider dropping a few bucks into his donation link.

Update: The boys at PA have their way with the Platinum Studios announcement. Would-be exploiters of webcomics, ignore them at your peril.

There has been much talk of web comics in new forums recently. Let’s do a bullet-point, because everyone likes their news delivered dangerously.

• New York Times finally realized that web comics will own your soul if you don’t pay them their dues. It’s actually a great article on the purchase of DrunkDuck.com and how Platinum Studios will take over all media as we know it.
• Of couse we all know that R.Stevens is making that mystical leap from web comic to print form thanks to United Feature Syndicate.
• D.J. Coffman pointed out that the new NBC show, Heroes, has it’s own form of web comics to help promote the show. It’s great that other forms of entertainment are seeing the benefit of marketing through online comics.

Other such things have gone on, but Gary beat me to the journalistic punch. If you know of any events that push web comics as a kick-ass medium for artwork, let us know. That’s what that whole “contact us” thingy is for. That and hawking your own web comics, which we love.

Where to start, where to start? How about …

Item! Webcomics Merch Sighting! VH1‘s Best Week Ever continues the love of Dumbrellawear with a Hooray for Diversity t-shirt. In celebration of the fact that Goats has now followed the trail blazed by Overcompensating, the HfD shirt is on sale today only. If you ever wanted a shirt based on the ruminations of a corn lesbian, hop to it.

Item! Speaking of Overcompensating, Jeff Rowland got hit with a pretty nasty DDOS attack; things are now back up due in no small measure to Dumbrella Hosting principal (and Fleen publisher) Phillip Karlsson. You can get the whole story from Rowland at his Livejournal. With the Karlsson-engineered shift away from wigu.com/overcompensating to overcompensating.com, there’s every possibility that all bookmarks and links to Rowland’s strips (including those on Fleen) are now bad. Let us know if you find any.

Item! Brad Guigar reports that the Paul Taylor fundraiser is now up over $3000; good job, and keep up the good work.

Item! Honorary Fleen Field Reporter Scott Marshall writes:

My girlfriend and I attended the Halifax edition of the Word on the Street festival yesterday and met a bunch of great cartoonists, including Hope Larson, Joey Comeau, and Ryan North. I have a blog entry about it here.

Thanks for the field report, Scott; if you want to be an Honorary Fleen Field Reporter, just let us know what you encounter out there in the world o’ webcomics.

Item! Speaking of Hope Larson, Journalista points us to Heidi MacDonald who points us to Larson’s Livejournal that Diamond Distributors have decided to carry House of Sugar after all. Hooray for overturned bad decisions!

And from the hipster capital of the world, Item! Gary Kohler informs us that Married To The Sea got mentioned in New York magazine’s Approval Matrix. Check it out in the lower-right corner here.

Two weeks ago, I asked the Internet at large whether or not Mac Hall was dead. Today, I got my answer.

Let me state this so that it is absolutely clear; I am sad that Mac Hall is ending. Over the past while, It’s been easy to bitch about the lack of updates or story arcs but at the end of the day if something isn’t working any more, it’s best to just call it a day. This does not mean that all is lost, however. As Ian says:

Assuming all goes well, in October Matt and I will switch to the next phase of the comic and the site will have recieved some fresh code love. (I hope.) We’ll ride with that for a while, and if it works. Kick ass. If not, well, I’m sure we’ll figure something out. This is not ment as doom and gloom but just a simple road sign for things to come.

Again, change is on route. I hope you find it pleasant on your pallet. 

Good bye Ian, Matt, JM, Drew, Micah and Helen. You will be missed.

So small Erin Winters was in a good mood, and then she drank the wrong digestion tonic in Shelley’s room, and now she’s enormous. But wait! Erin was worried that The Boy likes Esther because she’s blossomed, and now she’s got the aforementioned hair, gun show, and bazongas. John Allison, reaching his 1000th Scary Go Round strip, has left us with one hell of a cliffhanger; were it only until Monday before we saw more it would be a cruel wait, but he’s promised us:

In the tradition that you have come to expect – nay, DEMAND, I am setting up a cliffhanger that won’t be resolved for months. Sorry.

