T Campbell's Blog

Search Engine Funnies doesn't have a monopoly on search engine humor. FIVE sites, including South Parkiness and The Onion.

Hello T,

Thank you for your interest in Google AdSense. Unfortunately, afterreviewing your application, we're unable to accept you into Google AdSense at this time. We did not approve your application for the reasons listed below.

Issues: Account information incorrect or not provided

Further detail: Account information incorrect or not provided: We've found that the account information provided in your application is incomplete or incorrect. Individual applications require the full name of the individual responsible for the account in the 'Your Name' field.

In other words, "our hi-tech interface can't warn you that using your one-letter-long given name may cause our system to reject you, so you lose a few business days resubmitting."

Other searchy stuff:

John Battelle improves upon TIME Magazine's online search article. By adding something called "hyper-links" to it. Ribbing aside, the TIME piece really captures why this is exciting.

Google's battle with the concept of copyright slowly heats up.

And finally, Yahoo Mail strikes back against Gmail.

The Science Fiction Blog was my attempt to do something useful with a format which seemed at the time (and still seems sometimes) to be 95% filled with self-aggrandizing jerks, ridiculously uninformed politics and pictures of kitties. I was inspired largely by Language Log, Search Engine Blog and other subject-specific blogs of interest.

I had a good run with it, but with Fans mostly gone and so many other projects in the air, I just haven't been able to muster the obsession that SFB requires.

So I'm passing the torch to Ray Radlein, who will no doubt lead the concept into a new and glorious age.

Keep up with it here.

AOL Cancellation War Stories.

"People in motion, people in motion:" Yahoo prepares to move to San Francisco.

Thoroughly execrable search engine optimization company accuses blogger of "divulging" publicly available "secrets," sues him for one million dollars.

I had to laugh when I found out that this fan of Search Engine Funnies lived in the general vicinity and, like my podcasting collaborator, was named "David B."

In case you missed it, I have a Comixpedia brief about how Belarus' crackdown on webcartoonists. Until this week, I didn't even know this nation existed, and man, what I wouldn't give to see those cartoons. Who knows if anyone will see them now?

Eric Burns name-drops me in a retrospective on Websnark that's the best thing he's done in some time, and worth a look.

Finally, one of my searches turned up this TOTALLY GENUINE COMIC STRIP in which Mickey Mouse prepares to put a bullet through his brain. Want more? The full "suicide sequence" is here. Story concept by WALT DISNEY HIMSELF!

It contains so many announcements of importance! It's Friday evening and all the news is hitting at once!

Graphic Smash is open for submissions. Well, it's always open for submissions, but I'm setting up a brand new lineup to launch early this fall! Send stuff to me here.

Modern Tales seeks new advertising sales representative. Yes, the subscription guys. If you've got ad sales experience and are looking to work alongside some of the most creative people in comics, this is your shot. Send applications to me here.

Search Engine Funnies seeks new artist. Why yes, this does have something to do with "Blackhat." Jamie and Thor are not going anywhere, but we're gonna be ramping up our production a bit. I am really going to be putting my back into this comic over the next four months; I believe we will succeed but I promise you we'll get attention. Send art samples to me here.

Rising Stars of Manga 5 is out. You know, the one with Pop Star in it? You can buy it right here. And... and...

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Amy Mebberson has returned to the Pop Star project just in time for Tokyopop to give its final "yes." The name of the series will change, but that's pretty much the only thing that will, and OH do we have some good times in store for you!

So, three opportunities to make money, one to spend it wisely, and one to hoard it in gleeful anticipation. Who said bloggers were cheap?

Are you ready?

Here are a few stories that jumped out at me which might make their way into Search Engine Funnies, version 3.0... if something else more interesting doesn't get there first.

Softcorn porn site sues Google for copyright infringement, insists "that pink is OURS."

The new Google Talk medium means a new and exciting way to spam, or as the experts call it, "spIM."

