I love Ryan Armand’s Minus. If for some reason you have missed the memo on this one, it’s a well imagined, beautifully rendered comic that mixes magic and childhood to good effect. It’s whimsical without being cloying, and the best comics in the series, like this recent one, have a hallucinatory effect not unlike a looser version of Little Nemo in Slumberland.

Apparently I’m not the only one who likes it: This week, the Japan Media Arts Festival recognized Minus in its Manga Division; it is one of only a handful of online manga that were “recommended” by the jury, and the only non-Japanese title in the group.

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As the first webcomic talk I’ve felt compelled to write about in nearly two months, I felt it prudent to bring this up for discussion.

Via R. Stevens, via the PvP blog, Scott Kurtz found this little nugget dropped by Diesel Sweeties creator and well-rounded merchandiser, R. Stevens, on twitter.

As someone who writes, draws, makes a website, answers customers and helps pack merch … I don’t have much sympathy for striking writers. Want real royalties and freedom? LEAVE the studio system!

As a conversation starter that hopefully will not degenerate into the usual “You’re the bitch!/No, your mom is the bitch!” type webcomics arguments, I’m interested to see where those of you who fill the same shoes as Stevens (or more) fall on this debate. Do you side with the majority of the country in saying the writers deserve what they’re asking for, or is Stevens right in calling the writers out for wanting something they’re not entirely entitled to?

Discuss.

It’s the end of the year and no one can resist they’re own top 10 lists. Time might just be the worst offender with not one list but posting 50 top ten lists. One of these is these is a review of graphic novels and you’ll never guess who made number one. Not surprisingly I haven’t heard of most of the print material except for the last one, the complete collection of Peanuts. So where is the complete Calvin & Hobbes collection? Let’s see what webcomics Time believes worth gracing they’re website?

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Who needs Cliffs Notes when you’ve got the web? Recently I stumbled on two webcomics based on classic books, each completely different but each well worth a look. Somehow I made it through college and grad school without reading the originals, but the comics versions are so entertaining I’m tempted to pick them up.

The War of the Worlds: This is a straightforward adaptation by Ian Edginton of H.G. Wells’ novel of the same name, rendered with a smooth, very readable look by artist D’Israeli. The story is straightforward: Aliens arrive from Mars and terrorize the populace for a while but ultimately are dispatched in a surprising and satisfying way. For a story about aliens terrorizing the earth, this comic is strangely soothing. Maybe it’s the glimpses of pastoral English countrysides.

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Free pirate comics! Swords of the Swashbucklers, by Bill Mantlo and Jackson Guice, will be available for free download on Wowio.com next week. Here’s an interesting wrinkle, from blog@Newsarama’s coverage:

“The downloads are completely free. Creators get paid due to Verizon and Careerbuilder sponsorship,” said Steve Horton, Smashout Comics publisher. “The catch is you have to be in the U.S. to download.”

I was at the New York Anime Festival last week and heard a lot of talk about online downloads of manga and anime, which are clearly coming (well, they’re already here, but I’m talking about legit versions). A lot of people are thinking sponsored downloads are the way to go, although Continue reading →

Ever since high school, I have been suspicious of popularity contests, so when it comes to webcomics, I wonder: Does the most votes=the best content?

Maybe yes, maybe no, but it’s hard to argue with the results of the first Webcomic Idol competition. Templar, Arizona, is the winner, and I can’t imagine a better choice.

Some disclosures are in order here: DS was involved in Webcomic Idol, sponsored by Bomb Shelter Comics. Not only are we co-sponsors of the competition, but Daku was a judge in the first round, and our own Jason Sigler, a.k.a. The Midnight Cartoonist, is a member of the BSC collective.

Webcomics Idol works on a fairly simple model: The judges pick the finalists, and after that, the readers vote every week for their favorites; each week the comic with the lowest total is dropped.

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Of all the holidays Thanksgiving is my favorite. There’s no pressure to buy anything new or drink boat loads of alcohol. Everyone goes home and sits around and eats until they’re happy. This year I actually took the whole week off and made sure I tried everything to get even fatter. That also means our Inbox is packed.

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You weren’t planning on doing any work today, were you? Because thanks in part to the Marvel thing, the internet is abuzz with news and commentary about digital comics.

Item: CNet says that Amazon will be debuting its e-reader today. According to the advance hype, it has a WiFi connection so you can get books on the road, and Amazon seems to have a deal with Sprint as well, in case there are no nearby hotspots. List price is $399. Simon Jones (NSFW!) is not impressed with the prototypes he has seen so far.

Item: German comics magazine Comicgate interviews Dirk Wood of Dark Horse Comics, and the conversation turns to digital comics. He discusses Dark Horse Presents, their free webcomic at MySpace, and talks about eventually implementing an iTunes model, Continue reading →

After two weeks of the most frustrating experience with a DSL modem in 5 years I am finally back online. This means a flood of news from yours truely and the first piece to get off my chest is the newly released Kid’s Book Project from Michael Rouse-Deane. This guy might actually be in second place for webcomics nice guy with all the work he’s been doing with charities. The book consists of the work from 52 artists plus a cover and intro by two more for a total of 54 exclusive works. Taking a look at the sneak peak Mike sent us I’ve already pulled up the site to pre-order the book.

The good news does not stop there. Mike does not plan to stop with his work from this year as he is already lining up a Guest Strip Project for Make-A-Wish Foundation which starts on 1st January and goes throughout the year. They’ll be Tastefully Done 2009 and a third project he is keeping under wraps. Following is the list of artists and what page they did;

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Anime News Network reports that sales of electronic manga in Japan totaled 10.6 billion yen, or about $95.7 million, in 2006. That’s a respectable increase over the 3.4 million yen spent in 2005. One aspect that is being watched on this side of the Pacific is how much is going to cell phones rather than computer screens: It was pretty lopsided last year, with 2.4 billion yen being spent to view manga on computers and 8.2 billion to read it on cell phones.

There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that many Japanese people commute by train, not car, so they have big blocks of time to read cell phone manga. But this article, translated by Manganews earlier this year, touches on another important difference: Continue reading →