T Campbell's Blog

Test Post.

2008-04-07T13:42:00.001-04:00

Ignore.

Notice of Resignation From The Blogosphere

2007-12-06T11:48:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm getting out.

Mostly out. I expect that something will occasionally move me to post on Webcomics.com.

But I've always felt that if you're gonna call yourself a blogger, you should post something every day, every weekday, or at least several times a week. I know that's not everyone's standard, but it's mine. I've had trouble living up to that standard before, and really can't do so now. And I don't want to imply a promise I can't keep. So the official line is "T Campbell-- Blogger No More."

What does that mean for the regular Webcomics.com blog? It means that I'll be doing my best to pass it on to other hands. According to this plan, I'll continue to be involved in a sort of editor-publisher capacity, and some of my general thoughts will be reflected in what we cover. And I'll make the occasional post that no one else is stupid enough to take on, like the "Unreliable Surveys." But that's all.

Also, the plan assumes that we'll be able to find enough writers to keep that blog going properly. We've got a few good leads, but we're still looking for more. If you're a good writer and you want to write about webcomics on a moderately well-trafficked site, now is an excellent time to let me know.

What it means for this blog is pretty obvious.

I have blogged on this site for five reasons. A look at those reasons and what's changed about them will tell you why I'm stopping now.

1) To keep my most devoted readers up-to-date on my latest projects, so they can see and support them. Thing is, most of my most devoted readers are reading Penny and Aggie. An announcement over there is going to get a lot more eyeballs than anything over here. So if you like my work, visit Penny and Aggie on the off days for the occasional announcement. (Or just hook yourself up with the RSS feed.)

2) To collect my thoughts about the webcomics field and share them with you. But that's what Webcomics.com is for now. And I find my thoughts are turning away from "what is happening in this field, and what does it mean for us all" toward "what can I make happen in this field, and what does that mean for me?" Which involves the kinds of plans that I have to keep secret for months on end. Secret plans != blogging.

3) To chart my own life and thoughts. This is something I'll miss, I admit. It's great to go back to my own entries from a couple months ago and see how they inform my thoughts now. But the kinds of things I'm thinking about right now involve how I can entertain and serve you better, and those are all rough drafts and sketches to bounce off close friends, not for public consumption.

4) To build traffic for this site. I have totally failed in this goal. The site's month-to-month numbers were in slight decline from a low starting point, even when I was posting entries here five times a week. I'm grateful to every one of you who stop by, really! But I can't help but think you'll be happier if I spend less time on posts and more time on plans and scripts.

Webcomics.com at least has an implied mission statement. This blog is just too diffuse to get a loyal fan base of its own, independent from the people who just check out everything I do.

(Incidentally, there were three major spikes in the blog's traffic over the last six months-- my thoughts on my Sluggy Freelance story, the For Better or For Worse parody, and the snapshot regarding a scam artist trying to exploit Megatokyo fans. The last spike was the biggest by far. Getting a link straight from Megatokyo will do that. But in all cases, the spikes melted quickly. My guess? Users failed to find any more parodies, Sluggy thoughts or scuttlebutt about popular strips, and lost interest.)

The management of online "brands" is evolving in curious ways. I think we went through a "cult of personality" phase where the best way to promote your work was to promote yourself and your views on life, but I think that phase is pretty much behind us. And since I have never, ever liked my essays as much as I've liked my comics scripts, the decision to do more of the latter is a pretty easy one to make.

5) My Protestant work ethic told me to. Hey, don't knock that Protestant work ethic, it's how I got into comics to begin with, one page at a time. I'm a firm believer in finishing what you start. But some projects, like Fans, Cool Cat Studio and Penny and Aggie, can move to planned endings. Other projects are conceived as ongoing responses to current events, like Search Engine Funnies, the Science Fiction Blog, and this blog. And those projects tend to go out without a bang. They end when I recognize that they no longer have the resources to keep going the way they should.

Of course, that was how Cool Cat Studio ended in 2002, and now Gisele and I are having the time of our lives, taking that one to the climax I'd hoped for earlier. So you never know, right? Could be that I'll be back here in three years with something good enough to re-energize this whole project.

Until then, if you enjoy my stuff (and why else would you have read this far?), check out Fans (currently updating hourly), Cool Cat Studio, Rip and Teri and Penny and Aggie.

