Marvel will be pushing their digital comics subscriptions at the New York Comic Con.

Anyone who subscribes at the Marvel booth at the show will get “a free exclusive variant edition of YOUNG X-MEN #1!”

It’s drawn by Darcy Sowers and co-written by her and husband Matt. Based on the background material, they’re thinking of it as a long series destined for print, so the serialization is page-at-a-time, not stand-alone updates, with three pages promised a week.

To get an idea of the art, try their “stand-alone issue” of two short stories. The first adapts a Ray Stevens song, which struck me funny once I realized what they were doing. The second is two guys in a bar, which’ll tell you more about the dialogue, before becoming a kind of origin flashback story.

I thought the characters have personalities obvious through the art (they’re distinctive, in other words, which can be difficult to achieve) and the hand-done colors are lovely. I didn’t have time to dive into the longer storylines, but I’d like to. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I told her we had been writing a sequence about online homework help, and she asked if she could sponsor it. If you think about it, that’s kind of brave. They were asking to pay to sponsor, sight unseen, a sequence of strips essentially roasting their product and the people who use it.

Except, having read this week’s strips, it’s far from a roasting. Take, for example, Tuesday’s, which is basically a plug for the product category. (I think perhaps we have different associations for the term “roasting”.)

Dave Carter sees the combination as selling out, questioning whether the strip’s editorial content is still independent of its ads. He seems to me to be jumping to conclusions, but his post does illustrate an important principle: it’s all about perception. It doesn’t matter whether or not you wrote your comic before or after you signed the ad deal — what matters is what your readers think. At that post, commenters say that they didn’t notice the combination or that they trust the creators, so they don’t see a problem.

The creators of Unshelved responded yesterday. I think it would have been stronger if they had simply stood on their policy instead of trying to convince readers they did nothing wrong. Point two, in particular, I find less than compelling — paraphrased, it’s “we’re not sucking up to our sponsor specifically, just all companies in their industry”. But I welcome their openness and I’m glad they answered the charge. It’s reassuring, and I’ll keep reading.

Update: A final statement from the creators sums up the reactions they received:

My favorite emails were the ones that said if we were trying to use our strips to promote this week’s sponsor we were doing a damned poor job at it. However, a small minority was uncomfortable. That’s mostly the word people used - they weren’t angry or upset, they weren’t accusing us of malfeasance. They were just… uncomfortable.

… So the lesson I’ve learned is simply to be more conservative. If we find ourselves having to explain why something we did is okay, we should probably rethink things. Because most people won’t sit around for the explanation.

That’s a pretty good philosophy for lots of things.

I’m starting to get that same kind of icky feeling about all this as I did when I first started going to comic conventions again in 2006, after six years of not being in comics at all. I remember looking around at the tables in the small press alley and seeing all the hats and prints and t-shirts and toys and thinking to myself, where are all the comics? …

I can see the slippery slope ahead, where webcomickers will be tempted to retool their comics to ones that will look good on a white cotton tee. How many gag-a-day creators are discarding good visual jokes in favour of one-liners that make good t-shirt copy?

More thoughtful comments in the link. It’s a tough question, especially once you factor in the cost of color (which many webcomics use, since it’s free to them, until they go to print). Ironically, Galaxion put out one of the rare comic t-shirts I own, a nicely understated starfield on black. But mostly, I don’t buy mugs, shirts, stickers, whatever. Print collections are good, if the creator can survive long enough to get there.

The immensely talented Jane Irwin (creator of Vögelein) is trying her hand at a webcomic: It’s called Clockwork Game, The Illustrious Career of a Chess-Playing Automaton. It’s based on the true story of the mechanical Turk, and you’ll get a page weekly on Thursdays. (Bless her for having an easy-to-find feed for updates.) Several are already up for your browsing pleasure. From the press release:

Originally designed to amuse the Empress Maria Theresa, The Turk was a machine that could play chess with the skill and originality of a grandmaster. It captivated audiences all over Europe and the United States, playing against many well-known rulers and dignitaries throughout its long and astonishing career. “I was inspired to retell the incredible story of The Turk because it seems far too fantastic to actually be true, and yet with each new book and article I uncovered, the facts became much more captivating than any fiction I could have created,” Irwin said. “Clockwork Game is a mostly-true dramatization of historical events, told with as little conjecture as possible.” Drawn in a crosshatched pen-and-ink style, Clockwork Game marks a major shift in both medium and presentation from Irwin’s earlier work, though the subject matter shares many similarities with her previous graphic novels, which told the story of an automaton brought to life.

