Sunday (Wednesday) Sitdown ~WITH~ Frank Frisina

In terms of dream crushers, my next interviewee is the tops. When it came time to choose a new artist to kick start his strip, Life’s A Bluff, Frank Frisina did what every talent scout worth his salt does these days: he held tryouts. The call went out and was answered by many artists, many of whom are already well known in the webcomics and digital comics communities.

With the field narrowed down to a select few (including yours truly), the site’s new main backer, pro poker player, Phil Laak, got the final say in who would usher in the next era of LaB greatness. Sadly, he chose Ryan Estrada.

But this is no place for sour grapes or spilt milk! That place is called LiveJournal. No, this is where I will probe Frank’s mind on the success of LaB under the watchful, cartoony, bulging eye of Mr. Estrada. He’s gotten himself into a bit of hot water with the Poker Player’s Alliance (PPA) as well, so we’ll start off with whether or not he’ll still be doing LaB and go from there. Enjoy the e-mail conversational goodness, after the break!

Life's A Bluff logo

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More Web Thievery ~MEANS~ You’re Entitled To Whatever You See!

The first time was sad, but kind of exciting. The next time, you had had enough of the bullying and it was time to fight those the gothic geek chic crowd to a standstill. This time? It’s just sad, and very tired.

Prince of Thieves image

Comic book superstar and sometimes webcomic (or is that digital comic?) creator, Stuart Immonen has come to the aid of a friend who has fallen victim to the online art plagiarism scare, or OAPS (pronounce it and it’s pretty close to being funny) that is sweeping the Intertubes. Before, it was studio art, then came the T-shirt phase, and now the problem has hunkered down in the realm of possibly-fraudulent, definitely-stolen, Hong Kong-produced books.

At his request, you can find the link to the full post on Immonen’s site here and below are some choice soundbites from the whole debacle straight from the latest victim, Darren Di Lieto, complete with editorialized notes:

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Digital Strips 133 – Zuda Watch 2

With our apologies, this is a Brigid-less podcast as someone had to do the hard work from the front lines and get the dirt at New York Comicon. But while the boss is away, the dorks will play. Midnight and I had the place to ourselves. Between loud and obnoxious parties, we did manage to be a little bit responsible. We brought in the paper, fed the fish and most importantly, watched the Zuda.

This month’s Zuda crop is full of grim looks at the future and punching. We explore both of these important literary themes in depth as we review each of the ten contestants and give our thoughts.

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Boxcar Comics Launches Collective Podcast ~BUT~ Why Am I Hearing About This From Fleen?

Seriously, Boxcar contains the highest ratio of comic I read to comics I don’t in any collective, ever! Why the hurt, you lovely piece of train, you?

Broken hearts aside, it is true that the Boxcar gang is starting up a podcast. Titled, The Boxcar Comics Hobo Jamboree, it’s sure to be full of fun, mischief, and lots of dudes talking over each other.

Full press release in the cut (not out of bitterness, but for sake of keeping our front page nice and tidy):

As part of the revitialization of Boxcar Comics and the group’s continuing effort to promote themselves publicly in a cross-functional manner, we have created a brand new podcast at TalkShoe called the Boxcar Comics Hobo Jamboree!

Boxcar logo

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Let’s Watch Other People Talk About Things ~THE~ Long-Form Digital Comics Discussion Edition

And boy, have a LOT of people already talked about this one!

After writing the previous post about the Eisner’s and whether or not Digital Comics includes Webcomics (it doesn’t), I did some backtracking and found several recent discussions and mentions about the long-form comics on the Web and whether or not they can be successful.

Seems everyone agreed that some degree of success can be achieved online and have moved on to specific venues in which that success can be found.

First up, I’ll give the floor to the Panel and Pixel forums, where this whole things started. Forum member Steve Horton kicks things off:

Panel and Pixel logo

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Innovations In Webcomics ~FEATURING~ Ctrl-Alt-Del and PvP: UPDATED

If there’s one motion in webcomics that I can wholeheartedly throw my hat in the ring for, it’s actually utilizing the web real estate to make a comic something more than it could ever be in print. AD: After the Deluge brings links and a multimedia experience to the table to enhance the reader’s enjoyment and I Am a Rocket Builder provides an interactive comic book that finally makes good on the promises of underwater bubble cities and flying cars made years ago.