If you want the successors to the essays I've done over here, take a gander at Webcomics.com.

And watch P&A on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the occasional announcement. We've got something coming up soon called The Versus Verses, something called Sketchies, and-- welllllll that would be telling.

Secret plans!

Thanks for reading.

Hello There!

2007-11-23T00:16:00.000-04:00

Welcome to any new readers who might have come here by way of Newsarama. You've caught this blog, and me, in a transitional period, but if you're looking for samples of my comics writing work, it's best to check out the dropdown menu at the top of the blog and explore from there!

Happy to see you.

The Last Lie

2007-11-19T01:34:00.000-04:00

"I'll have something more interesting up tomorrow." Said in the previous post. Two weeks ago.

Occasionally, I might be delayed by technical difficulties, but there's no excuse for this kind of failure to deliver. I have to hold myself to a higher standard than that, going forward.

I'm taking some important steps to make sure I can meet that standard. But I won't tell you what those steps are until they're made. Well, I will tell you that one of those steps is the decision not to tell you the rest of those steps.

The Brain Drain Continues...

2007-11-05T13:16:00.000-04:00

Most of my thinking about webcomics just now is getting focused into the new Webcomics.com, meaning that I haven't got much left over for this space. I'm not yet sure where that leaves this blog... I've got some new projects to promote, but that's not really something you can sustain on a day-to-day basis.

Today, though, is an interesting day, projectwise. Spent some time talking with an ad rep and fixing bugs on Webcomics.com. Got to get RipAndTeri.com up and running, modify Faans.com, and outsource some work on Webcomics.com and "The Matrix," the latter of which is now 50% done.

Interesting to me, indecipherable to you. Eh, I'll have something more entertaining up tomorrow.

What I Did Today

2007-11-02T22:47:00.000-04:00

Not much time for blogging about webcomics when I'm finishing a whole site about webcomics instead.

Webcomics.com. Check it out. Let me know what you think. "Finished" is a relative term, nothing carved in stone...

Zzzzz... uh... DAHHHHH?

2007-11-01T10:09:00.000-04:00

I'm allowed a day off yesterday, I had to chase birthday cake with Halloween candy. I'm still vibrating now but I HAD TO. IT WAS HALLOWEEN.

The big news of the last two days has, of course, been the official Zuda launch, which took place around 6PM on October 30. Once again I feel as though I've been woken from a deep sleep and thrown into deep confusion.

In many ways, this is not what I guessed! Some of the PR may have been misleading, but in some cases I was just wrong. My supposition about weekly updates appears to have been inaccurate, though I'm not sure 52 comics installments is enough to hold a readership's attention for a year, no matter how you spread 'em... at least, not a readership with the numbers that Zuda would be looking for.

There's certainly more of a range in style and tone here than I would have thought, though many (not all) of the entries suffer from diseases common to American comic books: misused decompression, thin characterization that only serves plot, and plot that only serves action sequences. The art tends to retain fewer comicbooky bad habits, though the gratuitously T&A-displaying, third-generation-copied anatomy can be found if you go looking for it. (Believe it or not, Battlefield Babysitter, not every reader is so mesmerized by a drawing of a teenage girl's bare bum that you need to stop the narrative so that we can admire it.)

Favorite of the bunch? So far, I'm torn between Leprenomicon and Dead in the Now. The former drops us into the middle of things with a charming combination of humor and action... unfortunately, its last few pages hinge on a line of dialogue that we readers do not see, which is confusing and makes me wonder whether its omission was intentional. The whole thing errs a little on the side of confusion, though I'd rather have that than boring exposition. The title implies a really interesting MacGuffin and larger plot that the creators are presumably saving for after they win.

The latter is a great use of Corey Lewis' unique drawing and storytelling style, featuring the most idiosyncratic character of the lot... but I'm having a hard time getting over how similar it is to the beginning of Death Note. I think I'm gonna give my vote to Corey, though, because he's shown us the money often before and I think he'll probably take things in an interesting new direction.

Besides, which other Zuda feature has its own custom-designed Zudalogo? No other feature, that's which.

Best thing about Zuda: The full-screen reader (as opposed to the default reader), which, seriously and for reals, might eventually change the way we read webcomics.

Worst thing about Zuda: The current genre distribution and/or labeling. Seriously, guys, no romance? Not one romance? And does anyone understand "modern" as a genre, anyway?

