The webcomic news just keeps flowin’ in and I just keep lettin’ it sail right by! But lo, what’s this? I seem to have accrued a clog in my usually steady flow! Must be time to apply some WordDraino (patent pending) and unclog that stubborn drain. Here it comes, it’s Interest Piquers for the week ending 3/22/08!

– As most Americans know, driving anywhere these days is so expensive, it’s nearly idiotic. Bike, walk, do whatever you have to do to get to where you need to be, just don’t do it in a gasoline-fueled vehicle.

Well it will probably tick you off further to know that not only is Steven Cloud, creator of the existential short strip, Boy on a Stick and Slither, not only is he doing a fair bit of driving these days, he’s doing it from London to Mongolia. Now I flunked world geography (I can barely find my way out of my neighborhood most days) but that sounds like a looong trip. Why do it, Steven’s Livejournal post?

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I’m off to Anime Boston this weekend, H2 recorder in hand, and if all goes well I’ll be chatting up some folks on Artists Alley. In the meantime, here are some webcomics stories you may not have seen.

Gary Tyrrell has a lengthy post on the panel Webcomics: A Primer, which includes lots of nuts-and-bolts discussion among creators Dean Haspiel, Raina Telgemeier, Rich Stevens, and Ted Rall about timing, format, and “the economics of free.” Set aside some time to read the lengthy comments thread as well.

At Broken Frontier, Tyler Chin-Tanner interviews Joe Infurnari about his webcomic The Process. I don’t really have words to describe The Process, but the art is wonderful and you should really just go look at it for yourself.

Shaenon Garrity deconstructs the WCCAs in her latest comiXology column.

At Precocious Curmudgeon, blogger David Welsh reviews the print version of North World.

I can’t imagine there has been a huge demand for this, but Harlequin and SoftBank Creative just announced that they will be making Harlequin manga available for cell phones starting next month. Enjoy!

Over in Japan, the publisher Shueisha is launching an online manga magazine, Ultra Jump Egg. Go to the link for an explanation of how to navigate the pages if you don’t read Japanese but want to see the art anyway.

Over at Webcomics.com, T Campbell posts the top webcomics for March, based on Compete and Alexa rankings. As usual, caveats and analysis follow. Also posted on WC.C lately: Elanor Cooper interviews Sarah Ellerton, creator of Inverloch and The Phoenix Requiem, and Alexander Danner plays “where are they now” with four webcomickers who have moved on to other projects.

I wish I had been able to get to this: Gary Tyrrell reports on the graphic novel symposium Splat!, and Karen at Pen in Hand posts her illustrated notes.

Rick Marshall of ComicMix talks to Wes Molebash about his Zuda experiences so far.

At The Webcomic Overlook, El Santo has a very thorough and entertaining review of the print version of Laugh-Out-Loud Cats, which we discussed briefly in our most recent podcast.

Eric Burns’ lengthy post on why he is bored by Kevin and Kell caused me to take a look at it out of curiosity, and I ended up really enjoying it. Go figure.

Vintage comic link of the day: Golden Age Comic Book Stories presents Fired! by Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta, from Crime Suspenstories #17, June-July 1953.

Man, I gotta write all my posts with the caps lock.

Wes Molebash’s Zuda Comics entry, The Litterbox Chronicles, faces scrutiny of the flaming kind on the comment board for his strip. For days now, a user known only as Maledicta has taken Wes to task for not only the quality of the strip but for the method by which he is garnering votes.

Being a comment board, there has been a tendency for the discussion to slip into the flame war territory, but by and large, heads are staying cool and the Wesheads are coming to the defense of their leader.

The discourse centers around the fact that Maledicta feels Wes’ approach of “Everyone come to the site, register, and vote for me!” is unfair and borders on ballot-box stuffing, which, after a quick Google search, I see is not nearly as vulgar as I thought.

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Are the Wikipedia webcomics wars over? T Campbell takes a lot of time to figure out that he really doesn’t know, but his analysis is still pretty interesting. There’s more at the Webcomics.com forum. Meanwhile Nicholson Baker has written a more general article on fighting “extremist deletion” on Wikipedia that includes a discussion of the webcomics controversy.

Gary Tyrrell muses on webcomics startup financing, which begs the question of what would constitute an investment-grade webcomic.

Here’s another link-worthy post on the business of webcomics: Von Allan takes a hard look at site stats and dollars. it’s interesting reading as a case study of a new cartoonist; he compares his popularity to that of Warren Ellis, looks at how his readership changes with time, and analyzes how he is using Project Wonderful to bring in readers.

The latest issue of Dark Horse Presents is up at MySpace.com; DH does a good job of not being too MySpace-y, with a relatively simple landing page and easily navigable archives. Plus the comics are pretty good.

The second chapter of the Cloverfield web manga is up, and Tagruato posts a translated version.

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The Webcartoonists Choice Awards were announced last night, in a live and online ceremony. The envelope please…

Outstanding Comic: Girl Genius, by Phil and Kaja Foglio
Outstanding Newcomer: Octopus Pie, by Meredith Gran
Outstanding Artist: Tracy J Butler of Lackadaisy
Outstanding Writer: Kaja and Phil Foglio of Girl Genius
Outstanding Character Writing: Templar, Arizona by Spike
Outstanding Long Form Comic: The Order of the Stick by Rich Burlew
Outstanding Short Form Comic: Perry Bible Fellowship by Nicholas Gurewitch
Outstanding Single Panel Comic: XKCD by Randall Munroe
Outstanding Comedic Comic: Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik
Outstanding Dramatic Comic: Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddel
Outstanding Layout: Copper by Kazu Kibuishi
Outstanding Use of Color: Dresden Codak by Aaron Diaz
Outstanding Black and White Art: Lackadaisy by Tracy J Butler
Outstanding Photographic Comic: A Softer World by Emily Horne and Joey Comeau
Outstanding Character Rendering: Lackadaisy by Tracy J Butler
Outstanding Environment Design: Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio
Outstanding Website Design: Lackadaisy by Tracy J Butler
Outstanding Use of the Medium: Dresden Codak by Aaron Diaz

Congratulations to all the winners!

You know, there really is something to this bloggin’ thing. I mean, news needs exposure, we have some exposure, and so condensing news that others have reported on and researched equals more exposure. It’s a simple equation, nothing befitting any XKCD stick-figurie (new word!) but still one that fascinates me.

Now that we’ve indulged my bit of self-discovery, let’s tear into some folks, shall we?

– First up, Wizard. No, not the company who makes your favorite collectible card games, the one who owned the comic reporting world and threw it away to focus on babes and other, you know, dude stuff.

If you’ve picked up an issue of Wizard: The Comics Magazine lately, you must have a back issue in your possession. These days, Wizard goes with the tagline, “The #1 Men’s Pop Culture Magazine.” No, really.

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