Thursday, March 31, 2005
So the question really has to be asked - How long before
the webcomic review blogs out number the webcomics themselves?
Chris Onstad of
Achewood has his
eighth painting up for auction on ebay. The bidding was up to $340 the last I looked.
A couple of posts back I mentioned that Chopping Block had stopped updating, only to correct myself in the same post. Well it seems to be
updating regularly again and it's pretty much as
good as ever - which is impressive considering it's limited scope.
There's also been a big controversy raging offer a press release about the
Connecticon 2005 Webcomics Tier Reward System. Eric Burns
waded in on the subject,
twice and both times pretty much hit the nail on the head for me. In my opinion, if you want to run something like this, then you should be looking to strike a balance. Yes, a comic with a larger audience is going to be offered more in return for attending but to publish a tier system is madness. Go out and find your big players and offer them what you have to offer. If I'm pulling 50,000 UIP's in a day, then I've no interest whatsoever in proving myself to you - you want to be making it sound worth my while. Then you can approach smaller comics and offer them what you have to offer. What space you have spare can be left open to application and then you can work from an unpublished tier system - because letting people know that UIP's were your primary selection criteria would be just bad marketing. It's just seems like common sense. Of course, I don't really care because I don't live in the States and I'll probably never see the inside of one of these things ever. Thankfully.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Oh poor blog, how I've neglected you. Just been busy and lazy and so on and so on. Still not much out there to talk about in the world of funny cartoons and webcomics. Maybe I'll get around to finding something tomorrow. In the mean time you can amuse yourselves with
this. It's a sort of photo-comic by
Hans Blom, a Swedish photographer. Not many of them there but still looks
pretty good.
Friday, March 25, 2005
So then, what's new in the world? Not much really but a couple of interesting bits 'n' pieces out there.
First off,
Brian Barry, are you happy now? You've got your own
funny cartoon, so you can relax now.
Found this through
Comixpedia - a
slideshow comparison of Sin City the movie and original art from the comics. I wasn't a big fan of the comics (though they looked great) but I am impressed by the look of the movie. The style they're using is very interesting and it's about time someone tried to do something like that when transferring a comic to screen.
The lads at
Digital Strips pointed me in the direction of
this. Cartoonist Stephen Pastis having a swipe at the state of the print comic strip. The strip, dated the 23rd of March, captures what is becoming a pretty prevalent opinion amongst comic professionals, amateurs and fans. The mystery is why newspaper editors and publishers haven't kopped on to it yet. That strip will only be available for viewing on comics.com for a month, just in case you're looking at this in the archives on some sort of cyberspace architectural dig hundreds of years from now.
I've only recently started looking at
Boy On A Stick And Slither, but I'm quickly growing very attached to it.
Beaver And Steve is good today. I could go in to detail about why but this isn't
websnark and I'm just not that interested.
Daily Dinosaur Comics. Educational. Hmmmmm.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Looks like the whole
PVP syndication controversy is still raging.
Market Place, an American National Public radio show (whatever that means), did a
short segment on it. No real insight on it except, and I hadn't heard this before,
Lloyd Dangle believes that newspapers might start
charging cartoonists to publish their strips. The logic behind this thinking stems from Scott Kurtz assertion that he'll make his money from his website and therefore all he asks is that newspapers print his website address with his strip - therefore his strip has become an advertisment. So, because of Scott Kurtz, somewhere down the line newspaper editors are going to start selecting their strips on who can pay the most and not on the quality of the work. In my opinion any editor who does that won't last long in his job. Ads are ads and content is content. What Kurtz is offering is an exchange - his content for their readership. The reason papers can charge for ad space is because no one picks up a paper because they want to see the latest McDonalds ad - no matter how clever or funny it is. People pick up the papers for the content and the funny cartoons are part of that content. No one knows yet whether this new business model will work or whether this will be the pervasive model in years to come. In my opinion though, any cartoonist still relying that heavily on print syndication is going find themselves falling by the wayside because the web is taking over in a big way.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
I spotted
this on Comixpedia today. It's a really cute animation by an
Israeli designer set to the song Giant Steps by John Coltrane. What makes it even more interesting to me is that it has similarities, sort of, to something we were planning for our follow up to
Crimescene, an animation myself, Frank and, another artist, Emmet O'Neill did a couple of years back. They're both part of a series called Sex, Booze And A Sheep Named John, which myself and Emmet have been developing since we were in school.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Ah, been working on a short film script and so I might have been a bit neglectful of this blog thing. Or maybe I haven't. Not got much sleep over the last couple of days, so I might just be delirious. Anyway, Jeph over at
Questionable Content (I love how I've decided to be on first name terms for no good reason) has put some
original artwork up on ebay. The initial starting bid was $1 but it has risen to $175 last time I looked. That's quite impressive.
