Koltreg's Nerding/Review Blog

Transfer Of Sorts

2011-02-28T02:31:00.001-05:00

Posted a new webcomic review-ish article over at Socialfist here so check that out. I am not saying that the KN/RB is dead but it is highly inactive.

The Death List of 2011

2011-01-06T12:20:00.001-05:00

Welcome to 2011 Koltreg Blog readers. Time for me to ignore my lack of updates and get back to normal.
In the past year I lost a good comics to the internet which died for one reason or another.
They are:
Bear and Kitten
Byrobot
Daisy Owl
Joyce and Walky! - actually ended

And then I am culling these from my list, partially because I don't enjoy them anymore, partially because I don't feel like checking them anymore. When a click is too much of a hassle to read a webcomic something is up.
These are:
Amazing SuperPowers - stopped being funny, removed bonus panels
Hanna Is Not A Boys Name - I never remember to check it, confusing
Kinkofry - there are like 4 comics which barely seem to update
Kukuburi - updates
Lackadaisy Cats - updates
Looking For Group - no ties to anything
The Meek - a great comic but I can't find the desire to keep reading
Shrub Monkeys - still funny but barely updates
Slackerz - two updates since the reboot 6 months ago I want to say?
VG Cats - haaaaaaah updates
The Zombie Hunters - see the Meek

Part of this is the lack of twittering I guess, I like being informed of updates on that, especially if there is no schedule. Part of it is I don't feel tied to the characters anymore and without that I don't keep coming back.

Due to my desire to write more, the blog will be somewhat back so look out webcomic people because I am ready to tear you apart!

Hey

2010-12-02T22:59:00.001-05:00

I've been updating twice a week plus a comic over at Socialfist, you know, the webcomic I write. I do mean to post here more though.

Socialfist is Back

2010-10-25T16:18:00.001-04:00

My apologies for getting caught up with work.

Socialfist updated today. There are bears and fire.

Marvel Strange Tales 2 came out two week ago with art from Kate Beaton.

A review will be going up Sunday if all goes well.

Projects Wagon

2010-10-13T02:07:00.001-04:00

Hey hey, I got hired by the local comic shop and between that and week 1 of school I have been busy.

Currently though I am doing some pics here that go with this song by this guy.

West Coast Avengers Mixtape

2010-10-02T23:32:00.002-04:00

My ability to focus on reading webcomics was disrupted over the past two weeks by my vacation and thus blogging slowed down a slight amount. Still I did some nerding and as this is the nerding review blog I present a link to Adam Warrock's West Coast Avengers Mixtape. It is a nerdy mixtape of songs about the West Coast Avengers that doesn't require a full background in the Marvel canon to enjoy. Some songs though are vastly improved with knowledge such as Hank Pym, my personal favorite, but you can quickly Wikisearch them and get the idea of the character as you listen to the song.
Adam WarRock also has 3+ hours of free music to download and an album coming out soon. Give it a listen, give it a download and then give yourself a copy of his album when it comes out this month.
Next week web comic reviews or something!

Walking The Lethe Review

2010-09-20T13:44:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I get emailed or contacted to do more professional reviews. This is one of those times.

Walking the Lethe is a dark story about a man attempting to make amends with his dead wife through any means necessary. In the world of comics this typically means causing some form of apocalypse. With pastiches and ideas that have been done before, not necessarily better, Walking the Lethe begins a descent its descent into hell or what may actually be heaven. The characters are still being rounded out with dialogue and development seemingly being rushed in exchange for moving the story along which works for the story.
One of the biggest problems I have is the sudden shift in art styles from a more expressionist painting style over 3-d backgrounds to a lusciously illustrated and ultimately better suited realistic style for the second two chapters.
The comic is somewhat confusing as it happens often times with hierarchies that are undefined and such but the comic is picking up speed.
Its not necessarily my thing but fans of comics like Hellblazer might be more interested.
It can also be found online at http://walkingthelethe.com/
B+

Divergence Boink!

2010-09-15T19:15:00.002-04:00

Ugh finals week. One exam and one project left though Divergence Boink!, one of my spur of the moment ideas that took a good deal of my time is done.
Chances are though, you are like, what the hell is this diverging bonk? It is in theory an online divergent point (alternate timeline) history textbook saying like "In this universe, Abe Lincoln was slicing stuff like a samurai since he was a robot from the future. How would this change things?"
The basic format when you open the file is you have your 0r4nge (an mp3 player alternate to an Apple Ipod in the universe, apples to oranges, yeah nobody has gotten that so far...) and the book designed by friend of the blog Eli Parker of Unwinders with some art from me and Blazel and one unknown artist throughout the book.
If you click the 0r4nge you get to listen to Akira the Don give a rather Murdoc Niccals sounding intro and in the only open chapter of the book you have me incoherently mumbling the lines the journal entry for the first page in the book.
Theoretically I would love to expand this but it got really stupid really fast and ended up not working out as planned. If I knew flash I would expand it for sure. Still, I may find the time to do some more chapters and just type them up and see if I can have that lead to something. Till then, we wait.

Windows EXE version
Zipped Mac App version

Webcomics in Print 2: Webcomics in Print United

2010-09-14T14:48:00.002-04:00

As mentioned in the last post, I went to SPX and purchased a lot of stuff and played the "OH GOD I NEED MONEY FOR THE ROOM" game (from Milton Brothers Gamez). A partial selection of the books is featured here.

Beartato and the Secret of the Mystery:
By Anthony Clark
The Nedroid book is pretty amazing encompassing a good deal of classic strips all of the Beartato/Reginald variety. No dinosaur warlocks. This also includes a mini books content and some fancy art. All of the art for most of the older jokes has been redrawn and the quality of the pages is at incredibly epic levels. There is a good deal of semi new comics as well and it is just generally good deal.
I can't really think of an issue, it was worth the money I got. Topatoco makes some damn fine books.
A+
Perfect gift for: Junior high on up.
Fun fact: He signs the book and does drawings in it if you meet him in person and watching him draw drove me to tears. http://s410.photobucket.com/albums/pp189/Koltreg/?action=view¤t=Photo609.jpg

Johnny Wander Vol. 1: Don't Burn The House Down
By Yuko Ota and Ananth Panagariya
Johnny Wander Volume 1 is great all around gift to anyone of any age with all ages humor and I am obsessed with the comic. Since buying it 3 days ago I've read it some 5 times already. It has a recipe, stories when relevant (instead of shoehorning in commentary and notes) and the entire package is very professional. Also I totally have a Maw in a bowler in my copy thanks to Yuko doodling in it (my copy is currently on loan though....). It covers the first year of comics, minus the additional color stories.
It is just all around professional and I can't think of complaints.
Perfect gift for: High school grads, college students and on up.
A+
Fun Fact: It is addictive!

Octopus Pie: There Are No Stars In Brooklyn
By Meredith Gran
Meredith Gran produced a nice and thick tome of the first two years of the comic and included bonus strips that add to the chapters. The art is all nicely printed, the paper is high quality and it is worth the $17 (pay extra for the sketch version though!)
My one complaint is the printing color. All of the pages are in a greenscale print and with the shiny paper, it can be hard to read. I attempted to read on the bus back from SPX and reading under slightly sub par lighting was different. Still, I appreciate not being forced to have all black ink pages and it wasn't as bad as the one chapter in the Gastrophobia book where it was almost entirely unreadable. Also on a slightly less important note there was one page that was slightly smushed by the printer but not troublesome and most likely prevalent to be a major issue.
Perfect gift for: College students on up.
A-
Fun Fact: I totally have a Hanna in my book. Forgot to ask for a Marek (I was tired, disoriented) Still cool to see how fast she was able to draw.

Octopus Pie Minis:
By Meredith Gran
The mini comics are mini books encompassing new comics. I purchased Fear and Couch Sitter, two of the more recent chapters. The quality placed into the minis reminds me the homemade cards my aunt used to make with each page being hand crafted on a variety of materials. It gave me a touch of nostalgia to me personally.
The ink is also black which works well on the brown stock-ish paper. All together this is a high quality piece and I could see myself paying something like $7 for one of these with no issue.
A+
Fun Fact: These are limited issue things so buy them up!

SPX 2010 Review

2010-09-13T19:07:00.002-04:00

So, I went to SPX, I wrote a review on some steno sheets (those yellow lined papers) and then I lost them or something. (I am just too lazy to get them, yet not too lazy to write a new article).
Over on Socialfist I made a giant thank you list seen here!!!!! and really SPX was a weirdish time for me. I had moments of fun but that sort of ran out at times. Not to say it was ever horrible but I guess I will mark everything off in a fancy list.

Things Koltreg Learned About The SMALL PRESS EXPO
1. Get Sleep Before Hand
Due to it being finals week and me having a Friday class and limited cash, I ended up leaving on a 2 am bus from Pittsburgh to Silver Springs eventually getting there around 8:30ish. I was awake enough having gotten 3 hours of sleep on the bus. When I finally got into my room at 4 though I showered and then collapsed from 5 to 11:30. :/ Luckily all I missed was Ignatz and drinking and eating, none of which was a major loss for my first convention. Still, next year, I will be able to drink and Johnny Wander has taught me there are epic drinking parties.

2. Bring Money and Set A Budget
I came to the SPX with something like $200 cash, spent all of it, spent extra money from my family and then had to call when I realized I hadn't saved money for the hotel.
Next year if I go as a guest (looking into going as a vendor type person) I will definitely have a more planned budget and hotel money on hand. I also will be less likely to buy a lot of stuff but this was a weekend for spur of the moment purchases that I will cover in a new Webcomics In Print chapter.

3. Meet New People
There were something like 80-100 exhibitors there. Most had big lines. I partially regret being too lazy/busy/asleep to meet Kate Beaton but she had an almost permanent line.
While most webcomic people were always (almost always) happy to met fans, the indie comics people were actually willing to talk and have a conversation which is always nice. While I came mostly to meet and pimp my webcomic I met some cool people including MC Blackwolf.

4. Bring A Friend
You can spend maybe 3 hours tops going to every booth there and sampling wares. After that you can hang out in panels or watch movies or eat or stuff like that but there is not much else there. I regret not bringing a friend since there were long stretches of nothing to do and no one to talk comics with - sorta. I am far less gregarious in person than I am online depending on the situation.

5: Speak Loudly and Be Decisive
The hall can be pretty loud so if you are talking across a table it can be difficult to be understood. Also knowing what you want at the bigger booths additionally helps since there were several lines that blocked off the narrow halls. Topatoco formed a few swells of comic people since they were across from Octopus Pie, KC Green (on Sunday), Jeph Jacques, Dave Kellet and a few other big names.

6: Be Friendly
I guess this is more towards the people at booths. Smile, tell a joke and such. Spike sold me on a copy of her comic I have had issues with before by being friendly. Other people whose books I have purchased were less friendly and buying a mini was something I sorta regretted. This is sorta a "Hey fans, we need your help so why not give us money," type deal so being friendly just makes sense.