Cheeky devil. Worse, over much drink last night at The Pub, Allison dropped no hints whatsoever of what he was planning to do to us. Discreet cheeky devil. Still and all, having produced comics on the web for fully a third of his lifetime, Allison knows that we’ll wait on tenterhooks for the cliffhanger to resolve, because between these stories and forbidden t-shirts, we’re all his bitch.

In other news, Jeff Lowrey, formerly of this page, pointed us towards an exploration of Mystery In Comics. I’m intrigued, and as I mentioned yesterday, I’m curious as to whether or not there are similar legends that lend an air of mystery and myth to webcomics. So if you’ve heard a scurrilous rumor that’s been around long enough and spread wide enough to have elevated itself to the realm of Webcomics Urban Legend, toss ’em to me, and I’ll try to track down the real scoop. Could be disastrous interesting. Very, very interesting..

On account a’ you’ve been sending a lot of items to us for announcin’. Very well, then, let’s get to it.

Item! David Malki ! reminds us of the seven-way signing tomorrow at Meltdown Comics; any of you Angelenos near Hollywood should check it out if you like people named Cham, Ganter, Kellett, Kibiushi, Malki !, Straub, or Troop. And hell, if you don’t like at least one of them, why are you even here?

Item! With Talk Like A Pirate Day now firmly in the past for another year, you can now catch up on the past several days of pirate-themed comics at Savage Chickens. Thanks to Janet for the info.

Item! Gabe Strine has released Bodinki’s Blog, a printed collection of his popular online journal comic strip. Pick ‘er up at Lulu for $12.95, and you’ll even get some new strips.

That’ll take care of us for now; come back tomorrow when we delve into the darkest depths of Webcomics Mystery.

I was planning on writing something prolific and mesmerizing today. But between my brother’s emergency eye-surgery and two tests tomorrow in school, I haven’t had any time to sit down and write. So, I will mention a comic that cheered me up today, in between visiting my brother and cramming for exams. T-Rex and his pondering of the female form always gives me a smile, even when my brother is sporting a hard-helmet version of the eye patch.

By the way, I have surfed internet porn to win a bet. I told you, Tristan, that people will do anything to donkeys. I win!

Congratulations to Steven Cloud for hitting strip number 700 over at Boy On A Stick And Slither. If you like the strip, check out the BOASAS hankies (they have really excellent embroidery, and Slither has done a fine job cleaning my glasses).

The auction I mentioned yesterday to benefit Paul Taylor is larger than I reported. There’s lots of stuff up for grabs to help defray the costs of caring for Taylor’s newborn son, so go check it out. If you’re ever in serious difficulties in life, I suggest you become a webcartoonist and join Blank Label, ’cause they take care of their own.

New review of A History of Webcomics coming soon from Digital Strips. Despite a desire to make us his arch nemesis (nemeses?), we at Fleen would like to assure The Midnight Cartooner that we did not kill his father. He was totally like that when we found him.

And showing us all that he belongs on the comics page (have you written your letter yet?) just as much as Lynn Johnston, Rich Stevens brings the blink to today’s Diesel Sweeties. Homage? Or blatant attack on a sweet Canadian lady? You be the judge.

In honor of “Talk Like a Pirate Day” I’ve decided to review Pirate and Alien by Tyson Smith. I’ve known about this comic for a while, but have been waiting so it could build up a hearty archive of comics. Also, Gary has done a review of Pirate and Alien as well, but that was back in February so I thought a refresher course would be appropriate for today.

What stands out the most with this comic is the artwork. It utilizes a direct-compliment color scheme of blues and oranges, with the shading done in light grays. This color scheme results in an easy to read, enjoyable comic to gaze upon. Talented artists always amaze me because I can’t draw a stick figure if you gave me a ruler and told me to trace from another image of a stick figure. It would just end with a broken ruler and shattered dreams.

