Every once in awhile there’s big news I can’t help but trip over and read. First there is the news about Diamond deciding not to publish distribute any new comics during the last week of the year. There are many view points about this decision I can understand. Times are hard and sales of comics historically go down this week because their target audience tends to spend their time at home or on vacation. I don’t know about you but that seems like taking the easy road. Does it not make more sense to put out new comics and see which ones would do well next year?

That’s where a group of artists got together and decided to do just that. The Indy Comic Book Week was started as a call to action to challenge writers and artists to self publish new material for that week, and offer it to their local stores. From their site:

“This is a perfect storm that opens up those new release shelves for the independent community. We don’t have to be set aside to the small publisher shelf for once and can stand tall in the spots that the big, national publishers usually take. Not only is this an opportunity for creators, it’s a great opportunity for the reader as well. Instead of picking up their usual books, they can check out something new, different, and most likely something local.

So, I’m putting forth this idea to the comic book community. Let’s turn “No Comic Book Week” into “Indy Comic Book Week”. Creators, let’s step up and put those books together. This is our chance to show the world that our books and creations can stand strong on those shelves as well as any major publication. It doesn’t have to be a 22-page full color affair; it can be a small black-and-white ashcan. But it has to be new, it has to be a product of your own creation, and it has to be awesome. Then talk to your local comic shops about putting your book on those shelves for the week of December 30th. Comic book readers, go to your local comic shops and tell them you want to see “Indy Comic Book Week” on the new release shelves. Tell them you want to see something new and different on those shelves. Comic book retailers, show some support for your local creators by filling those new release shelves with great indy books and hopefully open up your patrons to something new that they would not have read otherwise.”

This is a group of people who know an opportunity when it knocks.

Are you tired of seeing the heroes get all the attention? Me neither, which is why you should go check out Digital Strips Adventures, now featuring Captain Excelsior!

Ok, so if you are jonesin’ to see antagonists get their time in the spotlight, you should also check out Chillin’ Like Villains by the one-and-only, Ryan Estrada. With this, Estrada’s first daily comic strip, he’s trying something a little bit different…

I’m trying something new with this comic- most webcomics will run for a while, then collect the comics you’ve already read into a book. Well, I’ve got a 100 page buffer, so I’ve decided to put the book for sale on day one. So if you like what you see, you can snag a copy of the book and read half a year ahead!

‘Twere anyone else, I’d say, “Good luck, buddy!” and cheer, albeit in a low-key manner, from the sidelines. But this is Ryan Freakin’ Estrada we’re talkin’ about here! This is ALREADY a success AND the rights to the film, TV show, and regular series have likely already been optioned, or whatever one does with rights once they acquire them.

I’d say go read, but you already did that when I said “new” and “Estrada”, didn’t you?

So it turns out if you try to get to www.webcomics.com and you forget to type the ‘S,’ you end up at Least I Could Do. I had no idea those guys were so crafty.

In other news, yesterday was 24 hour comic day. One of those events that are so epic and fun that only the Internet and its community could possibly contain it. I know that Kris Struab and Scott Kurtz participated this year and I’m sure over the next few days we’ll start seeing the fruits of labors done by them and the many other creators who undertook this challenge.

I love this short of super-dedicated, short time, high output creative endeavor. My hat goes off to everyone who tried and the article of clothing of choice to those who finished. I’m a three time NaNoWriMo failure so I know true grit when I see it and 24 hour comic survivors have it in spades.

So super congratulations to everyone who did it and keep your eyes on Digital Strips, I’m sure we’ll find a couple excellent comics that came out of this years event.

So I’ve been thinking a lot about web comics and web design and how the to are married together in a way that is normally only reserved for Alabama cousins. Really a web comic is as much about the site as it is about the comic and web comics creators need to embrace this fact like your fat aunt embraces you at Thanksgiving. OK, that’s two creepy family references, thereby meeting my opening paragraph quota.

Assuming that no one is going to argue with me that how your site looks is actually important (although if you don’t feel that way, please let me know if the comments) let’s chat about a simple thing that not enough comic are doing to make their comic’s site and over all web presence that much better.

Everyone fire up your browser of choice and head over to PVP. Look in the top of your tab there, what do you see? Why it’s everyone favorite blue troll, Skull looking out to say hello. Now schlep on over to Sinfest. Look who’s there to greet you when you do, it’s Slick. I could send you to a bunch of other sites, all of which take advantage of favicons.