7: B.Y.O.M. - Bring Your Own Minis
I brought a printed version of Socialfist chapter 1 and gave it out which was a good way to get exposure and introduce myself. Other people were also giving out minis though which is also cool.

Its a community thing and you gotta be active. Pump new life into it and such.

I am looking forward to New England Webcomics Weekend next if I can get a ride there but first I gotta finish finals this week. ugggh.

Finals Pre Week Is Upon Me

2010-09-06T22:29:00.002-04:00

Finals Pre Week Is Here With Finals Being Next Week. Blazel provided this for one of my projects.
Snake Plissken as Pope Martin Luther.

Itunes 10 Thoughts

2010-09-01T23:32:00.001-04:00

So, Itunes 10 came out today and I generally like Itunes for everything related to playing music. Purchasing music I do almost solely on Amazon when I can. There it is usually cheaper and they offer better deals. The new Itunes though is already sort of bugging me, especially with the whole Ping type deal.
There are already several social music websites that are online. Last.fm, Pandora, etc. I don't use any of them though mainly because I listen to my music or nothing at all. With Itunes introducing the social network aspect though, it seems to be forgetting the benefits of those other networks in regards to social networking and music, one being that you can listen to full versions of songs. You can just listen to new stuff. Now if Itunes were to, lets speak horribly hypothetically here, allow you to listen to full songs for free like a radio station, that might be fine. In fact, it may actually inspire people to use their store. Heck, I know several times I've been driving and I've wanted to buy a song that was on the radio then and there. Pandora and Last.fm to my knowledge/poor recollection from seeing other peoples sites do allow this, often through Itunes. You are just throwing away spur of the moment purchases here.
Really the main reason I signed up for Ping is interest in how horrible it is. While it is in the first few days of birth and it only has a small amount of users, I can't see many people incorporating it. What does it do? Let your friends know if you make a review? How often do my friends do that? How often do they even buy through Itunes! Honestly it is like the Netflix social aspect for me, I never use it. Most of the people who I talked to Ping essentially sad "Wait, another social media thing? Ugh." There doesn't seem to be a big following and while there is a promise of premium content from big stars, what about people who don't listen to the big musicians. Heck, if you can't buy the artists music on Itunes you can't even feature them as favorite artists (because Itunes can't sell their shit - that means only two songs by Akira The Don! Blasphemy!)
Pretty much my other comments fall in the design category. The new font is too small and hard to read, the lack of colored icons leaves Itunes looking almost dead, like it molted its shell and this is the leftover. It still seems to run slow as ever being as big of a file as it is, Genius still is somewhat dubious and the new listing choice is fairly ugly if you lack the album art set up in a certain way.
Kind of annoying for me since I can't easily go back now, no real benefits to the user and the Ping thing will probably break within a year wherein it is shut down unless they mix things up.

Kick Drum Style Reviews: Wigu/Overcompensating Review

2010-08-28T16:03:00.001-04:00

I have been reading a lot but I ned to force myself to get back to writing the review portions. This week features two comics by Jeff Rowland, webcomicer and creator of TopatoCo, the webcomic store.

Wigu by Jeff Rowland
Wigu is a webcomic about a boy named Wigu, his family and his more or less inter-dimensional guardians, Topato Potato and Sheriff Pony. The comic revolves around the adventures Wigu has with his family that typically result in Topato and Sheriff Pony rescuing them.
The art is simplistic and childlike but it works for the story. The writing itself is equal childlike with a good sense of wonder and magic staying prevalent in the story. Additionally the comic is tamer that Axe Cop for example with death and violence being a more frowned upon subject which I can actually appreciate even though I was fairly desensitized by violence when a kid.
The comic works best coming off as a spur of the moment wacky adventure strip and rarely gets bogged down with continuity or flashbacks. A highly recommended read. A-

Overcompensating by Jeff Rowland
Jeff Rowland stars as himself in his semi-real autobiographic webcomic Overcompensating along with a small number of fake characters and filled with additional cameos from real webcomic people.
Overcompensating took me a bit to get into which is understandable since writing comics somewhat based on your life can be a learning process. The writing eventually picks up and leads to arcs.
Personally I love the strips concerning God and Jesus, who live in a nearby trailer park, since Mr. Rowland feels at ease to confront religion and faith head on, on a personal level.
The art itself is simplistic but it works keeping everything feeling organic and personal. Another highly recommended read. A

Next week, two more comics for my Road to SPX Road.

Octopus Pie Review

2010-08-17T10:15:00.001-04:00

So begins the pre Small Press Expo where I review comics by people I hope to meet there, most of which I already have been through several times.

This Week:
Octopus Pie by Meredith Gran (@Granulac)
I've personally been living in the city for something like 2-ish years now (almost (in the fall it is official)) and life seems to have these miniarcs within them. Not that there were miniarcs of life out in the country but there they were stretched for unbearable lengths and only changed slowly. It is like comparing some slow moving tv show to a fast moving one. And sadly all of my tv references right now are horrible since I don't watch it.
Octopus Pie is based around Eve (Everest) Ning (Evening - It took me a while to get the pun) and he forcibly added roommate Hanna who acts as the pot smoking Jack to her Felix or the Olive to her Florence if you prefer the female version of the play.
The comics pacing follows a miniarc pattern with stories ranging from relatively short (page numberwise) to spanning and it can be a bit jumpy with each page somewhat functioning asa chapter instead of part of a whole.
Truth be told I was horribly confused the first time I read the comic but that was partially my fault since I was fairly out of it when reading the comic. Upon my rereading though I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The art in the comic is one of the better parts both highly simply and simply abstract and expressive. The character designs actually work well to reflect the characters and help to get the points of personality across without being overbearing.
The comic is a pretty great and deserves your attention.
Octopus Pie gets an A+

Also in case you need a gift for any relatives or friends moving to the city, Octopus Pie has a printed version out now so cop a copy of it as a gift to yourself or others. Cop a copy at most fine bookstores.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World Ramblings

2010-08-14T01:17:00.002-04:00

Below are ramblings on Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. I wrote them at 1 am since the movie and a large Diet Coke have me cranked up.

I am a fan of the series though I didn't get into it till about 6 months ago. That seems right, I got the majority of the books around my spring break, I'd gotten book 1 sometime during the winter.
I have seen the movie twice. I love the movie. It is like the cookies and cream ice cream to the cookies that are Scott Pilgrim. You get a wholly different treat with a lot of good bits of cookies.
While I love the movie though, I can see where a lot of critics have problems. In many ways the movie cuts out a lot of the relationship and character development that made the series of comics so well respected and multilayered. In fact, maybe the ice cream - cookie metaphor should be reversed.
The film is an amazing thrill ride and summary (with changes) of the comics. It works so much better than The Last Airbender though since everything works and flows as an actual story. It works better than Watchmen since it is actually free from its comic book basis bonds. Watchmen was honestly a dead piece in a lot of ways, it wasn't given breathing room or life. It was just looking at what we saw animated.
Without the relationships though, the story becomes possibly too simple. Not too simple where it is a bad film but where it can honestly be critiqued as being a film with a simple plot (which make sense but is poorly worded).
If anything, the series could have made two movies instead and allowed for a more natural flow. Or I am hoping that the Scott Pilgrim Vs The Animation leads to either more animations or an entire series. From what I gathered everyone involved in Scott Pilgrim really enjoyed it and jeebus knows that Michael Cera could probably financially pay for the entire thing to be made based on profits from this film.
Another common complaint I hear from people against the film is that Michael Cera is in the film playing another awkward indie kid. Suck it up. You don't complain about pizza places only making more pizza. Scott Pilgrim is a better character than most and while it would be better if he were as developed as he was in the comic it would be an amazing role. Cera haters begone.
All in all, just see the movie, leave your preconditions at the door and laugh at some of the 6 Degrees Of Separation type relationships in the film. For example, the actress who plays Roxie played Ann (Who?) in Arrested Development. The person who plays Lucas "Crash" Wilson played Lefty in Youth In Revolt.
Also the soundtrack is pretty great and is the most I have enjoyed Beck in a while.
Sorry for the rambling, I wrote this so I could stop thinking about it. Now go see the movie, see it again or see it again again.

Manly Guys Doing Manly Things Review

2010-08-11T22:03:00.003-04:00

In prep for the Small Press Expo next month I will attempt 2 webcomic reviews every week! Hoo ah.
After that hopefully a review and an interview/other article every week.

Manly Guys Doing Manly Things by Kelly Turnbull
El Santo, the comrade in arms, reviewed Manly Guys Doing Manly Things, a comic about video games and the characters involved therein, outside of the gaming world. Sort of like a Who Framed Roger Rabbit world (which I have no doubt will be included in the most likely horrible upcoming sequel). I love the idea of characters not really being actors though and being exactly as they are in the games in the "real world" because our modern characters are for the most part so poorly thought out. Mind you, I gave up a majority of gaming upon the theft of my Wii and have only in the last week resorted to Gamecube gaming but I have a wide enough breadth of knowledge.
A lot of the older gaming comics focused as one shots about "what if so and so had to do a menial task" like what if Mario went to the grocery store and stomped on all the mushrooms. A sophomoric idea but it might lead to some more thoughts like how far does ones gaming related paranoia go. Is this a full trauma or a quirk.
Manly Guys Doing Manly Things takes this to the next logical step and does it with quality art and some mostly well thought out ideas.
Based around what is essentially a veteran's clinic for old game characters (helping them adjust to being out of war instead of the helping them poop type) run by the machismo powered Commander Badass. The early comics follow a mostly one shot gag but the ideas are fresh and generally unseen. The Big Daddy Daycare comic was originally what sold me.
When the ideas are further developed though like the following Poke'Mon story the comic truly shines.
El Santo sees the humor being hit or miss but I hardly see that as a negative, and I hardly see misses, though I guess I may be easily entertained. For me a rare gamer even if I miss the reference or didn't play the game (though missing references is now mostly impossible) the jokes still commonly fly for me.
Overall I have some hardcore love for Manly Guys Doing Manly Things and I look forward to the comic continuing to grow and add more characters since it is still relatively young. It has a bright future and if it keeps going with the same quality it has now it could easily be one of the big gaming webcomics.
Great art, above average gamer humor A.

Socialfist Chapter 2 is Go

2010-08-03T18:23:00.002-04:00

Chapter 2 started last night/yesterday/Monday so all is somewhat right in the world.

additionally since my last conversation I have reentered the fascinating realms for the dungeoning dragons and the gaming videos so that actually increases my productivity when it comes to writing and work. The last time I really kept to a strict update structure was when I frequently was doing both (I want to say it was like 8 months ago before I moved out) so no matter what, production will slowly start flowing back. Comics to read, games to play and my hope is that at the Small Press Expo I might be able to snag some interviews so look forward for that.

