Something that I miss (and don’t) about high school is yearbooks. My high school had the distinction of making the second largest yearbook that Jostens produced, the first being a Texas University. And so, I would have to carry around a 500 page yearbook for two weeks so that everyone could sign it, including the people who I would see the day after school let out to go to the local pool.

Now, you think that may be an aside. But it’s not! It is a segway into what I want to talk about.

Today, I have decided to branch into the strange realm of fancomics. I’m sure I’ll come back to this topic again soon, as I have other examples, but today! Today we’re going to look at 24 the Comic Strip, which has combined both fanaticism and high school nostalgia.

The two pages of the yearbook thus far have been centered around the season that just ended: Day Five. The first page are supporting characters, no one well loved, no cast members that have been around since season one. After all, you have to draw the readers in to keep the coming back. But each joke makes more sense if you’re a fan of the show.

Anyway, some people said that they wanted to see what we thought was cool. More philosophical discussion of fancomics later.

edit: I meant to post this last night at 11:30 pm EDT. I saved it and went to sleep. Please enjoy now.

My Internet connection was down for most of today and boy did it ever make me restless. I spent a lot of the day entirely distracted by the nagging voice in the back of my mind that told me I had to post an update on Fleen.

So then, after a few beers, I got thinking. Is this how the people who write my favorite web comics feel when they can’t make an update? We’ve become like them in a way, we web comic bloggers. Just as they strive to provide you with fresh tasty comics every day (or every other day, or every week, or just a lot) we’re here trying to come up with something relevant, informative and interesting about them. Although writing about comics might not take as much effort as making them, keeping pace with the people whose work you criticize on a daily basis helps keep things in perspective. It’s easy to complain about a comic that updates irregularly, has poor web design or just plain sucks, but these people are putting themselves out there. Even the most bitter, haggard wordbeast has to respect that.

The image you see above is from yesterday’s Heart of the City newspaper strip by Mark Tatulli; full-size image here. Ignore the larger gag, it’s not why we’re here today. Let’s zoom in on the 2nd guy from the left here. And a lil’ reminder of one of Colonel Kurtz‘s pieces of merch here.

Coincidence? Or has the influence of webcomics finally made it into that safest of all possible places, the Sunday funnies? This could be even scarier than network TV or VH1 infiltration. Dare we hope that the webcomics revolution is nigh?

Ok, so I love zombies. What I love even more are web comics about zombies. That’s why I’ve decided to chat up a little unknown comic called The Undead.

This comic is basically about a group of twenty-somethings who are stuck in a city suddenly overrun with zombies. They are frantically trying to get the hell away from the flesh-eating foes, which is what the plot-line is driven on.

 What I enjoy about reading this comic is that it references and pokes fun at all the zombie-movie cliches that we all have come to know and love. I see it running along the lines of Shaun of the Dead.

 The comic is fairly new, with only about forty strips to it’s name. This is a good time though for plenty of feed back and growth from readers and the like. It holds plenty of potential, and hopefully with some support, will grow into a full-fledge powerhouse of web comic domination.

If not, it’ll just eat your brains anyways.

I’m still gross and sick and barely functioning today. I spent most of the weekend sleeping and heavily medicated. I did not leave my bed long enough to read any comics online, sorry guys. No good news today; I’ll try again tomorrow.

While being pathetic and whiney all weekend, I did get a chance to read through my new copy of Candorville’s book Thank God For Culture Clash which arrived on Saturday morning.

The book is wonderful funny and filled with all our political woes and missteps from the past several years. I like how Darrin Bell deals with race too, a subject that makes anyone who finds the jokes funny instantly uncomfortable with themselves. Bell tells us in no uncertain terms to get over ourselves, we look ridiculous. I am already plotting a serious plan to convince the super-conservative newspaper of my city to bring Candorville to their pages. We’ll see.

I bet the book will be even better the second time I read through it when I’m not stoned on decongestants and Nyquil.

Much like Allison, I’ve come down with some nasty sinus infection that has me writing in misery. I’m painstakingly trying not to misspell anything, or use “its” instead of “it’s” or “further” instead of “farther”. This was supposed to go up yesterday, but I didn’t surface from unconsciousness until 5am when my alarm went off for work this morning.