Reportage on Zuda's actual launch party.

Land whales: Uclick, having brought original comics to the cell phone, now plans to bring those cell phone comics to the Internet.

Interesting survey of the major comic-book brands on Myspace.

Brad, Kris, Paul and Ringo: The Webcomics Weekly foursome go ahead and make the marriage official.

Favorited-- it's a three-way tie. This is the best I've seen from PvP in quite a while (coming on the heels of some work I liked... less). It's got that awareness of pop culture, human nature, and how they intersect that attracted me to the strip, way back when. Bonus points for making great use of a character the comic books have recently, messily discarded-- and for the spot-on dialogue in panel four.

"And yet, they're still safer with me."

"That was actually the real Bill O'Reilly."

Birthday Today!

2007-10-30T12:59:00.000-04:00

I'm closer to death than ever! So let's write this real real quick before I get taken out to a meal "unexpectedly." Sorry, I'd make it shorter if I had more time.

Today's big news comes from my longtime friend Joey Manley and my friendly acquaintance Josh Roberts, who are merging almost everything they've ever done for comics into one new gigantic superproject, and getting investment capital for it. Joey has always been very honest about his strengths and weaknesses, and when he says this deal will help focus his strengths and compensate for his weaknesses, I think he knows what he's talking about. How the new "ComicSpace" will operate and integrate all Joey and Josh's old ideas-- and, presumably, lots of new ones-- is still an open question at this point, but I suspect further press releases are on their way.

Todd Allen has some interesting thoughts about the perception of Zuda as a "new talent initiative." Such "initiatives" are usually limited to people who are new to the company performing the initiative, and sometimes to people who are new to an entire market (either the direct market or the comics market). Zuda never quite promised to be such a thing, but the absence of any famous creator names in its early promotion, and the strong emphasis on a submission process, has led many creators to think of it that way, regardless. Now the announcement of Zuda's first wave has dispelled this perception. Some are displeased about this.

I don't think it's necessarily bad news for the people who are new to work for DC. Zuda still has a very open submission process, and it seems like it will be easier to get into than DC's other branches-- sheesh, it'd just about have to be.

The submitter leading this discussion thread seems disappointed that he's going up against work that's really good. Let's ignore the enormous selfishness of this sentiment-- really, did you expect Zuda's comics to suck for your convenience?-- and focus on whether this situation is really bad for amateur work.

It depends on how you define "amateur." If you mean hackwork, or work that betrays a certain inexperience, then yes, absolutely. But if you mean good work that happens not to be by a seasoned "pro," well, I'm not so sure. No one brags too loudly about being the best comic on Comic Genesis. If you're trying to get into Zuda and want it to be good for your long-term career, then you should be hoping that Zuda's stuff is as good as it can possibly be, not that Zuda should be strictly "amateur hour." If you just want money thrown at comics that you don't believe are good enough for prime time, then I'm afraid I don't have a whole lot of sympathy.

Broken Frontier has officially left Platinum. That's probably for the best. Platinum never used Broken Frontier in a ruthless way, and the non-ruthless uses didn't seem to provide Platinum much long-term benefit. Frederik Hautain, the once-and-now-again site owner, may miss his salary but otherwise seems to have adjusted.

Geez, this is never something I can do that quickly.

Favorite of the day: Ryan Estrada (yes, AGAIN) with "The Kind You Don't Take Home To Mother."

Submitted Without Comment

2007-10-28T23:40:00.000-04:00

Script by T Campbell, art by Sam Romero.

10/26-10/27: Wikiboos

2007-10-26T23:55:00.000-04:00

Favorite of the day: TEMPTATION... Neatly encapsulates the concept of Breakfast of the Gods, essentially League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for breakfast cereals. It's attempting a verrry delicate mix of grimness and goofiness, and it may not be for everyone, but it's sure for me.

Also, the conclusion of Joss Whedon's Sugarshock. A somewhat amateurish but honest gay love story (begins here). And a surprisingly touching metafictional third panel from Sinfest.

It's October, so it must be time to start planning the next Penny Arcade Expo. I'm still interested in getting more details about Ctrl+Alt+Del's con. C'mon, only four or five months to go, that's practically TOMORROW!