BusinessWeek: Google vs. Earth.

Why does a man climb a mountain?

ZG, the kid spammer!

Even though it's sure to be filled with flaws (are "chipper" and "happy" really two different categories? What about "jealous?"), I really approve of this attempt to build a search engine that scans blogs by emotion. (Note: PDF document.) (Also note: not light reading.)

Friday morning, I just barely have time to see Margie Lassiter, the family housekeeper, whom I've known almost all my life. Whatever she's done to herself in the last year, she needs to keep doing it, because she's dropped at least 25 pounds and looks my age. But when we hug and she talks, it's clearly the same old Margie-- sweet as molasses in chocolate syrup.

And then I'm off-- driving more or less straight from Virginia Beach to Baltimore for the 3:00 Otakon panel, hosted by Phil Kahn and starring me, Kelly "STrRedWolf" Price (recently of Comic Genesis admin) and Christine Fisher. It's "Webcomics 101." I talk creative, Kelly talks tech and Chris talks legal. Come 8:00, we all end up getting together again for a special writing workshop.

I also make the rounds, asking the last few questions needed for the book and meeting lots of fascinating webcomic people, from the Applegeeks to Dave Roman and Raina T. to oh man so many I can't count them all

All due respect, though, the highlight of the con for me was a lunch date with Svetlana Chmakova, colleague on the Modern Tales network and soon-to-be colleague on Tokyopop (said with crossed fingers). Svet's a charming conversationalist and it's been a long time since I've known the pleasure of a shared meal.

The other big thrill was discovering a National Museum of Dentistry less than four blocks from where Raina was selling her tale of dental misadventure. That has to be fate, right? Raina! Have you called this museum yet???

My biggest surprise purchase was the Disposable Parts anthology. Josh Mirman did an absolutely crackerjack job putting this together. Worth every penny. I hope we see more of these.

Whew. After I got back, things quieted into a work routine. There was a nice museum visit with two old college friends (well, sort of college friends) but I'll tell you tomorrow. Ninight...

Forgot to mention! Wednesday afternoon before the movie, I saunter next door with Daddy to pay a visit to Ethel Gibbs. Ethel is 100 years old, and she generally cranks the TV up to the max because she can't hear so well, so my doorbell-ringing goes unnoticed. But we go around to the side and she gets up to greet me as I come in. Her hug is surprisingly strong. She puts in her hearing aid and we talk for a while about my career, Washington D.C. and current events. Ethel shares some stories about my childhood which I have of course completely forgotten (they revolve around the fact that I used to pace around completely lost in thought-- something I still do on my way to the gym). She's slowing down here and there-- she doesn't cook much anymore-- but offers to prepare my favorite lunch next time I'm by. I tell her it's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which she says is just perfect.

100 years.

"Hurry up and get famous!" she says. "I don't have long!" But it's a loud, cheery voice, the kind that laughs at death. We should all live so well.

So many changes have hit the town since I moved out for good. The new convention center is going up, and the old Pavilion is coming down. We go in for the official "ribbon-cutting ceremony." I have mixed feelings at first-- the Pavilion was a huge eyesore that Virginia Beach had somehow tricked itself into thinking was "iconic," but it was also the place where I attended my very first comic-book conventions. (No famous guests; those conventions were entirely dealer-driven. Good times.)

We meet up with a friend of the family, Robbie Goodman, who had more than a hand in putting all this together, and he is as excited as a kid at Christmas as he walks us through it all. He uses the phrase "on the punch list" at least four times to describe what still needs doin', but the new Center really is very impressive, physically and architecturally. Its slanted glass-and-steel side recalls a sail, and there are repetitions and variations on the shape throughout the building, which has an overall nautical feel. It also has a magnificent fourth-floor view. Many will meet here. Things will happen.

Daddy shows me the Virginia Beach Gallery, which has a collection of his artwork (though the link won't show you any samples-- yet). It occurs to me that I don't mention nearly often enough that my dad has shamelessly hogged all the painting genes in the family, and there are a lot of them. I'll see if I can't have him send me an image or two to show you.

