Webcomics journalism is growing, both in terms of those who only report on that facet of the art form (ourselves, Fleen, ComixTalk) and for other outlets who cover all comics and give webcomics equal time (and rightfully so). Rick Marshall, formerly of the Wizard online world, falls into the latter category.

I met Rick at the unofficial NEWW House Party (yes, there was a party full of nearly every big webcomics creator you could imagine and I was there) and we talked a bit about what it is he hopes to accomplish with the new branch of the MTV media blog, SplashPage, of which he is the editor. Regardless of your feelings towards the biggest music network not actually playing any music, the online arm (finger?) of the company is full of useful knowledge in each of several pertinent categories like video games and comic books.

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As Meredith Gran, creator of Octopus Pie and organizer extraordinaire of Webcomics Weekend is finding out, when you have guests stay with you for a long period of time, they will eventually start going through your stuff.

Guest strip by KC Green and David Malki!

Case in point: KC Green and David Malki! (of Horribleville and Wondermark, respectively) took it upon themselves sometime past the midnight hour to show their appreciation for everything Gran did to make this weekend a huge success (and believe me, it was a lot). And so, this guest strip was born.

I’m sure she’s flattered. I’m just curious what the webcomics world might come to should this collaboration continue. The mind is boggled…

The weekend has come and gone, but the attendees, they’re still Twitterin’ about the event! Thoughts, Flickr pools, actual pools, pub crawls, creator hugs, fan hugs, it’s all there and all yours for free! Hit the Twitter search engine and type in “neww” to be taken to the official thread for all things NEWW-related.

That should give you at least twenty pages of backlogged Tweets to slog through until I can get those interviews started this afternoon.

At least, not as far as Digital Strips is concerned. You were promised firsthand access to all the goings on in Easthampton, MA, and by-golly, you’re going to get it! Interviews, impressions, reviews, new faces to watch, old faces to stay excited about, it’s all here, in my brain, and just waiting to be poured into the Interwebs.

I’m heading out now to gather some more interviews before heading out, but rest assured that for those of you who couldn’t make it, we’ll do what we can to put you there, in the crowd, sweating and geeking out with the best of ’em! Stay tuned for more NEWW coverage here, on Digital Strips!

Jeffery Rowland, creator of Overcompensating and proud occupant of the Eastworks building where NEWW is being held, has offered up a little teaser for the event in his comic.

As if I weren’t already excited enough, now there’s a murder mystery involved? The plot is afoot…

As informed by Brock Heasley’s Twitter feed (yes, we’re all over this brand-new, state-of-the-art tech), his strip, Superfogeys, about a team of super(retired)heroes has just hit 200 updates! 

And I mean just hit 200, Brock was even kind enough to Tweet about it at least 50 times in the course of this monumentous day. Just looking at this strip makes me want to read through the archives the moment I get a chance; the cartoony exterior is among the cleanest I’ve seen this side of The Venture Bros. and I can’t imagine the writing is anything but top-notch to match.

Look for a review (either in podcast or blog form) soon from yours truly and follow Brock (brockheasley) to congratulate him on the milestone!

Oh, right, the hash tag won’t work in a WordPress title. Gotten so used to doing it for my Tweets I must’ve slipped into autopilot.

Meredith Gran was interviewed by the Boston Phoenix about the Webcomics Weekend and those attending might be interested in checking out the brief, but insightful article. Sure, it’s full of things that most of you, as avid webcomics followers (not to mention loyal Digital Strippers) already know, but it’s always good to get that info out to the masses, right?

I especially like the “instigator” title interviewer Dan Mazur plants on Gran. It is true, all us webcomic types are always up to something.

See that graphic above? Whenever you see that over the course of the next week or so, you’ll know that you’re getting honest-to-goodness Webcomics Weekend news, straight from someone who was there!

Also, if you’re on Twitter and Tweeting about anything WW-related, use the hash tag (#neww, sans parentheses) to put it all in one easy-to-read thread on the Twitter search site. Reading through those posts is fun enough, I can’t imagine what the event itself will be like!

Webcomics Weekend is only a few days away and the official information is finally here!

Of large note is the panel list for the weekend. There’s everything from a live Webcomics Weekly recording featuring the Halfpixel crew to a livedrawing exhibition featuring a Cintiq tablet and a host of webcomic creators. If you didn’t think you had enough to keep you busy, well, you were just plain wrong.

Also, a map has been provided for the pub crawl on Friday night (good for all-ages, at least some parts). The weekend is shaping up to be one of the greatest in (the short) webcomics history! Hope to see you there and check back with Digital Strips during the weekend for up-to-the-minute updates on the goings on! Also, follow me at Twitter (mdnytecartunr) as I’ll be Tweeting away the whole weekend!

If you live on the East Coast, then like me, you’ve found that March has indeed rushed in like a fierce, untamed lion. This also means that we are less than two weeks away from the biggest webcomics gathering ever!

As I will be the sole representative for DS at Webcomics Weekend (that pre-reg craziness didn’t bode too well for people who aren’t online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) I’ve decided to put that full-access pass to the biggest names in webcomics to good use. Click over to the guest list at the NEWW site and see which creator you’d like to pin down to ask a few questions.

Shoot ’em to me, either at jasonsigler@gmail.com, or in the comments section below, and I’ll make sure to corner them until I get the dirt. It’s all for you, webcomics faithful, so get those questions in and let’s see how many people we can collectively make quite uncomfortable in the span of a weekend.

I will make sure to ask the tough questions… they just might not be to the right people.