I nearly fell out of my chair laughing at this article, which implies that inspiring a webcomic T-shirt is somehow more impressive than proving the Big Bang Theory and having Stephen Hawking call your research the most important work of the 20th or any century. Also, the article doesn't mention which webcomic ran the T-shirt, because they're all equally impressive. Talk about blowing webcomics' importance out of proportion.

Actually, let's talk about that some more.

Lively back-and-forth today between me and William G with regard to Wikipedia, fundraising and politics. William's position, as I understand it, is that webcomics' partisans inflate webcomics' importance beyond all reason (in part because it feeds their own sense of importance). I think William would also say that wherever fandom exists, this problem follows: fans of obscure horror movies and architectural trivia likewise demand more representation, turning Wikipedia into a smorgasbord of useful knowledge, useless trivia, outright lies and self-promotion-- in other words, turning it into the rest of the Internet.

On the other hand, we've got Xaviar Xerexes, who's probably been as close to the Wikipedia controversies as anyone, compiling a record of the more egregious webcomics-related Wikipedia edits, and of editors' bad habits.

I've wrestled with this issue for years and still haven't resolved it to my satisfaction. The Wikipedia deletion reviews often read like minutes from an OCD Asperger's council, but... of course most editors are compulsive. Who else would even attempt to do what they do?

What's new here is the notion that bad public relations with webcartoonists and their fans-- presumably mirrored in Wikipedia's relations with other interest groups-- might noticeably affect Wikipedia's bottom line. I've never heard that idea floated before, and it seems to be coming as a surprise to the Wikipedians, too. I'm not sure if the results will be a good thing for Wikipedia in the long run, but at least we can effect a change in policy.

William notes that Tayler's refused aid to a charity, comparing Wikipedia to Child's Play. But Wikipedia suffers from that comparison. Child's Play has a modest goal and, by all accounts I've read, achieves it spectacularly. Wikipedia's goal is quite ambitious, but the accounts of its achievements are a lot more mixed.

A few years ago, I did some writing for a couple of nonprofits. Demand for funding outstrips supply, so my job was to prove to large donors that these charities were deserving.

Proving that the goals were noble took about three sentences. Help the elderly? Enforce honesty in politics? Inform the world? You go, girl!

Proving the money was being spent wisely? That was 15-35 more pages. That is the challenge facing Wikipedia now. Its honeymoon with the press is long past. Today, it faces a long-entrenched culture of giving, which decides which organizations are "notable" and which aren't. And if it wants to get a "listing," it better learn to play by that culture's rules.

10/25: No, We Will Not Start Liking You Now

2007-10-25T22:47:00.000-04:00

Memo to Platinum Studios: Turning your unpopularity into a jokey game may indeed deflect the worst of the criticism away from you for a little while. "Which Platinumite most deserves death?" Journalists and essayists like to be amused as much as anyone, and having Scott Rosenberg actually invite us to kill him in our imaginations does bring a reluctant smile.

But. You knew there was a "but." And here it is.

This PR move is focused on your unpopularity. It will actually spread the word about your unpopularity to the people who haven't paid much attention to it, so far. The ones who say "look what cool thing Platinum is doing now!" The Drunk Duck contributors, Drunk Duck readers, potential business partners, potential investors. And the people who haven't heard much about you yet.

All these people will see a MySpace page where you call yourself "one of the most notorious companies in comics today." I think that's going to come back to bite you.

And those of us who don't like you won't start liking you because you say "you don't like us!" in a funny tone of voice. That's not how it works.

It's not your employees that we want to shoot, Platinum. With the exception of Scott Rosenberg, we barely know who your employees are. (And that's why this contest isn't very interesting, because I can't see anyone but Scott winning it.) We hate things about you, not people. Others have fired upon your contracts, your management philosophy, your ratio of hype to published product. I was close to neutral about all that, until the day I saw you hyping the Entertainment Weekly sales figure that you had earlier admitted was a mistake. And now I can't trust you any more.

When I say "you," I am addressing Platinum Studios, an entity, a thing, a company that went back on its word after one of its employees swore to me it would not. I do not know whether the decision to go back on that word came from Rosenberg, or the person I talked to, or an unchecked marketing department, or someone else who manages these things, or someone who slipped it in while no one was looking to further an agenda of his own. And so I don't know who my least favorite Platinum employee should be. I don't know. And I couldn't care less.

Favorite of the day: (POUND POUND POUND!) "WHAT DOES A GIRL HAVE TO DO TO GET A DRINK AROUND HERE?"

