T Campbell's Blog

At this point, the word-count is beginning to lose its meaning. Chapter 5 has now become two chapters, but is just about finished. It's the "Screen Scene" chapter that's givin' me trouble-- not a lot of info on webcomics from a sociologist's point of view, so just about every point of data is a hard-fought battle. To say nothing of dancing around these hot-button topics, saying what needs to be said without having people hear anything you don't want to say. Eet's a treecky one.

Penny and Aggie #1 is on sale NOW! RIGHT THIS MINUTE! NOW! IN FULL COLOR! PRODUCTION VALUES FANTABULOUS! It's late, due to factors beyond Gisele's and my control, BUT WE'LL IGNORE THAT!

GO! BUY!

MAKE US LESS POOR!

32,591.

New forum for Search Engine Funnies.

History word count: 31,412.

Here!

And here!

And a Digger fan here!

In other news, History is up to 30,000 words...

When the comic formerly known as Search and now known as Search Engine Funnies launched, a lot of people came close to telling me I was crazy, and I wondered if they were right. Search engines, after all, are like the Web's librarians, and everybody knows that all librarians are 84-year-old old maids with severe expressions who say "Sh." That metaphor went further than it needed to. Point is...

"Search engines are dull," said they.

'Bout one week in, we've had a religious controversy and reported an obscene attack on freedom of speech, and that's not even the stuff we're making up.

Among upcoming highlights: a message for the child pornographers that just got shut out of Yahoo Chat, the reason MSN Local Search fills me with quiet terror, and a subscription service so bad it actually gets us to do a joke at subscriptions' expense. Oh, and the one thing about micropayments that no webcartoonist seems to have thought of.

Still not making any of this up. The made-up stuff is bonus.

Come back around, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We'll put on a show.

This blog will go over to Wordpress on July 1 unless Blogger changes its non-categorizing ways before then. Thanks to those who wrote in and suggested it should be so.

I'm having entirely too much fun with the fifth chapter of History. It may end up splitting into two. There's just so much to cover. Extra thanks to those who wrote in with suggestions.

Mark this URL: http://www.search-comics.com! More changes, coming soon...

Me: "So apparently, God hates Bill Keane."

He: "Why should God be any different than the rest of us?"

The way to make progress on a book? Have more important things to be doing. I've put off some really important chores today, things I just have to get to tomorrow. But it's worth it. So much progress. 27,000 words now. 1,700 today alone. It's so worth it. These are the moments a writer lives for.

...to start dividing this blog up by categories, the better to repurpose its text on places like the Penny and Aggie and Search homepages.

This may mean getting rid of Blogger, unless someone knows something I don't. I won't like that. I like Blogger. I'd rather just have Blogger magically add a category feature because I want one.

We can't always get what we want...

Busy.

I just finished the section on "improv comics."

It changed every "improv" I wrote to "improve" as I wrote it.

Everyone's a critic.

Micropayments fan? Micropayments hater?

Of interest.

While I'm not sure exactly why this guy liked it, I'm glad he liked The Sluggite Koan.

Yes, Batman Begins is awesome. Meanwhile will confirm the fact, later today.

That's all, really.

Well, that and I'm mildly surprised that no one's noticed who Rich's two buddies are yet.

Digger.

Magellan.

Y'all remember this, come Christmas.

(Edit: Oops! Link fixed.)

"Search."

First two installments are go!

Still tinkering with the interface. For one thing, I'll have to do some more work with the logo. Right now, the comic overwhelms it, but I want that comic to get most of the space. Probably something brighter for the logo, then...

All in all, this is a project I'm happy to be starting. I care about it a lot. It's considerably more UNUSUAL than most comics I've done. Comments are especially welcome for that reason.

Graphic Smash newcomer "The Tenth Life of Pishio the Cat" by Zack Giallongo is now free.

So's the kinda-sorta Fans-crossover-er, Narbonic.

Both these strips are up for WCCAs like The Stiff.

Go. Find out why.

Science Fiction Blog is getting a couple of new contributors, Will "SciFantasy" Frank and Edward Bryant.

Never trust guys with two first names...

Fans: Work on the 13-page "The Iron Easel" proceeds slowly but smoothly. You guys are in for a treat.

Rip & Teri: I am pleased to announce Bob Diforio is now the literary agent for Rip & Teri. (Contract's in the mail, Bob.) Nearly finished dialoguing "Eagles' Endgames," and close enough to put it safely on ice for a little while. David Willis is recolorizing the first thirteen pages to give it a consistent look, and we'll see how quickly this one moves.

