9/19: Podcasting Country

Seems like new webcomics-based podcasts and vidcasts are turning up more and more frequently these days. In related news, I'll be posting a few new Blowing Bubbles in the next week and a half, then giving up on talk-show podcasts.

They're fun and all, but I have to wonder how many people are listening. With a few exceptions, webcartoonists don't have the kind of star power that I'd associate with a radio must-listen. (Two of those exceptions, the Penny Arcade guys, haven't 'cast since May.) My own experiences at Broken Frontier suggest as much: what feedback I received was for the text pieces, not the podcasts.

Despite this, and despite my own feelings about my abysmal delivery, I don't regret doing "Blowing Bubbles." I think there are aspects of cartoonists' personalities that just don't come through clearly in a prose interview. I was happy to throw a spotlight on those for anyone who did care to listen in. But when it comes to listening myself, now? Webcomics Weekly is the only 'cast for which I can still make the effort.

(And note to the Webcomics Weekly guys: please don't broadcast two hourlong episodes in the same week again, mmkay? It's tough enough to cram one of them into my schedule...)

Sergey Brin, Billionaire Romantic

No pre-nup, even.

It's one of my great frustrated ambitions to do a story about the lives of Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Last time I tried it, I got about thirty pages out of a hundred done. But I think I'm just going to have to wait until they're a lot older and history's verdict is in.

Also, via Heidi: ginormous guide to comic book podcasts.

And congratulations to webcartoonist Mitch Clem for his mention on PC World's "100 Blogs We Love." I found ABC News' version first, but they copied it over without keeping hyperlinks in the article. SERIOUSLY, ABC, GET WITH IT, GEEZ

Today Is Online Comics Day and Free Comic Book Day...

And I barely knew it.

You know what's really sad? I walked into the comic-book store today and picked up 52 #52 (which had been delayed in my store), then walked right back out again without even noticing that there were free comics for Free Comic Book Day. The poor retailer asked me "are you sure that's all you want?" And I said "Yep," thinking, Boy, he's pushy today for some reason.

I also thought tomorrow was Mother's Day until about 15 minutes ago. Reading 52 has clearly broken my sense of linear time.

But more on that later. Today, most of my promotion for webcomics not my own was centered on getting things set up at Broken Frontier. It's been a busy week for webcomics on the site:

1) Introduced "The Daily Read" feature to Broken Frontier. This feature is all about throwing spotlights onto individual webcomics achievements, mostly storytelling achievements because that's how I swing, but as widely ranging quality stuff as I can manage. UPDATE: This quickly became the weekly "Read Along With Me" because every once in a while I do get too ambitious for my own good.

2) More podcast interviews! Got 'em with Maritza Campos, Ryan Estrada and Phil and Kaja Foglio.

If you're a fan of Campos' like I am, her interview is essential listening: in it, she discusses her attitude toward her characters and toward the prospect of ending her series. Hearing it will make you more fearful for the characters' future, not less...

Ryan Estrada is rivaled only by Scott McCloud as the world's most intriguing traveling cartoonist (and Scott's adventures are lasting a year while Ryan's have so far lasted his whole adult life). The world is richer to have him in it.

And the Foglios are two of the only people who can really claim to be veterans of the print world and highly successful in the online one. To anyone who cares about what the different formats mean for business and creativity, their opinion matters.

3) And the "This Month In Webcomics" feature, which I already covered here.

Promoting webcomics besides my own is sort of most of my job at Broken Frontier right now, so really, it feels like I'm cheating here to excuse how little I got done today.

I put the finishing touches on a couple of short works about Penny Arcade and Diesel Sweeties, which I'll be releasing as part of a larger project later this month. They're meant as tributes, hope they'll be seen that way! (He said, ducking.)

And I'm sending out an e-mail tonight as part of a campaign to help out the WCCAs. But don't be too proud of me about that either: I've been dawdling on it for months until Online Comics Day shamed me back into action.

So... odds and ends. Keep your eye on the main site for the holiday... I betcha they'll report on some real contributions next week.

Todd Goldman, Read This. Or Don't: It's Your Life.