Home again, and Daddy asks me to teach him how to download podcasts, and he patiently listens to one of our more accessible "Meanwhiles." I don't think I can adequately convey how it feels to have my family take an interest like this. They've always made it clear that they loved me, but in the years just after college my career aspirations met with lots of awkward pauses. Maybe it has to do with my finally making it on my own-- I don't know. I just know that I won't forget this feeling.

Let's just catch up one day at a time, shall we?

Wednesday I went down to see my parents. They were overdue for a visit and I'd promised them one as soon as the book was pretty much finished ("pretty much" meaning "finished except for images and layout").

I arrive with copies of Webcomics: The Book and Penny and Aggie in tow, and to my astonishment and delight, Mom and Dad sit me down, make a bit of small talk as Mom feeds me lunch-- and then sit and read them. When I was doing Fans, a few pages was the most I could hope to get them through. P&A and even Webcomics are a lot more accessible than Fans was on a good day, but I think this has a significance beyond that fact.

(Webcomics: The Book is not to be confused with the upcoming History of Webcomics. I have a four-page section in this one, though. Time to update my credit list!)

After that, Mom, Dad and I head off to see March of the Penguins, which really should be seen with friends or family. In case you haven't seen it, it may surprise you to know that penguins are total badasses. Well, not in the sense that they can take on Hulk Hogan in the ring, but let's see Hulk Hogan go 125 days without food at 85 degrees below zero and spend half that time balancing an egg on his feet. This is the best movie I've seen all year. It's worth your time.

Off to some exotic new restaurant for dinner-- finding these places seems to be a hobby of Mom's-- and then home again for a relaxing evening.

Many posts coming later today! Promise!

Everyone!

Okay, not everyone. But it sure feels like it.

Scroll down (or if you're reading this after August 20, 2005 or so, go here and look for the August 13 entry).

Well, she's Filipino, not Japanese but it's still strange to see Rumy's signature move on Flickr.

I was going to be a book editor, but now I'm not.

> Dear T.:
>
> Thank you for your contract submission and welcome to the editing
> services department of American Book Publishing. We hope you will find
> our approach to publishing both enjoyable and rewarding. You will have
> the opportunity to assist new authors in developing and polishing their
> original manuscripts and leave your mark of quality editing on the
> finished work.
>

After reviewing all the available information, Todd, I'm afraid I have to decline. I am seriously concerned about the litany of complaints that writers have brought and continue to bring against American Book Publishers. I doubt that a company with such a reputation could be of much help to me in establishing a salaried editorship. I'm sorry things didn't work out.

Risk of the business, I suppose. Gotta give Google credit where it's due-- the contract ABP sent me was a bit fishy, but it gave my suspicions confirmation.

I'll be at Otakon for a Friday 3pm panel on webcomics, and shmoozing a bit with creators after that. If you're in the area and want to see me, stop on by.

Does "webcomics" set off your Microsoft Word spellchecker?

Mine ignores it, though it does pick on "webcomic," singular. I'm wondering if the program has some reactive strain in it so that if you use a certain word over 100 times or some such, it'll add it to the dictionary.

If so, I'd say that's pretty cool. But it's just a theory.

Y'know, Steve Conley and John Gallagher are great guys who've always been nice to me, but this is just embarrassing. Dead imagelinks, time to bury 'em.

I will be watching Friday's "Attack of the Show" on G4, and you should, too.

However, there are two things that I'm not able to see, unless someone knows something I don't, and I'd appreciate some help with them for the sake of Search Engine Funnies.

David Letterman's Google joke on the show that aired Monday, 8/8. I've done my best to reconstruct it from the available information, but I think it'd probably be better with the quote.

Google Current on Current TV, a channel my provider hasn't picked up yet.

Can anyone tell me about these?