But for sheer cartooning interest, nothing beats the out-of-print Bill Watterson.

I thought about creating a fake headline like this one, but I was worried people would take me seriously: xkcd death toll mounts. :-)

Zuda has announced its first one-year contract winner, Bayou by Jeremy Love.

"Oh, wait, you mean this friction between us and the webcartoonist community might result in their NOT HELPING US RAISE MONEY?"

10/24: Feed Me, Seymour

2007-10-24T23:49:00.000-04:00

Been too distracted to finish up that T-shirt stuff, and I'm making no promises about when it'll be done. Today let's talk about RSS feeds. Webcomics need 'em. There, that was easy.

It amazes me that a few top cartoonists have yet to absorb this lesson. Thanks to you readers, I know that it is possible to jerry-rig a feed for my favorite comics using Feed43, but I would much rather read a feed created by the cartoonist.

When I suggest this, some seem to think I mean embedding a strip's artwork in the feed and robbing readers of any incentive to visit the actual site. Not so! At present, some do this, and some don't, and the only difference it makes to me as a feed-eater is a single mouseclick. Some cartoonists embed self-promotional messages in the feed and some don't. I'm not sure who's right. I'm not sure what's savvy and what's overbearing, what's push marketing and what's pull marketing. I would have said it was a good idea to try to track your feed's usage, but then I started reading some information which suggests that feed stats are about as flawed as web stats.

The one thing every pundit seems to be agreed upon, though, is JUST GET AN RSS FEED ALREADY.

Other stuff:

New father Paul Southworth doesn't seem distracted by diapers: his unlikely combo of corporate espionage, comedy and romance is some of the most entertaining stuff he's done. Today, he's my favorite. Second place: the best Penny Arcade in some time. Third place: "I can help."

I doubt this unusual interface is really the future of webcomics, but it sure would be nice to see someone play with the narrative possibilities of the "magnifying glass."

Via Journalista: Japan asks America to help crack down on online fan-dubs. Wouldn't this also affect online scanlations?

Zuda has announced its opening lineup. Strongly weighted toward action-adventure, as expected, despite the bad fit between small weekly installments and that genre in particular.

I've compared Zuda to AdventureStrips before, but the comparison seems more apt now. Some of the titles on that site were impressive, but the only one that seemed to catch and hold an audience was, well, mine, and I think that's because the action was suspenseful, minimizing the problem of those weeks-long gaps between punches and gunshots. Even so, Rip and Teri was quite a challenge to make work.

Execution is more important than concept, and maybe the creators of the Zuda strips have thought through these formatting issues as well as or better than I did with R&T... or than I am with my submission-in-progress. I hope so. But I fear otherwise, so I'm not expecting an explosive launch for the service. I think it'll need time to find its feet.

Comixpedia.org appears to have recovered from its server trouble, so I'll be spending part of tomorrow setting up the Cool Cat Studio entry. Unless one of you readers would be a dear?

Comics made on the cell phone? That's a new one on me.

The really important angle to this last story is that I'M GETTING MONEY OH YES YES YES CHA-CHING CHA-CHING.

Okay, I won't give Joey grief he hasn't earned. I have already received what is probably the lion's share of my due earnings for my work with Modern Tales, thanks to a couple of advances. And Joey offered this kind of advance to all the creators who worked with him on his subscription sites. Nevertheless, the accounting issue has haunted Modern Tales, and that ghost seems to be approaching a final rest at last.

Best Wishes...

2007-10-24T09:03:00.000-04:00

A happy belated birthday to Ryan North and Maggie Weidner.

Best wishes to all those affected by the California fires. Be safe.

Whoops...

2007-10-24T08:46:00.000-04:00

Forgot yesterday's favorite of the day:

"And that's when I truly understood how being a cartoonist is the most rewarding job in the world."

10/23: TV Comics Worth Watching

2007-10-24T01:36:00.000-04:00

I was still grumbling about Heroes webcomics when this caught my eye: a report on the unqualified success of Joss Whedon's Buffy Season 8, and how Team Comics plans to follow up on it.

Well, okay, let's qualify that success a little. Buffy is sliding down the long tail here, wringing more money from a smaller audience. Audience numbers that make a smash hit in the direct market are laughable on network television. But whatever your business, a hit is a hit.

