Webcomics: S/D

there is just no reason to hate on webcomics - there's an amazing wealth of good stuff out there, but since there's no more cost to print like there used to be with b&w floppies, there's a lot more to go through to find the gems

if there's any ethos, it's a pseudo-DIY thing where creators utilized the egalitarian nature of the web to distribute comix that might have been a tougher sell w/ traditional platforms (newspaper syndication, major publishers, etc) and where they could build an audience slowly through word of mouth. but that doesn't necessarily speak to the quality of the product. xxp

it's very DIY - remember when the best CMS most people could use was keenspot

kids these days, spoiled with ComicPress

I think to qualify as a webcomic it really has to be unimaginable to conceive of it as a print phenomenon on its own and kate beaton would totally do well in print (and she does! [ok some of that is due to webpopularity, but still])

that doesn't really make sense to me, tbh. is it unimaginable to conceive of achewood as a print phenomenon?

like are the only true webcomics stuff like PvP and Penny Arcade bc they do gaming/internet joekz?

I think to qualify as a webcomic it really has to be unimaginable to conceive of it as a print phenomenon on its own and kate beaton would totally do well in print (and she does! [ok some of that is due to webpopularity, but still])

u r scott mccloud and i claim my $5

i think you can translate some aspect of achewood to print (there was a long form version I saw in a print compilation that I liked) but as a whole, no, it wouldn't work.

reason i mentioned achewood is cause i was in the comic store on monday and they've got a bunch of his collections there that u can buy. in print!

jesus christ why am I still reading Sluggy Freelance

guys ive been trying to recall the name of this comic that was popular on ilx and the internet tho i think it was also published in like maybe some irl alt newspapers or w/e and it always had v neat lil narratives that were often kinda fatalistic fables i guess the only one i can remember was it shows like evolution creatures crawling out of the ocean and what not then theres a space ship coming up this giant button in outer space and someone says what you think this thing does then its starts again w/the evolution i am sure you guys are v familiar w/this comic thx in advance

the way i see people interact with achewood -- it's kind of critical to be able to click on it and see it on the web, and to be passed around that forms the bulk of the achewood experience that doesn't seem quite so crucial for hark a vagrant. don't you feel a difference in experience?

Perry Bible Fellowship xp

i don't feel a difference but i get the feeling (forgive me if i'm wrong) that the term 'webcomic' is a bit more loaded w/ meaning for u than it is for me xp

tyvm

it's loaded for me in a very weird way, in that i think it denotes crap, but at the same time i feel it's disrespectful not to acknowledge it as more than just a cheaper delivery device.

er .. not to acknowledge it as just a cheaper delivery device i mean

er.. scratch that scratch.

PvP was published as a comic for 9 years - longer than it's spent online-only.

So Philip, are you saying that webcomics are kind of the descendants of the thigns people used to cut out and stick up on walls / cubicles, or that used to be mailed around after email but pre-web? Because if so, I totally get that, but the number one comic that I see linked on twitter/facebook/livejournal as "hey check out this one strip" is Hark a Vagrant.

sort of -- but it's not just the passing back and forth, but also the way the readership helps shape the strips as well. (letting your audience have control of your work is probably another tendency that leads to crap, though)

Wow there was just a Kate Beaton + Lynn Johnston panel at San Diego Con.

FBOFW????

did she talk about animating all the characters on her website to blink periodically?

I dunno I'm not in SD! I wish I was! (kind of).

i wonder what kate thinks about her. i'm not a big FBOFW fan but i get she had a big influence - probably bigger if you're from Canada

there's a great story in the charles schulz bio about johnston calling schulz (johnston being one of the few colleagues schulz admired) and mentioning to him that because her characters age she's going to have to do something soon about the dog, who is going to have to die, and schulz is really adamant that johnston not kill the dog because people don't want to read about dead dogs over breakfast (they just want to read about endlessly telescoping bleakness and cruelty i guess) and johnston says no i have to do this it's all right it'll be a big affecting arc and everything and schulz apparently says

IF YOU DO THIS
I AM GOING TO HAVE SNOOPY GET HIT BY A TRUCK
AND GO TO THE HOSPITAL
AND EVERYBODY WILL WORRY ABOUT SNOOPY
AND NO ONE WILL READ YOUR STUPID STORY

also apparently schulz calls her to congratulate her on reaching some kind of syndication milestone -- X number of papers carrying FBOFW -- which is a very high number by the standards of most comics but not a high number by the standards of peanuts, and schulz is very gracious and complimentary at first but then johnston says like "i'm catching up to you haha!" and schulz just says CALL ME WHEN YOU'RE IN THE LOUVRE and hangs up

weird guy

awesome guy

That Schultz bio is rough, especially when you discover that the most jugular-inflating Lucy tirades were influenced by Mrs. Schulz.

SNOOPY IS OFF THE WEB BECAUSE OF YOU

The only thing the tweet from D&Q said abt the panel was that Johnston and Beaton bonded over their admiration for Guisewhite.

i remember hearing that schulz built a hockey rink for the local kids to play at, but then shut it down because the parents were so obnoxious. which i'm sure is partly true, but dude did not seem to get along very well with ppl

Didn't Schulz do some phone flirting with Guisewite? She was a Neutrogena model or something (even while drawing body horror strips)

Guisewitean body horror

so many ppl who knew Schulz, inc his kids, said the bio was slanted and crappy that I wouldn't rely on it for a full picture of the dude

it's kinda wild all of the newspaper strip writers like guisewhite, ketcham, even schulz for me at one point that i knew as defanged boring comic writers and then when i went back to their original material i totally understood the appeal

The rink's still open, I think.

Schulz gets redeemed for his complete and utter hatred of Garfield.

my dad had old peanuts collections from the 50s and 60s (at one point i could have told you who all the great pumpkin had visited -- one of them was 'boots ruthven') so that's what i grew up with. it's impressive how good it was for as long as it was; watterson otm

Yeah so many of these strips (but not peanuts) were ghastly spectres of their former selves by the time I was a kid. Then when I would see Los Bros talking abt Hank Ketcham or TCJ writers about Gasoline Alley it was baffling to me. Now the proof is out there, though.

peanuts was terrible when i was a kid, but my school library had a bunch of early peanuts comix and so around 5-6th grade i read a ton of the early ones. i would love to buy a bunch of the new fantagraphics ones -- but i have the ketcham fantagraphics volume (so excellent) and they're not super enjoyable to read. too many pages between the hard covers. i'm holding out for a super-sized volume

if i do get some, i'm not even sure which years are best to get. what's considered his best era? 60s-70s?

Of Dennis or Peanuts?

i'd start in the late 50s

every library i've been to has the peanuts fantagraphics collections. just try em all -- start at beginning. early charlie brown is kind of a proto-cartman!

not sure i'd go too far past '70? i'm not one to *blame* woodstock, but he did seem symptomatic of diminishing returns.

not sure where i'd stop, snoopy kinda takes tonal control around the late 60s i think and i prefer peanuts before that but obv snoopy is great so

yeah woodstock is prolly the symbol

it's kinda mind-boggling to me how many years he wrote this thing. who has that kind of longevity today? (dave sim?) even watterson + larson and other modern daily phenoms retired at some point

what year is the "mr. sack" arc from, where charlie brown doesn't want the kids at camp to see that his head has developed a weird rash that makes it look like a baseball so he wears a paper bag on his head and everybody loves him