All the requests for art for the book are done now.

Spoke with my editor-- this thing's clearly going to require an extra week to get laid out properly. This'll be the first time I've laid out text since 1999, so it'll be an interesting assignment!

With the History now hurtling towards completion, I've finally got a good enough picture of this to know what illustrations I need outside the chapter headings. But since this is a print book (and black and white, no less!), it'll be a job and a half tracking some of them down. Plus, the chapter heading illos seem to be comin'... slowly.

I'm going to put the list of needed illos here. Watch how fast these get taken care of! Or, you know, not!

CHAPTER ILLUSTRATIONS STILL NEEDED: Almost all of them. "Foreword" (check w/Piro), "The Seven Horsemen" (check w/Scott Kurtz), "All Together Now" (check w/David Willis), "Category Search" (ask Graveyard Greg and Webtroll), "The Downloading Interlaced GIF" (check w/Kazu), "Screen Scene" (ask Milholland), "Money Matters" (try Jantze) "Stepping into the Futures" (c'mon, Abrams!), and "My History With Webcomics" (it's gotta be the Waltrips). Plus cover (get Gisele the specs).

Non-chapter illos (I'll italicize the ones I have later):

:-)
“I’m sorry” page from Comics and Sequential Art
A Modest Destiny
A Softer World
Aged hand in India (drawn by Sylvan Migdal)
Alien Loves Predator
Angst Technology
Argon Zark and Zeta, looking hot
Astounding Space Thrills – tooncasting ads
Attack of the Killer Sherpas last page
Badly Drawn Kitties
Big Panda screenshot
Bob and George
Brandon Hanvey’s The Little Things
Bug Bash
Bun Bun plush
Bush (drawn by Sylvan Migdal)
Butternutsquash
buzzComix logo
Cat Garza (2001 SDCC exhibition)
Checkerboard Nightmare on Iron Man
Checkerboard Nightmare on other comics (the “reality show” strip)
Choose Your Own Carl – The Right Number
Chris Crosby self-portrait
Chugsworth Academy
Colin White’s Application to LCP
Comixpedia’s “Gamer” cover
CRFH 4/1/2004
CRFH with Dave in Mexico.
CRFH with Dave’s death
Ctrl-Alt-Del
Ctrl-Alt-Del “He was MY FRIEND!”
Ctrl-Alt-Del book cover
Daniel Merlin Goodbrey’s Icarus Tangents
David Gaddis (2001 SDCC exhibition)
Demian5 (2001 SDCC exhibition)
Diesel Sweeties’ Red Robot #C-63
Dilbert (yeah, right, I can dream)
Dinosaur Comics (2 examples)
Doctor Fun
Drew Weing’s Journal Comic
Dumbrella photo
Early Keenspot strip top-of-screen screenshot
El Goonish Shive (transgendering strip)
Exploding Dog
Fans (yeah, that’ll be tough)
Filler
Filler (with the squirrel)
First PvP
Flight
Gaming Guardians
Gnomz.com screenshots
Goats’ Diablo
Gopher vs. Mosaic
Gossamer Commons
GPF-Help Desk drawn by Darlington
GraphicSmash, Serializer, Girlamatic logos
Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20040811
http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=040811,
http://somethingpositive.net/sp07312005.shtml
http://www.goats.com/archive/000221.html
ICST 5 – Scott speaking out against ads
iPod comics – Clickwheel
Irregular Webcomic
It’s About Girls
It’s Walky $100 theater
It’s Walky in-character endorsements – “Oh, my Gosh! I can’t endorse THIS!”
James Kochalka
Jax & Co.
Joe Zabel’s Ice Queen
Joey Manley (Migdal)
Justice League Unlimited (TV cartoon)
Keenspace/Comics Genesis logo
Keenspot FCBD 2005 cover