Over the last week, I've tried repeatedly to get in touch with Todd Goldman, because I believe there's got to be another side to this story. No, not the story that his company has plagiarized Dave Kelly's design-- that's an open and shut case. Goldman more or less copped to the charge, shifted a little blame to subordinates, but pledged to donate all profits from the shirt straight to Dave Kelly, which was certainly a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, Goldman has two feet, and the other story is the minefields he's stepped in before and since said confession. He or someone claiming to be him has accused Kelly of pedophilia, posted pornographic images to defame Kelly which ended up being seen by minors, hijacked the MySpace account of the person who originally reported the theft, openly mocked anyone who expressed concern about this...

...and, now, enlisted his lawyer to threaten anyone who reports on any of the above, even when such reportage sticks to verifiable facts.

Hey, see what I just reported on, there?

Bring it, Felix. That's right. I said come and get me. I support Gary Tyrrell to the point of putting my neck out right alongside his.

Now, I say "or someone claiming to be him" because, well... it's the Internet, the land of identity theft. There's still the shadow of a doubt. Someone else could have been acting in Goldman's name to make him seem worse than he is. The shadow grows fainter with time (that e-mail was tagged as coming from smtp.davidandgoliathtees.com? The MySpace hijacking used an image privately hosted on the davidandgoliathtees.com server? UH-OH), but a shadow remains. Tyrrell was responsible enough to raise that possibility, not that Felix or Goldman seem to care.

But if Goldman is being misrepresented... why hasn't he stepped forth to denounce these actions? Don't tell me he's not aware of them, not when this story has already affected his bottom line.

Well, Mr. Goldman, if you can read this, I'm giving you one more chance. I can't pretend to be on your side, but I can promise you an interview where you can tell your side, uninterrupted and unedited, to a comics news source. In terms of public relations, that's probably the best offer you're going to get at this point. Contact me here.

I don't expect a response to this. My gut tells me that everything "Todd Goldman" does and says is indeed Todd Goldman-- the persona is just too internally consistent with the guy whose most famous quote is an incitement to violence. But this is one time I'd be happy to be wrong.

Prove me wrong, Mr. Goldman.

Blowing Bubbles (The List)

People I'm inviting to Blowing Bubbles today:

Jeremy Ross, Jon Rosenberg, Joe England, Joey Comeau and Elizabeth Horne, Josh Blaylock, Josh Lesnick, Kazu Kibuishi, Kristofer Straub and Scott Kurtz, Logan DeAngelis, Mark Mekkes, Maritza Campos, MC Frontalot, N!cholas Gurewich, Owen Gieni, Paul McSpadden of the Harvey Awards, Paul Southworth, Pete Abrams, Phil and Kaja Foglio, Randall Munroe, Randy Milholland, Randy Waxman, Regis Maher II, Rich Burlew, Richard Bruning, Ryan Estrada, Ryan North, Sarah Ellerton, Seraphim, Shaenon K. Garrity, Starline X. Hodge, Thin Slice, Tim Berners-Lee, Tim Demeter, Tom Siddell, Tracy J. Butler, Wendy Pini, Xaviar Xerexes, Zach Miller, Zach Weiner...

Greg Dean, Scott Christian Sava...

...and representatives of Mars, Inc., Jeep, Wal-Mart, Google and Microsoft.

Note this isn't a list of promises. Some of these guys may be podcast-shy, even though they couldn't possibly be worse speakers than I am. Others might be waiting for the call from Jon Stewart's people. Others may have become my archenemies for the year and forgotten to tell me. I'M SORRY, BUT AFTER THE SECOND OR THIRD TIME THAT HAPPENED, YOU'D GET PARANOID TOO.

EDIT: This was meant to go out last night but both it and the invitations got delayed by sweet, sweet sleep. Invites are going out today-- Friday.

Blowing Bubbles: Daku the Rogue, Bernie Hou

Two more interviews, one with webcomics' longest-lasting podcaster and one with one of the more inventive webcartoonists.

The current plan is to do 100 of these and then either end the series or change its focus. I've got a long list of people I want to invite! I'll share it with you later today.

A couple of people have asked if there's an RSS feed for them and all I can answer is "not for a couple more weeks at least." Both this blog and Broken Frontier have RSS feeds, though, so you can use those.

Podcaster Tip: Start Using Pamela Immediately

Pamela is an MP3 recorder that bonds seamlessly with Skype 3.0 and offers a host of extra features. When you start, it announces that the call is being recorded, so you're covered legally, and-- oh, yeah-- unlike HotRecorder, it doesn't pretend to record and then turn a 15-minute conversation into 3 KB of nothing. I had no warning of this problem before it developed, and HR's tech support was spectacularly unhelpful.

