T Campbell's Blog

Nothing much going on today, except for the ADVANCEMENT OF A REVOLUTIONARY NEW PLATFORM FOR COMICS.

Starting today, Clickwheel is recruiting online cartoonists who want to get their work on the iPod Nano, iPod Photo and iPod Video. I've made announcements about this project before, but this time a) we have contracts ready b) we have CASH ADVANCES and c) we have a launch planned for early next week.

I'm commissioning editor. I've sent out a round of invitations already... if you're not on it and want to get on it, talk to me.

Compensation to the first fifty strips we sign, more compensation if you prove one of the ten most popular downloads.

More news about this over the next week.

"Comm:" Jim Keplinger proposes a new word for "to generate user-generated content."

The word's potential for better understanding of new media is almost as rich as its potential for use in dirty jokes.

Joey Manley interviews me and Ryan North about OhNoRobot. Highlight:

Well, you can Google "zombie webcomics" and actually find Eric Maziade's ZOMBIES. But you can't find the miles-long zombie sequence in SCARY-GO-ROUND, or "28 Geeks Later," the clever mix of parody and suspense in SLUGGY FREELANCE, or a gag cartoon about ZOMBIE ISLAND.

SLUGGY FREELANCE and SCARY-GO-ROUND are two of the more successful webcomics out there, critically as well as commercially. And I find both their takes on zombies funny and thoughtful. They should not be overlooked simply because their word balloons are not HTML text. We created OhNoRobot to see that they won't be.

We haven't indexed SLUGGY or SCARY-GO-ROUND yet, but believe me, it's on the agenda...

More.

New Penny and Aggie story begins today-- and it's a longie, so it's the last new one for a while. Story features the return of a number of supporting characters, including one who's poised to make all kinds of trouble. Enjoy these easy victories while you can, Penny.

Highly recommended: "Off Road" by Sean Murphy. I laughed out loud and often at this gentle, charming and surprisingly fast-paced tale of an ill-advised joyride and the brink of manhood. I was anything but a testosterone junkie like the three high-schoolers in this graphic novel, but I still found it really easy to root for them. Murphy has started his writing career with a bang.

My first professional use of OhNoRobot, researching how other comics handle the concept of a "press conference." In the process, I uncovered some inconsistencies in the way strips are transcribed. Ryan and I don't want to be hardasses about such things, but it's best to use this guideline unless you've got major extenuating circumstances. If in doubt, you can always ask...

Happy and full and surrounded by relatives, with the drone of the comfortingly mediocre Sister Act in the background. Too many stories to tell in one blog post. About 28 people came over for Thanksgiving dinner, though we're down to a comfortable 12 tonight. Got to talking with Uncle Jack about setting up a wiki for the family. I'll be looking into that while I'm here.

Everyone is doing well. That's the real miracle of this particular Thanksgiving.

The rest is gravy.

Boy, if Aggie had as many love interests as she had real-life admirers...

And P&A has 137 transcriptions!!! (And yeah, ONR made the 10,000 transcription goal!)

Tim Broderick flatters me while responding to my recent Comixpedia essay about detective stories. Tim is a man who knows his detective stories. His comments are worth reading.

Blogging may be light over Thanksgiving holidays, but we'll see.

9659 transcribed comics at this writing. I expect a Thanksgiving slowdown, but I'll bet we crack the five digits before that! So awesome!

All too fitting that in his departure from the webcomics scene, Checkerboard Nightmare becomes the focus for the latest Wikipedia-vs-webcomics dust-up.

Responses run the gamut, as per usual. Gwalla claims the system is working. Kristofer Straub calls it a "complete failure." Phil Kahn dismisses the whole issue with two terse words. Eric Burns has a few more. And William G feels Wikipedia still gives us way more credit than we deserve, and we may earn our place in the sun one day, but it's not earned yet.

I actually think they're all being too optimistic, and the day I'm more pessimistic than William G is worth noting. My take: Wikipedia's undergoing a serious problem, and Wikipedia is not as replaceable as everyone seems to think. Comixpedia.org is a nice alternate-universe Wikipedia for webcartoonists to browse, and it's hella better than nothing, but I don't think Yahoo or Google are going to take it more seriously than the "real" Wikipedia any time soon.

And that's critical, because webcomics are going to need a constant influx of new readers to continue to grow up healthy and strong. I was surprised and delighted to see such recognition from the "mainstream" Web culture when I first stumbled onto Wikipedia for webcomics. By contrast, PvP spent YEARS without an acknowledgement ANYWHERE in the top ten Google results for its own title (ITS OWN! TITLE!), and you better believe that hurt its growth. Ditto "User Friendly." (Oh, sure, they're at the top NOW, but I've got my eye on you, Google. We're working on that Search Engine Funnies sequel. Tremble.)