Keenspot logo
Kernel Panic
Kevin & Kell
Kevin and Kell (strip with a carnivore joke)
Licklider (Migdal)
Little Gamers
Little Nemo (any sample will do)
Mac Hall
Megatokyo – Piro’s favorite
Megatokyo “waking on the plane”
Megatokyo Strip 138.
Megatokyo: “Your kung fu is best.”
Modern Tales logo
Mutt and Jeff (any sample will do)
My Life With Pets
My Obsession with Chess
Narbonic June 14, 2005
Neglected Mario Character Comix
NetBoy
Non Sequitur 12/31/2004
Nowhere Girl
OnlineComics.net screenshot
Order of the Stick
Overcompensating: Bigfoot enjoys the smell of pepper spray
Overcompensating: fighting a savage dog.
Patrick Farley(2001 SDCC exhibition)
Patrick Farley’s Delta Thrives
Penny Arcade CCG
Penny Arcade first strip
Penny Arcade: Gabe’s proposal
Penny Arcade’s anti-Halo 1 strip
Penny Arcade’s DIVX
Penny Arcade’s pro-Halo 2 strip
Penny Arcade’s ragging on Megatokyo
Penny Arcade’s strip with names “John” and “Jack”
Philosophy for Beginners p.3
Planet Cartoonist logo
Popeye (not reprinted elsewhere, long shot but not beyond reason)
PvP - Alec Guiness
PvP – first groping
PvP “24-hour strip”
PvP “Skull vs. the Savage Dragon.” YOU JUST KILLED THE SAVAGE DRAGON!
PvP Saga of Ryzom
PvP: “ANYTHING FOR A LAUGH”
Real Life
Reinventing Comics “new dish”
Reinventing Comics on micropayments
RPG World: Strip with hero.
S*P with Davan billing poor people
Sabrina Online – First strip, January 2003
Saga of the Ram
Saturnalia
Scary-Go-Round and Mac Hall
Schlock Mercenary – no pregnancies here!
Schlock Mercenary and Exploitation Now
Scott McCloud
Shrink
Shutterbug Follies
Sinfest with “How could GOD go out of style?” Patrick Farley’s “The Spiders” with Islam
Sluggy Freelance – Fire and Rain
Sluggy Freelance – introducing Gofotron!
sluggy freelance 040422
Sluggy Freelance book
Sluggy Freelance first Bun-Bun
Sluggy Freelance strip #1
Sluggy Lego
Sluggy-UF crossover, QW-S*P crossover, Foglio on Sluggy
Slugs
Snarky
Snoopy, Garfield and Dilbert’s Dogbert dolls, stuffed Bun-Bun
Spamusement
Stickman Arcade
Suburban Jungle (“Anything is a prey species…”)
Supermegatokyo
Superosity strip featuring Chris
Sutherland (Migdal—not done)
Suzie View
Teen Titans (TV cartoon)
The 10K Commotion
The 5th Wave
The Batman (TV cartoon)
The Evil That Men Forget To Do
The Guardians
The Joy of Tech
The Norm
The Parking Lot is Full
The Perry Bible Fellowship
The Unlikely Society
Todd Webb’s Cartoon Journal
Topwebcomics logo
Tristan Farnon (2001 SDCC exhibition)
Trudy can’t shoot Nick in GPF
Understanding Comics “the great debate”
Understanding Comics redefinition
User Friendly first strip
Venus Envy (transgendering strip)
Webcomics List
Where the Buffalo Roam (sample strip)
White Ninja Comics
Yirmumah
Zot #36

It hasn't yet propogated to all Wikipedia's content partners, but I'm sure it will-- Fans is now an example of traditional format, not an example of infinite canvas.

Makes sense to me. Yeah, Fans used infinite canvas a lot in its first two years and flirted thereafter, but it was still in traditional page-format more often than not. I'm flattered that they kept me on at all, really.

Huh, also a new section on "4-koma." That's a new one on me, but it makes sense.

No, this wasn't an ego-surf :-), it was research for the revisions. Speaking of which, back to 'em.