When I interviewed writer Jim Dougan last week about his webcomic Sam & Lilah, he was hinting of future plans. Now he’s announced them: the series will continue at Act-i-vate beginning May 1. He’s also teasing a new strip beginning April 15 at former home Chemistry Set Comics. Illustrated by Molly Lawless, its title has caught my attention: “How I Lost My Sh?! at the Apple Store“.

Sam & Lilah came in fourth place in the March Zuda competition; the winner was something called Black Cherry Bombshells, about scantily dressed “ultra-violent” cartoon girls fighting zombies… in other words, every trend I despise. That was the fifth monthly competition. And apparently, the results are declining — this winner had 18,347 views and was marked a Favorite by 363. The original winner, High Moon, had 77,624 views and 456 Favorites. But that’s not surprising, as the newness wears off.

The second Zuda winner, from the December 2007 competition, was Pray for Death. It’s now begun putting up “screens” beyond the original eight for the contest. I didn’t realize that it took three months for more material to go up after the contest end. In this case, it may be due to the artist developing a new style in the meantime.

The one-panel gags focus on Pastor Bob, the leader of a Midwestern Presbyterian church. They’re mild, at best, with familiar jokes about needing a lot of coffee in the morning or not liking cold weather.

Artist Dave Nelson allows reuse of his cartoons on church websites and newsletters per reasonable guidelines. And that seems like the perfect audience for this — someone who wants a little something different to break up text about the prayer breakfast and the mission trip, but nothing that might offend anyone at all.

Still, I wanted to talk about this because I like his blocky figures. More, I think this strip’s existence is evidence for the immense diversity of webcomics, with something out there for literally everyone.

The Blackblood Alliance is an impressive-looking webcomic about a prehistoric pack of wolves struggling to survive. It immediately struck me that it looked like one of the better Disney cartoons. Unsurprisingly, author Kay Fedewa says she was inspired by the work of Don Bluth.

The story is Elfquestian, which is a fancy way of saying “tribe battles for survival with various interpersonal complications and faux-natural names like Swiftkill and Whitewind”. It’s the kind of a story that has too many characters and a whole lot of history that the author has clearly carefully laid out in her own mind… but all of that doesn’t always make it to the page in a way the reader can easily pick up without study. I didn’t care much, instead just looking at the art.

The story is also available in print, but at a cost of $8 plus over $2 shipping, it’s not recommended. And I do wish that they wouldn’t use the buzzword “graphic novel” incorrectly. A magazine-format issue #1 of a series is NOT a “32-page graphic novel”. It’s a comic book. And in this case, the art is designed for an internal light source, like a computer screen or an animated film, not print. So check it out online.

So I was tickled to find this webcomic, called Torchwood Babiez. Somehow, all of the silliest elements of the show are even funnier when the characters are drawn as four-year-olds. Baby Jack “can’t get boo-boos” and Baby Ianto carries around a cyber-Barbie. The guest-star on page 8 cracked me up. Part 2’s here. Beware of cuteness overdose.

For more, Bully points out the Ten Doctors, a Who fan comic starring all of the Doctors!

The middlemen in the print arena are afraid of getting cut out and do their best to bury the indy digital creators. I have books and comics by Bill Willingham and others available for free at WOWIO and I cannot get a press release run on a major site.

I thought this presented intriguing ground for further discussion, so I was pleased when Bill agreed to answer my questions.

(more…)

Blink is a young woman who talks about life with friends in realistic-sounding interludes. The series reminds me of Kris Dresen’s Max & Lily in its interesting conversation. Whether solving crossword puzzles or pondering lost childhood, the linework’s great, capturing the expressions that make the interaction live. True conversation is more than just words, but also the pauses and gestures that go on between the participants.