State of the Koltreg

2010-07-05T20:42:00.001-04:00

The second year of the blog finished without me noticing which means I was really distracted. In my defense though I have been busy. With life. And by that I mean generally dealing with depression in life which is always shitty to deal with.
Luckily I have been saved for at least 3 months, possibly more. During this period I am gonna get chapter 2 of Socialfist out, start working on that more seriously, finish the site, quit MackyDs after finding a real job and meet more people.
Part of the reason I stopped updating the blog was because I was dealing with some shitty illogical abandonment issues wherein after a three month period I literally lost all the people I hung out with to them leaving college, getting jobs or just them never being around. That kind of shit burns you because you know you can't do anything so you can end up blaming yourself.
Thanks to the inspirational magic of Akira the Don though, I was able to shape up, meet people and I remembered a punch of "smart" sayings that really only apply when I am in a good mood already.
Still, I am meeting people, exploring Pittsburgh, eating new foods and gaining weight - gotta fix that. all of that is pretty healthy considering my previous lifestyle of wasting time gaming.
Somewhere though I will find time for the blog. I will find inspiration. I will find readers. All you gotta do is sit back, relax and post in Chinese.

DAR Review

2010-07-05T20:20:00.005-04:00

DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary by Erika Moen
Life is one of those things where when you look back, you get a distorted picture. Things happen faster then and yet the effects of that review can be more damaging than a negative event before. Maybe because this time it is your fault for bringing back the memory like it is some kind of mental self flagellation.
DAR is a journal webcomic by Erika Moen, a woman, a girl. I dunno what the term is for 20 something females. I mean woman I guess is the respectful term. Erika is more of a guy though in a lot of ways. She is the most un-girly girl and the fact that she actually has a human personality makes the comic so much better to read. She deals with relationships, sexuality and everything else in a life in a refreshing way that makes it an enjoyable read.
The comic also benefits from being written at times in hindsight. This helps from not making the comic a daily struggle for ideas as other journal comics can seem such as Allan has from time to time.
The art is expressive and simple. The writing is real, as one might hope from an autobio comic and all in all it is a very good read.
Totes thumbs up for DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary. Read it, Enjoy it! A+

Side note: for whatever reason the way she draws her hair early on makes me think of Tintin, except a chick. :/ :\ So it goes.

Hahahaha. whhhhhat

2010-07-05T19:45:00.001-04:00

I just was IMing about needing to write again. Then I was all "Origins was two weeks ago." This blog is three years old. My commenters are all Chinese spambots.

Back in a few hours with reviews.

Socialfist in the Making: A Brief Break

2010-05-31T23:15:00.004-04:00

As Remus is caught up with "shitloads" of work, my quote, not his and as we are yet to be in a hurry the month of June will be used working on fixing a few pages of the comic, concepting out the next script and letting Remus work on the other two comics that pay much more. Expect updates here and possibly at the blog.

Socialfist in the Making: The Magic World of Shifting Gears

2010-05-24T23:00:00.000-04:00

Chapter one of Socialfist ends next week and the story will change over from the artsy-cinematic first chapter to something somewhat different. More characters, actual talking, character interactions, bears, lasers, etc. The basic second chapter package.
I am honestly astounded I got this far though considering that every other version of Socialfist (or the predecessor) had ended by this point. Magical! I had my doubts about making it through this but everything is there this time. By everything though I mean money and an update schedule.
Hopefully the five readers I have will stay because it gets more interesting from this point on as well. I have a basic storyline from beginning to end (of the series) edged out and I like the way it works. Chapter three will get a redraft soon so I get to look forward to that, I have a bonus comic to pen and everything is coming up roses. Obv.
Of course it all depends on keeping my job, getting a better job, making a fanbase and then possibly making money (hahahaha awwwww). Plans are in the works for everything so I look forward to the future I will soon be living in. I am glad to have you all along for the ride.

Socialfist In The Making: Marker Hands

2010-05-19T00:17:00.002-04:00

Hey look, old school Zendorsky pic!
I somewhat miss the old comic just because I was more able to do that, just have random scenes of chaos. Not that every chapter of Socialfist will be moody and deal with promotions and evolutions. It will have black humor, rape and I'll probably kill Sue Dibny (that is a thing right?). Also the Comedian will be your dad (is this also a thing?). I am a classy write.
Why pick markers for hands though? From what I remember I have no idea. That was 4 years ago back when I was high on life. It was a better time. I plagued the internet by being a no talent hack. People barely put up with me and I played Magic the Gathering. Magical times.
I do remember one thing though. Parody superheroes, like the entire team was going to be set up like knock off Xmen and Justice League types. It will be less prevalent/noticeable at least on the Russian side since a majority of members were cut including Pankrashka, the dyslexic anorexic person with "acid barf from the buttocks." Let us toast the shitty hero that will never be. Also let us toast Robo Stalin who is also cut.
Zendorsky in the orignal notes (that I brought over form my now stolen craptop) was noted as a guy who "places censorship bars." I think he was going to just carry them around on his back or something. That originated his horrible pun nickname Sin-sword (censored). Oh yeah, I am amazing, I get all of the points for that name and then I redeem them so that Pankrashka doesn't seem like a horrible idea (I will need a Pulitzer to break even, Pankrashka is and always was a shitty idea.)
When it came to the actually drawn design for the actual comic, Zendorsky obtained the marker hands. I think I thought it was just a weird thing that might work. I didn't know of any other heroes at the time who had them. It was also at this time that he gained the ability to travel through the censorship marks like other characters I learned about since then. Still, I think it is a cool superpower actually. Zendorsky also had a labcoat and that was all I concepted, the fro and goatee were both created by the artist for unknown reasons.
Somewhere during the redesign I ended up confusing Zendorsky with another character, Agar or Cmd-Z man (which is the Mac undo key command) who I described as looking like Manic 8-Ball except white. That idea seemed to me to work better and I incorporated that as well as a note on an original rejected design for Rorshach - picture the mask pattern thingy all over him. Pretty much that was just ripped off because I am horrible at ideas. And life. And thinking.

Still the question on your mind might be why markers after all of the rewriting? Haven't you spent too much for a stupid idea like marker hands? My reason is simple - poetic irony-ish. He doesn't really want to be noticed and he'd rather be at home at the time. He tries to remove himself from the world by hiding when he is a away from home. He tries to hide from the government and crosses out his id badge, more or less erasing himself symbolically after he gets promoted. And then shit happens and you have marker hands man, the human doodlebear. He is unhuman, he can't really hide and literally his power is leaving marks and proof of his existence. So it goes.

Authors are dicks. Woob woob woob.

Leave your questions in English (because I keep getting chinese spam comments) and I'll be glad to answer back.

Webcomics in Print - Issue 1: Issue Harder

2010-05-17T19:25:00.003-04:00

Greetings Internet and welcome back. I am now freed from the burden of online class, while my on ground classes continue, but the lack of a highly quickened pair of work intensive classes is appreciated, especially as I continue my job working in the grease soaked empire of the world.
Yet, money brings the ability to make purchases and so I raise up a collection of 4 printed books currently in my possession.
Also for sake of being awesome, I have included links to where you may purchase the books.

Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories by Nick Gruewitch
This book I literally stumbled upon about 4 years or so ago in the local comic shop and subsequently purchased. The print is high quality and the colors are bright. It even has a ribbon for saving your place which, while not necessary is still appreciated. I enjoyed using it to share favorite comics at a moments notice.
The bone I might have to pick with the book though is that there is not much extra included. There are 9 "bonus" comics, three or so of which were on the site and those are the only ones that are actually commented on. The main bonus seems having all of the comics printed out but even then, some strips are missing and it leaves an odd feeling of detachment. Then again, Gruewitch mostly stopped updating soon after and then released another larger collect including a lot more so, make of that what you will. B
Fun fact: This book is currently out of print so yeah, collectors item! Also Andrew Hussie is mentioned in the comments.

Shortpacked! & Roomies!: Brings Back The Eighties, Pulls the Drama Tag & How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Beer
To start off, I purchased Roomies! first through preorder and ended up waiting about 4 months to get the book. It is marked book 3/200 so suck it David Willis collectors because I am slightly more awesome than you. I also preordered the upcoming Shortpacked book (Shortpacked Is Totally Gay!) as well. I think I am month 3 or so of waiting for that.
Roomies! (How I Learned to . . .) itself is the collection of David Willis first year of his first comic published in the college paper. As such the art quality is a bit lacking as it is all black and white. The book does include additional bonus comics made for the series and also strips for a syndicated paper version which are better done. Willis also includes comments on a majority of strips that are occasionally funnier that the strips themselves along with commentary.
The downsides of the book lie in the fact that the art is dated with some comics looking chicken-scratch-esqe. While there is a benefit to the original art, he improved afterwards so reworking might have been nice as Jeph Jacques and Dave Shabet are doing reworks for their webcomic collections (though Jacques is waiting to finish the book before preorders). The other complaint is that the pages are glossy. With black and white print it feels weird since under strange lighting conditions it can make reading annoying. This may sound weird but I'd prefer cheaper normal stock paper, it worked for my Calvin and Hobbes collections.
Shortpacked! which started off black and white and then transferred into color meanwhile was dealt with a bit more tactfully with pages having been recolored. Willis still inserts commentary, bonus character intros and bonus comics though so you can feel like you are getting your money's worth.
The Shortpacked books also have shiny stock paper but the color makes it more reasonable, which sounds weird.
My question is though, why might I want to spend the money on the books. With PBF, the art is beautifully rendered and so you can't really survive without the art. Willis' work is well done but having a collection of it seems more like financial support, which is fine). Just an idle thought. B+
Fun fact: The first book is being released with a new better cover. Get on that. Just like how I got on your mom.

Gastrophobia: The 12 Trials of Gasrophobia by David McGuire
I enjoy Gastrophobia for some unexplainable reason, see my review of it. The book I love slightly less. McGuire took a risk to do 2 color printing (black and orange) and some chapters it works exceedingly well since the other comic was similarly done. On the chapter For Heifer in my Heart though, which is rendered in single color sepia style tones originally, the comic is almost unreadable in the book making the chapter a struggle to look at. Not to offend but it seems like there might have been a lack of planning somewhat. Additionally the book offers little extra for the reader, aside from an index (actual toted feature) and a new comic on the back panel. For the price ($12) it isn't bad but considering the other books inclusions it seems lazy. C
Fun fact: David McGuire is some kind of cyborg, most likely. Just saying.