Penny & Aggie: We've just introduced a new storyline, "Uptown Girl," our longest and most ambitious to date. Gisele is sending me material on a daily basis now. I just approved proofs for the third issue. Coming soon: a T-shirt and another major push to the syndicates.

History of Webcomics: Chapters 1-4 are drafted, and thanks to the response to an earlier blog entry, I'm about to start Chapter 5.

Graphic Smash: Finally up-to-date in our roster (no more months-since-they-retired strips, though Saga of the Ram is staying up for a while for those who missed it). Now we're beginning to organize a really kicky contest. More on this as it develops.

Comixpedia: Though I'm still generally pleased with the Creative Commons piece, some people have reminded me of production difficulties and things I wish I'd gotten to. I'm musing a sequel. Haven't run it by Xaviar yet, though.

Pop Star: See below.

?: I have a new comic up that I'm almost ready to tell you about. This one's gonna be... a little unusual.

The Perfect Man has a perfect score!

(Note: this is irony.)

Word's come down from T-Pop. They want a few minor changes I can live with, and one major change:

They don't want H.S. Kim. Kim, to his credit, took it like a pro and moved right on.

I think it's pretty clear by now what I think of Kim's art, so I'm putting this out there to a) explain what happened to him and b) signal that the run for Pop Star artist is back on. I have more clearly defined criteria, thanks to the editors: "someone with a sense of fashion, who can draw in a more shoujo, 'girly' style." It may help to know that Amy Mebberson and Gisele Lagace came up, but both are far too busy.

And here are the pages we completed of the collaboration that almost was. One correction to H.S.'s account: it's 180 pages in six months, not three months. He was ready to do it in three, though.

Former Fans artist Jason Thompson (not to be confused with mainstay Jason Waltrip) is now up for a WCCA for best dramatic comic. He's made his strip free, the better to be judged fairly against the others. Strong contender.

He's also got a few Fans pages in his art gallery now.

This one's my personal favorite.

And I have to send out a belated thank-you to Tycho for the link last Monday, which made it a real red-letter day for traffic (Slashdot and Boing Boing linked to the Comixpedia piece, not this site directly).

Interview with Tim Demeter.

Monique MacNaughton wins Tough-Minded Cybernetic Fairy Godparent Award. Actually, I guess the award technically goes to her robot dolphin character. MM isn't cybernetic. As far as I know.

(Posted publicly to invite critical feedback.)

Webcomics-native art styles:

Piroism
Pantspressionism
Sprite
Reinvention

Writing genres with a special flavor in webcomics:

Gamer
Webmanga
Journal
College
Nerdc0re
Improv

...What am I missing...

Eric Burns exposes the true creative process behind Rip & Teri.

If you felt that the last episode of JLU had Superman a bit out of character, especially in the first few minutes-- National Lampoon begs to differ.

Boing Boing's already pointing there, but yours truly has a GREAT roundtable interview on Creative Commons and Webcomics for your edification. It's great not because I'm a great interviewer but because these guys are the great Creative Commons staff, the great JD Frazer, and the ESPECIALLY great Cory Doctorow.

Yeah.

THAT Cory Doctorow.

Update: Whoa! Slashdotted!

"The Sluggite Koan" ends today with what I think is the biggest bandwidth-hog in Sluggy history, which will destroy their servers and end the strip which was OUR DIABOLICAL PLAN ALL ALONG A HA HA. Seriously, working on the first 800-pound gorilla of webcomics has been an enormous honor. I'm quite pleased with the overall results, and despite the demanding nature of the story, most readers seem to be pleased, too.

More later. Busy week.

After all the flamewars he's taken part in over the years, it's really got to be a strange experience for Scott Kurtz to be saying "Maybe you should take a breath, guys?"

We haven't heard from Chex yet about this. He usually sweeps in just as things are wrapping up with le mot juste that no one else has thought of.

I know, I know, I link to nothing else. Coming soon, something else.

In the last 24 hours I've been semi-participant, semi-witness to two other cartoonist tiffs. (Tiffs, not TIFFs, you wiseacres.) I really am starting to think the weather's got something to do with it. That, and the drop in traffic that always hits comics sites in the summer.

At least Comic-Con will be relaxed and congenial. Why, look at how close together my webcartoonist friends will be!

So much fun to be had!

