When it’s hard to find enough news for an editorial we have to lean back on the good old news brief. There’s been a string of interviews and tidbits sent us that have piling up. Tell us if you like these news summaries and we’ll go back to them. That also means everyone needs to start using that news submission link over to the left. For the real list of good interviews you need to catch up with T Campbell and his Blowing Bubbles work on Broken Frontier.
When it comes to webcomics most artists think that their skill alone should propel them into stardom. The fact that if they were so good from the start they would be paid for it in the first place doesn’t enter their minds. Everyone else, the ones who make money, understand that a webcomic is property. I’m not talking about your sister’s barbie dolls your mom caught you playing with, but something similar to what you find on TV and Radio. Sports entertainment understands this concept all to well. All of these long ago realized that every property has to represent.
One of these days some guy named Jack is going to come along and wake us all up and we’re going to realize the sleeping giant that is Blind Ferret. Randy and Ryan seem to be everywhere now a days with some new plot to bring webcomics to the animated screen. The first big venture hit us with a big greasy side of bacon in the form of CAD Premium. The hubbub over that gave us a good month’s worth of news and I have yet to see it. (Did someone say free press pass? Oh, that was just my wet dream.) Piggy backing on that news Least I Could Do gave us a teaser for a LICD show along the same lines but alas it has yet to appear.
The Big Con has come and gone and that meant that the Comic Book Challenge moved into the next stages. Fifty people were invited to throw their pitch for a comic to three Judges; Actor/Comedian Donald Faison, Shrek Producer John H. Williams, and Platinum Studios head honcho Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. You can find all 50 pitches on the site but that’s a tall order even for me. The judges picked 10 semi-finalists and left it up to us to decided who the winner would be for 2007. A week ago that was narrowed down to three comics. Major complaint about the site before the reviews. We need more then one page to make a decision like this. I fill like we’re being made to decide off of art and personality without even knowing if these guys can tell a story.
Anyone who has been around for a year or more is pretty much guaranteed to go through a problem with their provider. No matter how well you plan you will always get to the point where something has to change. DS has been through this three times in various forms with getting our own domain, switching to wordpress, and the near perfect switch to using Dreamhost. By far the worst was transferring everything from blogspot to wordpress, which required some professional help to get all the archives migrated. We’re just a blog!
Ever wonder how to fit 48 hours into the same day? It’s easy, just remember the joys of the International Date Line. That’s right, for the low cost of a plane ticket across the Pacific you can enjoy what no one else does and arrive before your plane took off. Just remember it can be even more fun if you find that one flight that everyone else is on and make sure to economy because nothing else says patience like having fat guys to either side and precocious 5 year olds behind you discovering folding trays for the first time. If you’re going to submit yourself to such torture you better be sure to bring something worth reading along with you. Below we have the perfect answers to make hell seem like a vacation from the boredom that is life.
We’re in the middle of the Convention season and the biggest one of them all is mere moments away. No matter how many other conventions come along to support webcomics this convention is still held as the pinnacle. San Diego is the one where all of comics show themselves despite upstarts in New York and at Wizard. It has the Eisner’s, Heroes, and Neil Gaiman. How can you resist?
Remember the days, oh say six months ago, when contests were a dime a dozen? Where did that expression come from anyways. When our past contest flopped like a hooked fish it raised concerns that no cares about contests anymore, or perhaps there are too many. Since then the only one I’ve heard about is Platinum Studio’s Comic Book Challenge. Does this mean you have to be a big guy and give away something more then just a couple hundred dollars to get the attention of the web comic community?
This is old news but I have to stay with the tradition of reporting on something long after it’s useful. When project wonderful first came out almost a year ago I held off personally on posting about it until I knew what was going on. The most annoying part about it is everyone seems to love the service and yet for the life of me I can’t get space for the site. There were so few negative experiences that felt a backlash. The backlash sort of felt like going to a used car salesman and everyone there says the car you’re interested is the best on the lot. This means I sat around and continued to run the advertising on the site despite being annoyed by having to keep track of something that can be completely automated.
I’ll be the first one to admit I don’t know a thing about comics, especially the ones on that invention created from tubes. I have a vague idea of how of the business behind it though and I had the joy to give a well received panel about that at ConnectiCon last year. None of that matters for the beginner and here is where this particular scoop comes in handy. Do you remember growing up loving comics but not having a clue how a 15 year old could break into comics? There were a few really good books released such as drawing the Marvel or DC way. Perhaps even one on how to break into comics. Weren’t those great books? Where are the ones for web comics? It’s been more then 10 years and we may have quite a few good how to draw guides but where is the book that gives the whole process from conception to money?