MS Paint Adventures: Problem Sleuth Book One: Compensation, Adequate by Andrew Hussie
I have mad love for Problem Sleuth and MSPA in general. The book only amplifies the love by making it something I actually would love to bring along with me.
For those unfamiliar, Problem Sleuth (and MSPA) is a comic set up like the old text based adventure games. I have met at least 4 people though who could not figure out how to read it. The book is for them. I have several images I love from the comic that I'd love to have on hand (since my laptop is not really portable anymore). The book is for me.
Hussie crammed the book with commentary, a fancy introduction (with one misspelling), additional art and amazingly made a comic that features a lot of animated pages INTERESTING. I cannot see him doing this easily with Homestuck but then, I never though a MSPA book would work. The pages are easy to read and the product is classy. The pages are even glossy without being overly glossy like Roomies! (as the book is mostly black and white).
My complaint with the book though is that it slightly spoils or hints at things which may harm people unfamiliar with the series but I cannot say that most people unfamiliar would give it a shot unlike the Perry Bible Fellowship book which is a shame. A+
Fun fact: I got this in my package. This book has too many prices and values!

BONUS FEATURES:
On a note about preordering while still in production - have an estimate of when you are going to finish the comic or have it ready. I ordered the Dead Winter book without knowing a lot of the art is being redone and mistakingly ordered a copy as a birthday gift. That was about 3 months ago though it is partially my fault. I still look forward to the book.

Also if you strangely feel obligated to have a print copy of your book you would like me to review that you are willing to send for free, I would not be opposed to it.

If you are going to make a book though, put in comments, put in bonus features, put in additional art. They can always read your comic for free online so why publish it without doing that? Giving you money is/should not an adequate reason.

I have also looked through Gunnerkrigg Court Vol 1 and Hark! A Vagrant and used both as gifts. I don't have them on hand but if I recalled, GC lacked bonus features and Hark! had commentary.

Oh yeah, blogging

2010-05-04T02:08:00.000-04:00

I apologize for my lack of blogging. I have been taking two online courses and one drained a lot of my desire to write. Luckily it ends after next week so then I will be back.

Till then, Socialfist.

Video Games, Ebert and Art

2010-04-17T21:13:00.002-04:00

I hold a great deal of respect for Roger Ebert. I remember watching At The Movies with my dad late at night, either Saturday or Sunday, my recollection is hazy Later when I began to write reviews I looked at how he reviewed, specifically in At The Movies. Even more recently he has become one of my three main sources for reading movie review, the others being The A.V. Club and Rotten Tomatoes.
He has taken flack for his opinion that video games are not art and I respect the man's opinions in general. Of course this is the Internet and apparently "everyone" wants to defend video games as being art. Frankly, without being a gamer at all, he is simply speculating that a game cannot be art. In a 2007 article where he commented on Clive Barker's opinion on the matter and he stated video games will never be art because:

They tend to involve (1) point and shoot in many variations and plotlines, (2) treasure or scavenger hunts, as in "Myst," and (3) player control of the outcome. I don't think these attributes have much to do with art; they have more in common with sports.

Now I rebut this by saying, "Hey, look at the movie industry! "
1. If you replace "point and shoot" with "romance between two people" for example this creates a giant variation in genres from "From Here to Eternity" to "Grease" to "500 Days of Summer" to I" Love You Man" and so on a so forth.
2. The treasure hunt genre is a classic film trope. if you look at Indiana Jones, National Treasure, etc there are many treasure hunt movies, Ebert seems to be complaining because you have to do the looking.
3. Player control of the outcome is less widely used in the film industry but it is also rarely used, well at least, in the video game industry. While most games end when you beat them or die, you really will continue on till you end. Even then endings rarely vary considering the massive number of games and when they do vary, the endings are barely different between extreme evil and extreme good. The ones that go beyond are classic games. I will submit though that few films did well with multiple endings as well. I can think of Clue though I am certain that Mr. Ebert could name several more.

The points simply mean that three genres of gaming keep all games from being considered art. Therefore I might raise that horrible parody films ala Date Movie, bad acting and linear storytelling in movies keep films from being art. The points make no sense and logically I would consider his arguments moot, though I am not the greatest logician so there might be a fallacy in my statement.

Of course, those points only defend why games cannot be high art. High art is a pretty loaded term. Is it something that cannot be swallowed by the masses and enjoyed by them, only to be reserved for people in berets with cigarettes? If that is the case, I honestly don't care for most high art films. The ideas that come to mind are those much maligned and stereotyped faux-Ingmar Bergman films shot in black and white while pointless symbols float around the screen. Perhaps equating video games to high art is making the wrong case, somewhat. The games that would be made to be considered high art are most likely unpopular so perhaps equating video games to films Ebert likes would make a better argument.

(On a side note, of the three games mentioned in the Ebert's recent post as being art games, I was only familiar with Braid which in some ways over-touted itself as being better than all other video games.)

These are films that moved me deeply in one way or another. The cinema is the greatest art form ever conceived for generating emotions in its audience. That's what it does best. (If you argue instead for dance or music, drama or painting, I will reply that the cinema incorporates all of these arts).

Roger Ebert - Ten Greatest Films of All Time

I rebut video games incorporate all of the arts along with video into itself. Consider the cutscenes of video games - an amazing one is resonant within you. Some games have even turned into hour long cutscenes interspersed with brief moments of games, though I personally am against this movement.
Nonetheless, I see that the best games have a wonderful directorial sense to them. The video game critic Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw has mentioned frequently his love for the opening of the game Bioshock where you are immersed in the world through exploration, though it can be considered linear. I'd put this game as being art. Technically its offspring, a film adaptation, will be art, if all films are considered art, which they are not.

Ebert defines his favorite films of the decade as those which made a "direct emotional impact." I have cried during video games. I have felt betrayed. A creative and immersive story draws you in even more than a film as you take the role of the character, or you should. There are a lot of bad games out there, but there are also a lot of, if not more, bad movies. In those truly immersive games, every time you play through the game, you come back and are awarded again and again, even if you know the ending. Good films are the same way. Good paintings are the same way. Good songs are the same way. All art is the same way.

Art and its definition are generally very sticky subjects. I am an art student. I can barely paint, my drawing skills need work. I study web design and interactive media. I am a web design artist and I don't consider any website "high art" because most sites lack depth and emotional resonance. Depth and emotional resonance are not part of the medium though since they commonly clash with the utility. The content on them might be art. The content might be that point of which all art is reaching where all mediums meet together.

Really though in the end, this is mostly to you readers who are pestering Roger Ebert, if Roger Ebert doesn't want to consider video games art, who needs to care? He reviews films and he is generally very wise on that subject, as he should be. If you are a gamer and you care what his opinion is, unfounded as it may be as he lacks personal experience with video games, move on. There are people who consider video games art and those who do not. It is just the way the world is. Stop worrying about Mr. Ebert and have fun playing some games. Perhaps if you stop being so insistent, he might even be willing to join.

MSPA: Their Problem is Choice

2010-04-12T22:12:00.003-04:00

(originally written for the currently in construction MSPA newspaper thingy)

One of the issues that detractors have with MS Paint Adventures is that while readers do submit choices, the author has the final say and as we are (possibly) aware, some ideas have been planned in advance. So does this mean that the readers actually contribute anything? On the surface, the answer for those unfamiliar with the series is a hearty "No!" and yet as a reader and a fan I've given it some thought and I disagree. Instead of being two separate entities, the reader and Andrew are one in the same, part of a zeitgeist.
In this community where we submit actions and commands and art we have a role building the stories. Yes, Andrew could theoretically pick random choices or even the first choice but that is not telling a story or it doesn't work well in the end. In fact, it would be like playing Scrabble blindfolded if anything. Random letters might make up a word but the value and quality of the choice are suspect. As such, if Andrew had just picked random choices , Zoosmell Pooplord would be in his room sending money to a Nigerian prince while his house burns down around him. Or at least it would according to the alternate reality viewer but that is a story for another article.
By planning ahead and framing out story aspects you allow a natural growth to occur. I myself figured this out while working on my own writing project. By building the universe some things solve themselves in a natural way because you are familiar with the characters. And then it become less about Andrew picking what he wants and it becomes him picking what the character might actually do. We help to define the characters though through submissions, posting and so on.
People for the most part will submit ideas to move the story along and to make it progress. I doubt there are really any people who forcibly wish for the comic to die. Actually, I will retract that, but I think there are not enough to alter the zeitgeist who are on the forum. Even if it were so, the community would take action as part of due process because we hold our own stakes in this comic.
MSPA has transcended beyond being a comic. It is also a movie, a game, a musical, an inspiration and a community. It has gathered one of the most friendly online communities that I have seen and I do a decent amount of internet surfing (under assumed identities). People here want to work together. They openly support each other in their endeavors. Writing the comic with Andrew is just another project for us as a group and while we may not always seem to be in full control, it works just as well that way because direct control for any party might take away that magic.
Long live MS Paint Adventures and Andrew Hussie.

Gastrophobia Review

2010-04-12T21:48:00.001-04:00

I like GastroPhobia. Read it. You will enjoy it. Enough said. A

That is my poorly written review for Gastrophobia because when it comes to reviewing a comic every once in a while, I get stupid fingers and cannot express what I would like to say. I mean Gastrophobia has its faults. The humor can be hit or miss and it is classic humor which sometimes falls flat in a lot of ways but the art in good, the three color art is inspired and the dialogue is snappy. Wrapping all that up in a Grecco-Roman crust and you have a very enjoyable comic.

Hur. I just got around my writers block. Not going to press my luck though, I've been stuck writing the words on this for a while.I figured you should just read it.

Still, if you need further reason to read it, the creator, David McGuire, also did a guest comic in Scott Pilgrim Vol 3. Look at that if you want to first, and then read Gastrophobia.

My Axe to Grind with Axe Cop

2010-04-12T21:36:00.000-04:00

First off, I enjoy Axe Cop. Honestly I do. The first few pages were awesome and I was part of that group that crashed the site. I still enjoy the comic but there is a serious problem with the ultimate power that is apparently going on in the comic. Yes, I am aware it is written by a kid but the adult in me is having problems with it which was bound to eventually happen and I am free to complain. I mean, there is little forethought put into the comic which is fine for a kid writing it. I made comics like he did. The problem though is the issues that will likely never be covered at all.
1. The Wishes
As we've seen in a bunch of Ask Axe Cops, he'd has plans to kill every bad guy in the universe and if he'd do that, then he'd be without a job. He has the tools to do this as well and a team of people available to do it, all without using any wishes. Wishes seem to just complicate things, and not in the generic badly phrased wish trope. "If wishes were horses, poor men would ride" is the old saying though this comes off to me more as if wishes were horses, there'd be a lot of shit going on, which there is. The unlimited powers make Axe Cop and everyone else have an extreme lack of forethought in a lot of ways and the main reason Axe Cop has for not removing all villains seems to be he is greedy. He wants to have something to do. If they wanted to, the Axe Cop Crew could all enemies from the universe and then wish for something else to do that they would enjoy. Problem solved simply. No more killing people which brings me to point two.
2. Lack of Law
Axe Cop is a gigantic antihero. He kills with no regard for the law. He kills other law enforcers. I remember my obsession with violence at that age, sort of. I never really killed people in games, video or real, though. Bad guys vanished or they fell off the screen in video games or they just came back in another episode in tv shows. It is a bit disturbing how Axe Cop and his party simply kill everyone they come across and see as being evil. Malachi even had them accidentially kill innocent people. Not to mention there is the fact that Axe Cop became a law enforcer simply by signing up to be one. Nobody keeps him in check. God is apparently fine with this as well even though the golden rule is "love thy neighbor as thyself." There is also that whole though shalt not kill commandment. I don't see Axe Cop following any law other than his own which is to kill the bad guys.
In the future I have no idea how the comic will grow. Personally I'd like to see it be remade in a decade or so after Malachi has grown up. I think a look back with maturity might make the comic really interesting with him viewing the black and white morality of childhood with more adult eyes. As it is now though, it is rather Frank Miller-esqe except it lacks whores.
I'm going to keep reading the comic for now and I highly suggest taking a look at it but these ideas were just on my mind partially from the other negative critique that was posted and partially because I need to update my own blog more. I still liked the early pages the most because it was fresher. The world was more natural in a lot of ways because we could see it a bit more as our own, there were no wishes and the weirdness wasn't as omnipresent. Now it just seems like attempts to pile ideas on ideas with no format and that feels sloppy like it should in a lot of ways because a kid is writing it. This though is an adult reviewing it and I have issues.

