Podcaster Disaster!

For reasons I don't entirely understand, my recent "Blowing Bubbles" sessions are not recording as they should be. I may have lost two conversations. "BB" is therefore on hiatus until I figure this out; it should return no later than Monday.

Consolation prize: a new Matt Koelbl review of a strip that I'm happy to shower with publicity, Tyler Page's Nothing Better.

Don't Judge A Strip By Its Title.

I've always been optimistic about Chris Daily's Striptease, partly because I know him, but partly because I'd like to see one comic-book artist strip get it right. Though the early installments weren't anything special, by the time I started following the strip he was really starting to hit it out of the park, and since then his batting average keeps getting better, especially since he chucked the "will-they-or-won't-they" subplot. So I'm glad to throw the spotlight on him now.

Webcomics In TIME

I wonder what part of the coverage people will gripe about this time.

(Sigh) I'm getting old and cynical.

Yo, Search Engine Designers!

I'd like to do a couple of interviews with a search engine programmer, one about search and comics to be presented as an audio podcast on BrokenFrontier.com, and one about the current state of search to be presented on my own site. I'm just looking to get the perspective of someone who works in the field. Let me know if you're interested.

(I don't really expect anyone to respond to this, but hey, you never know. I didn't expect to get an answer from Jimmy Wales, either.)

This post brought to you by... Are you looking for a long lost friend? Do you need to do a background check? Sign online and use our people search directory!  If you need to do a background check to find out someone's credentials, sign online today! We have the best directory of criminal records.  Our white pages can't be beat either! Sign online today for all of your people directory needs!

Questions for Brian Michael Bendis

So far I've had two or three people fail to respond to my requests for interviews.

1) Jury's still out on one guy, so I won't mention him till I'm sure.
2) I always knew Mr. T was a long shot.
3) No word from Brian Michael Bendis for a while now.

This doesn't shock me. Bendis is in great demand as an interview subject, and the only way I know to contact him is an AOL e-mail address that is probably spam-choked, and a forum which is infrequently traveled. Wouldn't surprise me even if the message got through and he's too busy to answer to anyone who isn't from one of a few "name" comics sites. I might get the chance to ambush him at Wizard World Philadelphia, but I'm not counting on it.

If I did interview him, though, here's what my big questions would be.

1) What's your feelings about the Internet? You've spoken out against it pretty strongly in the past, but you haven't avoided using it altogether.

2) I'm gonna zero right in on one of your stories which resonated strongly with me. I thought New Avengers #15 seemed like it contained some veiled comments on modern online communications. On the one hand, you've got Carol Danvers' blog, which unfortunately didn't read much like a blog to me. Or at least it had no distinguishing characteristics that made it a blog instead of a magazine article. No comments section, one long post instead of five or six read in reverse chronological order, no hyperlinks... I note that you've avoided blogging for the most part, just posting links to the latest articles of interest to Bendis fans. Does the form repel you? Or does the environment?

3) The other big connection to the Internet in New Avengers #15... again, just how I'm reading this... is J. Jonah Jameson and the way the Avengers try and fail to handle him. Being a writer in your position, you deal with a lot of trolls who are clinging to irrational hatreds for their own reasons. (Not all critics are trolls, but the trolls are so much louder!) Have you ever felt, as Iron Man seems to feel, "Oh, I just need to invite these guys into the penthouse, look 'em in the eye and clasp their hands as human beings, and we'll get past all this silliness...?"

4) Is there any sympathy to Jameson's point of view? I mean, he's not totally wrong when he says the Avengers tried to buy him. Do we have to just let trolls be trolls?

5) Your forum has stricter rules about member behavior than most and, to the casual observer, they seem well-enforced. Would you like to see those rules adopted in other discussion forums across the Internet?

6) What's your take on digital distribution for Marvel? For independents?

7) Do you think your views on these things are fairly typical among Marvel's current creators? With a few exceptions, your crowd doesn't mingle with the indy webcartoonists much.

Maybe I'll get my chance. Till then...

Broken Frontier Does CBR (But Not That CBR)

'Nother 'cast. I felt I was a little off my game on this one, but Jim Shelley was totally on his, and he taught me some neat things about the .CBR format. Maybe he'll teach you, too.

Now I have to find someone else to take the other side of this whole ongoing file-sharing debate. Like that'll be hard.

