The summer convention season kicks into gear this weekend with the Applegeeks guys heading up to Anime Boston; if you drop by, say ‘hi’ and remember not to take home any stray catgirls. The fun continues in a few weeks at the MoCCA Art Festival (Jun 10 – 11, Puck Building in New York), where historically you find a heavy contingent from webcomics. Ever felt like stalking a Dayfreer or Bald Lemur?

Looking a bit further into the summer, Brian Wilson from Hookie Dookie Panic informs us that at Connecticon, the webcomics will be representin’ large:

I think your readers would be interested to know about our uber webcomic panel. We are the largest webcomic convention in the east coast, and all of our guests climb up on stage for two hours for the single largest webcomic panel in the world. For more information, the connecticon website features some writeups on a few of the guests that will be attending, and can be found [here].

He’s the director of main events at Connecticon, so he’d know. And within two weeks, you’re looking at the Nerd Prom, which has frequently offered quality webcomics artists and panels (although the programmers are probably still reeling from last year’s space dildos). Fleen (in the person of me) will be at MoCCA and San Diego, so keep an eye out for news, interviews, and reviews.

I had the rare and prized opportunity yesterday to trade favorite online comic names and a name came up that I hadn’t thought about in so long. It got me thinking about forgotten and unfinished comics. So in the spirit of nostalgia, I’m going to dredge up some old comics that once shined star-like before plunging into nameless oblivion. There are dozens to choose from, but I’m only going to mention two today that break my heart the most.

Return to Sender has sat dormant since 2004, waiting poised at the end of a chapter. This fantasy story was made up completely by the creator, so we are left with no way of knowing what happens, what was happening and what mysterious forces are at play. The talented woman behind the comic has made no updates or given us any news. She doesn’t tell us she won’t return, she just doesn’t tell us anything; leaving us wondering and hoping. I still check it every few months.

Who here didn’t fall in love with Fallen during its life? I knew people who didn’t even like comics who had Fallen artwork on their desktops. The last dozen updates had been slow coming, one every few months, and then after September of 2005 there was just nothing, and we’ve continued to get lots more nothing. Fallen has some of the prettiest artwork on the web and like Return to Sender, a very unique fantasy world rich in texture and mythology.

What happens next? Will we ever get closure?

I am a feminist.

Don’t hit the “x� or the back button yet. Give me a chance. I’m not a feminazi, I’m not out to break balls.

I just am of the opinion that there are certain rules and institutions that discriminate against women. Consider that of a graduating law class, the gender ratio is 50/50. But of the lawyers who make partner in a firm every year, the ratio is more like 90/10 in the favor of men. This has to do with the expectation of 100 hour work weeks from lawyers, combined with the expectation of female domesticity. (Thank you, Joan Williams.)

Comics don’t require 100 hours per week. Sure, they do require dedication. Both genders can dedicate themselves to things. So, I am confused.

I read about 20 comics over the course of the week. And of those, five of them are created by women. Am I just looking in the wrong place?

I’d love to see some recommendations from the readers out there. Show me your favorite comics created by women. Tell me why you like them. I’ll start writing posts about them.

I think this is a win-win situation for all.

I promised yesterday that I’d give you all some sweet, sweet Jesus lovin’. So without ado, here is my review of Leave it to Jesus: The Adventures of the Living Christ.

I found this site when snooping around online comics. The title caught my eye because my love of Jesus-based comics knows no bounds. I jumped to the site not knowing what to expect, and what I found was more satisfying than Wolverine making that ‘shinck” sound when he utilizes his retractable claws.

It opens to a warning page, stating that the humor is crude, offensive, and riddled with foul language. This only fueled my desire to see what this comic possessed. I clicked “enter” and was greeted with a nicely polished web site with clear links, a clean layout, and an all black-and-white format. Of course the author, Dan Hetrick, has a daily blog at the bottom of each comic, which is fairly common these days.