Koltreg vs the Double Down

2010-04-12T16:03:00.002-04:00

I am a fan of ostensible pop garbage and food counts as pop garbage for me. A great deal of discussion was made about the double down from KFC which is two chicken filets, deep fried or grilled, as the bread for a sandwich containing bacon, cheese (possibly faux-swiss) and sauce. I decided to set out to eat one.
Upon receiving the sandwich I noticed my filets had the appearance that they had been sitting in the heating ovens for about an hour or so past the limit. As an employee of an unnamed conglomerate dealing with fast food though, I am aware that the storage of food for prolonged periods of time can occur either due to an unwillingness to throw it away or simple laziness. Either way, the chicken was not as fresh as I might have preferred.
Taking a bit, everything sort of muddled together into a big nothingness. No flavors really spoke to me except for the occasional hit of the sauce that reminded me of the quesadilla sauce at Taco Bell. The chicken didn't add as much as it might of had it been fresh and overall the flavor was a big bunch of meh.
About an hour later after buying groceries and returning home I was hit with a sudden head cloud of confusion, a bit of dizziness and some additional nausea. Probably my heart reacting to the damage I just dealt it.
Would I eat one again?
Probably in a few weeks. Right now I need to find if I need to head off to plan my funeral at the Necropolis Litharge.
All in all, it could taste better, it could be better for you and so on and so forth but in the end I'd give it a C.
Still working on the Gastrophobia review.

PCHOOOOOOOOOO

2010-04-09T22:38:00.002-04:00

Still busy for right now, getting into the swing of things again and wasting time on a few random fun projects. Next planned review is Gastrophobia.

And it is up!

2010-04-01T14:51:00.001-04:00

Socialfist is up early, this is not an April Fools gag either.

Check It Out

Oh yeahhh

2010-03-27T23:12:00.003-04:00

I apologize, finals and such captured me and then work has and now I am working on the Socialfist website to get that up for Friday and then there is Easter and hargle blargle business. After Easter I will resume the regularly scheduled program, if not earlier.

Akira the Don: A Grain of Sand In The Ocean

2010-03-17T10:37:00.002-04:00

What follows is my final paper for English relating to online advertising for music and Akira the Don. I got a rather awesome response from my teacher and as I posted my other marketing papers, I feel obligated to post this along with annotations. Video will be up later this week. Also you can replace most strategies for music with webcomic terms and come off with the same idea.

If you post a song online, it is like dropping a pebble into the ocean. It makes a tiny plink for a second and unless you look for it hard, you will most likely never see that pebble again. Look at Myspace which at the start of 2008 had over 8 million musical acts (Owyang, 2008). This means that in 2008, there were more bands on Myspace than there are people in all of Israel (The Central Intelligence Agency). Consider the fact that most of those bands might - on average - contain 3 or more people. This means 24 million people are involved in bands -- which is only slightly less than the entire population of North Korea according to The CIA World Factbook. Forget just dropping a pebble into the ocean. That is like looking for a grain of sand in the ocean. If you want to make it as an online musician without a record deal, you are going to need to be out there, branding yourself, making music and being fully dedicated to what you are doing.

Akira the Don is one of many artists who is working on finding a way to make a name for himself online and who has been decently successful as of yet. He had started posting mixtapes and songs on his website in 2004 and caught the attention of Interscope (Narkiewicz, New Subject!).

For those who are unfamiliar with the music industry, Interscope is the corporation are the people behind the start of Snoop Dog, Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Elton John and countless other bands (Wikipedia). This would be a big break for anyone. Akira planned on being the next big hip hop artist and the label had the same belief that he would reach his dream.

Akira had previously come out with a song called “Oh What A Glorious Thing” which sort-of sampled a bit of the guitar intro from the song "These Days" by Nico (Narkiewicz, Path of the Nerd). Akira then turned the sample into semi-poppy ballad about loving life and all of the things that happen in it, both the good and the bad. The label loved the song and gave him the record deal and Akira set to work on putting together a complete album.

Instead of getting crafting a lot of semi-rap songs about loving life and true love and sentimentality, Akira also got political on the album. He discussed AIDS, the World Bank and the media conspiracies, along with his time living with junkies and seeing the world for being the bad place it can be (Narkiewicz, When We Were Young). Unsurprisingly the label was not happy about this turn of events. They wanted happy songs, a full CD of music that would help people ignore the problems in the world. An album where you discuss losing your religion, in the theological way, not rather than the R.E.M. way, might be a hard sell and so the label decided not to release the album. Luckily the song that got the deal for Akira in the first place ended up saving his skin.

Ivan Reitmann, the director of classic films such as the Ghostbusters, had heard the song, “Oh What A Glorious Thing” and loved it (Narkiewicz, New Subject). At the time he was directing My Super Ex-Girlfriend and wanted to license the song for use in the movie. The resulting payment allowed Akira to buy back his entire album from Interscope and then release it on the indie label Something In Construction. Of course this all happened in about a year and Akira soon found himself without the financial security he had been expecting from the deal with Interscope. He was back where he started but he had more fans. Those fans became his saving grace for the rebirth of his career. After losing the record deal and subsequently returning home to London, Akira simply returned to what he loved doing - making music. While he is not yet solely living on his music alone, he is still making music and putting it out there for people to hear which brings us to the first point.

How to brand yourself: or, how to sell out while maintaining your ideals just enough to survive. It can be a hard thing concept to grasp. Few artists who actually love making music would want to be considered sell- outs (Narkiewicz, Path of the Nerd). Still, if you expect to make it online you need to do a few things: make yourself open, produce content, have a schedule and don't be afraid to ask for help. These are things that people who have made it online in the past have done regardless of the creative endeavor: whether it has been for music or comics or blogging.

By making yourself open, you lay the groundwork for keeping your fans around for a long time. Picture if you will for a second being a kid again and having an idol. It could be a cartoon character, a relative or what have you. If you got some form of feedback or encouragement from that idol then you would be set and you would be more likely to keep enjoying your idol’s work. On the other hand if they were mean towards you or unresponsive to your fan letters, you'd more often than not be more likely to thrown them to the wayside. The same idea exists today but it is a lot easier to return contacts.

Pretend you are the idol in question - an artist or actor or singer - for a second and you got a letter from a fan. You read it, you appreciate it but hey, you’re are busy. They wrote out a four page painstaking letter to you and you want to give them something back for their effort. You are in a quandry though, you got the letter weeks ago and you finally read it. You could send them a filler letter with a premade note and they'd be fine but this was a well thought out fan letter. This was not just a sentence or two telling you how wonderful you are. You can write your own letter back but when will you do it? Can you match the level of quality in their letter? One thing leads to another and your fan never hears back. One letter turns to two and then ten and then fifty and a hundred. There was a reason a lot of musicians kept their addresses private (Narkiewicz, Ustream). Now a hundred and fifty unanswered fan letters, in this day and age, could be a hundred and fifty lost fans.

Luckily we live in the age where waiting times are shorter and communication is a lot less formal (for better or worse). If your fan emails you, you can pop back an email and informality is to be expected. If a fan sends you a Tweet on Twitter, you only need 140 characters to return the favor. Even if you just add them as a friend on Facebook gives them the illusion of actually knowing you. Personalizing your response can lead to even more success in building your fan base, as word of mouth spreads about how well you treat your fans.

Akira the Don is aware of making himself socially available and has been doing it for the past 6 years. He worked on associating with his audience through his blog, responding to fanmail and generally being an open person. He has a large base of dedicated fans making him fanart, leaving him remixes of his stuff and reciprocating the love. He even gained enough fan remixes to make a fan remix mixtape in December of 2008 (Narkiewicz, Mixtapes). That is a true sign of dedication from the fans but things are still changing for Akira and he is working on new ways to market himself. He declared that 2010 would be an amazing year for being open and out there for the crowd (Narkiewicz, Outage). The first step in this new accessibility would be Ustreaming weekly.

Ustream for the people who are unfamiliar with it is an online website that allows people to broadcast themselves. These people who broadcasting people break down to three main groups: the Corporates, the Artists and the Attention Whores. The Corporates are the people who solely do the Ustreams to reach out and try to get ads advertising, whether it is a local news station rebroadcasting their reports or Capcom, the game company, posting their idea sessions (Ustream). The Artists are the people who draw or make music during the show and respond to their fans. Akira falls into this category of Artists. The Attention Whores are the people who try to market themselves without having any actual talent. The Ustream setup allows a direct feed to the broadcaster or their computer screen accompanied by a chat window where people can chat all that they want.

For his Ustream, Akira has decided to play the part of the a radio DJ playing music from his wide knowledge music base and talking to the fans. The format works because the people in the chat window can make requests, talk to each other and they can talk to Akira. Following the radio DJ theme, he also allows people to dedicate songs and he reads out the dedications. The shows are then recorded and uploaded to his website, www.akirathedon.com, so that the people who missed the show are able to listen in later. Of course, making music in general is an important part of being an online musician.

Every musician got to where they are by making music. To become successful, it is required that they continue to produce material or at the very least continue to perform. Quality rarely even factors into the affair as seen in some mainstream artists who are panned by critics and yet continue to make millions. In fact, nerdy folk musician Jonathan Coulton got a majority of his publicity from a project called Thing-A-Week where he created a song every week. The value of this was, to quote Mr. Coulton:

(a) to push the artist's creative envelope by adopting what Coulton describes as a "forced-march approach to writing and recording";

(b) to prove to himself that he was capable of producing creative output to a deadline; and

(c) to test the viability of the internet and Creative Commons as a platform capable of supporting a professional artist financially. (Box indent this quote, and don’t forget to attribute properly either with quote on at end of paper)

In the end the project garnered a lot of publicity for him and allowed him to become a full time musician. (JoCopedia)

When Akira became aware of the strategy for production working well for Mr. Coulton, he decided to one-up him. From the start Akira has frequently been posting new music in formats ranging from singles to albums to mixtapes and has even offered his services as a producer or guest artist. He had created 19 mixtapes in the 6 years prior to 2010 (Narkiewicz, Mixtapes). To continue this tradition, Akira decided to release a mixtape or album every month for all of 2010 (Narkiewicz, Outage).