Money quote: "I think Joss physically opened up the idea that fan-favorite TV shows can have a renewed life if done the right way by the original creators."

Note the phrase "renewed life." Though the writer shoehorns Heroes into the article, most of the examples concern TV series that are not currently being broadcast. Unlike Heroes comics, these comics are not supplements but continuations to a story that would not continue any other way.

Of course, that works better for some series than for others. Few "original creators" in television have done as well for themselves in comics as Whedon has. But hey, let's dream for a second:

Crusade scripted by J. Michael Stracynski. Or, if he'd rather, another story set in the Babylon Fiveiverse.

Star Trek scripted by Peter David. Not "The Original Series," not any of the other series, just Star Trek, straight up. Give David that whole fictional universe and see what he does.

West Wing Season 9, scripted by Aaron Sorkin. No, I didn't like Studio 60, and it's madness to think Sorkin would swallow his pride and pick up with a new president created by the writers who replaced him. But I'd love to see him try it. And if Ex Machina can make it in this marketplace...

Batman Season 3, scripted by Adam West. Because sometimes readers should SUFFER.

PvP gamerpics and themes hit the XBox 360. Savvy. This seems like another step toward the integration of popular gaming strips with gaming software, not too far behind the Penny Arcade/Valve deal earlier this year.

Clickwheel's iPod/iPhone emulation technology is really humming along.

According to my e-mail, the Zuda launch party is scheduled for my birthday next week (October 30) in New York. From 5:30-6:30, the staff will be reviewing pitches "live" at Lansdowne Road, 599 10th Avenue (between 43rd and 44th Streets), New York, NY 10036. Newsarama quotes the e-mail in its entirety, but I can't find any mention of this event on Zuda's own site yet. If only there were some sort of online log where Zuda could put these things!

10/22: Heroes On Holiday?

2007-10-22T14:43:00.000-04:00

OH NOES! Heroes the online comic might be threatened by an imminent Screenwriters' Guild strike. But wouldn't that require actual writers to be involved in the comics to begin with? BA-DOOMP KSHHHH!

Others have said this better than me, but the second season of the TV series kind of feels like it's not being written either. Last month, I said that the comics would only become essential reading if the show itself became disjointed and confusing.

The show has not done that. Instead, it's made them even less essential by becoming an exercise in mindless repetition, and weighing down even its best characters with cliched and unbelievable plots. Claire's boyfriend West is like nails on chalkboard, and even Hiro can't entertain us that much if he has absolutely nothing to do. The lean economy of the previous season is a distant memory. And I don't even want to TALK about the decline of the dialogue. I'm trying to remember the last time I've seen a great series get so bad so fast. Star Trek: Voyager, maybe?

Under the circumstances, a strike may be a huge blessing in disguise... if resolved quickly, it could lead a wave of refreshed and re-energized writers back to the staff, and they could move the TV series back on track. It's not too late: there are still great characters lying around from Season 1, and most of the new ones, though a bit stereotypical now, could still become rounded. For instance, the Life and Death twins' desperation and love for each other are easy to identify with. If they actually showed third, fourth and fifth emotions, we'd be getting somewhere. "West" is a problem, but he can always turn out to be evil, so at least it'll feel like I'm supposed to hate him.

("West." Was someone actually trying to evoke memories of Wesley Crusher with that name and dialogue? If so, it worked.)

As for the webcomic, since it comes out weekly, there's a chance the producers might hire some scabs to do it. (Comics writers who don't write for the screen, for instance, and therefore don't qualify for Guild membership.) Scabs'd be more inclined to take crazy chances, especially if they come from well outside the operation. And that webcomic needs some crazy chances taken if it's gonna be even readable.

Of course, I'm an optimist. What's more likely is that the producers will note the ratings have been more than satisfactory and assume this means the show and comic are fine as they are, and encourage less risk-taking, not more. Audiences do punish bad writing on TV, but they generally do so slowly, changing their habits reluctantly. As Surash suspects, the Heroes are indeed dying of a disease that they may not diagnose until it's too late.

I'm quoted in this Boston Globe piece about nigh-unstoppable sensation Randall Munroe.

Tomorrow, the University of Virginia features a speech by Hugh MacLeod, cartoonist and marketing guru. From there, he'll proceed to San Francisco. MacLeod's name doesn't get mentioned in the usual sources but he seems to have done pretty well for himself: he's a member of Federated Media, which claims many compulsively readable websites, most notably Digg.