No regrets about switching at all.

Thanks to Daku for his patience in being interviewed twice. Unfortunately, I think the Dan Slott interview is no longer timely enough to run, so thanks to Dan for the interview that no one will hear.

Blowing Bubbles: Brandon "Enigma" "Scrubbo" Sonderegger

Two new webcomics pieces in Broken Frontier today. One is a review of Life's A Bluff by Matt Koelbl... the other is the fulfillment of a two-month-old ambition.

Thanks to Enigma for his forbearance and his perspective on the much-talked-about and little-understood Anna Nicole Smith.

Back In The Saddle!

My computer problems are finally well and truly banished, my schedule problems are also behind me, and with a mighty heave-ho, Blowing Bubbles is back in action with installment #10. Thanks to Eric Burns and Wednesday White for classing up the effort.

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.

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.)

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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.

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.

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.

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!

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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.

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. :-)

"Meanwhile, at the crossroads..."

People who listen to podcasts and read this blog have probably noticed the severe decline in output from Meanwhile, The Comics Podcast, my talk show with Dave Belmore.

Funnily enough, Dave's interest seemed to begin to flag around September or so, which was, for Meanwhile, a period of great success. The New York Comic-Con had just offered our podcast a free table-- which would once have been a dream come true for Dave or me. We'd had some hits and some misses lately, but the period saw our best episode, the massive three-hour Neal Adams interview, "Strange Dumbness," and maybe our most enjoyable one, a nostalgia tour through cartoon themes. I was no longer living near Dave, but I'd just moved back into his time zone, which I figured would make things easier.

Sometimes, though, partners just grow apart. Dave and I always preferred distinctly different flavors of comics obsession. I'm Journalista, he's Previews. This still gave us a lot in common, of course, but it also meant we had to make a lot of compromises on subject matter. Of late, the differences between us seem to have grown more pronounced.

We've been doing Meanwhile for two years now, and I think we've hit most of the goals we had when we began, so we're going to go ahead and declare ourselves on "indefinite hiatus." Maybe we'll resurrect the show someday, maybe not.

If Dave tells me about his other plans, I'll announce 'em here. In the meantime, I ain't giving up on the podcasting space! Look for a new series announcement later this week!

NYCC Con Report, 2006: Just TOO Popular.

Got to the con in the absolute nick of time to cover the much-discussed "Web Comics Panel without webcartoonists." Writeup to follow shortly!

Divalicious' initial orders were a little too good. Borders snapped up the entire initial 4,000-copy print run, leaving me and Amy without any copies of the book to promote. But Amy soared to the rescue. You've already peeked at our convention exclusive minicomic, but I didn't know she was planning to put them in a signed goodie bag along with customized buttons and magnets.

Then again, I shouldn't have been surprised. Amy brings a Tina-like energy to the whole creative process. Taking in the Oscars with her and talking plot points over chicken and pork were loads of fun. The whole Tokyopop crew was good to spend the day with.

I alternated between the T-Pop booth, hustling for work elsewhere, and sitting in "Podcaster's Alley" (like a suburb of "Artist's Alley," but with people who podcast). All three were nice experiences, especially since I got to share space with the Digital Strips boys. But there was a complication to the Podcaster's Alley experience... which deserves its own post. Tomorrow.

Enough vagueries! Beginning promised writeup now!

NYCC.

I'll be attending the New York Comic Con this year, where I'll have a table to represent Meanwhile and sign some early copies of Divalicious at the Tokyopop booth. And I'm sure there'll be a few other things to do. Hope to see you there.

Meanwhile: Hollywoodland Kryptonite

Dave Belmore and I interviewed Nancy Schoenberger, one of the authors of Hollywood Kryptonite, a book about the life and death of George Reeves which bore, shall we say, a suspicious similarity to the later movie Hollywoodland. She also happens to be my old creative writing professor. I honestly loathe my delivery in this one even more than usual, but listen for Nancy!

I'm listening to that delivery now and rehearsing my old speech therapy lessons in preparation for my first Broken Frontier interview. It'll be with these guys, and hit the site early next year.