 The comic that I found to be a very funny, very political comic was Candorville. It’s sort of a Boondocks-esque comic through the eyes of adults. Some of the perspectives the comic offers are so spot on they become disheartening. Politics not your thing? No problem, there are plenty of issues to go around.

Candorville has its eyes on syndication and is not ashamed of it. I recently purchased the book and am eagerly waiting its delivery. The creator, Darrin Bell, emailed me when he got my order to promise a defacing of the book with an autograph and sketch. I’m so excited.

It shows up in 30 day groupings through comics.com so unless you get your hands on the book, the archive is off limits. That’s too bad, but Bell makes up for it in his regular blog posts. His writing style reminds me of the journalists from the SFGate. I wish I could invite Bell over for dinner once a week so that we could talk politics and his clever banter would make me a smarter commentator. I live vicariously through his journalism. 

So the proverbial “we at Fleen” has truly become a “we”, as this little expression of irresponsible opinion has grown to include more writers. You, our audience, have been very welcoming of the newbies, and I trust that you will continue to let them know when they do well, and when they could use a bit of slapping — they won’t break, but try not to bruise them too much.

Given that it’s now a multi-person show ’round here, there are some changes that you will notice:

1. The blogroll over to the right has been redone: new writers, new favorites, new strips have come to our attention, and some that have ceased updating regularly (or at all). Bit of pruning to try to make it more easily navigable … the goal was to have about 30 items, but we’re presently in the mid-50s.
2. Fleen writers will be making a concerted effort to find new (or at least under-publicized) webcomics. Everybody around here is committed to finding at least one a month, which means we can set up a weekly rotation of undiscovered comics. Creators, let us know that you’re out there.
3. We’re thinking about a new masthead. What do you think of the stereotypical webcomics creator up there?
4. Watch this space for reports from the fields of MoCCA and SPX, and daily updates from the Nerd Prom. Hopefully, we’ll have some coverage of other webcomic-heavy shows as well.

Naturally, we are open to suggestions. What sort of things should we be covering more? What do you have very little interest in? What will make Fleen not just a site you visit during the week, but a vital part of your existence? Let us know, then tell everybody you know to read us — this world ain’t gonna conquer itself, so we all have to pitch in together.

So San Antonio Rock City now has a page to call it’s own. That’s nice. The new(est) comic by Mitch Clem has made the jump from Live Journal to it’s own little corner of Mitch’s site.

So the question is, is it any good? Well, that depends. If you liked Nothing Nice To Say, then the chances are you will like SARC and you should just go read it all now. Actually, if you liked NN2S then you’ve probably already read all of SARC and continuing to read this article will prove to be quite unfulfilling.

If you just didn’t “get�? NN2S because you had no idea what Blake and Fletcher were talking about most of the time, then SARC may well be for you. It’s still a comic heavily influenced by punk rock and the punk rock lifestyle, but it’s also a comic about having a relationship and a sucky job and, for some reason, Al Pacino. So why not check it out. It won’t take long to read since it’s a fairly new comic, but it’s less likely to suck than most new comics since it’s by an established artist. What’s the worst that could happen?

P.S: Up the Punx!

All fans of webcomickry in the general New York area are invited to come check out the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art’s annual arts fest at the Puck Building in Manhattan next Saturday. For a measly eight bucks (ten for both days!) you get access to a lot of neat people.

Webcomic creator types expected in attendance (from the MoCCA Exhibitor List) include Sam Brown, Steven Cloud, John Allison, R Stevens, Jeff Rowland, Andy Bell, Hope Larson, Kean Soo, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Ryan North, Rob Coughler & Ramon Perez, Jeph Jacques, David Hellman, Kent Earle, Ryan Sias, Raina Telgemeier and Jennie Breeden. Chris Hastings will be reportedly walking the floor, and I’ll be doing the CBLDF thing.

Plus, if current trends continue, you can ask Jon Rosenberg if anybody survives Deathrumble 6000. So bring a sketchbook, some cash for cool swag, and small bottle of booze (the traditional thank you gift for a webcomics creator), and enjoy.

I don’t feel so good, but I’m managing to stay conscious enough to tell you that there are etch-a-sketch boobs over at Penny Arcade.

 Hot.