The book's foreword is done-- I think. I took it as a chance to address some of the questions about the book as raised by D.J. Coffman and my own sleepless nights. I'm not 100% sure it's the best way to lead, because it does "go negative" a bit before going positive.

So I'm quoting the whole dang thing here for your review. See what you think. (Bear in mind that I want to reach both webcomics people and non-webcomics people with this.)

In case the above isn't clear, comments welcome. Comments begged for!

HISTORY OF WEBCOMICS (2005/2006 edition)

FOREWORD: QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING

The History of Webcomics: Who Cares?

Death tolls are in the millions. Cancer and AIDS continue to ravage our population, oil reserves spiral steadily toward depletion and some people say that 9-11 was the beginning of the end for the civilized world.

Miracles await us. We’ve conquered smallpox and polio, mastered the atom, looked into the stars, seen our own brainwaves. People live longer and healthier lives than ever. And though war and disease still cover the earth, hope remains for an age of peace and prosperity, a fair global economy, justice for all.

These matters should demand our attention. They should consume us.

Yet, here is a book about comics on the World Wide Web.

What right does it have to exist?

This right: The arts matter. Even at their humblest, even if their only goals are cheap thrills or cheap laughs. When the world grows cruel, thrills and laughs can be our most treasured possessions. On our worst of worst days, they can keep us from pulling a trigger.

Even at their humblest, comics give those thrills and laughs to different people with different backgrounds, different experiences, different minds. On the platform of the Web, these thrills and laughs can spread across the planet as never before. And suddenly a systems administrator in Arizona has something in common with a famous Iraqi architect and blogger.[1]

Shared experiences like these affix us to one another like bricks in the building of a better world. And the still image, unlike film, radio or text, can bring ideas across in a single glance. That may make it the fastest-drying “glue” of all.

And comics can have much higher ambitions than this. Award-winning comics have given first-hand accounts of the Holocaust, modern Iran and life with cancer. Comics have given safety instructions for first aid, airplane crashes and terrorist attacks. They have re-imagined the very principles of art and narrated the history of the world.[2]

But their audience can only go as far as their distribution channels. The most long-lasting channel—newspaper syndication—hobbles their size while the most “pure” channel—American comic books’ “direct market”—hobbles their audience, and comics in both channels either conform to a few rigid genres or don’t last very long. The Web offers an alternative where comics can be as large or small as their artists want, free from syndicate interference or publishing costs, and found by anyone in the world with a computer and a connection.

The Web is a blessing for this art—for all the arts, in fact. We need to look at how it works, and has worked, to figure out how to use it best—for the benefit of readers, of artists, of the world.

Planned Obsolescence?

But why a history?

Antarctic Press and I are publishing this book in early 2006, and I finished its last draft in mid-2005. Though a few milestones led up to it, the first true webcomic only launched in 1993.[3] That’s only a dozen years. The first dozen years of newspaper strips only produced a few strips that historians remember today, and almost none that broke out of the restrictions of vaudeville comedy.[4] The “Golden Age” of comic books lasted over twelve years, or longer, depending on whom you ask, but no one had the perspective to call it that until another ten years later.[5]

With these precedents, we might assume that webcomics are still current events. And in some ways they are. Their first wave of pioneers has more or less retired the field, but many of the second wave are still working on the same projects they started seven or eight years ago.

But things move faster these days. The Web has gone from being a noncommercial geek toy to a hurricane of investor dollars to a disgraced, depressed enterprise to a healthy, robust network of businesses and free services, all in the space of twelve years.

Webcomics have likewise grown. In their early days, they were almost all crude single drawings, clearly imitating printed comic strips or television animation. Their creators had some hope that they’d find an audience, but had little idea who their audience would be. A few of them coveted those investor dollars, but most didn’t have any kind of plan for making money without them.