Interviews with Kristofer Straub and Bill Barnes.

Chugworth Academy has returned.

Favorite of the day: "Who does this Rowling woman think she is?"

Close runner-up: "Hastings Kilgore is aroused."

Oh hell, Monday's always an embarrassment of riches: I also smiled at this and this and this. I haven't been that entertained by Megatokyo in about two years, actually.

Richard Stallman Attacked By "Ninjas" In Public Because Of xkcd

2007-10-21T17:25:00.000-04:00

Let us hope Randall Munroe does not begin using his powers for evil.

(Via Slashdot.)

10/21: Shaking My Fist At Ryan Estrada

2007-10-21T17:13:00.000-04:00

My 24-hour comic was not finished in 24 hours. It was done in 28 hours. You may still get to see it, though. I need to talk to some people, make sure I'm not too close to this to judge it.

Meantime, check out somebody who turns out reams of great comics on deadline as easily as if it were belching: Ryan Estrada, fresh off 24 Hour Comics Day with "Who Killed Your Cat."

10/19-10/20: Twenty-Twenty-Twenty-Four Hours To Go-o-o-o

2007-10-20T06:43:00.000-04:00

Sorry this entry took longer than expected-- yesterday was quite the busy day.

Today's all about the 24-hour comic, and I'm totally on board this year. Unfortunately, the nearest official 24-hour event is about six hours from where I live, so I'm gonna be doin' things from my study. Yes, my drawings are terrible, but there comes a time when you gotta bite the bullet.

If the results are successful, I'll show them to you-- though maybe not until the New Year. I have... reasons for that.

Other stuff:

Today's favorite contains some blue language and a keen grasp of human nature.

I'm having a hard time remembering what I liked yesterday, so let's just link this gag from Amy Mebberson, my favorite strip she's done so far.

My ego isn't really big enough to make me think that I have any influence over Tim Buckley, but it's funny to see him at least trying to address the issue I raised two months back. I think that to address it completely, you'd need to have the characters go through permanent change, and that doesn't seem to be on the agenda. But it's kind of bittersweet because of that, like those superhero stories where the writer can make you think about the flaws in Batman's life, but can't fix 'em with any action that editors or other writers won't undo.

Gary Tyrrell has the basics of the O RLY vs. Jeffrey Rowland case covered. I'm more or less with Gary on this, but I got into hot water over a "recontextualization" similar to Rowland's, so I can't say there's no precedent. And even though I think Rowland's in the right, I do agree with Ryan Sohmer that Rowland's indie cred will make up more people's minds than the rights or wrongs of this use.

The time is 7:30 AM. The 24 hours begin... NOW.

10/18: (Quickie)

2007-10-18T15:03:00.000-04:00

I'm still gathering what data I can for the T-shirt stuff, and I don't have a lot of free time today, thanks to an old friend dropping by unexpectedly. Good for me, bad for you-- I'll try to make it up to you early next week.

Favorited: Ignatz winner Achewood has a great punchline and so does Girls with Slingshots, but I gotta give today to Basic Instructions' "How to Pick a Restaurant," which is just beautifully constructed through and through.

While I'm throwing out the love, I gotta say that Wire Mothers from Jim Ottoviani and Dylan Meconis was my single favorite discovery at the Small Press Expo. It's about love, science and where the two met in the career of one Harry Harlow. It's not entirely a "discovery" since these two have entertained me many times before, but I hadn't known about the book before the show, so close enough. My only complaint is that the photographic cover shows none of the warmth and humanity (and simianity?) that Dylan brings to the proceedings, which might turn some new readers away. Don't be fooled!

Slow news day. Only tidbit: To the surprise of no one, roving webcomics theme songster MC Frontalot contributes to the development of the Penny Arcade video game.

Tomorrow: "24 hours to go..."

10/17: Researching T-Shirt Options Today

2007-10-17T07:52:00.000-04:00

I'm too busy looking into the T-shirt market to make a detailed post today. I'll share what I've learned tomorrow.

Update on Webcomics.com: our designer's family emergency has turned into a family tragedy, which has understandably delayed the final redesign of the website. All apologies for the delay. We should be seeing the new site early next week.

Tim Demeter on retcons, and why his may not be the worst thing to ever happen.