I've been giving some thought to cutting back on the editing time I devote to these. I do a lot of umming and uhhing and pausing and so do some of my subjects, but fixing that is taking me about one hour per podcast. On top of preparing questions, doing the actual interview, clipping graphics and putting it all live, that means about two-and-a-half hours per 'cast, total. (And that's not counting the time I spend chitchatting with interviewees after the show, 'cause that's just fun.) So I didn't edit this one too much.

See what you think about it, and tell me what you're thinking about these. I can always use more criticism from readers, listeners and friends.

'Nother New Podcast...

David Willis today.
David Willis is awesome.




Doing a lot of work for Tokyopop-- can't say more than that about that right now.

Took an interesting lunch where I learned that Chick-fil-A's ad campaign was inspired by the work of Gary Larson. In retrospect that seems kind of obvious.

RIP Jay Kennedy.

We met once, when I was trying to get Penny and Aggie into newspapers. He was nice. Very encouraging.

I'll miss knowing he's around.

Treecomics?

Actual quote: "What better way to pay tribute to Cap than to have his Marvel Zombies counterpart taking the battle to a group of evil fascist Zombies! Take that, Zombie Hitler!"

...I'm speechless. Movin' on.

Great new interview with a couple of cartoonists whose new strips I hadn't even heard of three months ago: JJ Naas and Elanor Cooper.



My business final went well, too.

Hm. Think webcomics will become so widespread that the word "treecomics" will go mainstream? Probably not, but why should that stop us from using it?

Barely Coming Up For Air!

Wow, this weekend didn't go as expected at all. My brother suddenly flew into town, fresh from his spring break in the Caribbean, so we spent the afternoon on our usual pastimes-- movies, board games, Arrested Development. Good times. More good times followed on Sunday, as my oldest friend Beth Fine and I stood on the curb to cheer on her husband in his race through the 26-mile Shamrock Marathon, and as Greg and Sara turned up for my Sunday afternoon housewarming. These were all rare opportunities to spend time with friends and family, and I'm not sorry I took them.

But it did mean becoming one of those guys who gets behind, and I hate being that guy. Last night, I barely had time to look at a couple of documents and do some bare essentials before bed. And today was my take-home finance final, so that shot the day right there.

So-- many apologies to those who have been waiting for material from me. I'll turn this around as quick as I can.

And here's a couple of things for ya right now: interviews with Christopher Hastings and Brad Guigar. Brad's runs a bit long by the guidelines I'm trying to establish, but frankly, it's just too good to cut.

More soon.

Delays, Delays...

Make that previous post "later today."

Interview Fun!

I've spent most of the day doing interviews for Blowing Bubbles. Some great folks! Two old friends, an interesting couple from Finland, and a programmer who's right at the heart of the CBR format. I hope you guys'll enjoy listening to these as much as I like makin' em.

I'll get the next one up early tomorrow and start doin' 'em every weekday morning after that.

I Need Time!

(This post is dated yesterday 'cause that's when I made it, but it didn't go up til Thursday for the reasons spelled out below.)

Sorry if you've been trying to reach me but my Internet connection isextremely spotty and my #1 priority is finishing up my financial studies, which goes a lot slower when the Internet goes down for hours. I'll be rushing to catch up in the next couple of days, so... patience, please. :-)

This post brought to you by... Are you tired of having spotty internet connections?  Do you need the best dedicated server to support all of your internet needs? Our website can help you find the best Microsoft Exchange host yet! Whether you are on the internet all day, or you just need the internet for personal usage, having a dedicated server can save you time and money! Let us find the internet server for your needs!

Blowing Bubbles: B Shur

Cutting it pretty close... this one went up a few minutes before midnight (I'm still working out some production bugs)! This one's with the creator of I Am A Rocket Builder, who has fused animation and comics in as inventive a manner as anyone I've seen. Give it a listen. And give his stuff a read.

Divalicious: B-Day!

No, it's not my birthday... it's BORDERS Day! If you take a look at the Borders search results, you'll see a familiar date next to our book's listing.

A second printing is already afoot, but Borders is now the only place you can pick up a first printing of the first book BECAUSE THEY ORDERED OUR ENTIRE INITIAL PRINT RUN, WHICH I THINK MAY BE A GOOD SIGN.

In other news, I finished the last of the script for Volume 2 last week. Amy's already done the cover for it and penciled the first chapter, because she is a machine.

Thanks to all the readers whose interest has allowed us to get this far. It's a great feeling to be here.

Blowing Bubbles: Aaron Diaz

Broken Frontier has the first official installment of "Blowing Bubbles," a series of short podcast interviews about podcasts and the Internet. I'm having a blast doing these. My current plan is to knock out about 100 and see where things lie after that.