The second issue, “Experiencing Creative Difficulties”, is a bit too self-referential, in that it turns out Blink’s an artist who can’t think of something to write about, so a friend proposes writing about being blocked. (Multi-level much? But then again, Robinson’s Box Office Poison co-starred a wannabe comic artist.) “Space to Breathe” is quieter, more reflective, with the friends sharing a starry sky and favorite quotations.

But my favorite is the last, “Let It Be As It Is”, a reflection of John Lennon’s demise and what music can mean. I’d advise buying all of them, but none of the store links worked for me. Shame. I’d like to be able to reread them whenever I want.

collaborat[ion] with local youth groups to produce harm minimisation orientated drug information, using the comic format to reach the intended readership. During the preliminary outreach work, the young people made it clear that they rejected communication they thought was fear-based, authoritarian or not addressed to them as equals. … adopting an approach that neither patronised its audience nor sensationalised the subject matter, it described a 13-year-old boy’s journey, led by a mysterious woman called Sophia (’wisdom’), through the social history of drugs and their effects.

It’s an interesting exploration of an alternative viewpoint. Very talky, as you’d expect, but the art’s done well for the purpose, with varying images and shots. The afterword states

It is not our intention to encourage drug use, although we do accept that some of you will take them regardless… if you are going to do so, we suggest you observe the following guidelines

So it’s pragmatic in approach, the equivalent of birth control education instead of preaching abstinence. Worth the time to flip through, if you’re looking for something unusual, and a good example of surprising educational comics.

Press release after the break, with reminiscences from Guice and Colleen Doran about Mantlo. (more…)

Here’s the press release:

Have your best days come and gone? Are you aching for the days of yesteryear? Do you remember a time when the world was at your feet? If your answers to these questions are yes, yes, and yes, then the Chemistry Set has the cure for you: the new weekly strip FCHS.

Beginning Saturday, December 15th, the Chemistry Set, the webcomics collective of up and coming writers and artists, welcomes FCHS to its eclectic family of comics. The brainchild of Chem Set co-founder Vito Delsante, FCHS is a part autobiographical but all too real portrayal of the writer’s last year of high school.

“When Tom [Williams] and I created STUCK, it was my opportunity to do a comic that was slice of life, but 100% fiction,” said Delsante. “I wanted to do something real, and I always look at my own life for material. Hence, FCHS.”

Joining Delsante will be newcomer Rachel Freire. With no professional credits to her name, Freire looks forward to the opportunity to do a weekly strip. “FCHS is a really fun project!” exclaimed Freire, a newcomer to the Chemistry Set and to comics in general. “I always wanted to do an ARCHIE-esque comic since I learned to read from them. FCHS is exactly what I was looking for, but a bit more realistic.” In explaining her affinity for the strip, she said, “I’ve grown attached to all the characters and as I’m drawing them in all these different and sometimes complicated situations, I find I can’t wait to see what happens next!”

“I’m really excited to see FCHS come to life,” said Chris Arrant, co-founder of The Chemistry Set. “Vito’s stories have always have cut to the heart of people as living things and not just characters, and when you take that approach the last year of high school. WOW.”

FCHS will be done in traditional weekly comic strip format. “Rachel is a big fan of all the classic cartoonists like Caniff and Alex Raymond, and you can see her Dan DeCarlo-meets-the Hernandez Brothers influence, so doing the three panel strip was a natural choice. It plays to her strengths and gives me a challenge in scripting.

FCHS will run for over a year, non-stop. “It was important to me that we have content consistently on the site, and doing the strip newspaper style was the best way to ensure that,” said Delsante.

I love seeing someone acknowledge their Archie/Dan DeCarlo influence, and the character profiles posted as teasers are intriguing. Freire’s work is lovely. I like the way her characters are distinctive, with both emotion and reasonable anatomy.