For Akira the term mixtape is a mixed bag. He might put in two songs that he has created along with a collection of other songs on theme like Shoes (ATD18), a recently deceased artist (ATD 17 and 19) or he might produce an hour of all new music and remixes as with (ATD 15 and 16) (Narkiewicz, Mixtapes). In the past the mixtapes have been well reviewed for their variety of genres, flare and general quality because while anybody can put songs together on a disc but it takes a true talent and knowledge base to make ones mixes that transcend that their components and becoming become their own piece of art. This talent for compiling songs as well as making them is the reason why Akira is called The King of the Mixtapes (Narkiewicz, Ustream).

Of course the mixtape release schedule being solidified will be part of the reason for success itself because it deals with having a schedule. On the Internet, you need a reason for people to come back and helping to know when to return is even more important. The fans to be expecting something upon their returns and the time they need to return for more content needs to be brief.

The same idea applies to most Internet content. If you run a blog where you review movies and only update it once every two months on one movie that you rented, you have a problem. If you have a webcomic that one updates once a month and you only spend 5 minutes making the comic, you have a problem. The problem that you will have is audience retention. As a musician fighting the 8 million other bands out there with an Internet presence, retention is important.

Akira updates his website on an almost daily basis with fresh links and blog posts, not to mention the weekly comic he is now doing. This is in addition to the Ustream recordings and the music that he already is putting out monthly. The point is he is making a lot of content on a schedule to inspire people to visit daily if not more frequently. If anything, it might be too much content but it is out there at least. Of course he has friends to help with this and that leads to the last point.

The artist needs help. Jonathan Coulton did gain publicity through the Thing-A-Week project but he needed links. The big link for him was the webcomic Penny Arcade (Holkins, Prinny Please). On that note, the nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot was also linked by Penny Arcade and then gained more popularity (Holkins, PSO Revisited). MC Frontalot then assisted several smaller webcomics to gain popularity.

In music, collaboration is a major theme. Akira not only writes his own music but he also produces for other artists while guesting on other musician's albums and he invites others to join his musical projects (Narkiewicz, Path of the Nerd). This is in contrast to the majority of mainstream rap which often prefer to "beef" or slander other musicians solely for the sake of selling more albums or if they do collaborate,it most often is only with a few selected members of their labels stable of talent. Akira is expanding what he does and is inviting new people to help. For example, on his 21st mixtape, he invited a fan to play the guitar for a song (Narkiewicz, ATD21 – Love Life).

As of this writing, the 2010 changes are currently in the third month with two mixtapes released, 6 six Ustreams - (2 two of which are saved and recorded) and there are about a dozen comic strips (Narkiewicz, New Subject). The feedback has been positive from the fans (Narkiewicz, New Subject). According to Akira there has been a major boost in the amount of site traffic. Still it is rather difficult to tell when or if it the changes will finally allow Akira to financially succeed but the keys are there. Akira is open with the fans. He is incredibly busy producing tons of content. He is sticking to an update schedule and he is working with people and getting their help. He is doing everything he can do to market himself and build a fan base and only time will tell if he will be as successful as he hopes to be.

Works Cited

Holkins, Jerry. "Penny Arcade - Prinny Please." Penny Arcade. 3 Sept. 2006. Web. 05 Mar. 2010. .

Holkins, Jerry. "Penny Arcade - PSO Revisited." Penny Arcade. 18 Mar. 2002. Web. 09 Mar. 2010. .

"List of Former Interscope Records Artists." Wikipedia. The Wikipedia Project, 1 Mar. 2010. Web. 2 Mar. 2010 .

Narkiewicz, Adam. "Akira The Don's All New Weekly Doncast! on USTREAM: Akira The Don's ALl New Weekly Doncast! A Live Broadcast of the Recording, with Music, Chat, and Occasi..." USTREAM,. 4 Mar. 2010. Web. 4 Mar. 2010. donstream>.

Narkiewicz, Adam. "Mixtapes." Akira The Don. 28 Feb. 2010. Web. 05 Mar. 2010. .

Narkiewicz, Adam. "NEW MIXTAPE: ATD21 - Love Life |." Akira The Don. 14 Feb. 2010. Web. 14 Feb. 2010. .

Narkiewicz, Adam. "Path of the Nerd." E-mail interview. 23 Dec. 2009.

Narkiewicz, Adam, perf. "Outage." Rec. Jan. 2010. ATD20. Akira the Don. Akira the Don, 2010. MP3.

Narkiewicz, Adam, perf. When We Were Young. Akira the Don. Rec. Nov. 2006. Something In Construction, 2006. CD.

Narkiewicz, Adam. "New Subject!" E-mail interview. 8 Feb. 2010.

Owyang, Jeremiah. "Social Network Stats: Facebook, MySpace, Reunion (Jan, 2008)." Web Log post. Web Strategy. Studio Nashvegas, 9 Jan. 2008. Web. 7 Jan. 2010. network-stats-facebook-myspace-reunion-jan-2008/>.

"Thing a Week - JoCopedia, the Jonathan Coulton Wiki." Jonathan Coulton. 12 May 2008. Web. 09 Mar. 2010. .

United States. The Central Intelligence Agency. Office of Public Affairs. CIA - The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency, July 2009. Web. 3 Mar. 2010. actbook/rankorder/2119rank.html>.

USTREAM, You're On. Free LIVE VIDEO Streaming, Online Broadcasts. Create Webcasts, Video Chat, Stream Videos on the Internet. Live Streaming Videos, TV Shows. Web. 06 Mar. 2010. .

Epic Fail Critique

2010-03-15T00:37:00.003-04:00

Most people that talk to me know a few fun facts about me:

1: I am easily made nervous.

2: I used to make my own comics and they were crap. Now I am working on my own comic.

3: I have a hard time explaining what art I can critique due to multiple standards. xkcd and Allan are "well drawn" while others that color, do more realistic art and more are "poorly drawn".

4: I hate putting up negative reviews since I'd rather help someone find a good comic than have another bad comic to avoid.

5: I am willing to suggest how to improve webcomics.

As this is the case I was met with a request for a review on the Youtube where, as you may recall, I posted my review of Scary Go Round. In the note was asked to review the webcomic Epic Fail and I blindly responded that I would happily review the webcomic without looking at the comic at all. I figured that if somebody would want to face my mighty judging gauntlet, ho! then they must believe in their comic. The comic must be very good..... There is a reason I am doing poorly in logic.

Epic Fail is a painful comic to read for several reasons.

1. The art is atrocious.

2. The story is confusing.

3. It is poorly interspersed with "bonus" comics.

4. It is called Epic Fail.

5. They are already planning to sell a book.

These notes were written after reading the first ten comics of the series were read and finishing the other pages, which was a long and arduous task. I ended up contacting the author who seemed to want the review for the print up of the book warning of the negative review and was met with the go ahead.

This is going to be less of a review then and more of a comic critique wherein:

A review tells you if you might like a comic while a critique tells the people making the comic what they need to do to improve.

On the topic of the art, I hate criticizing art in general like I said. This is because a good deal of webcomics improve their art after continuing for a long period of time. Questionable Content for example had some atrocious art to start with but due to large amounts of practice and dedication, it has improved to a standard level that is well respected. This improvement took time though. About 7 years in Jeph Jacques is just now preparing to release the comic in printed form and guess what! He is redoing the art to show how much he improved. Ditto on Reiley from Dead Winter for redoing the early pages for the print of his webcomic (though he waited a much shorter period of time). My point is that the art is bad and will unlikely improve tomorrow morning. This is not saying, "Hey stop drawing comics," but simply "Hey, you have a large amount of work to do, try to improve a lot." It can be done quickly. For example, if you look at Fanboys where Scott DeWitt changed quickly from a low class artist to one able to render several comic styles. This was done by listening to critics. On this note, don't sell your comic right now in print form. It is not only a big dedication financially but you also are making a statement that can be read many ways. In this case it is seeming to say "Hey fans, give me money now while the comic is new and while I am learning how to make the comic and hopefully it will be around for a few years." This is overconfidence and greed permeating in the simple sale of a book. I honestly suggest not selling anything for the first year more than a button or something small unless you are working with high caliber artists and by this I mean people doing professional quality stuff and even then, only in moderation.

As for the story being confusing, the problem is mainly stemming from the setup of the story. I personally love starting a comic with a cold open and not introducing every character formulaically. It is rarely done well and even rarer to be done originally. The problem with the cold open in this comic is that there is not much of a focus. The comic comes off as like it believes that the readers can all easily grasp this information from reading only the comics themselves which is not the case at least for me. There is definitely a large amount of content in the comic along with inspiration from D&D. This is a fine thing for an early writer to use as inspiration. I used to write horrible stories about my characters from the D&D campaigns and even did a similar comic. With Epic Fail though, the characters are all smashed together and not given time to grow. What might have worked better for a start, would be the characters doing the mission that got them to where the comic starts with the awards and ceremony. The characters are also pretty much cookie cutter characters that have been done before while adding nothing new and the annoying thief is a blatant stand in Mary Sue type for the author. The characters need to be more real, more thought out. The story needs to be clean.

The bonus comics also come across poorly because you can not easily tell that they are not in the main continuity. It is fine to do holiday comics but you may want to move them off the main archive. I say this because there is very little difference between normal and bonus pages. To reference a good way to do the bonus comics, look at these Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name comics (story nonstory story ). There is no confusing what is going on in the main continuity or that they might carry over. They also don't distract from the main storyline and actually add a slight bit of a preview for future comics.

The title Epic Fail is a gamer reference to rolling two 1's on a d20 in row or something similar depending on the game and rules. This basically means whatever will happen will be really bad. So the comic is going to be really bad then? Why the hell do I want to read it? It is not a self mocking comic. From what I can tell it has nothing to do with actual gaming besides the loosely based D&D setting. Change it to something that inspires confidence, not a two word summary of the comic as it currently stands.

Lastly I mentioned it a bit already but don't sell the comic now. Work on it. Improve it. Find people who hate it more than I do and learn from them and the comments they have. Work on art more and more. Try to follow other peoples styles to understand how to make things. Hunter S. Thompson copied The Great Gatsby and A Farewell to Arms to learn how the authors wrote. Look at body structures and more. Just don't ask for money yet, it is a big statement and commitment.

I don't want to say anything more on the comic right now. There is a lot of work to do and it has nothing to do with merchandise.

See you Wednesday, hopefully with a video or more on Socialfist (coming April 1st!)