The comic itself is comprised of superimposed images into a four-panel comic. These images include Jesus (of course), Elmo, a surly bottle of Robitussin, Evil Nixon, and a character named Heather who suspiciously looks like a blurred image of Darth Vader. The comic usually parodies or pokes fun at social events, such as (more…)

I discovered Witty Comics by accident when I was doing some research for work. It fell into my lap, this giant time waster, and I’ve decided to share it with as many people as possible so that they too can feel the joys of time wasting and procrastination. In college, procrastination becomes an art form, as you get older it is the yard stick to which character can be measured. How good are your excuses?

There are people who can make the most beautiful art structured with clever characters and jokes that are funny. For the rest of the 98% of us out there, we live to serve, to read and devour our very favorite stories from the people who spend their lives giving us free fun. On the remarkable days when we’ve got ideas but not the heart or the talent to reproduce them, we’ve got Witty Comics, which allows people the briefest glimpse of comic stardom in cut and paste glory, much akin to Dinosaur Comics and Red Meat. Except that they are good at what they do, and we aren’t.

To use Witty Comics, you pick two stock figures, a background and then fill in the word balloons with whatever punch line, political commentary, 4th wall explosion you want. If you log in to the site you’ve got the option of saving the comic. There’s a handy list of freshly created funny by all the other would-be comic creators out there. What in the world do a random lot of people find funny? Not surprisingly, there’s an enormous amount of phallic jokes to be made. And if our egos hadn’t had enough yet, there’s a handy rating system. There are no hard feelings though, everyone sucks here.

What kind of funny did I create? Well, probably nothing anyone would actually laugh at. It was sort of cathartic; cheapest therapy I’ve ever needed. Give it a try. Who is worthy of your funny ire?

This page has written before on the topic of webcomic advertising. You got your tightly targetted ads whereby producers looking to meet up with a certain demographic craft campaigns with loving detail. You got creators who will offer up their own characters — within limits — for your message (or possibly even themed strips to carry that message). In a form of sorta-advertising, you can do product placement in the form of your own self. And then there’s Google’s various programs, including the rotation that you see on many webcomics.

These work by selecting keywords from text that appears on the page, serving up ads that are (presumably) of interest to the page’s audience. Sometimes, this means that ads contrary to your message sneak through … Scott Kurtz has written several times about how Google ads for gold farmers have snuck through, even though he’s opposed to them and their ilk.

But forget all that. I just want to know what combination of words on this page resulted in this ad showing up this morning. If nothing else, it’s given me an idea for how to choose new writers for Fleen in the future.

The first rule of creating a webcomic, Gary reported, is to create a schedule and stick to it. In the original posting, this spawned much discussion and additional rules – but let’s consider this first rule.

What if you don’t stick to a schedule?

In my first review here, the lack of a clear update schedule was one of the final straws in the camel’s back as to why the Canadian Creation Myth would not be given a return visit from this particular IP address. But there are plenty of comics in my cache that don’t have a regular update schedule, but stay in my bookmarks.

What make a comic worth waiting for?

9th Elsewhere is a comic about a girl who has some serious self-hatred. So much, in fact, that is impairs her ability to write – her artist’s medium – and so she has been recommended for dream analysis by a team of muses. But no one wants her and her problems – they transferred her from unit to unit, until they gave one muse who has effed up too many times one last chance – with her. It wouldn’t be a good set up unless they were expecting him to fail.

So, Eiji and Carmen set off for an adventure in Carmen’s subconscious, to find out the reason that she can’t write anymore.

Jokes like having a train you have to be so self-actualized to ride makes it clear that this comic is smart reading – the creator, Caroline Curtis, obviously knows her psychology. And to be absolutely truthful – the story is arched and plotted as a graphic novel, so the story is more fulfilling as an archive than as a biweekly update. But there hasn’t been an update at all since March.

I’m not the type to email or spam creators for updates, so the page has been quietly sitting in my favorites, hoping that the project would get picked up again, because there is a story, there are characters, there is an intelligent person putting a lot of thought and time into something that she is not making any money off of. There are no t-shirts related to 9th Elsewhere.

A comic is worth waiting for, it seems, when it has caught the imagination. 9th Elsewhere is original in concept, witty in execution, and fascinating in content. I wait patiently for updates, but perhaps it is time to take it off of my day-by-day list of links, and put it into a “check occasionally� file. Waiting is worth it, but no need to be teased.