The interview subject is Aaron Diaz, and if you've read this blog you already know I've got a man-crush on his work. Check it out!

This post brought to you by... Do you need new ideas for wedding shower favors? If you want to have the most creative wedding favors, consider our wedding bubbles!  No matter what your taste is like, we are sure to have wedding favors that will please! We also carry baby shower favors and bridal shower favors as well! Sign online today for all your wedding needs!

And That's Really Humbling.

Moments after I made the previous post, Matt pointed out to me that it was the iPod case on sale at a 90% discount, not the actual iPod on sale for $2.85. Heheh. Oooooops. I'm really tempted to strike this post and the previous one from the record, but that would be disingenuous. Sorry for any confusion.

Wow, That's Humbling.

About a year ago I picked up the iPod Video for $399. I knew prices were going to fall on it, and fall quickly once the iPhone was announced, but I thought I could probably still pick up forty or fifty bucks for it if I decided to part with it this year.

Yeah, that's not happening.

Edit: Oops.

Questions for Interviewers.

I'm trying to learn how to be a better interviewer, so I was glad to find this. There isn't a lot of good material available on interviewing people well for an article, as opposed to interviewing well for a job... as the piece itself mentions!

Questions worth asking:

• How do you get someone to "open up" without misleading them regarding the nature of your story (or even your own identification)?
  
• How do you fairly deal with someone whose views are anathema to you?
  
• How do you broach sensitive topics?
  
• How do you deal with children and other unsophisticated sources?
  
• How do you protect confidential sources (people whom you have promised to protect) while using their information to conduct further research?
  

Webcomics Podcast: Frank Frisina

Creator Frank Frisina discusses poker comics, his relationship with the World Poker Tour, and the inverse relationship between fame and winnings. Go here for the mp3 and a couple of footnotes.

Post Operations Recovery... (BF Mission Statement, 4 of 3)

Thanks to the concerned friends who've provided some support during the last difficult week. I'm sorry if it made this blog a slightly depressing read! Occasional crippling self-doubt is a part of the writing life.

At least one person pointed out to me that it probably isn't wise to use one project, which was so ambitious it was almost designed to fail, as a measure of my overall abilities. I'm feeling a lot stronger about my future in nonfiction-- in fact, I've got at least one nonfiction project in the works now, outside BF. I think you'll be interested.

Other than that, though, I think the mission statement still holds up. Just because periods of self-doubt feel crappy, you can still learn something from them. The hard lessons are supposed to be humbling.

So, let's put that nonfiction-writin' confidence to the test, shall we? And let's get back on track. Coming up later today, three make-up posts originally intended for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Shooting War (Review and Interview)

So, back to announcing!

Shooting War strikes me as one of the more interesting and grounded science-fiction webcomics, not least because its scripter is about as qualified to write about his topics-- embedded journalism and future war zones, in this case-- as anyone I can even imagine.

Today, Matt Koelbl and I give you a review of the piece and an interview with its creators.

I am, indeed, fully aware that I am the most awful-sounding podcaster in comics. Expect many more podcasts anyway. :-)

The Statement To End All Statements (My BF Mission Statement, 3 of 3)

Writers write.

Editors edit.

Critics criticize.

The three should not meet.

When some inaccurate information began circulating about History, I let my words and my emotions get drawn into the discussion. And I said a lot of things in its defense, which I came to regret as my opinions changed.

If I had it all to do over again, I would've posted the book as a downloadable Word file and left it at that. I still like talking about the work, but only in a sort of director's-commentary, hello-this-is-what-I'm-doing way (edit: or a reflective, now-it's-all-over-I-can-see-it-clearly way). When it comes to outside critiques, good or bad, the work should speak for itself. If it doesn't, then it doesn't deserve to.

I won't be talking much about Broken Frontier stuff (except to announce what they are, and maybe to tell you that I am, indeed, fully aware that I am the most awful-sounding podcaster in comics). I'm more interested to hear what people have to say about it without me.

How long will I be there? I don't know. My contract's for six months. We'll see where we are then.

So that's it. You know my goal. It hasn't actually changed much: I want to do something of value to the medium I love. I've just got different ideas now about what that is. Ideas that involve less summing up and more studying, less "big picture" and more digging, fewer answers, more questions.

And with all that said, I expect to have no more of substance to say about this for as long as I'm doing it.

It's up to you now, guys!

