Because it is hot, I am suffering from a lack of creativity.

Erik Schoenek of Loserz is suffering from the same thing. And the latest comic is the proof.

Reviews or something tomorrow. Right now I am enjoying a storm.

It’s nice when Ryan North does my work for me. I can sip my morning coffee, squint through my hangover and have a steaming goblet of web comics news sitting right there in my inbox waiting for me. Thanks Ryan.

So anyway, the good Mr North was point us bitter, haggard wordbeasts in the direction of For Better or For Worse – where Lynn has started to “animate” the comics. I’m all for that sort of thing. I’m a big Homestar Runner fan. I loved the Dilbert cartoon. I like most things animated/internet/comic related, but a character blinking in a panel or two is not an animated comic.

Maybe I’m being a little harsh, but when you read a piece of sequential art you have to read it in order to experience it fully. This is quite difficult to do when your eye is constantly being drawn to some sort of movement in the upcoming panels. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if the movement was something exciting, but it isn’t. It’s blinking.

That’s right folks, the shocking truth is finally out. Mel Gibson not only started all wars, but he also staged the whole Holocaust and hung Christ on the cross himself. He’s been a busy man between being a racist fuck and banging blonde chicks who aren’t his wife. I have a feeling R.Stevens and J.Ro feel the same way. Oh, and so does the rest of America.

Christopher B. Wright continues to triumph over adversity. Today sees the return of his second strip, Kernel Panic, after too long an absence. The archiving is still a bit wonky, but that will presumably be fixed up as the site continues its redesign.

Welcome back to Alan and his crew, and please — only one Binky at a time.

K Sandra Fuhr of Friendly Hostility is celebrating the 300 comic milestone by posting five comics this week, instead of the usual three. That’s 66% more Friendly Hostility for your viewing pleasure.

Just to recap: There was a normal post on Monday, and there was a post today too! And then there will be posts on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday!

Never heard of the comic? If you like a character driven dramedy with an element of the fantastical, and you’re not offended by boy on boy action, Friendly Hostility is a good choice. [Also, as a bonus, Mexicans!] Before its archive gets too much on the hefty side… jump in!

Hey Wiz is back with a new comic, and a devil-may-care attitude. I wonder how many people actually know the GPS coordinates to the nearest titty bar?

I think the nearest one to me is the Fantasy Ranch. Sweet.

Okay, one shakeup, but this is webcomics, people — we can milk this thing bigtime if we put our minds to it.

Seven months into his announced tenure, Eric Burns has stepped down as the editor of Modern Tales. One month after leaving Modern Tales, Shaenon Garrity has taken up the mantle; details here. Combine this with the shift from T Campbell to Tim Demeter over at Graphic Smash (curiously not yet noted on the GS front page), and I half expect a wholesale editorial shift to sweep the webcomicsphere.

In other news, Fleen readers are stuck with Gary Tyrrell as editor. Deal.

Hey everyone, I have returned from Europe in more or less one piece. If you’re interested, you can read about it here over the coming week or two. I would like to give a massive shout out to the Fleen reader I met on the train to London. I hope the British treated you well.

Coming home after over two weeks without web comics (I tried to keep up with the ones I said I would but it was pretty much impossible) was interesting. Many years ago, I went on holiday for a whole month and when I came home I just didnt have the time/ inclination to catch up on all the comics that I read so I wound up seperating the wheat from the chaff and only filling myself in on the ones that I really liked. This time round, that didn’t happen. All the comics I read regularly these days are pretty much all gold, so coming home to two weeks worth of material on each site was like sitting down to watch a DVD box set of a bunch of my favorite shows, except that it’s all free!

Ah, the simple joy of web comics, how I missed it.

Paul Southworth has some projects to get done, so for the next month we get Ugly Hill with bonus DVD commentary!

Samuel L. Jackson has a video interview up at The OC; you can hear what real-life webcomicker Jeff Rowland sounds like!

Reviews on the books that I picked up at SDCC to start soon; I’ve finished first reads of everything except THOW. We all know that book is going to be a lightning rod no matter what gets written here, so I’m reading it very carefully; when the shitstorm is inevitably released, I want to be able to back up what I say.

Speaking of Mr. T, you may not have him to kick around any more. Peep this. Or is it possible that this is culmination of all of Campbell’s plans, and now he can assume his new identity as Tim Demeter? Keep your eyes open and your brain sharp, ’cause this could be a bumpy ride.

Okay, that covers the happenings at the SDCC Webcomics School panels; I’m thrilled by the positive reaction they’ve gotten so far. Here’s what’s going to happen with them:

1. Your suggestions — what did you find missing from the discussions? What topics do you think would make for a good set of lessons about how to do webcomics?
2. Ask the experts — finding out from people who do webcomics well what lessons they want to convey and fleshing out these session notes with futher content; also, asking the participants to list out any topics that they wanted to get to during the sessions but didn’t.
3. Ruthless editing — having a narrative of the sessions is nice, but it doesn’t make for a good teaching/research tool; we’ll deal with some of the overlap, expand and trim as needed, and generally turn them into something a little more readable.
4. Permanent home — they will be placed here at Fleen as a permanent resource. A free Fleen t-shirt¹ to whoever comes up with a really good name for these lessons.
5. Planning for next year — this was the second SDCC with a webcomics curriculum, and maybe it’s time to add some 200-level courses. Start brainstorming and let’s get a discussion going about what you’d like to see covered next year, and who you want on the panels. I don’t have anything to do with organizing these things, but we can use this forum as a feedback mechanism.

I’d like to take this time to publicly thank all of the panelists: Dave Kellett, Jon Rosenberg, Brian Fies, Phil Foglio, R Stevens, Kristofer Straub, Scott Kurtz, Mike Krahulik, Jerry Holkins, Robert Khoo, Howard Tayler, Jennie Breeden, and Phillip Karlsson, for all their expertise. Between them, I think you’re looking at about a century of direct cartooning and webcomics experience.

Extra big thanks to Bill Barnes for his moderation and direction of the panels. He was also largely responsible for putting them together, so if you liked ’em, be sure to thank him.

Finally, a request for everybody reading this: if you attended one of these sessions, if you wanted to attend but couldn’t, and especially if you lined up but didn’t get in, please contact the organizers of SDCC and let them know what sort of demand there is for this kind of panel. Be polite, but let them know, in Krahulik’s words, “that webcomics are kind of a big deal now.”

Back to regular stuff next week; look for book reviews and whatever happens on the day. Thank you, and drive safely.

¹ Note: Fleen t-shirts do not actually exist.