Now, two mucho popular webcomics are forging a new path with two methods that are intriguing to say the very least.

CAD panels

Check ’em both out, after the jump!

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Shuster awards: Transmission X dominates other signals

The list of nominees has been released for the 2008 Joe Shuster Awards, which honor the best Canadian comics creators of the year, and the webcomics list includes several Digital Strips favorites. Here’s the lineup:

Michael Cho for Papercuts
Scott Hepburn for The Port
Karl Kerschl for The Abominable Charles Christopher
Gisele Legace for Penny and Aggie
Ramon Perez for Kikuburi and Butternut Squash with Rob Coughler
Scott Ramsoomair for VG Cats
Ryan Sohmer and Lar De Souza for Least I Could Do and Looking for Group
Cameron Stewart for Sin Titulo

That’s some good reading, right there. It’s interesting to note that at five of the nominees are affiliated with the Transmission X collective: Papercuts, The Port, The Abominable Charles Christopher, Kukuburi, and Sin Titulo. If you haven’t already, I suggest you check out this superb website, which presents an eclectic variety of comics with a polished, simple interface.

Also, there’s a change in the way they do things chez Shuster this time around: The winners will be selected by a jury, not a public vote as in previous years.

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Weekend reading

The third episode of that Cloverfield web manga is up and has been translated into English, perhaps in violation of copyright laws.

John Jakala discusses Franken Fran, a scanlation he is really enjoying:

I’d describe it as an amped up Tales From The Crypt for the new generation. (Imagine that there’d been no comic code to worry about so EC could have shown disembowelments and other gruesome fates in graphic detail.) Still, despite the gore, the series does have a heart… even if that heart is frequently ripped out and stepped on at the very end.

Afghanisu-tanAlso, this is getting linked all over but in case you missed it, here is a moe explanation of the war on terror—well, it’s mostly about Afghanistan, really. If you don’t know what moe is… that’s some right there on the right.

In non-manga news, big ups to our own Jason Sigler, whose Amazing Super Zeroes passed the 200th-episode milestone a few weeks back. Nice work, Jason, and keep on writin’ and drawin’!

MassLive.com talks to webcomicker and Fleen columnist Anne Thalheimer about the place of webcomics in the world and the unique possibilities of comics as a storytelling medium. Good stuff.

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Let’s Watch Other People Talk About Things ~THE~ Zuda Is Broken Edition

I’m so glad we don’t have any backing from DC Comics. Otherwise, posts like this following one probably wouldn’t be possible.Zuda Sweating image

Ever since we started our Zuda Watch feature on the site (WAY back in March of the ’08) I’ve developed a more personal bond to the fledgling webcomics competition. When someone has a problem with either the site or the content, I now stop to check their words before moving on with my life (before, I would have just moved on with my life). With that in mind, I discovered a write-up over on The Scienteers website (via Journalista) where blogger hpkomic (don’t you just love the Internet?) lays into the Zuda service in a number of ways.

First up, hpkomic’s summation of his argument:

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God Is Angry ~AT~ Scott Kurtz, How To Make Webcomics

You know what book I’d love to review someday soon? How To Make Webcomics, the all-in-one, do-it-yourself tome put together by the fellas on the Halfpixel Brodeo and Jamboree. You know what I can’t review?

Yep, you’re good guessers. It seems that someone very powerful and very angry has decided to put a stop on anything and everything Scott Kurtz attempts to accomplish. Sure, a few PvP strips have made it out unscathed since a week long plague hit ol’ Kurtzie, an event he cataloged with a few guest strips and a post:

I Can Haz Cheezburger Sick image

Just a quick notice on outstanding orders in the PvP store.

I’ve been home sick for almost two weeks and because of that, the orders have piled up at the office. We’ve sent out a bunch of stuff yesterday but we have a long way to go. Especially orders for How to Make Webcomics. So please bear with me as we get out from under the pile of orders. We’re going to kick them out as fast as we can and make up for lost time.

Know that orders are going to be going out all week, just as fast as we can sketch, sign, stuff and stamp.

Management greatly appreciates your patience in this matter.

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