The dream of Wikipedia, as I saw it, is organizing and presenting the whole of human knowledge. To delete anything besides demonstrable falsehood seems incompatible with this goal.

I am aware that others have abused this open policy for self-marketing and have spoken out against it. I suspect this is where the zeal for deletion has its roots. No one likes to feel used, and a handful or more of editors are probably sick and tired of self-promoters profiting from their labors.

In such a culture, a relentless, shameless self-promoter like the title character of Checkerboard Nightmare is probably like a moth to flame. Editors take one look at the first and last strip, which fairly shout, "READ MY STRIP! READ MY STRIP!", miss the irony, and feel cheapened. And respond accordingly.

Eric takes these editors to task for not knowing their subject, but really, how realistic is it to expect all Wikipedia editors to maintain our comprehensive knowledge of it? The know-it-all attitude is not limited to those darned Wikipedia editors. Webcomics are sectarian and insular; fans of Dumbrella often show staggering ignorance of Keenspot and vice versa. The miracle is that there are enough people like Gwalla who involve themselves with the process to keep things more or less on track.

Today, a Wikipedia deletion debate is like watching Court TV: you can't believe what some of those people are saying, yet far more often than not, justice prevails. Will this situation continue? I have strong doubts. It seems like the deleters are gaining ground within the community. Furthermore, I recognize the signs from the beginning of the decline within the Open Directory Project. (I'll tell those war stories some other time.)

And with all due respect, to those who say "who the #$%@ cares what Wikipedia thinks?" It's the most popular source of comprehensive information online. Therefore, who cares what it thinks is A LOT OF PEOPLE.

This matters. It's worth fighting for.

I'll try to do a bit more research and organize these thoughts more formally into an essay at some point. I think this is another one for The Silicon Age.

A very nice review of "Pop Star," the short story that'll lead into next year's "Divalicious:"

That "Pop Star" is a runner-up is a pretty good indication of the caliber of talent working on Rising Stars, because this is a fun, funny and beautifully-illustrated story that neatly skewers pop culture princesses like Britney, Christina and Ashlee, all the while giving the whole thing a more outrageous twist. The heights to which fictional pop star Tina will go to in order to best her rival Bit Fencer are hilarious (one of them involves a chainsaw), and the awkwardness with which she tries to emulate is even funnier. Tina is shallow and vain, but she's so hapless that you can't help but love her. Mebberson's artwork is also a delight, with crack comedic timing and a light, attractive look that reminds me of one of my favorite artists, Takeshi Miyazawa. I'd love to see more from these creators.

Wish granted!

Heehee, the Hemline Police. You just never know which strips are gonna do it for people.

My latest Comixpedia essay is up for their "mystery issue." Excerpt:

Modern forensic science can still inspire the kind of awe that makes slack-jawed Watsons of us all. But detectives of all kinds have been having a bad decade. DNA evidence failed to convict O.J. Simpson. The 9/11 hijackers slipped through our every security measure. Enron embezzled more valuables than all the jewel thieves in the world could ever steal. And this year, the most massive intelligence failure in United States history can be summed up in one four-letter word: "WMDs..." Reason, it seems, is not such an unstoppable force for justice after all.

Can fictional detectives retain their power over us, after all of that?

Should they?


Click here for the piece.

Just an observation.

...and credits me for talking him down from the clock tower. At least, he thinks it may have been me. And so do I. Sounds like something I'd say.

I don't really believe him when he says he's still in webcomics out of boredom. There is love there, it's just tied up with a lot of anger and despair at what he sees as thwarted potential. I don't see eye to eye with him all the time-- few do-- but he says things that need to be said, and I hope he finds a mode that allows that truth to spread.

In Penny and Aggie, Penny and her clique occupy the top of the social pecking order, and Aggie has opted out of that system altogether. "Omega Sisters," another six-parter, is about the clique at the bottom. And in case you haven't heard, this one is with art by webcomics' master of the ugly truth, Mr. R.K. Milholland.

A lot of stuff, as per usual. Here's a survey of current and future projects and their status. In a month's time I'll look back on this and see if taking it all on was as crazy as it looked. (No, I don't think I'll get this ALL DONE in two months' time, especially since some of it's ongoing. But you aim big to deliver big.)

Clickwheel. Very possibly the most important project of '06. I'm Commissioning Editor, which means it falls to me to decide who's going to be part of this thing, and ooh MAN I wish I could tell you more right now but keep your eye on this one. By Thanksgiving, I should have more to share.

