Monthly Archives: September 2010

New Brighton Archeological Society goes online

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Brigid Alverson of Robot 6 notes that Mark Andrew Smith, the two-time Harvey Award nominee for the all-ages The New Brighton Archeological Society (Image Comics), has posted the first volume online. From Wikipedia:

The story of the New Brighton Archeological Society follows the children from two families of the world’s most famous explorers. When their parents are lost on an Archeological mission to thwart their nemesis named Galomar, the children find themselves under the care of their Godparents and living in their parents’ old childhood home. During a snowball fight the children accidentally find their parents old clubhouse called “The New Brighton Archeological Society”. The children start the club up again to honor their parents’ memory but also find many strange books filled with information about supernatural worlds and lore.

When asked about why he put the comic online, Mark Andrew Smith had a few good things to say about webcomic creators and readers:

Robot 6: You just got nominated for a Major Comics Award. Why are you putting your comic online for free?

MAS: The New Brighton Archeological Society was nominated for two Harvey Awards this year. I think online is a great opportunity to develop a new readership over the course of a year while we work on the second volume in the series. I’ve been reading a lot of online comics and I’ve been very impressed with how they’re doing and the audiences and subscribers that they’re able to reach and retain daily. In comics we don’t have that direct line of communication with our audience and it’s something that I wanted to build. It’s also great for sales for when the second volume comes out to have that built in audience and the communication with them. In the future I think this will be more of a standard model by which comics are created.

Robot 6: Connecting kids with kid-friendly webcomics is always a challenge. How do you plan to build an audience?

MAS: We’ve gotten very great press and I’ve been promoting the book heavily. I want to do a blog tour on YA Lit blogs and I have another secret project that’s going to start online, so with that I’ll push the two hand in hand. There are a lot of ways to build an audience and it’s about getting creative and thinking outside of the box. I have some very big things planned. A lot of people think the market is tapped and are doom and gloom, but webcomics are at the frontlines, and we just have to get creative. We’re living in the most exciting time for comics and soon the dam is going to burst and they will be a mainstream part of daily American culture. I strongly believe this to be true.

Who writes the history of webcomics?

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Depending on your source, webcomics may have been around for 15 years. Or 25 years. Or, I don’t know, since the beginning of time. (This theory only applies if you consider cave walls to be an early version of the internet. You can expect my thesis on this to drop in about a year or so.)

So, given that suitable time has elapsed, isn’t it high time someone wrote up a webcomic history?

“A history about webcomics, El Santo?” you say. “Scoff, scoff. That is quite an arrogant pursuit you propose. What next? The history of the emoticon?”
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The Joy of Webcomics: There were conventions this weekend? Football weekend?

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Guess quite a few webcomic related things happened this weekend that I totally failed to talk about! My apologies for not posting updates on them. In my defense: it’s football season. Go Seahawks! (Boo, 49ers!)

Anyway, a few things on the two major conventions (plus some other points of interest):

  • Geekdad over at Wired magazine provided an overview of Intervention, “A con that talks about web comics and how to create them.” ComixTalk was there, providing a few pictures and whatnot.
  • Also this weekend was the more publicized SPX. Xaviar Xerexes (ComixTalk again) conducted quite a few interviews there, including that of Shi Long Pang‘s Ben Costa (reviewed here). Also at the scene: The Beat’s Heidi MacDonald, who calls SPX “the summer camp of comics.”
  • Meanwhile, Johanna Draper Carlson revisits a favorite writer of hers: Teri Sue Wood (Wandering Star). She discovers that she’s now writing a webcomic called Yet Untitled, set near my neck of the woods in the now globally recognized town of Forks, WA.
  • Now for the press release portion of this update. Daniel Potter of Walking The Lethe sent me the following:

    Fallen Kitten Productions is proud announce that we are now taking Preorders for Walking the Lethe’s first graphic’s novel. Walking the Lethe Volume #1 encompasses the first four chapters of Richard Harrison journey to win back his wife from her untimely death. He will scour the afterlife until he finds her and will break down the heavenly gates if that’s what it takes. This first volume takes him from his home in Boston Mass, through the shadowscape and into America’s mountains of faith, the ghosts of the Twin Towers. All the while, Angels and Demons battle over the fate of his journey.