Today “webcartoonists” have developed genres, art styles, business models and a culture all their own, while acclimating a growing wave of immigration from print. The pace of change has been rapid, and as this book nears completion it shows no sign of slowing.

Which begs the question: why a book in the first place? Won’t it go out of date too quickly? Why not a blog, or a wiki, or some other Web-based text format? Indeed, this project started as a series of articles on Comixpedia, a website devoted to covering webcomics. For at least a year after its release, you can find supplementary “patches” at http://www.webcomics.org/webcomics. And the ensuing years may see an updated edition or a “Volume Two.”

Regardless, print has too many benefits to pass up, including portability, a more well-rounded marketplace, easier reading for a work of this length and high-resolution layouts that can better accommodate text and images together. What’s more, it means this book is “flying without a net,” bound by its format to stick to the points that will matter in the long term. Blogs often get caught up in transient matters.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Finally, there’s the question of bias.

Webcomics don’t have much in the way of “outsider commentary.” Its most prominent critics at this writing are probably Scott McCloud, William G and Eric Burns, all of whom have webcomics of their own. I won’t be an outsider, either. I’ve been involved at almost every level: as writer, editor, reporter, community member, letterer and occasional (very bad) artist. I’ve also kept deep ties with the two highest-earning “collectives” of webcomics.

Naturally, this has left me more familiar with some comics than others, even excluding the ones I’ve written myself (which I’ll save for the afterword). At times, the best example I can find comes from a friend, and I may be unaware of another perfectly good one. But I’ve read many new comics for the purpose of this history. I’ve relied not on hearsay or opinion, but on interviews and verifiable quotes and facts. I’ve done my best to balance the account, criticizing even my friends and the companies with which I’ve worked. And I freely invite criticism of this volume, so that the “patches,” and the next volume, can be better still.

This field is too important to do anything less.

The arts matter.

Let’s begin.

[1] Martin Lebl and “Salam Pax.” Information gathered from http://talkinghead.keenspace.com/d/20001207.html, http://dear_raed.blogspot.com, http://www.5z.com/martin/resume and http://slate.msn.com/id/2083847.
[2] Respectively, Maus, Persepolis 1 and 2, Our Cancer Year and Mom’s Cancer, uncopyrighted works found on airlines like US Air and United, The Boy Scout Handbook, http://www.ready.gov, Understanding Comics and the currently incomplete Cartoon History of the Universe. By no means is this list exhaustive: there may be other award-winning Holocaust comics, for instance.
[3] Doctor Fun, as we’ll see.
[4] Frank C. Rizzo, “Seeing ourselves in the funny papers,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 21, 2003.
[5] Mark Evanier, Comic Books And Other Necessities Of Life, 2005; Les Daniels, Superman: The Complete History (1938-1998), 1998; “Golden Age of Comic Books” Wikipedia entry, http://www.answers.com/topic/golden-age-of-comic-books, 2005.

Right here.

The lettering really sells it for me.

It really would've helped the first draft of the money chapter.

Oh, well. Still time for revisions...

(Edit: revised link to table of contents...)

A poem in Chinese:

青玉案
东风夜放花千树，更吹落、星如雨。
宝马雕车香满路。
凤箫声动，玉壶光转，一夜鱼龙舞。
蛾儿雪柳黄金缕，笑语盈盈暗香去。
众里寻他千百度。
蓦然回首，那人却在，灯火阑珊处。

Can anyone translate?

(There's a Search Engine Funnies credit for ya if you can...)

After a nice day spent with Joey Manley. We got to the National Museum of American History, but that wasn't really the centerpiece to the day-- the centerpiece was just talking, face to face, about this webcomics thing that has consumed so much of our lives. Webcomics Nation is up and running, the book is nearly finished, and both of us are turning our attention to What Comes Next. Good day.

Today's for catching up with my girls-- Penny, Aggie and Tina Young. Tomorrow it'll be time to start the revision rush...

Meant for the previous post to be the last for a while, and had one foot out the door to the gym when a good friend showed me this.