OhNoRobot. Ambitious growth plans await this engine in '06. Most immediate goals: securing reasonable revenue, ramping up the number of "A-list" webcomics on the service and figuring out how best to nurture continued volunteer transcription.

Graphic Smash. Five new features introduced recently: good. Three features I really wanted that got away: spilled milk. Up next: getting the comics indexed with OhNoRobot, setting up a one-size-fits-all FAQ for new cartoonists and talking up '06 with Joey Manley.

Divalicious (formerly Pop Star) with Amy Mebberson. Submitting final bible this evening. Outlined.

Penny and Aggie. Submitted new round of submissions to syndicates, queried collection to my agent for Rip & Teri. Slight possibility of trade paperback from Alias Enterprises; pursue. Upcoming online: "Omega Sisters," "Celebrity Poker Showdown." Gisele just turned in the gorgeous strip #18 of "CPS." She will need the script for "Campaign Trail" on December 7. Want to run "Shoposphere" by her as another possible short.

Fans: "The Iron Easel" with Dani Atkinson. Ongoing, to be completed December 17. Recently wikified!

Fans: "The Strange Case." Second sequel, not yet outlined, no artist attached. Detective story.

Fans CDs. Recent computer problems have exacerbated backups in ordering. Computer problems now resolved. Orders to be filled tomorrow.

Rip & Teri, with John Waltrip and David Willis. Final story, "Eagles' Endgames," fully scripted. Still being drawn, lettered, colored, a few weeks before going live online. Trade paperback represented by agent Bob Diforio.

The Fabjob Guide to Cartooning. Far as I know Tyler Sticka is working on revisions and updates for the new edition (he'll get co-credit), but I haven't heard from him lately. Sent him phone and e-mail messages tonight.

Meanwhile, The Comics Podcast, with Dave Belmore. Still weekly, still fun. Unlikely to earn any serious revenue, but that isn't always the point. It's about friendship, really, and bouncing ideas off each other. Likely to continue through '06 at least.

The Alphabet of Life. Scripted, needs 25 artists for one illustration apiece. (Phil Kahn got the "A.")

[title withheld]. The ghostwriting project chugs along. My client is out of town until early December and there's only so much more I can do in his absence, but there are about 4,000 more words to go, so I'll be hunkering down on this over the next week, before Thanksgiving.

History of Webcomics. Will probably receive one more revision before publication, but right now, just making the rounds, seeking out reviews and pull quotes to help its summer release.

Narbonic: "Just Think." Fully scripted, mostly drawn, scheduled for December release.

Gaming Guardians: "System Failure." Full-length paperback, co-written with Graveyard Greg, artist uncertain (Webtroll if at all possible). Outlined.

Life's A Croc: "Shitheap." Needs new home online now that LaC has left Graphic Smash. Setting one up tomorrow.

Zill. Full-length paperback with online run; six lost souls and their interactions with the most powerful search engine ever built. Roughly outlined, Jeffrey T. Darlington interested but not confirmed.

The Silicon Age. Essay series for revision and publication. Begun with "Klurkor 11." Up next: "Searching Oral History."

Comixpedia. Continued relationship as able. Mostly sending them tutorials these days, laying groundwork for another essay series, How to Webcomic. "Faith in Science: Detective Stories In A Confused World" essay accepted!

Sluggy Freelance novelization. Just a proposal on Pete Abrams' desk at present, and unlikely to move too quickly... but middle of next year, I'm hopin'.

A Treasury of Romance Comics. Outlined. Needs query letter for agent. Possibly first in a series.

Marvel Men. TPB with online run. The joint biography of two of comics' most fascinating characters. Conceived. Needs outline, artist.

Meetmate.com. TPB with online run. Romantic comedy following a variety of Internet daters. Conceived. Needs outline, artist.

Kirby Crackups, with Bill Maus, TPB with online run. A "template comic" in the mode of Ryan North. Production setup complete, needs outline.

Search Engine Funnies sequel (untitled), with Denise Ibuk and an unspecified artist. Deferred until January. Too much going on with Gurtie right now, but she has some SE humor of her own and the necessary platform to make an online entertainment profitable.

The Grahams and The Campbells. Twin graphic novels about genealogy, extended family and the quest for identity. Need research, outlines, artists.

Madame Raj (working title). Nonfiction about making predictions, co-authored with Lou Munden. Initial outline complete, Lou should have material ready December 7. No artist attached.

The Artist Database. Frequently I find myself scrambling at the very last minute to find someone to fill a project. I've lucked out a lot so far, but I don't want to continue that policy. So I'm keeping a small Rolodex of people who might be available and who move fast, and updating it regularly. Ongoing.