Because I Am Unoriginal

2010-03-10T16:02:00.002-05:00

I have a forumspring. Want to ask me stuff anonymously - but more than usual? Feel free!

Socialfist In The Making: Spacestations

2010-03-09T23:43:00.003-05:00

A long time discussion associate with me who I am known to talk to for topics to discuss here asked if there was a space station where the superheroes were ala the Justice League. This is in reference to the American Justice Squad who are in many ways a more complete Justice League parody than Socialfist (as the AJS have lots of members).

The short answer is no because a space station is stupid and pointless.

The long answer will involve this following scenario involving characters you have not met yet in the series and will not for several months.

The Scene: The Annual American Justice Squad Meeting, the room is filled with super heroes sitting around circular tables. In the front of the room is a long elevated platform with the leaders of the AJS, The Capitalist, Bearman, Libertyger, Democrosee and some more unnamed members.

The Capitalist: And now we open the floor to any and all questions from members. Yes, you in the back there with the giant moth wings.

Vermoth: Hi, Vermoth. Leader of the Burlington team. I was wondering, can we have a space station?

The Capitalist: Libertyger, would you like to field this question?

Libertyger walks to the podium.

Libertyger: Well, if you turn to page

Bearman rises from the seat and grabs the mic. He is drunk.

Libertyger: Ok. Go ahead.

Bearman: The reason we wont have a space ship is

Bearman passes out on the floor.

So there you have it, intoxication stopped there from being a space station.

As for my personal opinions on the topic, I have prepared the following list:

1. Expensive as hell - space station power, fuel, food, ships, pilots, general technology

2. Travel is hard - you have to go into space and you can't launch from everywhere not to mention weather conditions

3. No Benefits - "Hey guys, lets go to the space station to fight crime. In the space station that we control."

For people who need to respond quickly to emergencies, work on a budget and who do not typically fight aliens it is pointless.

(Yes this means there will be no AJS space station.)

Plastic Beach

2010-03-08T23:33:00.003-05:00

I love the new Gorillaz album and have been listening since it was posted on NPR. I just want to say that you should buy it. It has rapping Lou Reed on it. See you later this week.

Socialfist In The Making: The World Part 1

2010-03-05T00:49:00.002-05:00

Setting up a world is a bit difficult depending on what you want to incorporate into it. For example, if you want a setting based on reality, ie what we live in now but with magic you need to think a bit into the scenario. Where does the magic come from? Where would it change the way things happened? Were there wizards fighting in World War 2? Were there shadow panthers fighting Nazi panzer tanks? In the case of Socialfist there was not. I do want to see this in a video game though. (send money to use this idea please)

Socialfist as it now stands is in a world that is pretty similar to ours except that at some point in the last few decades, people started to get super powers more regularly, I mean Jesus was pretty much Dr. Manhattan with hair. Probably some apocryphal text where he is described as blue. If you want, blame the powers on mercury in the water or Freddie Mercury in the water. Either way is fine for me, here are powers - some magic and some not. The thing is those with powers, at least where we are concerned, are restricted to use them. Errrr, restricted is a wrong word. Naive when using them. These people with powers did their best to go on their own ways and to just stop crime, in the local sense. This means that the world influence is pretty small. Maybe less people died in building bombings. Maybe the bombings didn't happen at all.

The divergence point though that will be relevant is the fact that there are two groups that to my knowledge have no basis in reality but a major effect in the world: The American Justice Society and the group known as Socialfist.

The AJS is your generic analogue of the all American hero teams, Justice League, Avengers or DANGERDOOM. The AJS get their funding from the rich members of the AJS (the Batmangs and the Green Arrows and the Tony Starks. In the comic I call the amalgamation Green Bat and Man). Also the government helps and as such the AJS has a large number of bases around the country. Every other country is screwed for all that you know - I'll probably cover it in a side story. These AJS bases are around large cities and there are 300 of them or so (at time of last counting). That is something like 6 bases per state, more bases for the larger populated, less for the less populated states with varying numbers of members in each bases. For example, the guy stuck in Alaska, AnchorRage, has the entire state all to himself meanwhile Cold Hickory and William Henry Horrorson both run teams of a dozen heroes who are based around Hartford CT. While AnchorRage admittedly has a sucky job, he has about a dozen super interns so he mostly just sits back and collects the government checks while watching tv. You want the American dream (according to some political parties), you are looking at it!

Socialfist on the other hand is a anarchist group (in so far as they want to destroy the current government). The currently are a collective of about 70+ people with varying backgrounds who meet in a community center for planning in a small Russian town - read: suburb. A decent amount are former KGB analogues doing science and 'ssasinations. Despite the setback in so far as numbers, Socialfist has been able to run several successful projects in the past such as the creation of Yuri, the creation of several of Tesla's dream weapons (when do Russians not build lightning turrets?) and the formation of a hidden chamber in the basement of the aforementioned community center that spans about a square mile underground.

What is the point of Socialfist though? To win the hearts and minds of the people living in Russia and the world by... being good people? Its all PR bullcrap nowadays. They want to bring Communism back is the short answer. Heck, add in lasers and you have the Michael Bay political platform - "Win Love With Lasers and Shit!"

Meanwhile the AJS keeps fighting for justice even if nobody is sure what that means.

Interview With Dave Shabet

2010-02-28T16:38:00.006-05:00

This week Dave Shabet was kind enough to sit down with me to discuss his webcomic Dead Winter. He is releasing a collection that I'd highly recommend.

Koltreg: How would you describe your webcomic, Dead Winter?

Dave Shabet: You mean thematically? In short it's a character-driven adventure comic set to the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse. In even-shorter short it's a zombie comic for people who don't like zombie stuff.

Koltreg: By zombie stuff do you mean focusing on zombies and gore or something else?

Dave Shabet: I mean the general culture and media-presentation of zombie movies and comics as the same run-scream-die human buffet of the living dead that lots of people either don't care for or have grown tired of.

Koltreg: Is there any zombie media like that, that you enjoy?

Dave Shabet: I like Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead- up to a point- and I've enjoyed the handful of zombie films I've seen, but a lot of the one-shot print comics I've seen come out really haven't been very fulfilling, like they were just dogpiling on a zombie craze. No interesting or sympathetic characters, no real motivation to survive. They were really so bland I couldn't even tell you their names.

Koltreg: Ah yeah. I ended up getting the Walking Dead Compendium. It is a pretty great series, it has me excited for the tv show.

Dave Shabet: I have to get back on reading it. I've seen a little past the part I left off at and it seems to be picking back up

Koltreg: I will probably wait a few years for it to build up as well.

What was the first webcomic that you ever read?

Dave Shabet: The very absolute first webcomic page I ever read was a page of Real Life Comics where techno-prankster Tony changed all the laptop marquis screen savers at a local Fry's to say "All Your Base Are Belong To Us"

Koltreg: And I'd take it that you don't read it anymore?

Dave Shabet: Not for a while, no.

Koltreg: What was the first one that you found that you still enjoy?

Dave Shabet: That's hard to say. After I first found out about webcomics at all I just kinda jumped on reading a whole bunch- at a point I had like 50 bookmarks. Nowadays I try to keep up with the ones I link to- that little linkbox is like my bookmarks, in addition to friends' twitters- but now that I'm making one I don't have the time to keep up that I used to.

Koltreg: What got you to start making Dead Winter?

Dave Shabet: After college I did some freelance work here and there and I didn't really care for the jerky nature of starting out in that business so I decided to build an art business for myself. And I was tired of drawing one-off poses and pictures so I decided to try stringing together a narrative to keep me drawing different stuff. The comic originally started as a sort of artistic laboratory and quickly grew into itself from there

Koltreg: What did you study in college?

Dave Shabet: Illustration. It was a watermedia and oil-heavy curriculum. Lots of classical painting and portraiture.

Koltreg: Your art definitely does have a very digitally painted feel to it and I like that. It is a lot more organic looking that just filling in with the paintbucket tool.

Dave Shabet: I don't use the paint bucket at all. It's probably a waste of time but I paint in all my flat tones with the brush, just to make sure it all gets under the black lines how I like.

Koltreg: You are coming out with a book collecting the first few chapters of your comic. Is there anything else that the book will have in it?

Dave Shabet: Yes. It'll have adjusted artwork from the old pages- anatomy and proportion stuff- in addition to a couple pages of additional concept art and sketches in the back

Koltreg: That sounds pretty awesome. I look forward to getting it.

What is one webcomic you think everybody should read that not enough people are?

Dave Shabet: HMMMMMmmm.... Heliothaumic ( http://www.thaumic.net ) is definitely an underrated comic. It is a wonderful comic about a world where magic meets science and the author puts a lot of thought into every little detail building the world.

Koltreg: You hear a moan outside the front door to your house and you look out. A swarm of the undead line the streets. Do you have an escape plan in case of zombies by which I mean the classic slow styled ones?

Dave Shabet: Yes. I have like three ways out of my apartment.

Koltreg: When I interviewed Jenny from The Zombie Hunters I felt silly for having a plan for escape when she did not.

Dave Shabet: Jenny's a good person, don't be pickin' on her or you'll need an escape plan... from me.

Koltreg: Oh she is.

Dave Shabet: (do you have one of those??)

Koltreg: Yes, yes I do.

Dave Shabet: You're a man of great forethought.

Koltreg: Indeed. "Never talk to somebody without picturing them dead." Somebody said that. I just did. I prequoted myself.

Any important things you'd like to say on the record about your comic, grudges against people or anything else like that?

Dave Shabet: Grudges against people are not something one should hold or foster, since they bring everybody down and no one wants that. As for my comic: I am happy people enjoy it.

Koltreg: Well I am glad to hear you are against beefs. I wish you luck with your webcomic and continued success in everything else.

Dave Shabet: Thank you kindly, sir.

Coming up this week, more Socialfist in the Making.

Link: Akira The Don's Guide to Death's Head

2010-02-22T17:51:00.002-05:00

Akira the Don, musician mastermind and all around awesome person posted this comic on Death's Head on his website. He is also now working on a weekly comic, a weekly Ustream and a monthly mixtape. Give him some props!

Socialfist In The Making: Origin Harder

2010-02-22T00:13:00.000-05:00

Because I need something to write about - I decided to take questions.

"Why make a Russian Super Friends?"

Short Answer: I am unoriginal.

Long Answer: I am a fan of team based superheroes. Having different characters running around with personalities clashing when well balanced has always been enough to get me to watch a show, it protects from characters getting stale. That is probably what caused me to make the Russian Super Friends. In fact I distinctly (not really) remember the conversation going like this:

Me: We need a comic idea.

Adam: Superheroes.

Me: Crappy superheroes.

Adam: Hmmmm.

Me: Communist crappy superheroes. Like the Superfriends or Xmen but crappy.

(Note: Conversation may have not happened like that at all, I did say crappy a lot then though.)