However, there was an update only three days ago with promises of summer updating… hope springs eternal for webcomics one thinks was lost.

Web Comics and advice columns, they go together… right?

Penny Arcade had one (though all evidence of it’s existence has been removed from the site as far as I can tell), Natalie Dee has one and Goats even had one once!

Seriously though, why an advice column? Well, I’ve been thinking about it, and I think that advice columns are just intrinsically amusing and intriguing. I, for one, read Dan Savage every week and even go as far as to peek at the “Dear Whoever�? columns in the local trash tabloids. Web comic advice columns seemed to tap into that potential comedy. I don’t know if Diablo’s contribution over at Goats (almost six years ago!) really counts since he doesn’t write the comic. Never the less, his “advice�? was, for the most part, harmless banter and a bit of fun – something in line with the whole comedy web comic experience.

Natalie Dee’s advice column is different in that she actually gives people advice. What a novel concept! Natalie seems to know a thing or two, and she injects her unique sense of humor into the column, but it seems to me that her advice can be a little shallow sometimes. Occasionally I appreciate the no bullshit attitude, but other times I worry that she might be really messing somebody out there up. It’s not like she’s a qualified advice columnist, but then again, who is?

One person who most certainly wasn’t (and, I assume, still isn’t) is Penny Arcade’s Batjew. Love and Hate was the advice column answered by Gabe’s wife Kara and Batjew. It was one part Diablo’s Goats column and one part Natalie Dee column. Kara would do her best to give intelligent considerate advice, and Batjew would recommend beating up Goth’s while singing bible songs.

Basically, I’m just not sure how all this fits into our general understanding of the medium. Interaction with the fans can be a big part of web comics, so why not try to dispense some good advice? Is it web comic creators with illusions of grandeur? Or is it just that advice columns have the potential to be entertaining and funny?

Maybe we should ask Dr Eldritch…

I know I’ve been on a video game kick lately. This is due to E306 wrapping up not to long ago, and me still trying to digest all the scrumptious video game tidbits that were shoveled down my consumer whore of a mouth. Anyways, I was reading my weekly VG Cats, and decided that I should take a moment to share this video game comic with you.

I’m sure many of you have heard of or read VG Cats. It is listed in the side-scroll of links on this here site. But, as I said, my video game high hasn’t finished burning its way through my veins just yet.

I prefer VG Cats to numerous other video game-related comics because the artist parodies actual games, not the gaming culture. The artist takes likenesses of his two cats, Leo and Aeris, and places them in scenarios involving various video games. The art is colorful, crisp, and resembles a cartoonish style one would expect from a video game comic. The humor is sharp and plays well against most of the bloody scenarios that video games have to offer.

To show you how much I’m in like with you I’ve decided to give you a taste of the sweet stuff in the form of Resident Evil: Toronto, evil Star Wars droids, and the most wonderful stoner game ever. So feast, my friends, on this web comic smorgasbord of delight, and come back tomorrow for some sweet, sweet, Jesus lovin’.

In case you’d forgotten, at the end of last year, Colonel Joey decided to shift around the business model of the Modern Tales family of sites; part of those changes involved opening up the sites to both subscription-only and free titles, and bringing Eric Burns in as the editor of Modern Tales. It’s been a long while coming, but Mr T notes in his blog that changes are finally afoot at Graphic Smash.

So there’s new titles up at GS, and one presumes that a similar overhaul is imminent at MT (the roster of regularly-updating titles has gotten decidedly thin of late; hopefully Burns will be able to beef it back up quickly). Among the GS titles sure to gather attention is Bang Barstal by webcomics, um, personality WilliamG. If you follow webcomics, chances are you have an opinion on Mr G. and his opinions and means of expressing them (and chances are, nothing written here is going to alter your opinions). His comics work, however, has generally flown under the radar, so this may be the first opportunity for many to to judge his storytelling, art, and writing, rather than his forum persona.

On a related note, Fleen will be selling Nomex bodysuits for a modest fee if any wish to lay in a bit of flameproofing before venturing into such territory.