I seem to inspire more than my share of thinly veiled or obvious satires these days. They always seem to focus on things I was doing early last year. Of course, early last year was kind of the peak of my hubris.

Fave of day: Jeph Jacques gets some FANTASTIC comic mileage out of two conspicuously similar character designs. Runner-up: new memes for the new year. Third place: a German's quest for Sheldon.

Just kinda neat: Guy Kawasaki tells a story of his heritage involving webcartoonists Scott Yoshinaga and Audra Furuichi.

An eagle-eyed tipster tells me that Zuda is still posting its postcards. Nice to see Bill Maus and Jamie Robertson in there. Jamie, my apologies for you-know-what: glad to see it worked out anyway.

10/16: You Can't Go Home Again

2007-10-16T20:56:00.000-04:00

This is not even remotely webcomics.

For ten years, there has been no one comic I have wanted to see published more than Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew, Volume 2, Number 1. I've pitched it twice. I worked with Jim Keplinger and Ross Andru on one version of it and with Cat Garza on another. I've co-written two fanfics, wrote a set of essays about it, and considered a book. And I promised myself that if anybody got to revive the Captain instead of me, I wouldn't be petty about it. I'd just enjoy seeing my old friends, brought back to life.

My prayers have finally been answered. And really, I'm not sure my feelings could have been anything but mixed. At one moment I'm lost in nostalgia, Shaw's art and the nice little character bits worked in around the edges, at the next I'm obsessing over problems with tone, continuity errors (I spotted at least five) and odd "choices of moment" (the stuff that Captain Carrot only tells us about in soliloquy seems like it would have been a lot more interesting to see than some of the scenes that we got).

(Are we ALLOWED to complain about continuity errors in DC Comics any more? I know this is Earth-26 and not Earth-C and it's all because Mister Mind ate the Earth-Prime Superboy or something. As far as I can tell, this has thrown DC into a state of quantum uncertainty, where it both does and does not have years of continuity at its disposal, depending on what is most convenient at any particular moment. I'm not asking for the moon here, but when the series' main villain goes from a solar-powered robot slave to his very own ecoterrorist and NO ONE SEEMS TO NOTICE, I get a bit confused.)

What this means is that I am no longer eight years old. I've traded in my ability to enjoy something completely, warthogs and all, for the kind of analysis that makes my own scripts better. Most days I don't regret that trade-off. Today I do, a little.

Geez, I hope I'm not just being jealous.

At least the story is a lot more enjoyable than the Zoo Crew's Johns-Shaw Teen Titans appearance. But it'd almost have to be.

Odds and Ends

2007-10-16T08:12:00.000-04:00

Penny and Aggie is on Tokyopop's site now.

Brian Clevinger gives a brief interview about his new direct-market series, Atomic Robo.

Favorite comic of the day: seriously, just start reading Octopus Pie regularly.

10/15: Monkeys Make Everything Better

2007-10-15T09:50:00.000-04:00

I've never met Chris Onstad before he accepted his all-but-inevitable Ignatz for "Best Online Comic." He didn't look anything like what I expected.

(Pic via Comixtalk and Joe Zabel.)

Joey Manley has proposed a massive initiative to help Webcomics Nation cartoonists track (and presumably improve) their performance. Joey also continues to drop vague hints, like "a team of developers," that indicate he's got more resources than he did for his last major programming push. This stuff looks better than Google Analytics, seriously.

Happy birthday, Cat Garza!

Condolences to Chris Muir on the loss of his sister, Catherine M. Forsythe, to a cancer-related stroke.

Sayanora, Yirmumah.

But what about centaurs on motorcycles? Via Simulated Comic Product.

Rob Liefeld as T-Rex is, without a doubt, my favorite comic of the day.

Found via Keenspot ads: the producers of Mystery Science Theater 3000 are back... and they're riffing The Matrix, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek, Star Wars and more.

Brian Warmoth: still interviewin' good webcomickers.

Finally, HOLY CROW IT'S BILL WATTERSON. And he LIKES the Schulz book!

Heidi on Bad Comics From All Corners

2007-10-12T13:07:00.000-04:00

Not long after I finally posted "Getting Out More," Heidi MacDonald followed up with some interesting thoughts about what might be missing in today's artsier comics. Touches on webcomics only briefly, but it's a cracking good read.