"2.0" (My BF Mission Statement, 2 of 3)

With Broken Frontier, I am trying to do things right. My writer-editor run on BF may be my last project that talks about comics instead of making comics. I intend to make it one that achieves something worthwhile. I will not have A History of Webcomics be my last garbled word.

The Problem of Problems with History-- the central problem from which all other problems sprang-- was that it was written too early... too early for webcomics and too early for me. This led me to adopt a tone of authority that I didn't feel. I've tried to move away from that tone since (the subtitle of this blog is about as unassuming as I wanna be).

Lemme be clear here: There's a hell of a lot I don't know. And there's nothing that spells that out for me quite like writing a book that people think contains Everything Important About A Subject and then seeing other important things about that subject coming up every-- single-- week.

On Broken Frontier, I will write no Grand Internet Histories. I will simply learn and then share what I've learned.

That means interviews, lots of interviews. It means tightly focused studies on particular issues. It means raw facts. I'll let others decide their relative significance. I will leave this to them with no small relief!

And I'll edit others who are talking about the kinds of things I don't see elsewhere. Ferexample, there's a dearth of honest, decent criticism of webcomics. I'm not a critic, but I'm happy to edit anyone who wants to change that.

I'm also happy to edit anyone who is capable of coming up with a good idea for an article, and who knows something I don't.

Helpful hint: That's everyone.

Lose Any Friends Today? (My BF Mission Statement, 1 of 3)

EMO POST AHEAD! FLEE WHILE YOU CAN!

So, yesterday wasn't the best. Less than a week into my tenure at Broken Frontier, I've had someone sever ties with me over something we featured. I'm not gonna get into further specifics about that here or anywhere online: fighting this guy in public is a lose-lose proposition, no matter which of us would "win." I mention it here because it didn't feel awesome, and it made me ask myself questions about why I'm still doing this and my approach.

Writing about comics isn't nearly as much fun as writing comics. It doesn't pay as well. I look back on my old comics and still smile sometimes-- I look back on my essays from a couple years ago and feel mortification. When I write an unpopular comic-strip episode, people get angry with the characters-- when I write an unpopular comics commentary, people get angry with me. I got more praise for Search Engine Funnies, a strip which didn't last thirty installments, than for the 192-page History of Webcomics. I'm not as good at nonfiction as I am at fiction, and I don't know if I ever will be. [Last sentence edited slightly for the permanent record.]

It wasn't always like this. Back in '05 I was losing more than I was making writing comics, the "History of Online Comics" series seemed almost-- almost!-- universally well-regarded, and I felt like I was at the top of my essayist game when I got the call from Antarctic Press. Writing the History stuff was damn hard, harder than anything I've done before or since, but I went into it convinced that it would be worth it, for myself and for the medium.

If you've read anything about it, you know how that worked out. The book does seem popular-ish among comic-book professionals still learning the digital space, but it has fewer fans in the webcomics community, and I'm no longer one of 'em. I still sort of like the ideas behind the thing, the facts are still true, but the execution, the tone, the predictions, the examples, the research mix, the writing-- I've got all these copies in storage and I don't even know if I can keep selling them in good conscience. I may just hold a bonfire.

So why the hell am I still in this?

Next post: the answer.

"Webcomics' Greatest Superhero?"

Superman has been brainwashed. And he's kidnapped the entire White House with the President inside. Soon he will replace the entire supply of milk in the United States with tobacco. In the name of his new master... Skeletor. Can anyone save us??

You better believe Mr. T can, FOOL!

Continued on Broken Frontier.

Stuck In The Mud!

Okay, make-up post next weekend. Sigh. My box is running slow and Internet is spotty... still making some adjustments to the new place which should fix things. I'm also scrambling to make a couple of deadlines for Tokyopop and CAN'T TELL YOU YET, plus business classes want everything done this week, plus everybody wants to talk about the Wikipedia interviews, so that's about all the bloggin' time I have gone, right there!

But I will have some Broken Frontier stuff to tell you about. After the Wikipedia interview, the next few days will get a bit more... fannish.

The Wikipedia Talks.

As promised, an interview with Jimmy Wales, as well as a more in-depth interview with one of Wikipedia's most prolific "webcomics editors."

"Finds herself deleted"? We don't delete people. We might delete an article about a person, but as far as I know Wikipedia has never actually killed anyone. We also get "You deleted my webcomic" a lot. No, we didn't delete your webcomic. If your webcomic actually doesn't exist any more, then please contact your server administrator. We didn't touch your webcomic.

Check 'em out.

Sorry, missed yesterday. Make-up post this weekend!