More and more of the alerts I’ve been getting seem to be more about webcomics getting more coverage on Google than ever before. Out of the past 12 I’ve looked at 5 of the alerts were for comics I had never heard of and 5 were for xkcd. Yeah, I’m starting to get a little sick of it as well. Reminds me of the advertising blitz they did for Avatar. If only that movie had turned out less than fabulous I could continue with my righteous anger.

Kate Beaton came out with a new book a few weeks back. This is the third time I’ve seen some sort of link to “Hark, a vagrant” in as many months, so it has just ended up on my list to review and possibly visit in one of our adventures.

There’s an update on Stephanie McMillan’s children’s book. She looks to be nearly finished and has put together a short video preview of the beginning, with narration by Derrick. The book has received more than $1400 of the $6000 goal so far, through partnership with Kickstarter as a fundraising tool. For thos who would like to contribute go here.

Looks like the guys behind Bat & Wolf are having trouble finding additional help as well. For the past year it has been almost impossible to find other artists or writers interested in teaming up. It’s almost as if the medium is having a backlash from all the brotherly love of last year with the great collective rush. Anyone else having trouble finding good team players?

I was going to skip by this but apparently Jonathan Moo has been doing so much leg work that I have to applaud him. What caught my attention was this post about how to advertise your webcomic for free. The seven things he covers are forums, directories, showcasing, bookmarking, link exchange, mirrors, and articles. The advice might be common knowledge but he puts some common sense behind it that’s worth reading.

Well amongst all the hubbub of last night, we recorded a show. DJ Coffman sat in and vented and it was a good time.

Until I tried to put the show together and everything went to pot. I haven’t been able to get the audio files to mix together. If anyone really wants to know what was said, I can probably throw together a really rough cut, but its almost more entertaining to imagine what Mr. Coffman would have to say about it. You can also read this article by Eric Burns-White. He has a lot to say about paywalls, two months before the Webcomics.com switch.

What I really wanted to mention here though is yesterday also marked the end of an institution. Teaching Baby Paranoia began ten years ago today and after a decade of entertaining and educational comics, creator Bryant Paul Johnson has decided to move on.

I’ll be honest. TBP has never been a constant feature in my readings. And yet, every year or so I’d rediscover it, read a couple strips and just be blown away. It remains in my mind a truly unique creation. Nothing was like it when it started and the pattern holds true today.

I love the art and the clever footnotes. I loved how I learned while I read it. I loved the name. I have no idea why I never loved it on a daily basis. Fortunatly, there is plenty to read on the comic’s page over at Modern Tales.

In a way, it’s kind of nice. There’s something almost scholarly about a comic coming to a planned end. There are a lot of great strips that have made a full run. Rice Boy, 95 Gallons and the recently concluded Dar (which I also need to read) spring to mind.

Join me will you. We could have like a Book on the Month Club sort of thing where we all read together and talk about it. Let me know if you’re interested. That’s the comments are for.

EDIT – Eric has Websnarked an article all about the Webcomics.com switch. Check it out.

In a move that is certainly causing mixed reactions across the board, Webcomics.com, helmed by Brad Guigar, announced Sunday that the site content will now be available to all who register for a pay account for the price of $30 a year. The post declaring this new business model for the community-driven webcomics information hub has a lengthy comment thread that is well worth reading if you’re trying to decide whether or not to give it the ol’ college try.

The question that strikes me as particularly intriguing is one posed by David Gallaher:

Clicking around, I didn’t see a Terms of Service notice or anything that guarantees my rights as a consumer of your information. How do I know that Brad won’t take all of my money and build a dream house in Florida?

In terms of this being a business decision, this does seem like a make-it-or-break-it point. The Internet has proven to be anything but stable, so is there any way to ensure subscribers they will get their money back if the whole thing goes tits up tomorrow?

Oh, and some dude talked to Brad himself about the whole thing. Maybe he has more info you should check out.