I'm the "guy from Comixpedia" that Squidi/Sean Howard refers to, here. He's not making this into a personal attack against me, at least not as I see it, he's just treating my e-mail as an official notice of obsolescence. From the sound of it, he would have retired the field with or without me, but I'm sorry he took it the way he did. He might be surprised by the actual "Pixel Art" section. We'll just have to wait and see.

Okay, now I really do have to get to the gym. See you at the Webtoonists meeting, I hope!

Revised with further thoughts: I've largely used interviews as supplements in this book. The "conversation" about webcomics tends to take place online, and I feel that's where most of the important things are said. I've read all Sean's blog posts (before he took down the blog), his Comixpedia interview, and the transcript of his chat with Scott Kurtz. I know a lot about his fight, but considering that "the Penny Arcade incident" was its most dramatic moment, I'd be a fool not to include it-- and in light of his concern about being mischaracterized, I thought he'd rather I quote what he SAID, not what GABE said he said.

Ah, well. It's clearly a difficult matter for him and I didn't mean to ruffle feathers. When I want to ruffle feathers, you'll know it.

Chapters 7 and 8 (Webcomics Community, Webcomics Revenue) are fully drafted.

Whew.

The hard part is over now. The remaining three chapters... Why It All Matters, Where It All Might Be Going and What I Have To Do With It... will require almost no research. I'll have to unleash a full complement of revisions over the next 10 days, but that's actually kinda fun... a finished page you can make better is way less intimidating than a blank page with a few outline notes.

I'll probably go after Chapter 1 ("Prehistory") with a meat cleaver. In retrospect, some bits of our "prehistory" are like baby photos-- cute and all, but no indication of whether we'll grow up to be President Kennedy or Jeffrey Dahmer.

"Where It All Might Be Going" is the classic "review and conclude" sort of chapter at the end of every history book you ever read. That'll go hand-in-hand with the revision phase. Easiest that way.

"Why It All Matters" will probably go at the beginning instead of the end-- we oughta get some idea what the goals are before we get down to business.

The "What I Have To Do With It" chapter is one you won't find in the outline, but it's the natural result of my wrestling with the issue of how I announce potential biases without turning it into one big self-promotional gig. The rest of the history mentions Graphic Smash, Comixpedia and the WCCAs but leaves me and the comics I've written out of the picture. This will let me lay my cards on the table, make readers understand why I love the form and don't just Consider It Important, and condense that self-promo stuff into a page or two. :-)

Somehow I also have to fold in some work on the Pop Star pitch, which is getting a new lease on life (more about that later) and the latest Penny and Aggie story, "The Race Card."

Oh, and incidentally, I'll be attending the Washington Webtoonists meetup tonight along with Joey Manley. If you're in the area, you don't want to miss this.

Whew. Whew.

Okay, off to the gym.

For those who come seeking visual inspiration...

Getting back after my vacation, I finally admitted that a few strips in my alleged "favorites list" just aren't doing it for me any more. I really don't want to name names here, but a few that I used to think were some of the best on the Web now seem to be going out of their way to... un-impress me.

Makes things a little awkward, because if you're one of my favorites, you usually hear about it, and then you're sort of a friend. You have to support your friends-- even when they move in directions you don't quite understand-- and finding the line between support and endorsement is hard, when they used to be one and the same.

And let's turn that lens back on myself. When I got most of the pull quotes on http://tcampbell.net, I was primarily doing Fans. I'm sorta guessing that Penny and Aggie and Search Engine Funnies have a different audience base. I'm proud that Harlan Ellison liked my stuff, but if you actually called him up today I doubt he'd remember me. Should I go ahead and take down-- or at least minimize-- those pull quotes? It's time to add SEF to the website, anyway...

Today's theme: late comics. Are they grounds for execution?

Latest Rip and Teri and Search Engine Funnies here and here. Funny stories about how they came to be late, but I think you probably had to be there.