Publisher’s Weekly Comics Week talks to DC honcho Paul Levitz about digital comics, and he demonstrates that he gets it where a lot of others don’t:

I don’t think if you create a comic flat for print that it’s likely to be the perfect thing for a digital world. I enjoy having The Complete New Yorker on my bookshelf in digital form, but I don’t look at it very often. I think in the end the great success is when you’re creating for the dynamic of the medium you’re in.

Maybe that’s why Zuda is the one webcomic distributed by a publisher that actually fits on my computer screen. However, I have to say that the idea of the limited-animation version of Watchmen fills me with horror. I have yet to see an animated comic that impressed me.

Although Levitz is right about fitting the comic to the medium, there’s nothing wrong with scanning in a vintage comic if the material merits it. I’m thinking of Tops in Pops, a 1964 story from Archie’s Mad House, now playing at I’m Learning to Share. It’s the tale of two deejays, one a swingin’ sixties guy and the other a determined square, locked in an escalating battle of publicity stunts, and the Archie tendency toward bad hipster talk actually kind of works in this one.

Dan Hess has a new comic, Weesh, an all-ages strip about a licorice-eating bunny who grants wishes to the kids he live with. The humor is dry enough for adults to appreciate, especially the recently concluded arc about the little girl who brings her stuffed animals to life. Dan is the creator of Angel Moxie and Realms of Ishikaze, so his webcomic credentials are in good order.

How’s the new Wowio thing going? Continue reading →

The folks at Tokoyopop have at treat for Star Trek fans right now: They have put up all three volumes of their Star Trek global manga online for free. Each manga contains four or five chapters by different writers and artists, and all the stories are based on the original Star Trek series.

The ostensible reason for this generosity is so that readers can vote for which story they want reproduced in color for the upcoming Star Trek Ultimate Edition, which will collect all three volumes in a single hardcover volume. However, it’s a good opportunity to check out short stories on a common theme by some talented artists. Many of the creators who worked on these stories have also done global manga for Tokyopop, and their work is pretty good, so the books are worth a look. And check them out now, because although there is no end date on this thing, I doubt the books are up there permanently.

For those with different tastes, Tokyopop is also previewing most of Dark Metro, and they will start posting The Mysterians one chapter at a time on August 15.

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I’m reposting in case you all were getting ready for SDCC and missed this: We’re giving away two limited-edition copies of The Lost Ones, the online graphic novel written by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and illustrated by Dr. Revolt, Gary Panter, Kime Buzzelli and Morning Breath. The webcomic is sponsored by Zune Arts, which, yes, has something to do with Microsoft’s MP3 player of the same name. They’re sponsoring emerging artists, and the program has been getting some good buzz.

To enter, just comment to this post, or the previous one, with a suggestion for a webcomic for us to review. Yes, you can even propose your own. Give us some fresh content for our podcasts, and you may have a chance to win these lovely limited-edition graphic novels, complete with poster. But act now! The contest ends on August 5.

Viewed from a distance, the San Diego Comic-Con is something of a dinosaur; people seemed to spend a lot of time getting excited about print comics about guys in tights. But webcomics were there, and they popped up in some surprising places. Like Marvel announcing that they are teaming up with Steven King to do an animated webcomic. Go figure.

Rich Marshall, whose interviews with webcomics creators are on my must-read list, has a webcomics-leaning overview of the con as a whole at ComicMix. He tracked down quite a few artists and writers, so it’s well worth a click.

Over at Fleen, Gary Tyrell did some good coverage-at-a-distance, picking up on video of the Dumbrella panel, Wired‘s interview with R. Stevens, and Wil Wheaton’s video interview.

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Webcomics have been part of the Seven Seas mix since the beginning. The L.A.-based publisher launched in 2005 with a line of nicely produced global manga that seemed specifically designed to appeal to pre-teens: Amazing Agent Luna, Last Hope, Blade for Barter, and from the beginning, they put the first 75-100 pages of each online for free. Currently their front page features four manga series that update several times a week, including Aoi House, which
runs on the Megatokyo model only with regular updates: The entire archive, now up to four volumes, is online for free or available on dead-tree media in your local bookstore.

Now they are doing something a little different: Their new series The Ninja Diaries will be serialized in the weekly Los Angeles lifestyle paper Metromix, both in the print edition and on the website. This obviously brings their work in front of a larger audience than the readership of the Seven Seas website, but will it be a happy marriage?

The manga itself looks pretty good so far. In the first four pages, DeFilippis and Weir introduce their characters and even give them a bit of personality, work in a timely joke, and set up the main story arc. If you’re one of those people who hates global manga on principle, this might be the comic that makes you abandon those principles, because Elmer Damaso’s art is clear and deft; the manga influence is there, but it isn’t obnoxious. My one quarrel with it is that the female character has manga eyes and smoothed-out features, while the guys just look like normal guys; it’s as if the girl was pasted in from some other strip. Japanese manga artists do this a lot—I had the same complaint about Battle Royale—but as this will be many people’s first manga, I wish it were more consistent.

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The Zune is Microsoft’s MP3 player, which apparently doesn’t just play music, it plunges you into an entire world of digital media.

Zune Arts is Microsoft’s bid to cool-wash the Zune by supporting emerging artists and tying them to the brand. And what’s cooler than webcomics? So the Zune folks turned to Steve Niles, the author of 30 Days of Night, who in turn teamed up with artists Dr. Revolt, Gary Panter, Kime Buzzelli and Morning Breath to produce an online graphic novel, The Lost Ones. Go, read, although you may have to be patient with the Flash animation on the site. We’ll be reviewing it shortly.

Or, you could skip the Flash and win a limited-edition print copy of The Lost Ones, complete with a poster. You could also contribute to a more interesting Digital Strips in future. Here’s how: Comment to this post with a suggestion for a webcomic we should be reading and reviewing. We can’t promise we’ll review every one, but we will at least check it out. We do promise that we will select two winners at random from among the commenters. Send in your suggestions before August 5 to qualify. In the meantime, click “Read more” for the 411 on The Lost Ones.

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Earlier this year, BOOM Studios caused quite a bit of controversy but also sold a lot of comics by distributing the first issue of North Wind for free online. Retailers howled at first, but quited down a bit when the issue posted record sales. Now they’re extending that strategy by adding webcomics to their site. They started off with several pages each of six different series and will update each with five pages a week. It looks like all the launch titles are from their backlist, and the intent is clearly to drive sales of print comics.

Last Sunday’s Fox Trot featured four webcomics. I wonder how many regular readers of the Sunday funnies would recognize any of these? Even Jason and Steve and I were puzzled by the fourth one, although we figured it out eventually. Are webcomics more mainstream than we think?

Also, the power of xkcd was demonstrated once more Continue reading →

Ace reporter Heidi MacDonald tracks down an SEC filing that indicates that Platinum has indeed bought Wowio. Scott Christian Sava talked to William Lidwell, the president of Wowio, and came out reassured. It sounds like the model will change a bit: Books will be offered for free viewing or for pay, and readers outside the U.S. can now access the comics.

The sales agreement indicates that all current Wowio contracts will be terminated, although an e-mail sent out by Lidwell seems to indicate that they are just being amended. (Be sure to read the comments to both of Heidi’s posts for enlightening snark and analysis.)

Creators who worked with Wowio up to now have generally had good things to say about the service, which allowed readers to download comics for free but paid creators 50 cents per unique download. Sponsorships were the key to Wowio’s finances.

Platinum has been attracting some negative attention of late, however, and an article in this week’s Publishers Weekly Comics Week paints a grim picture of the company’s finances. Continue reading →