Webcomics 7/13: For "Zuda" read "Smurf"
Only time for one post today. I've had worse Friday the Thirteenths, but I've had better. Off to Harry Potter with Greg, Charles and Jeneen, which'll help take my mind off my troubles.
I'm getting Zuda tired of Zudaly Zudaing about Zuda as the weekly news Zuda Zudas to a close, but Todd Allen's aggregated Q&A is a nice summary of what we know, followed by some speculations.
I do think Todd is wrong to compare the 4:3 weekly comics to 1/3rd or 1/4th of a comic-book page. Most comic-book pages are 4-6 panels, so that would mean, by Todd's estimation, 1-2 panels per episode. These hypothetical breakdowns, pulled from Zuda's own site, would indicate that Zuda expects more:
This assumption grounds his later calculations, so I don't agree with those either.
I do think Todd's bang on target about the potential conflicts between "citizen cartoonists" and the "professional class." (Sigh) Great, more enemies.
The most troubling Zuda factoid so far is the year-long, 52-installment contract. Like Todd says, that sure makes it sound as if Zuda is limiting each feature's publication frequency to weekly. I hope not! We tried that at AdventureStrips.com and the results were a bloodbath. I'm amazed that strips like Penny Arcade have been able to get so popular with thrice-weekly schedules, but that seems to be about as infrequent as a bona fide webcomics hit can get.
Incidentally, Zuda sucks at keeping me informed about changes to its website. I signed up to hear about updates, and then they added a message board, press links, copyright info and an animation without e-mailing me. ZUDA YOUR PROMISES MEAN NOTHING
Finally, since no one else has made fun of this: Zuda claims that a 4:3 ratio is an industry standard. They're right, of course. It is. FOR THE TELEVISION INDUSTRY! Show me five successful webcomics that were using that ratio before Zuda's announcement, and I'll say "dude, even I think you read too many comics."
Non-Zuda corrections and apologies: there were a couple of omissions in my SDCC panel roundup which others caught; that's fixed now. The BF version will re-air next week. All apologies.
Also, as more details emerge, it now appears that the Japanese-language edition of Megatokyo has nothing to do with Warner. I'm surprised Warner didn't sew up international publishing rights, but there you go. Fred Gallagher tells all.
I'm getting Zuda tired of Zudaly Zudaing about Zuda as the weekly news Zuda Zudas to a close, but Todd Allen's aggregated Q&A is a nice summary of what we know, followed by some speculations.
I do think Todd is wrong to compare the 4:3 weekly comics to 1/3rd or 1/4th of a comic-book page. Most comic-book pages are 4-6 panels, so that would mean, by Todd's estimation, 1-2 panels per episode. These hypothetical breakdowns, pulled from Zuda's own site, would indicate that Zuda expects more:
This assumption grounds his later calculations, so I don't agree with those either.
I do think Todd's bang on target about the potential conflicts between "citizen cartoonists" and the "professional class." (Sigh) Great, more enemies.
The most troubling Zuda factoid so far is the year-long, 52-installment contract. Like Todd says, that sure makes it sound as if Zuda is limiting each feature's publication frequency to weekly. I hope not! We tried that at AdventureStrips.com and the results were a bloodbath. I'm amazed that strips like Penny Arcade have been able to get so popular with thrice-weekly schedules, but that seems to be about as infrequent as a bona fide webcomics hit can get.
Incidentally, Zuda sucks at keeping me informed about changes to its website. I signed up to hear about updates, and then they added a message board, press links, copyright info and an animation without e-mailing me. ZUDA YOUR PROMISES MEAN NOTHING
Finally, since no one else has made fun of this: Zuda claims that a 4:3 ratio is an industry standard. They're right, of course. It is. FOR THE TELEVISION INDUSTRY! Show me five successful webcomics that were using that ratio before Zuda's announcement, and I'll say "dude, even I think you read too many comics."
Non-Zuda corrections and apologies: there were a couple of omissions in my SDCC panel roundup which others caught; that's fixed now. The BF version will re-air next week. All apologies.
Also, as more details emerge, it now appears that the Japanese-language edition of Megatokyo has nothing to do with Warner. I'm surprised Warner didn't sew up international publishing rights, but there you go. Fred Gallagher tells all.
Labels: Webcomics
Posted at
11:02 AM
1 Comments:
Incidentally, Zuda sucks at keeping me informed about changes to its website. I signed up to hear about updates, and then they added a message board, press links, copyright info and an animation without e-mailing me. ZUDA YOUR PROMISES MEAN NOTHING
That's a very good point. Does this mean that webcomic collectives are lousy at communicating by nature? One would think so. This may require further study. ;)
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