It’s not too often that errors are made here at Digital Strips. We pride ourselves in a grueling, fact-checking process that involves no fewer than thirty top men and women who in turn pride themselves in running each blog post through a battery of tests to determine whether or not an article is fit to make it to the front page.

Unfortunately, these fact-checker all-stars cannot accompany me on trips to conventions, so I’m bound to make a mistake or two. Like this one! Where I accidentally referred to the animal inhabitants of the B&B where Zach Weiner and his fiance, Kelly, stayed while they were in MA for NEWW, as emus when everyone knows they were actually llamas. I was apparently very convincing in my falsehood, though, as I got Kelly to play right along.

But that’s not why we’re here! We’re here because I got the chance to sit down with a webcomics all-star, the aforementioned Mr. Weiner, creator of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and the tragically snuffed out superhero parody, Captain Excelsior. As a huge fan of both works, it was great to sit down and pick his brain for a moment or two. Bonus points for scoring another member of the growing Webcomics Wives Club as well! (As they said at NEWW, mark it on your webcomics bingo board!)

More bonus points: listen in for a snippet of information regarding the upcoming DS strip relaunch! 

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There are some writers, in both comic books and webcomics, that write for the sake of continuity. It’s about the story, seamless and long-form, and the characters are simply there to help that tale along. Fun becomes a happenstance consequence in regards to the greater good of the almighty plotline and eventually it doesn’t matter who’s pulled into a story because each character is as paper-thin as the next.

But then there’s David Willis. The young creator of Shortpacked! (and many others) excels at developing characters, people (and automobiles and deceased ex-Presidents) who have a purpose for being and who can make any situation instantly entertaining, not because of what they’re doing, but because of who they are. This is really all just a drawn-out way of saying Willis has crafted some immensely satisfying moments with his characters on Shortpacked! and you must all go and read them right now.

After you listen to this interview with the man himself, of course.

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Never let it be said that Ryan Sohmer is a boring man. While his entourage/small tactical force sold the goods and made the sketches (that would be Lar DeSouza, artist on Least I Could Do and Looking for Group), Sohmer sauntered around the show floor, trademark Red Bull in hand, shaking hands and just generally chatting with those who had come to see him in the flesh.

There was one point on Friday where I joked with other creators about the Halfpixel guys rolling in, wearing matching aviators, and walking in slo-mo with their coats billowing in the breeze. After meeting the Blind Ferret crew, however, I’d say the title of toughest team in webcomics is still up for grabs. I’ll be in talks with Mer about a possible steel cage death match for next year’s NEWW to decide that title once and for all.

But getting back to meeting Sohmer, what an experience that is! The charismatic creator holds nothing back, even with a recorder at his mouth. I hadn’t bothered to include my DS moniker on my name badge for the weekend, a mistake that Sohmer was happy to call me on (listen to the first few seconds of our interview for the audio context of this error). After that, he was pretty much in control of our encounter.

But next time you have a meet-up at a local bar, Mr. Sohmer, you had better believe I’ll bring my recorder.

(Language slightly NSFW)

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This interview represents my favorite story of the weekend. Were I a documentarian and had I been filming things, this girl’s story is the one I would have focused on.

Angela Melick is fairly new to the webcomics scene, though not webcomics. Her strip, Wasted Talent, has been around for about four years, though it was only within the last year and a half or so that she really started getting the word out about her work. An engineer by trade, Melick one day decided to really give the comics thing a go and so, she arrived at the first ever New England Webcomics Weekend. 

Thus began the schmoozing, and the networking, and the making of friends. Her bubbly personality and down-to-earth sensibility wore down even the blackest of hearts (I’ll name no names, but form your own conclusions). Before too long, after arriving on Friday afternoon, Melick had gained many new webcomics friends and it seemed she had smoothly and seamlessly integrated herself into the community.

But then, things took a terrible turn, and it would never be the same for Angela Melick.

…nah! A tragic twist would certainly make this moment more dramatic, but there’s really no need for one. Angela was thrilled to meet all the creators she’d traded IMs, Tweets, and e-mails with and I couldn’t help but be happy for her. So check out her stuff at Wasted Talent and also check out the Canadian-bred collective, Cloudscape Comics, of which Angela is a part.

UPDATE: And no, she did NOT call me Justin in the closing moment. I swear she did too, but she insists I simply misheard.

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Networking. That’s the name of the game at any con, and though many did not see NEWW as a convention of any sort, the budding creators and hopeful artists in attendance took every opportunity to hand out samples and talk up their works-in-progress. 

Through the power of the NEWW forums, I found myself one such man, a man who was in need of a carpool. That man turned out to be Alan Evans, creator of Rival Angels, the web’s first and only comic about female wrestlers (and not in a pervy way). Alan and I hung out through the course of the weekend, crawling from pub to pub on Friday night (where the most I drank was two glasses of water the bartender graciously provided to cool down my order of steaming hot french fries) and meeting up periodically throughout Saturday to trade stories of meetings and panels.

Rival Angels fills a niche that I didn’t even know needed to be filled and so we can all thank Alan for that! Stop by the site where he’s got a good NEWW wrap-up underway (and you can even see what I look like in real life!) and stay for the feminine beauty and intense rivalries!

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I’m not sure what the creators of webcomics are used to in terms of interviewing style, but the one I employed at NEWW sure ain’t it. I won’t say it was Michael Moore-esque, but guerilla tactics were utilized to get what I needed. Case in point, my hallway rendezvous with Paul Southworth, formerly of Ugly Hill and currently of… well, that’s still a mystery, isn’t it?

As I figured might be the case, it’s hard to track down people when you have little idea what they look like (sure, Southworth has a Twitter icon, but who in webcomics DOESN’T have dark hair and a goatee?). I was forced to rely on my auditory skills during those first few hours to pick up on the recognizable names and put them together with the correct faces. In short, I saw Paul early on and THOUGHT it was him but waited for confirmation from a colleague before pouncing.

Luckily, Mr. Southworth (or is that your father’s name?) was gracious enough to indulge my curiosities, even going as far as to drop a clue about who he might be collaborating with next (his first, as the interview tells it). So listen in and see if your deductive powers can crack the code!

Also, yes, guerilla tactics sometime lead to collateral damage, heard here in the form of a wee boy who went trotting by during the interview. Do as we did; chuckle and move on.

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