I was talking with a buddy over the weekend and he mentioned this blog seems to be a bit buried in the site. Which probably means that very few people see this and it doesn't actually matter what I say. Which is quite unimpressive.
The lads at
digital strips had their
new podcast up yesterday. One of their webcomic picks was
Chopping Block, which I found kind of odd because it hasn't updated in such a long time. Now, of course, it's their show and they can do whatever they want with it. And Chopping Block was very good. The fact is that one of my earliest posts was going to be about how impressive it was that someone could consistently produce funny cartoons with such a limited subject. Then I noticed it hadn't been updated and therefore I couldn't really back up my argument.
Of course, as if just to make a mockery of me, it seems to have been updated. I could, of course, go back and delete all that I've written but, as I've already stated, it doesn't really matter what I say here. Except maybe that I should mention funny cartoons one more time.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Eric Burns is either very brave or very foolish. The man behind the very frank
Websnark has just launched his own webcomic -
Gossamer Commons. It's hard to say how it's going to work out but
Greg Holkan's artwork is nice and the dialogue is believable. Good luck to them anyway. I'll certainly check back and see how their doing.
I don't know if it's the fact that blogger changed the way they handled comments, or if it's because we're getting more blog traffic but recently I've noticed an increase in comments on
BifSniff Cartoons. It's been quite interesting because it shows that we are hitting a much broader demographic than I thought we would. It's especially nice to see we've got some female fans, as I'd hate to have discovered I had a talent for something that was of no interest to the opposite sex. Seriously though, no matter how casual we might try to be about it, finding comments on the site (except one's from Brian Barry) is always a bit of a boost. It's kind of funny really because in person I take compliments really badly. I actually handle criticism much better. But this way I can take it. Basically, I suppose, because I don't have to respond. Which, of course, will explain why I never do respond. But, in amongst all the nice comments, I did notice a criticism, albeit not a damning one but a criticism all the same. Basically the comment complained, for want of a better term, that we relied a little too much on idioms. Which is kind of true but could also be put as - we specialise more in idioms. Which we do. Now I will just say that I don't take exception to the criticism, it's fine and, because of it, I'll probably look at breaking up the idioms more in future. But it did seem a bit like saying action movies rely a little too much on action. We play with language. That's what we do. I'm sure if we were producing a new funny cartoon everyday, we'd have to broaden our horizons but we're not, so we won't. But for the time being I think we'll stick to what we're, apparently, good at.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
I'm Irish and fond of a drink. It's St. Patricks Day. I've been working all day and I've still taken the time to post the
new cartoon. It just doesn't make any sense. Where's Frank? He doesn't even drink.
Monday, March 14, 2005
It's sad to hear but
The Webcomics Examiner is going on an indefinite hiatus after this quarters issue. In the announcement they stated work commitments and burn out as the reason behind the closure. They also left a nice little obituary for the site.
We set out to capture a snapshot of an evolving medium, as discerned by a small group of writers during a pause in the action. We hope the results have meant as much to you as they have to us.
Now, as a sidenote, I do have to wonder why, with the level of popularity surrounding webcomics, it isn't possible to run a full time webcomics news/review site? You would only need a small team of writers and maybe some freelancers. It's just a thought.
The boys at
Digital Strips issued an apology to Frank for not mentioning him in last weeks review. Apparently it's not entirely obvious that two people are involved. I only wish I could ignore that easily. Anyway the boys suggest that we should have a caricature of him up in the corner aswell - which seems fair to me.
