The good folks aver at the web comic And Then You Die have announced a new contest. We like hearing about the different ways comics come up with to promote themselves. For this contest they are asking people to read through their archives and list all the cultural references mentioned throughout the whole comic. As a prize they are giving away their first printed book, some bits of swag, and even original artwork.

We had a chance to speak with the crew from And Then You Die while we were at ConnectiCon and we’ll be playing that interview in an upcoming show, so be sure to watch for that.

Sarah Boxer has an article in the New York Times today about the state of web comics as seen through all the 2005 winners of the Web Cartoonists Choice Awards. The apparent gist of the article is web comics are kind of neat, but they aren’t quite there yet.

Just like every other major media journalist who has even mentioned web comics, Boxer first brings up Scott McCloud’s books on the potential of comic art and the benefits of going digital. Continue reading →

Jimmy Gardner, the cartoonist behind the online comic Imryll, recently held a pretty interesting contest. He posted a fully drawn and colored comic strip without the dialogue and asked his readers to submit potential text. The contest is now over and you can see the results in the winning entry.

We’ve seen a lot of contests held by web comic creators and have even done a few ourselves. I always love coming across new contest ideas and this one was pretty good.

According to the New York Times, the National Cartoon Museum will be moving into the first three floors of the Empire State Building in downtown Manhattan. Mort Walker, the founder of the Museum and the creator of Beetle Bailey, announced that the new location will be opening in Fall of 2006.

Here’s a quote from the NY Times article: “The museum, to open in the fall of 2006, will contain 200,000 original cartoons from more than 50 countries as well as 10,000 books and 1,000 hours of animation, worth about $20 million. Continue reading →