(Thanks to Chris Crosby for the image. Also, if you want a quick guide to finding us at the event, check out Jeffrey Darlington's modified convention map.)

I need a haircut.

Tycho replies (scroll down). I'm less than thrilled with how this has played out. I think there are legitimate points here, but like Scott's last note, it also contains the kind of petty, unfair ad hominem that's not easy to take back.

Like Scott Kurtz, I feel caught in the middle. I like both parties. I've corresponded with both quite recently. And it bothers me to see such a breach. But I think it's been building.

Something Tycho said really rings true for me.

"I Hope Your Infinite Canvas Comics Double As A Nutritious Meal, because creating a comic that can't be printed out is not pragmatic."

Yeah. See Fans.

Every so often I get asked "when is Fans going into print?" And my answer is usually "Never." Because we did the infinite canvas thing (at my insistence-- Jason HATED it) for most of our first seventeen stories, and those stories laid so many foundations for the series that releasing it without them would be like releasing Babylon Five with only the last three seasons.

I was quite ready to leave print behind, you see. Print had done me few favors, and in 1999 the question wasn't whether the comic-book market would completely die, it was when. I bought into the infinite-canvas future lock, stock and barrel.

I backed off from infinite canvas to placate Jason, who's one of the most Luddite webcartoonists you'll ever meet. But nowadays I regret that my best early work has no place in the revitalized print market. And that makes me sad. But sometimes you have to explore, have to push the boundaries. I will be using IC on at least one upcoming project... though I'll be doing it with an eye toward repurposing the art to finite canvas later.

I have less experience with micropayments, but the basic positions don't seem to have changed:

Scott puts a lot of emphasis on a mode of payment he finds "purer and cleaner" than advertising, print, merchandising and such, with only one disadvantage: it's not makin' nearly a living wage, not even if you live in Spokane. Scott sees this as a long-term investment in a better future, as free of art-corrupting influences as commerce can get.

Tycho finds this intolerable. For him, the phrase "starving artist" is more than just a cute bit of self-deprecation. In an early phase, he had to beg readers for grocery money. I think he overestimates the number of people who will ruin their finances because of what Scott pushes. This isn't 1999 and most people can see the alternatives for themselves. But if there's even one starving micropaymentist, then Tycho's got a point.

Both sides are informed by economic situations and experiences vastly at a remove from the average webcartoonist's. Both have moments that make me want to say "right on" and both have moments that are making me shake my head in sorrow.

At first I called this "drama" as a joke: you know, Internet drama-queening-- but I think it's actually becoming real drama. We're seeing a split between two schools of thought here, and the consequences could be real and long-lasting. They've made peace before-- in 2001-- but they've said some things REALLY hard to take back. We'll see.

We'll see.

Things I've learned in the last hour:

I didn't know the Adventures filmmakers had tried to contact Gabe, Tycho and Scott Kurtz.

And I didn't know how Scott McCloud was taking all this.

This is going to mean some rewriting of the History, isn't it?

...and I approve this comic-book adaptation.

Grant Morrison script. New Line cinema. Maybe my favorite printed comic of 2004. Christmas comes early.

I attended the latest Washington Webtoonists meetup last night. Such a change in how it's coming together. Last I checked, WW was more or less on life-support, but Chris Impink and Barb Fischer have really turned that one around. Other attendees included The Gneech, Rob Balder and his horror-host guest whose name I didn't catch, Ryan Dewalt, Rachael Richardson and Phil Kahn, who shared with me this little incident from his blog:

Apparently, Penny and Aggie is fueling lover's quarrels. The women are winning. Like that's a surprise...

Let Comixpexdia know.

But this could be the worst webcomic I've ever, ever read.

I'm not gonna take the sides already drawn here, but a couple of points that everyone seems to be missing--

The roster for the documentary makes no mention of [Kurtz, Gabe, Tycho,] Abrams, Frazer, Milholland, Rosenberg or Gallagher... or ANYONE on Keenspot. I could see missing some of those names, but ALL of them? That does indicate a certain focus.

Second, our little scene may give PA and PVP all the love we can shower, but this documentary is meant to be seen by many people who have never read webcomics before in their life. Maybe it won't be, but I thought that was the goal. If that's so, I think it is a failure of service not to tell these people about which comics are actually supporting themselves outside the MT model--

--if only to throw the courageous experimenters, who refuse to let mammon slow their explorations, into sharp relief.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Well, okay. A little more.

Back on "the scene" less than a month, and Hans Bjordahl is already asking the big questions, referencing History as he does so.