For those who don’t know, favicons are a little 16 by 16 pixel picture that you can tie to a web site. That doesn’t sound like much but it is a powerful tool for branding purposes. Here are three of the reasons why that came to my mind first.

One: Favicons make the browser part of your page. One of the biggest limitations of working on the web is the nature of the browser. No matter what kind of experience you’re trying to present to your visitors, it has to be accomplished within the confines of the browser. It’s not your giving them this wonderful free entertainment, it’s IE, or Chrome or whatever they use. A favicon lets you claim just a little bit of the browser as yours, and present a more unified comic delivery format.

Two: Favicons brand your page, even when readers aren’t there. In most browsers, the favicon also becomes he image next to the link name in the links list. This means every time a user who has book marked your page scrolls through their links, they’re going to get a more impactful reminder of your site if there is a unique image that you created rather than the blank page icon.

Three: Favicons let you flex your best muscle, your creativity. Most people would say that you can’t do much with the small size constraints that a favicon gives you. But web comics creators aren’t most people. Web comics creators do more creative things on their way to the bathroom than most people do all day. Take those 16 by 16 pixels and you make them do thing most people never thought possible, do you hear me?!?

I know this whole article is a little hypocritical since we are a web site and we lack a favicon. Knowing how useful they can be, I keep telling myself to make one, but now that I’ve called myself out on it, it would be a little lame. So if anyone out there (and yes Midnight, you count as out there) wants to get me a cool, DS themed 16 by 16 image, I’ll do what I can to insert it.

That’s a lot more than I thought I’d be able to write about a tiny picture, 600 words in fact. See what you can do kids, when you put your mind to it!

Sean Kleefeld has a very good, very thoughtful post on the Zuda interface and its faults. It comes down to a couple of basic philosophical questions that the Zuda folks chose the wrong answers to: Their webcomic model pulls people in, rather than pushing content to viewers (as, say, an RSS feed or an embeddable video does), and many of the things users like to do, such as share content or link to a particular page, are blocked by the viewer. I’ll add another complaint: When I write about a Zuda comic, it’s hard to show samples of the art because I can’t pull it out of the comic. Sarah Jaffe adds some thoughts of her own at Blog@Newsarama.

Ada Price talks to creators and editors about webcomics that go to print at Publishers Weekly Comics Week.

Girlamatic has a new podcast to go with the site relaunch, and episode 2 includes interviews with creators of their two new webcomics, Lisa Gilbert and Terry Blauer of Godseeker and Monique McNaughton of The Continentals. It is hosted by webcomicker Lynn Lau.

Brad Guigar has some suggestions for making the most of this month at Webcomics.com.

CBR has a preview of the Spider-Woman motion comic. Meanwhile, Johanna Draper Carlson notes that Eagle One is also doing motion comics, these ones based on comics based on an anime and a video game. So the circle is completed.

New comic recommendation: The Watson’s, a slice-of-life one-page gag comic with nice, tight art and slightly offbeat humor. Only four strips up so far, but it’s looking good. That apostrophe seems misplaced, though. (Via Fleen.)

The Archie folks announce that Archie Freshman Year #1 is the most downloaded comic on iTunes. As I observed at Robot 6 a while ago, it’s a nice comic that actually reads better on the iTunes screen than on paper. Still, Johanna Draper Carlson questions where they get those stats and how accurate they are. I don’t care, I just love the graphic that the Archie people came up with to celebrate, especially because there is no sign of an iPhone anywhere.

iVerse has launched its own comics app, the iVerse Comics app for iPhone/iPod Touch. Like comiXology, which launched a few weeks ago, it features an in-app store through which you can buy the comics, as well as features for organizing your collection. The cost is 99 cents, but that gets you 30 free comics.

Yaoi Press publisher Yamila Abraham has an interesting account of an avid customer who bought a Kindle to read her yaoi on. The problem? The customer is in Australia, and the Kindle doesn’t work there. Of course, this is a problem that is easily solved if you have friends overseas, but it raises some interesting issues, including the question of whether markets are being left untapped because of the regional restrictions.

Reviewer L. takes a look at the Kindle version of the Maximum Ride manga at The Book Bark!