Marvel, DC Proposals. Not to take place until February of next year. Research required.

Get well soon, Ryan.

Google helps convict an uxoricide. Emphasis on "helps:" they wouldn't have gotten him without lots more evidence. But still.

I dunno if Gisele really "co-authored" this one (it was with Amy's drawings) but that's splitting hairs... THE Quotations Page! Wow.

Map of webcartoonists.

My Graphic Smash publisher gets his start.

Robert A. Howard tries to get at the root of Aggie's hatred for Penny. All I can say is, tune in Monday. Meantime, if you're into ads, check out the PNA November Newsbox.

The Washington Webtoonists have a forum.

Add or improve as you see fit.

Thanks for not wearing out your welcome.

From the Rip & Teri entry at Comixpedia.org, learn what all Rip's bad guys have in common, and the original inspiration for the two leads. Feel smarter.

People are starting to volunteer-transcribe Penny and Aggie for OhNoRobot now.

So. Awesome. Thanks, Brendan and anonymous!

Erik Meleander wonders where this Clickwheel thing is going.

I wish I could tell y'all more, right now, but we're still negotiating. I should be able to announce something soon.

People look at Randy's comics and assume he's a really angry guy. And they're not wrong, exactly. But most of that anger is directed either at himself or at the richly deserving. And if you happen to be his friend, he's a true sweetheart.

I mean, how many people do you know who would portray you as a panda-saving wunderkind with a soul that seems the very EMBODIMENT of creativity-- and then feel the need to APOLOGIZE for it?

With insults like these, I don't need compliments. Don't listen to Rippy, man. Your ability to be hated is more limited than you think.

(And my chin is weirder than yours.)

Okay, Lawrence, you've convinced me.

Day 4: 73 series and counting. Taking off nicely!

I've been trying to work this up into an essay, but I think it may work better as a meme right now. So let's go for brevity.

What follows is "Klurkor 11," a set of rules designed for better comics storytelling. These rules are especially important for action scenes in action and related genres-- fantasy, science fiction, superhero-- hence the name. (If you know where the name comes from, fifty geek points.) But they bear repeating even outside that playing field. They are a recipe for making worlds real.

1. In an "action panel," the time taken by dialogue does not exceed the time taken by an action. If two characters are embracing, paragraphs of dialogue are permissible, but if one is throwing a punch, only a few harsh words will fit. (This rule is likely to be the most controversial. Brian Michael Bendis is trampling it with his rendition of Spider-Man in THE NEW AVENGERS. There is a place for this kind of "StanChat," as there is a place for breaking the fourth wall and parody. But that place is not front and center. If you would make your world real, StanChat has to go.)

2. Dialogue must be motivated. Expository and otherwise. Dialogue must always emerge from character and situation. Characters in a crowd may call each other by name to clarify to each other whom they are addressing. If two characters are alone, though, they cannot call each other by name simply to clarify it to us. There are many other reasons to use a person's name-- and to mention other things about them or about yourself-- but there must always be a reason. The middle of a battle for your life is not an appropriate time to explain your Catholicism or discuss your homosexuality.

3. The absence of dialogue must be motivated. This includes "obfuscatory dialogue." If you're on the ground and your starship captain is back on the ship and he asks, via audio communicator, to know what the problem is, you may be too shocked to reply. But you cannot simply tell him "trouble! Big trouble!" for the sake of pith.

4. Smart people don't telegraph their moves. Master martial artists, in particular, do not waste breath by shouting the name of their attack before they make it. If a near-unstoppable monster ignores you for a second, don't grab his attention with words unless you're all out of bullets and you're trying to give someone else time to run. Also, see rule 2-- your opponents do not deserve an explanation of how you are beating them.

5. There is no "invisible mattress." Characters cannot survive the unsurvivable simply because the writer wants them to remain alive.

6. Power levels do not change arbitrarily. A hero who has been consistently outmatched by the forces of evil will not start winning just because there aren't many pages left and it's time to wrap things up. Also, getting mad can provide a brief adrenaline rush, but when the combat depends upon weapons or skill and not raw strength, emotions often cloud performance.

7. Smart people strategize. If you're writing experienced fighters at the top of their game, then you're going to have to give some thought to tactics and overall strategy. They certainly would. Read books. For real experts, consider writing a football-style playbook.

8. There is no "white room effect." Scenes take place in places. If Spider-Man is inside a living room he cannot leap around as if he were outdoors. If Superman is downtown in a populated area, he can't simply throw cars around and trust the writers that no innocent bystanders will get hurt.

9. The rare happens rarely. If you establish that an event is an unusual occurrence, the course of events must bear this out.