Friday, March 11, 2005
Yesterday I had to search for something to write about. Today I dropped in on
Websnark and it's right there. Except Eric has
said it all pretty well first. So maybe I've nothing to write about but here's what it's all about. When a comic joins up at
Keenspot, they agree to run the Keenspot Newsbox on their site. The Newsbox is essentially a rotating advert for the other comics on the network. That's how Keenspot works. But, as a precaution against objectionable material appearing in the Newsbox, members are entitled to complain about a particular ad and refuse to run it. Fair enough except that there doesn't seem to be any outstanding criteria for these objections. Which surely means you can object to any comic ad you want and still remain a Keenspot member. What if I decide that I don't like any of the other comics on Keenspot and feel that running their ads damages my site? Do you I get to be part of the community still? Of course not. Yet an ad, featuring two men about to kiss, for a
webcomic that, apparently, focuses alot on homosexual relationships was dropped by another Keenspot member. The ad wasn't explicit, overtly sexual and didn't feature any graphic violence. So why was the ad dropped? Because, and only because, it featured gay imagery. Which means it was dropped either because the creator of the other comic is homophobic or is pandering to homophobes. Either way, it's wrong. If they don't want to advertise gay related comics on their site, then that's fine - they're free to leave Keenspot any time they want. Until they do so they should be compelled by some sort of code of practise. To top it,
Keenspots reaction to it has been cowardly. They've refused to take a side on the matter and, in turn, have completly fuzzed over their terms of service. If anyone on the Keenspot network decides to drop an ad or object to it, Keenspot will have no grounds on which to counter the objection. They have just ensured that. They have failed to put in place a clear criteria for objecting or not objecting. If I was running a gay related comic on Keenspot I'd be looking for answers now and if I didn't get them I'd be leaving Keenspot.
This is funny and not just because it's Funny but because
this was originally going to be pretty much on the same theme. It didn't really work for us but it does for T-Rex.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Ok, so I didn't think I'd be putting anything up today. I flaked around the place, looking for something worthy of comment. Found a link on
Boing Boing for
Magnatune, a creative commons record label. Interesting idea though it is, I couldn't be bothered going into it. Then I was on Comixpedia, where I found a news item about
Hyena Comics putting a call out for
submissions. So I checked in and had a look but found nothing to that explained what benefit joining would be to us. Now, in actuality I know what benefit it have for
BifSniff Cartoons but I did expect some explanation as to how their set-up works. Anyway, still nothing to write about. No funny cartoons, though todays
Daily Dinosaur made me smile, and no big webcomic stories. Then I spotted a piece on the Hyena Comics website about how
Komikwerks had picked up weekly cartoon strip
The Zoo. So I checked that out and...nothing. Don't get me wrong, Komikwerks is an interesting enough site but I just couldn't find anything pertinent to write about. Still digging though, and wondering what the deal does for The Zoo, I went to
The Zoo site. Nothing more on the Komikwerks deal but I'm guessing he's getting paid, plain and simple. Great for him but not really worth writing about - certainly not without more details. Then I read his little call out for guest artists. In the last week of April he'll be running five guest strips. Nothing spectacular there except that his favourite guest strip will run in his regular Friday slot and, in turn, will run in his regular online and print syndication spots. Which is worth mentioning and, even more than that, got me wondering about his syndication. Would a syndicate or licensing agent really allow him to do that. The answer, I believe, is no but there's no prove of that here because Gabe Strine, the creator, is self-syndicating and he has a cunning plan for doing it. Now I can't deep link to the particular page, because he's using a frameset, but as an incentive to spread the word, Gabe is offering readers $50 if his strip gets picked up through their recommendation. It's a new enough ploy and I have no idea how it's working out but I like it. It shows initiative and, most importantly, it's another step towards pulling the rug from under the bigger syndicates. It does, of course, serve to remind me that we'll never get syndicated. Shame.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Well it seems Eric Burns over at
Websnark is finally having to acknowledge the potential
influence he has on the world of webcomics. No longer can he meekly claim to be just a guy with a blog because at least two webcomics have noted his contribution to their success. First off, T. Campbell and Gisele Lagace quoted him in the
solicitation for their Pennie And Aggie comic and then, in a
press release from Keenspot,
David Wright attributed alot of his success to winning a
Shortbread. It must be quite gratifying for him and, maybe, just a little scary. I did think it was funny when he mentioned one webcomic artist put a call out, wondering why he hadn't been snarked, only to discover Eric had never come across his site. I'm betting there are alot of guys out there religiously checking his site to see when their moment of glory will arrive. Even I have to admit that it'd be gratifying to see
BifSniff Cartoons get a mention but I hardly feel he's obligated in any way. Of course, the comic in question,
A Modest Destiny, managed to get a mention because of their whinge so, maybe, that's all you have to do. Oh the weight of responsibility must be unbearable.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
The Guardian are running a week long look at Robert Crumb. Along with a selection of
opinion pieces by Crumb himself, you can look at some samples of his work if you scroll down. To be honest, I've always found him to be more than justy a little creepy, an opinion he has done nothing to change by discussing how
he likes to dominate big women.