Valerie already has her picks. I followed her advice and tried the following:

• “Avaste Ye”, the pirate stick figure one. I liked it, except the peg leg doesn’t work with the stick figures. It’s your typical webcomic, light humor suitable for wasting time at work, minimalist art, starring a geek with a nerd-fetish twist. Doesn’t seem to match with the DC brand, really.
• “Development Hell”, office humor. Except not funny. Pass.
• “Maxy J Millionaire”. A stuffed toy who looks like the kid from Where the Wild Things Are runs away. Whimsical and quirky, perhaps trying too hard to be both. Artwise, everyone looks flattened.

If those are the best to offer, well, maybe next round will be more to my liking.

“The road to god knows…” is the story of Marie, a young teenage girl coming to grips with her Mom’s schizophrenia. As a result, she’s struggling to grow up fast; wrestling with poverty, loneliness, and her Mom’s illness every step of the way. Betty, Marie’s Mom, can’t help; she’s living with an illness that’s slowly getting worse and increasingly frightening. With her Mom absorbed in her own problems, Marie is essentially alone while she learns to deal with the chaos in her young life.

It debuted yesterday, and there are still plans to put it into print next year, so consider this your extensive free sample. It’s also been reviewed by another girlamatic contributer, Leigh Dragoon, at Sequential Tart.

What does winning mean for you? Were you offered an online publishing deal? If so, what is DC paying? What are you giving them in return?

Winning this competition means that Steve Ellis (artist), Scott O. Brown (letterer), and I can finish the first HIGH MOON story on the Zuda site, which is really rather exciting. HIGH MOON is a story I’ve been waiting to tell for over three years. When we were approached to work for Zuda, we knew what DC was looking for, and we were excited to be a part of something new and exciting. Our team will get $13,000 to finish the story, along with other nice perks in exchange for joint ownership of HIGH MOON for the duration of the contract.

What’s the contract duration? How long will it take to finish the story? How many more pages (or “screens”, in Zuda terms) do you expect it to run?

The initial contract is for a year, I believe. The first HIGH MOON story will be 52 more screens. That averages out to a page a week. However, I don’t think readers want to wait a full year to read the rest of HIGH MOON, so we are in the process of meeting with DC to develop a schedule that pleases everyone.

How long have you been writing comics?

I’ve been writing professionally for over a decade and writing comics since 1999. I’ve taught several course on comics, and I run the Brooklyn Comic Writer’s Workshop.

My first published work was a series of computer manuals in 1997 and ‘98. I also wrote a variety of articles and stories for Marvel Interactive during my tenure there. After that, I developed a series of textbooks for McGraw-Hill and the Sylvan Learning Center. But the majority of my writing career has been writing print, radio, and television advertising for various clients including the New York City Police Department, CitiBank, Verizon, Pfizer, Saturn, Miller Brewing Company, the Save Darfur Coalition, Virgin Atlantic, and Kmart. And I’ve done some comics here and there for Moonstone, Chalk Outlines Studios, and Sky-Dog Press.

What contact(s) did you have with DC before Zuda was announced, if any?

When I was at Marvel Interactive, I had the opportunity to work with Kwanza, Ron, and Dave, who are now all members of Team Zuda. Based on my previous work at Moonstone, I was invited to submit a project to Zuda. I wrote up three different proposals, and HIGH MOON was the one that Kwanza selected to go forward with.

This year, I’ve also had the opportunity to meet some fantastic folks at DC in different capacities for some other projects. But, overall, my experience with DC has been fairly limited.

What are your future plans? How do you think this will help you?

Well, my first priority is to finish HIGH MOON. Outside of that, I’ve always been interested in writing comics that speak to my experience. Every comic I’ve written to date is a reflection of my inspirations –- and I’d like to continue telling those kind of stories. I’m interested in writing fun stories, that you don’t need a PHD in Comics to read, understand, and enjoy. So, whether I’m telling a story about a suicidal ghost, reinventing old-time-radio heroes, or writing a werewolf western, I want to have body of work that is accessible and fun for everyone.

Zuda has certainly been a huge stepping stone in terms of developing new readership. And I’m looking forward to what the future might hold as we enter 2008.

What were the specific inspirations for High Moon?