...is a great way to get your interview linked, Mr. Slampyak.

Seriously, I know Ted and I didn't know half this stuff. Nice talk.

The Saga of the Ram, which ended its comic incarnation recently, continues.

Hans Bjordahl, creator of the first Internet comic, is back.

The Webcartoonists' Choice Awards nominees are up for public viewing now. If you're a cartoonist, your vote counts.

No Peter Jackson: Kazu Kibuishi leads with five nominations, but Sarah Ellerton and Ryan North are strong contenders with four.

Toughest choices: Inverloch vs. Reman Mythology for environment design. All four choices for best dramatic comic. Devil's Panties vs. Smile for reality.

Biggest surprises: Orneryboy's site design. It's such a neat idea I can't believe no one's tried it before. Star Cross'd Destiny and Jack.

WTF nomination: Penny Arcade for "character art." Last I checked, Penny Arcade had two characters, whose designs haven't really changed since, oh, 2001? Gabe does do brilliant caricatures, though. Maybe that's what the voters are thinking.

Crossing my fingers: Pishio as newcomer. Digger in black and white art, fantasy and anthro comic. Magellan and Killroy and Tina in superhero stories, Shaenon Garrity as writer. They deserve it, though Digger's got some steep competition, especially in fantasy. Sorry, Steve, but even I have to give "Outstanding use of Flash" to The Discovery of Spoons.

Category I don't understand: Outstanding layout. Yeah, I should have said something about this before when I was on the planning committee, but I thought I got it at first. Now that I've seen the nominees for the year, I'm just not sure if this refers to comic design or internal panel design-- and I don't know if the voters are sure, either.

Most unfairly handicapped: Pup. Archives are still out of order. Runner-up: Star Cross'd Destiny, which points to a dead link and has ten fan comics in the archives before you get back to the good stuff.

A mere television show has no business being as good as this.

Scenario 1:

Me: "Keenspot and Modern Tales are great and have never had any problems! They're better than gold!"
KS, MT: Yaaaaaaaaay!
Readers: Cop-out!

Scenario 2:

Me: "Keenspot and Modern Tales are awful, soul-sucking pits! Beware!"
KS, MT: You're fired.
Readers: Drama! Yaaaaaaay!

Scenario 3:

Me: "Keenspot and Modern Tales are great companies, but they've got some problems that need addressing."
KS, MT: (address problems, or let problems get worse, or do anything, really)
Readers: This #$%& thing is like, DECADES out of date.

Scenario 4:

Me: "Keenspot and Modern Tales were important companies. Got some things right, got some things wrong. Set the tone for much of the webcomics field. Here's why they were important and what we can learn. And no, sifting through dozens of sources to do this chapter wasn't hard at all."
KS, MT: (shrug)
Readers: That's actually pretty okay. I feel smarter.
Me: (collapses from aneurysm, spends rest of life eating through straw)

Not exactly the slavish genuflection that in our heart of hearts, we all prefer, but still, I'm grateful someone is talking about The History of Webcomics. That someone is DJ Coffman, a skilled webcartoonist (but don't call him that to his face) whose star is probably on the rise.

Conversation is here.

DJ's blog is here.

They're SMART. They GET IT.

Not one reader of "Koan" has said, "Oh, he's saying all Sluggites are losers!" They get that this is a specific guy and one who previously HAD a life.

It's kind of a shame that the fellow who used Sluggy to propose had to do so during this storyline. I mean, I'm sure it didn't help things that his romantic speech came after a few strips about near-suicidal post-breakup depression. If only I'd known.

Too bad I didn't write this in time to riff on Clay Yount, either.

But these are minor regrets. Really, this story seems to be going over much better than I hoped. Now we'll see if HS Kim can EVER stand to work with me again, because I was quite the fussbudget on this one. I usually have a few rules that I employ to make sure I end up asking for as few do-overs as possible, but Sluggy stage fright scotched them all. I'm not usually like this, maaaaan! "It's never happened to me before!"

The History of Webcomics assumed complete control of my life once again yesterday, as a conversation with Scott led me to rewrite the section of the History that deals with him. I feel good about this one, and about Chapter Three in general: it's got some new things to say about webcomics' early key figures. But MAN, it took forever. I was up till 2 AM. Here's hoping Chapter Four goes faster.

This discussion of dead comics techniques is like, exactly what I wanted to say in a recently recorded (not yet available) Meanwhile.