    Walking the Lethe is a webcomic that updates twice a week at http://walkingthelethe.com. The first two chapters are painted by Sam Ireland and the second half of the book is illustrated by Aditia Wardhana. We’re midway through the 3rd chapter and thanks to the miracle of a six month buffer, these books will be printed and in the hands of readers BEFORE the completion of chapter 4 on our website in December.

    The Webcomic Overlook does plan on reviewing this comic (and I’d planned on tackling it in time for Sept. 11, but alas, football season), so watch this space for my take on what, at first glance, looks to be a visually inventive comic.

  • Finally, for fans of the Sunday funny parody Weapon Brown (reviewed here), the intro you’ve been waiting for. Weapon Brown readers know that Jason Yungbluth had yet to introduce Brown’s greatest rival, a deadly warrior named Calv1n (which is a reference to … well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?) The last few pages have followed the tried and true narrative device of obscuring the rival’s face until that perfect moment of the big reveal. Well, that moment is now. This reveal is especially awesome if you’re a fan of comic strips, Bill Watterson, trademark infringement, and the rivalry between Fords or Chevys.

The Webcomic Overlook #134: Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life

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The one sci-fi book that left the deepest impression on me is quite possibly Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Some hardcore sci-fi readers might probably sneer at this endorsement, dismissing the book and the “trilogy” it spawned as “Monty Python In Space.” Which it is, by the way. The greatest aspect of Hitchhiker’s Guide is that it’s very funny.

I like to think that there’s something more than just the humor that keeps the Hitchhiker’s Guide fandom strong, though. At the core of all the silliness about Vogons and towels and Marvin the Paranoid Android and the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, there’s a kernel of utter existential despair. The characters spend all their time looking for an answer to the meaning of their existence. When they find it, they realize that the answer is ultimately useless. Furthermore, they pretty much already know the answer anyway: there is no answer, and even if you did find something that claimed to have the answer, it would be utterly useless. This despair ultimately got the best of Mr. Adams. His last two books, So Long and Thanks for the Fish and Mostly Harmless, get so dark and joyless that there’s a strong cadre of fans who like to pretend that they don’t exist. Adams’ widow had to approach Eion Colfer to write a coda (And Another Thing…) that wasn’t so damn depressing.

Still, I think it’s that kernel of despair — alongside with the satire, the goofy footnotes, and the nutty characters — that makes Hitchhhiker’s Guide so loved by many. Fans might also notice that the same eccentric mix can also be found in the webcomic I’m reviewing today: Kit Roebuck’s Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life … which, frankly, has a title that makes it sound like some indie film Oscar bait. Also, no word yet on why we’re still counting Pluto.


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Videogame webcomic supremacy?

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Philip J. Fry, Harry Knowles, Sarah Rue, Dr. Robotnik, and that guy from PvP

Man, getting tired of all the videogame webcomics getting press on this site? Well, get tired a little longer! Now that Scott Kurtz (PvP) has hung his hat in my hometown of Seattle, Washington, it looks like he’s game for more collaborations with his Jet City-based Penny Arcade pals Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Like the all new webcomic, The Trenches. Things haven’t started up yet, but Kurtz has a short blurb up on his site:

…Mike, Jerry and I announced a new project today. It’s called The Trenches and it’s a brand new webcomic that we’re collaborating on.

You see, a couple months ago, I got called into Mike and Jerry’s office. Robert was in there too and they wanted to talk to me about something. That can be good or bad, but this time it was good. Awesome even. A new comic strip about video game testers that they wanted me to help write and draw. Working together on something brand new, from the ground up.

So there you go. Videogame webcomics don’t die. They just sorta evolve… or at least merge like two amoebas.

I imagine that this is a way for the guys to get back to their roots, since Kurtz has mentioned that PvP is not really about video games anymore and Penny Arcade doesn’t really have a plot narrative or anything. But it makes you wonder: do these guys have anything left to say that hasn’t been said in over a decade of writing their own comics?

(h/t Comixtalk)