This past week, Diamond Distributors, the largest and basically only company responsible for getting comic books into people’s hands, announced that they were upping their minimums, essentially shutting out many small-press publications from earning widespread distribution. As soon as the news broke, Brigid caught the story and commented about the image of the webcomics model getting better and better with each new restriction Diamond enforces.

Enter Ka-Blam. The already popular digital printing service has posted an intriguing banner at the top of their site:

Breaking News!! Ka-Blam to Launch Direct Market Comics Distribution System! Details Coming Soon!

Excitement doesn’t begin to describe the energy surrounding this possible paradigm shift. Stay tuned for the big news or immensely overhyped disappointment, coming soon!

One of the biggest stories of this week in webcomics, and one that Brigid has already briefly touched on, is the more widespread exposure of the pay-for-play service, Assetbar. Before this week, the only notable webcomic to take advantage of this pseudo-subscription-based,  fanbase barometer was Achewood. Now, both Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub have linked up their respective strips to this fan club of sorts and the floodgates are sure to follow, being opened by the sheer force of webcomics creators eager to share more of their already public lives with their readers.

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I do my best to keep the webcomics conversations around here as positive as possible, but the folks over at Comics Worth Reading have taken a special interest in Zuda winner, The Black Cherry Bombshells, particularly the (perceived) desire to alienate all women from the Zuda brand.

Taking a look at the promo art for the strip (which CWR also notes is “non-representative of what it’s supposed to be selling”) it’s hard to argue with the over-sexed, scantily-clad images of the women who are admittedly nothing like the cartoony depictions seen in the comic (the actual content style can be seen on a small film strip, surely meant to invoke the recent, overly-indulgent Grind House double feature).

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I kick off the 2009 bloggin’ year (what? It’s still January) with a post about what else? Other people talking about webcomics that I would also like to comment on.

This instance is a very special one, however, as it’s the folks over at CNN.com who are asking the age-old question, “Where do you read your comics?” See, many people still insist on getting their strip fix in the good ol’ fashioned Funnies section of their local paper (primer: A large, printed daily blog with a record of all the local goings-on). Why they feel they must, when the Funnies section typically doesn’t live up to its name, is a concept those who have made the digital transition can’t comprehend.

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Garfield the cat enjoyed a long run at the top of the comic strip crop, but with the advent of webcomics, his pointless relevance wanes. That was, until Dan Walsh got the brilliant notion to remove the titular feline from every strip, leaving his already pathetic owner Jon Arbuckle to talk to himself in panel after panel of introverted sadness.

Well now this experiment has been turned into a book by both Walsh and series creator, Jim Davis, and this write-up of the whole thing by PLAYBACK:stl’s Gabe Bullard offers a very intriguing view of the reimagining of a true classic.

Cole! Francis! Brent! Skull! The whole gang is here for a DVD compilation of the first season!

The last glance I took at The Series was around episode 5, when the concept and format were still new to series creators Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub. Back then, it was made apparent that I was not going to enjoy this thing on an episode-by-episode basis.

But who’s to say there aren’t other TV shows that beg to follow the same format? As with nearly any DVD compilation, it’s not the basic content I’m stoked about, but the extras! Check out these bonuses:

• Episode commentary with the series writers 
• Magic Hands’ production video blogs 
• Acting with Dino, the voice of Skull the Troll 
• Production Artwork 
• Full length theme song MP3

If you watched any of the episodes you know that the theme song is worth the price alone! Stop by the Blind Ferret store and pre-order your copy now!

The votes are in, the people have spoken, and the judges have deliberated. After a very close race, the choice has been made, and Simulated Comic Product has emerged as this year’s Webcomic Idol!

Just like any other annual talent competition, the only thing left for us to do is support this new face until they either become a rousing success due to this newfound exposure or are relegated to the webcomic bargain bin, only to be seen by those with undeveloped senses of humor and the less fortunate webizens who have only ever known Garfield and Marmaduke as comic strips of choice.

Given the brief glimpse we’ve all gotten from this, and all the contestants of this year’s Webcomic Idol competition, the former will certainly win out over the latter. Congratulations to Simulated Comic Product on the big win over some stiff competition and make sure to check out all ten contestants of this year’s contest to add some cheer to your economically challenged holiday!

In browsing the archives of Michael Rouse-Deane’s Guest Strip Project (which is now in the midst of a December Donation-A-Thon, all proceeds go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, go give NOW!), I came across a nice little strip by Jamie Smart.

His contribution to the project thus far marks the 100th strip of a tale that involves a cast of cops doing what they do best in comedic situations (bumbling) and is easily one of the better iterations. Observing this, I clicked on his name to see what else he does and for my efforts, I was rewarded with a cute, demented little strip called Angry Little Robot.

Do yourself a favor and check out the shallow, abruptly-ended, NSFW archives (especially numbers 2-7, which feature timely Christmas themes), and click through to the newly minted Fumblog where Jamie promises to bring more webcomicky goodness on a (hopefully) regular basis.

Don’t feel too sorry for the little guy, he’ll be getting nothing but coal in his stocking. (Image Copyright Jamie Smart 2008)