The two stars of the strip are, of course, Pirate and Alien. The two don’t have actual names; they simply go by what they are. Alien is an Interstellar Zoologist who desires to travel the universe searching for new life. Pirate is a scoundrel who is kicked off his ship, ala mutiny style. The two don’t start off knowing each other, but through a series of events they run into each other. The two are stuck together attempting to navigate through the suburbs of earth, not knowing what to expect.

I enjoy this comic for numerous reasons including the artwork and the fun characters. It is a campy; enjoyable read that I would love to see in newspapers. Because it’s about damn time that web comics get their say in the elusive, mystical, world of print.

News roundup from the world of webcomics, kiddies! Keep those press releases, announcements, and suchlike coming through the contact page.

Item! Fleen fave Alien Loves Predator celebrates 200 strips by switching to a twice a week schedule. Bernie Hou, chronicler of the soul of New York City, tells all:

Here we are, episode #200, and what better way to mark the occasion by announcing something crazy that I’m unprepared to do. Starting this week I’ll be posting two new comics per week instead of one. This week, the next update will be on Friday, and then Tuesdays and Fridays thereafter. I figure most of the new comics will be the old-school, shorter 3-panellers that you enjoyed through the first year for about 130 episodes, but for those of you who dig the full-page pieces of the last year, I’ll probably do some o’ those once in a while. All depends on what mood I’m in.

We at Fleen sincerely hope that Hou is frequently in a good mood, ’cause those full-page pieces rock. Especially when he channels Chuck Jones.

Item! Alex [redacted: see posting from 17 March 2010] informs us:

I’m not sure if you do this kind of thing, it is definitely a “shameless press release.” I just started a webcomic, Monkeys In Orbit. It’s about two monkeys that get stranded in space during the space race of the 50’s and 60’s. It’s in the prologue stage right now, but it would be really cool if you checked it out. I hope you like it!

Alex, it’s most definitely the sort of thing we do, at least since we rededicated ourselves to it last week. We’re a bit late running your release, but that just means that people will have more strips to enjoy when they click over. The story starts in the depths of WWII, and the art reminds me of Wang Xuanming (which, as far as I’m concerned, is a very good thing). Alex has had a few delays, but will be kicking the strip back into production this week, which can only mean more monkeys. If you can’t get enough of space, monkeys, space monkeys, or backwards “R”s and “N”s, check out Monkeys In Orbit!

Item! Speaking of those space monkeys, Alex Jeffries fills us in more about its collective:

The Chameleon Collective is now fortified with even more essential webcomics, welcoming newcomer Steamed Carrot and Running in the Halls to an already hilarious line-up of Awesome Burger (a new project from the creator of the Sordid Affairs), It’s Not Abuse It’s Love and from the creator of Hell Ain’t So Bad, Monkeys in Orbit.

This former-triumvirate now pentarchy plans to flex its newfound power and return to its roots! That’s right. We aim, once again, to connect more fully with the fans and provide a greater experience. Expect an overload of contests and collaborations.

The doors are definitely open to other eager artists who wish to join up! We look forward to the future (it’s rather hard to look back on the future…) and what it will bring our members. I imagine it’ll be pretty fun.

Item! Darren J. Gendron likes pirates!

To properly celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Dear Pirate is running a special double issue today, featuring the secret Pirate Alphabet.

Item! David Willis is takin’ care of his Blank Label-mate, Paul Taylor in style. Bid on a piece of webcomics history and help out a little guy that needs it all at the same time.

Item! Speaking of Blank Label, {K|Ch}risto{ph|f}er Straub reports that next week you should be able to grab a Starslip Crisis mini-book.

And Item! Fleen congratulates Christopher Wright on beating the unemployment bugaboo. Today he goes back to work, stickin’ it to The Man. As we all know, The Man is very stickable.