10. Nobody's perfect. Not even Batman. Even the master planners will occasionally miss the detail that no one could reasonably expect to be important. Emphasize "reasonably," though, and remember rule 7.

11. Reality is self-consistent. This is the rule from which the other rules flow. Like any medium, comics' greatest power is not to reflect reality, but to create reality. Yet an artificial reality soon collapses if the writer ignores or forgets aspects of it for the sake of narrative convenience. The reader will only believe in your world if it is real. And it will only be real if you believe in it. Believe.

Special thanks to Dave Belmore for rules 9 and 10, and for giving the initial draft greater focus. Nicolas Juzda inspired some revisions to rules 2 and 3.

Your comments?

Graham Campbell, 20. The days go by so fast.

"It has begun."

So Gisele wrote to me about this news article.

I got sidetracked into a discussion about whether "original English-language" mangas constitute "fake" mangas (short summation: NO), but that's beside the main point: newspapers? Reaching out to manga? American-produced manga?

Granted, this is just two newspapers, which puts Tokyopop about neck and neck with Scott Kurtz and Keenspot in terms of Changing The Rules of Newspaper Syndication. But it's still an interesting convergence. And T-Pop has the muscle to push it forward if they're pleased with the results.

This'll be interesting...

OhNoRobot is back up.

We may have to seek a sturdier hosting plan a bit sooner than we'd anticipated. We knew we were gonna grow pretty fast-- just not quite this fast. Suggestions welcome.

I'd hoped to release The History of Webcomics around Groundhog Day, but my publisher tells me we'll likely get a better return on our investment if we wait till summer. We'll be using the time to share the manuscript with some of webcomics' movers and shakers, and make the whole thing even better.

Today, Gaming Guardians starts running a guest story by me and Brian Daniel. My apologies for the coloring. I did the best I could, but I don't consider coloring my own stuff to be one of my strengths.

No apologies about the story, though. I've been wanting to get my hands on Graveyard Greg's characters for some time, and, with his blessing, this two-weeker sends one of the principals in a rather surprising direction. And if you are not familiar with the Gaming Guardians, we got you covered: click here to learn about the major characters and all their problems. That recap leads RIGHT INTO "Last Temptation." This is the very *definition* of "accessibility." Those people who design wheelchair ramps don't know what they're TALKING about.

Hope you enjoy.

Looks like OhNoRobot is having some server problems. We'll get on it, quick as we can.

Over at Penny and Aggie, "The Race Card" finished up as the strip's most controversial story to date.

Today begins "Hate." This is a short tale about how principles can contradict themselves. I wish I could tell Aggie that this kind of thing gets easier...

The next few days will see many posts. Let's lead with the one that's most important most immediately to the most people.

Ryan North and I have been developing an online comics search engine. It's called OhNoRobot.

It's like no other search engine I have ever seen. And it's FOR WEBCOMICS. I'll just transcribe Ryan's LJ entry:

So here's something that I've been working on the past while! There are a ton of comics out there that have huge archives but no way to search them. This makes things difficult and can lead to tears. I wrote a website that solves the problem! You add some Javascript to your website, and you get a personalized comics search engine out of the deal, for free! I am really excited about this. I think that a lot of people could use this service. That's why I wrote it.

You and your readers transcribe comics (I've found that comic readers are AWESOME and will do this at the drop of a hat, which is fantastic), which you can approve and edit before they appear online. I've explained the process here on the site!

M-maybe if you have an online comic, you'd be interested in this? David Hellman of A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible did the adorable logo, and deserves many a high five for it.

In his enthusiasm, Ryan didn't mention the cocktail-napkin meeting we had at the Small Press Expo which brought this Robot to life-- but he also doesn't mention that I essentially turned all the hard work of programming and designing over to him, and focused my attention on vetoing his first three URL suggestions. I called him up and demanded my fair share of the blame for my laziness. He's got me listed as co-owner now, so it's all good.

Read more about it. Play with it. Sign up for it. LOVE it.

Blogtivity will probably be light from Wednesday until Sunday or so. My borrowed laptop has achieved sentience and suicidal impulses in the same afternoon, making this the second time in two months that a computer has found itself unable to work with me. I'm considering breath mints.

Some people might view the resulting inability to work on four-figure assignments as a problem, but I view it as an opportunity to work on plans for the coming year. I also have a series of essays in mind fwhich will debut on this very blog early next week. Their collective working title?

The Silicon Age: Big Ideas For a New Generation of Comics.

Starts Monday the 7th. Be here...

"Antique White House - The Kennedy Tales" by Diana R. Sasse, now on Graphic Smash.