This is probably the most philosophical Digital Strips episode ever. Along with the typical Zuda back and forth, we also delve into the deeper reasoning behind why the average American is so intrigued by dystopia futures and what the real reasons behind internet popularity.
It’s a show for the ages, that’s for sure. Tune in and learn a butt-ton.
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This week, Boom Studios offered the first issue of the new miniseries Hexed for free online on the same day the print edition went on sale, a stunt they pulled off last year with Northwind. Northwind sold well and validated the notion that people will pay for a print edition even if the comic is available for free on the internet. Waid explains the current promotion in a video before the comic, and he talks a bit about the Northwind experience in this interview with ICv2.
A couple of print comic publishers have experimented with offering free content online, but they tend to hedge their bets and only put the first 10 or 12 pages up. Boom is offering the entire four-issue miniseries. With that in mind, I decided to look at how the first issue works as a webcomic. I haven’t been a big fan of Boom’s books in the past—they’re just not to my taste—but one thing I noticed right away was that Hexed seems to be pretty readable. One big problem with print comics is that their vertical pages don’t fit well onto my horizontal computer screen, and that’s true here, but it’s mitigated by the fact that the artist, Emma Rios, tends to divide the page into halves or thirds, so it’s easy to scroll through. Although the story is told in first person, mostly the main character’s interior monologue, the writing is concise, so the page isn’t cluttered with a million tiny text boxes. And the art is clear and linear, so it’s easy to grasp the gestures in each panel. The colors are absolutely lovely, and they probably look better on a backlit computer screen than on a printed page.
The deeper question is whether Hexed passes what I think of as “the Zuda test”: Continue reading
This Episode was a lot of fun to make and prepare for, because all the comics were so darn good. Join us as we argue about holiday greetings, discuss a great way for some aspiring inventor to make it big and then get into the meat of it all as we take about three of the most fun to read comics we’ve come across this year.
This Month’s Horizons Watch picks were:
Ghost Pimp by Maurice Fontenot
Kittyhawk by Braden Lamb and Vincent Labate
M.I.M.E.S. by Wayne Cordova and Harold Jennett
Feeling fiesty this time around and I’m taking it out on you the listener. Well not you personally, I like you, a lot actually, I really think we should hang out more.
Anyway, it was a good solid month for the folks over a Zuda, full of some hits, some near misses and a few would be hits, if we were a different group of reviewers.
We’ve had some requests to break the show into tracks, but I can’t seem to find a way to do it in audacity, if any one knows a good link, shoot it my way.
Well faith Zuda Watchers, the wait is finally over. Our takes on this month Zuda combatants is now available for your digital consumption, please do so responsibly. As always, we welcome your comments and want to here what you think, both about our show and about the various Zuda entries.
I’m a man of few words tonight. So give us some of your own.Show 150
There’s just something about Web comics competitions with ten contestants that we just can’t seem to resist. Instead of Zuda Watch this time though, we turn our eyes to those trying to be the Web Comic Idol 2008 winner. We recorded this show on Sunday which was before the first cuts were made and some of the strips we loved are already gone. We can’t help but feel a little bit responsible. Don’t let more good strips die, listen in and find out what we thing should take the crown for this year.
Three more new strips for everyone this week. This time around, the themes are bears and really great art. Each of these creators has a really knack for the use of color in the medium and could really go far, and exactly 2/3 of the strips feature talking bears in role or the protagonist so that’s pretty cool too. Tune to find out who loved and who hated
One Swoop Fell by Mike Dutton
Ellie Connelly By Indigo Kelliegh
Bear Nuts By Allison
Also in this episode my entire life turns out to be a lie, so you should atleast tune in for that.
It’s time for a review. This time on the chopping block is Hereville, the adventures of a plucky young girls and her quest to become a fair dinkum dragon slayer. Along the way she’ll meet witches, battle trolls and teach us all a little bit about bravery and a lot about Jewish culture. Find out what we thing of the whole thing on this episode of Digital Strips.
As always we welcome your comments and suggestions as to how we can help bring the best 10% of Web comics to the world.
It’s a month full of fantasy paintings, crappy word balloons, and surprisingly, not a zombie in site. It’s Zuda Watch for October 2008. We learn a lot about our selves, what kind of comics we like, what kind we don’t like and how important the basics really are when it comes to making a really great comic. Come and learn with us won’t you.
One a very special Zuda watch, we learn a whole lot about Midnight. It turns out he’s a sensitive man who loves his grandmother and vampires. He’s a powerful defender of decency and is not afraid to admit when he is very very wrong. Tune in and we all grow closer together and tear down both emotional walls, and the egos of various Zuda creators.
We also see that Steve doesn’t get dirty names very often. Like at all. Even the obvious ones.
Strips mentions in this show (let me know if I missed any)
Rex Libris (not a web comic but still awesome)