We got one of our funny cartoons into the new
Where's Me Culture Magazine. Where's Me Culture is an initiative been run by local interested parties who want to address the failings of the official
Cork2005 City of Culture organisers. If you're not in Cork and fancy a look at the mag, you can get a pdf version by joining up at the
Where's Me Culture forum.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Well, unexpectedly, we got another plug on the
Digital Strips Podcast. This time they did a full on review and gave our
funny cartoons a sterling recommendation. Nice one lads but I should mention poor Frank, whose involvement seems to have gone unnoticed by Daku and Zampson. Frank draws the pictures and often times reels me in so that other people, besides myself,
will understand the jokes. If you're interested in webcomics at all,
digital strips is well worth a listen.
An
interesting story on the bbc about how the Turkish Prime Minister has just sued a cartoonist for making fun of him. Apparently Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a self-professed champion of free speech, felt the cartoon showing him as a cat entangled in wool was humiliating. The grievance was backed by an Ankara court and the cartoonist, Musa Kart, was ordered to pay the equivalent of $3,500. And this isn't the first time the Prime Minister, who was once jailed for reading a poem, has sued a cartoonist. He also sued a cartoonist who drew him as a horse being led by one of his advisers. Maybe he just doesn't like animals. The whole thing is, supposedly, casting doubts on Turkey's claims to EU membership but let's be fair, it's the thin end of a very thick wedge. One of the only good reasons to give Turkey membership, would be so the EU can kick their arse over this sort of thing.
Friday, March 04, 2005
So on my daily trawl around, I looked in on
Beaver and Steve and discovered that the
Erudite Baboon has a new children's book out called
Draw 50 Dinosaurs. Yes, if you read over that line again you will notice the word new. Apparently Lee, that's his real name, has a
series of these Draw 50 books. They look really good and, maybe, next time one of many nieces or nephews has a birthday, I might get one.
You might remember earlier I mentioned the passing of Hunter S. Thompson, well one of his legacies that I didn't mention was the
Uncle Duke character in Doonesbury. Found through
Boing Boing.
Another
interesting article, found through the
Buzzbugle this time, about the effect the internet is having on funny cartoons or comic strips. This time it's focused on editorial cartoons.
Also, nothing to do with funny cartoons or online comics but has to be mentioned,
downloadable football (soccer) clips. Brilliant.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Ok, so I jumped the gun earlier and there is a bit of interesting relevant news hanging around - I just forgot to look at
the Digital Strips blog.
This is of particular interest to us, as Frank and myself had talked about delivering
BifSniff Cartoons in this way. Anyway, Nazara Technologies, a mobile phone content provider, has signed a deal to deliver
Archie Comics to mobile phones (that's cell phones to our American cousins or maybe even the rest of the world for all I know or care). Why Archie comics? I don't know but I'm guessing they've done their research and that's not really my point of interest here.
Wired News actually carried an item on this some time ago, which inspired myself and Frank's interest. Will people pay a nominal fee to have
funny cartoons sent to their phones? If the phone screens can read them, I'm guessing they would. Going by some of the out right horse-shit some people already go for. This, of course, at the moment looks like it'll only be of interest to the big boys. I can't see many mobile phone content knocking down the door to send
BifSniff Cartoons out to their subscribers. But we are ideal for it -
a weekly, single panel, funny cartoon delivered direct to your phone - and it's ideal for us. All this is assuming you could read them but...
So I haven't posted anything in two days and I guess I've gotten away with it because Frank's been busy but that can't last.
So, with no real news to share, I'm going to just throw up a bit of guff about a couple of my favourite comics and funny cartoons.
Daily Dinosaur Comics is right on form
today. There's a certain magic about it. Actually there's always something about it. How he can keep coming up with
new ideas, especially ones that are this
inexplicably funny, with the same sequence of images all the time, I don't know. I won't get all websnarky about this but there's something about the
juxtaposition of T-Rex's fears and the cephalopod's threats that made me laugh out loud.
Another great cartoon is
Red Meat and while it's really hard to pick out any
particular funny cartoon here, I saw
this one recently on
The Onion and it's gone into my list of all time classics. Simply put Red Meat makes me jealous.
And it would seem I got all this up, and even mentioned
funny cartoons a couple of times, before Frank had time to notice I've been neglecting my duties. Now that's top of the range.