I mostly grew up in Frederick, Maryland, a town steeped in Civil War history and dirty little secrets. And for over a decade, I’ve wanted to do a Civil War-themed horror book with werewolves. In 2004, HIGH MOON morphed, with the main character evolving from a Union solider to a bounty hunter and then to a Pinkerton detective. Mostly because, I love a good detective story.

HIGH MOON is part supernatural detective story, ala Constantine or Harry Dresden, with a mixture of old-time-radio shows such as GUNSMOKE or HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL, a whole lot of authentic history and journals, a little Tom Waits, plus there are trappings of two distinct myths running around in our narrative. Also, visually, I know that Steve was drawing inspiration from DJANGO and HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER. So, the answer is that HIGH MOON is inspired by a little bit of everything.

What advice do you have for someone interested in competing at Zuda?

With only eight screens to tell your story, you need to be ready to be awesome right out of the gate. So, give it your all and make sure your submission is the best that you can make it. And whether you win or lose, you’ll already be in better shape than you were before you submitted, because you’ve cultivated an audience that you didn’t have before.

Be awesome, be professional, and have fun.

Thanks again to David for taking the time to participate.

Scott at Polite Dissent continues his yearly tradition of posting a new Christmas-themed comic cover every day for the month of December.

So does Dave Carter!

I’m sure David Gallaher and Steve Ellis are happy that their webcomic High Moon was the first winner of the Zuda monthly competition. (Odd phrasing from the editor: “even we did not know who was going to win it in the end.” Did they expect to know ahead of time who the winner would be?) Congratulations, guys! I hope this works out the best way possible for you.

All I know is the prospect of getting to have access to lots of comics I could use for reference for only about $5 a month without having to run a 3 hour round trip into the city to get a comic every time I had to look up some joker’s costume was too much to resist. I paid about $40 tracking down reference on the last Marvel job, and for a few bucks more, I could reference EVERY job

but the experience is lacking:

I have been unable to verify my email address at Marvel DCU (teehee) despite multiple attempts, because I get an error message every time I click on the link. Then I get an error message when I click on the link that is supposed to take me to a help page where I can complain about the error message. This is the revenge of the ghost of Jack Kirby. I am being punished for wanting to look at those ancient copies of The Eternals Marvel has uploaded, for which the Kirby estate will not be paid a royalty…

So after fiddling with my account for way too long, I never got my account email problem settled, but decided to see if I could look at some comics anyhow. Well yes. And no. I was able to get to the section to look at the comics pages. My fangirl sense tingling in anticipation, I hit the button. And waited. And waited. And waited. After waiting about 10 minutes, nothing more than the cover uploaded.

Much more at the link, including discussion of the lack of royalty payments.

Amy Unbounded

Spin-off series Return of the Mad Bun is published as a webcomic, although I can’t tell when it was last updated. Author Rachel Hartman is mommy-blogging. From that site, I gather that she’s working on a novel. Collection, published 2002, still available through used book dealers.

Galaxion

Also now a webcomic that actively updates. Author Tara Tallan has a blog. Collection available used as well.

Xeno’s Arrow

Online as a webcomic, only at a different site. There’s also an interview with the creators talking about their plans. If you want to talk to them, they have a forum.

Johnny Public

There was an additional issue, #9, since those I recommended. The publisher’s website was last updated in summer 2005. A tenth issue shows up at a different online shop run by the artist as of last August, and she has a blog. I imagine life got in the way. Shame. It was intriguing, but needs to be read in large lumps.

You know, I follow very few webcomics, and I’m not good at reading page-at-a-time online, so I haven’t been keeping up with the first three, much as I enjoyed them in print. Yet the one that’s still in print, I’m not bothering with either. I’m not a very good customer.

Zero Hour

No, not that one. Patty Leidy did a strip of that name from 1995-1997, collected as minicomics. I enjoyed her humor, but haven’t seen anything from her in a decade, only to find her blog. Yay! Right now she’s having some pain issues that take up her posting, but if you scroll down, there are new comics. What a cool discovery!

Plus, puppets -> always funny.