As a kid I really loved the Xmen, I had a Sega Genesis game and I loved the series that were on and I still do. Heck, I rewatched all of Xmen Evolution this month and I currently have the 90's series on my Netflix list. The variety of powers and personalities always seemed cool and more realistic (or at least more so than the Justice League). The characters were flawed, real and human...er mutant. When the movies came out, they only rekindled my love (though re-watching them all as I did Friday, I must confess that I can't stand the third one anymore.) Of course, I never owned any comics of them or any other comics for that matter till I was 17 so that limits my knowledge to the shows, a DC Encyclopedia a friend had and Wikipedia which is probably for the better.

"What time period does Socialfist take place in?"

Socialfist takes place in an alternate 00's, somewhere around 2001 or so though the beginning scene takes place in what is about 15 years earlier.

"Are heroes known or are they kept as national secrets?"

Socialfist will focus on two opposing groups - Socialfist who are the Russian insurgent superheroes who are meant to inspire a return to communism and The American Justice Squad who represent the Americans. Socialfist is not an official government group or even one that needs protection since most of the members don't officially exist so to speak. The American Justice Squad on the other hand are to put it lightly - above the law. Due to political powers held by members of the squad, laws have been passed to protect their identities so that not even members of the American Justice Squad know who each other are. At least in theory.

Socialfist In The Making: Yuri Part 2

2010-02-15T17:48:00.003-05:00

Fresh off the color additions!

The current description of Yuri in my Encyclopedia has:

Yuri - Genetically made superman. Blindly follows orders and has several problems when people question what he knows to be true. He really only follows the party because he grew up following them and does not truly understand communism, the economy or leadership. Enjoys wearing military-esqe outfit and the fact that he is trusted with leadership. Tends to abuse leadership abilities. He is currently 30/16 (mentally). He is able to levitate up to 800 lbs (including himself), shoot lasers from his eyes, is super strong (800 lbs) and some other stuff probably. Costume is too big for him.

The idea is rough with enough room where I can insert background ideas and nothing really pins me down. It also helps to establish personality and characteristics. I personally love the sheriff badge on him. The look of mixed confusion and ire with the soldier-esqe pose also makes it work. The outfit follows the military ideal though there is the problem that he is not a military member. He literally works for people who have no authority and he has little authority himself.

Also the Entry is pretty mixed up and random. When I work on the official Wiki for the comic in a few months I can easily use this fact sheet.

Artist is Remus B.

In Memorium of Lent 09

2010-02-14T01:06:00.002-05:00

Last year I tried to post a comic a day with three other people for Lent (the Christian pre-Easter thing). The other two guys quit after a few days. I got pretty close only missing 14 days or so - losing my scanner and coming home killed it for me. Most of the stuff was rushed but it might be interesting.

40 Day Webcomic Challenge

I wont be continuing this year though - I am giving up soda instead. I will be continuing work on Socialfist right now though and it is awesome.

Socialfist In The Making: Yuri Part 1

2010-02-10T22:56:00.001-05:00

Yuri was the simpler character to design, at least at the beginning. At that time the team was all somewhat based off of famous superheroes in the Justice League (which still had a show at the time). Yuri was the Russian Superman. Literally when originally discussing designs with Adam, the first artist, the description was "Superman with a Russian hat." I suggested a beard and a pipe. The pipe would talk to Yuri in times of trouble. Adam suggested furry boots and big shiny teeth. In short: we had no idea how to design the character (or any character for that matter). I kept the design description for the short term artists (i.e. the people who never really did anything). Finally when it came to Iori, I had a plan.I sent Iori the following description:

"Yuri/Kaptain Kremlin - The leader of the group created in a government experiment. Tons of powers. He's essentially the generic superhero built like Superman, red, yellow and black tights with the hammer and sickle. Large beard."

My amount of character design progress and thought was amazing! All that thought about personality. The way I went into the background. You could tell I really thought about the character. Like I could tell his backstory in a second at the drop of a hat and... yeah. Still no idea what I was doing. Iori did a very good job creating the following design . I liked the design at the time, partially because I did not have to give thought to it. (Tangential thought: I would not mind a coffee mug with a picture on him. Thanks Photobucket!) The design was done and I started putting him in wacky situations and . . . actually I didn't. The first version of Socialfist spent a good portion of the time leading up to Robo Stalin before switching to a battle without him (and then forgetting about him). That was one of the reasons I restarted.

I ended up actually writing a bit more about the character the second time around. I never sent the description to Iori though and it was probably good since it added very little. The second description was :

Kaptain Kremlin - Russian super hero created by Sergei Notskalm. Not much else is known.

Known Powers: Flying, Super Strength, Laser Vision, Indestructability.

Real Name: Yuri 23

The second version started with Yuri being the stereotypical psychologist while yet being an idiot. The design didn't fit the idea. Besides the hat, beard and the color scheme Yuri could have been used for any basic superhero. To be honest I was pretty unsure of what to do. I did receive an additional headshot of Yuri for the site though.

When it finally came around to redesigning characters for the current version of the comic, I had a plan. I was going to figure out characters beforehand. I did this actually and the new Yuri design is pretty awesome though I am currently waiting for a color version. When that comes, I will post it separately with the colored photo and the revisions there.

Socialfist In The Making: The History

2010-02-08T01:15:00.002-05:00

Way way back three years ago the world of the Internet was very different at least for me. For one, I read some horrible webcomics that I don't care to name. Fanboys also updated regularly. Kate Beaton was not getting discussed in newpapers. I didn't have the blog. I also was pretty naive about the Internet and the cultures that existed inside of it. I still am pretty naive to be honest but I understand enough to function inside of it.

I had recently moved towns across Ohio and was studying graphic design. I made friends with another student and we started making comics for a website called Sketchbattle. After two comics we stopped because I wrote really long scripts and they were not all that funny. When VG Cats had its holiday comic contest, we went and made a comic more complicated than it needed to be - we actually drew everything out when all we needed to do use clip art. We didn't place to our knowledge since Mr. Rasoomair never discussed winners besides the first place which was disappointing.

The contest rekindled and refocused the ideas we had. We'd not go ahead and simply write comics insulting people. We'd not make a video game strip. We would make a comic unlike anything we were aware of. A comic to take the webcomic world by storm.

The plan was to create a sort of parody X-men team. We decided to make the team Russian and to give all of the heroes horrible superpowers or ones that seemed stupid. We called the team Super Feudal Communist Russia Team Squad Now!. To be honest, the title was "somewhat" similiar to another cartoon show we were unaware of at the time called Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go!. In our defense though, the comic was on ABC Family. We liked the title and I came up with a list of Russian names with superpowers to go with them. The list included the following now-abandoned characters:

Robot-Stalin - Stalin's head on a robot body!

Aria - carries a cornucopia that summons snack food!

Konstiantinova - attacks with onomatopoeias turned into weapons!

Spera - able to smash beer cans!

Zach - able to turn 7up to club soda!

and

Pankrashka - able to barf acid from his butt! (That was actually what I wrote down.)

Needless to say many of the characters lack class and tact. It was going to be a series where the heroes would have a theme of the week. They would make jokes about Mongolia. The enemies would be characters like The Wiki, Super Hemophiliac and and Carbok the Destroyer. Adam drew an image of Robot Stalin and then stopped drawing the comic (http://majorca.deviantart.com/art/Robo-Stalin-53995984).

Since I had done the writing and concepts, I decided to continue with it and I went through a string of artists who did very little work as well. One quit after drawing two facial sketches and a few never kept up.

Eventually I asked a friend and trusted critic if he wanted to draw it and he blatantly told me he did not. He thought the idea was juvenile and it needed work. I was stunned and went to reconcept ideas. I went back and cut out heroes. I decided to plan out ideas. I decided to not write down my ideas at all. It was still a bit of progress.

At this time I finally reached college and posted offering money for illustration and I began the first revision of the comic. The artist, Iori Pic (http://iori-pic.deviantart.com/) was ready to do work so I sent my character ideas and he did the character concepts. I was honestly not sure what I was doing. I didn't want to complain about his work because I figured he knew more about comics than I did. He probably didn't but I never complained. Even when he purposefully put in a character design as a joke. I literally had to be coaxed by him to complain. He started drawing the comics though and I finally had content. Then after 11 pages, I stopped.

I have a lot of confidence in my art. I liked what I wrote when I originally write it. The problem here was the fact that I didn't know if it was good. I eventually linked my dad who I trust. We have similar senses of humor. He had no idea what was going on in the comic. I went back through and all of the "really good ideas" I had were just being strung together. I sent Iori an email to stop production - I had a rewrite to do. This time I planned out chapters and arcs. I looked into symbolism. I tried to be more professional. After 11 pages (done over several months) he was forced to quit due to work obligations.

I decided to revamp more. New character designs. New personalities. I was going for an epic restart. The work was hard and finding an artist was tedious. I finally have one though to consort with. I have a co-writer who will disagree with me. I also have a title now.

Socialfist is going to be amazing because of my failures, because I have matured and because it is a strong idea.

Over the next few weeks I will introduce characters, character designs at various stages and some of the ideas all while getting stories done and progressing more and more in the comic design.

Hopefully the next blog updates will be more frequent, I ended up watching all of Xmen Evolution on Hulu, all 52 episodes in about 24 hours. I think I have "earned" a rest.

OUCS: Team of Rivals

2010-01-31T20:49:00.005-05:00

For those unfamiliar with it, the book Team of Rivals discusses how Abraham Lincoln got a bunch of people who did not agree with him to join his cabinet because he was a good and open president. I heard the title and thought of the film The One, with Jet Li. This preview explains it. One thing led to another and another comic idea was born. This is also suitable to be used for a movie preview or movie idea. As usual, contact me if you use the idea.

Panel 1:

We see the White House in an older time. People outside ride those old fashioned bicycles.

Aide (not seen): Mr. President, the machine is ready.

Panel 2:

We see a shadowy figure in front of a giant circular gate machine.( I guess like a Stargate, I never watched the show. Better yet like the thing they used in Johnny Quest to go into Quest World. )It is the silhouette of Abraham Lincoln, giant hat and everything.

Lincoln: Four score and seven minutes ago.

Panel 3:

Lincoln turns to face the wooden control panel.

Lincoln: There was only one of me.

Panel 4:

Close up of Lincoln's hand pressing a button.

Panel 5:

Sparks shoot from the machine and a swirl appears.

Panel 5:

Four more Lincolns are now behind him/ step out of the machine.

Panel 6:

Lincolns all at once: Ladies and gentlemen, do not be alarmed for we are on the precipice of greatness. We shall take back our nation.

Panel 7:

Based on the bestselling nonfiction book.

Panel 8:

We see Union and Confederate soldiers fighting.

Narrator: In a world torn apart by war, only one man could reunite it.

Panel 9:

We see the Lincolns posing for a picture.

Narrator: And there are 22 of him.

Panel 10:

Zoom in on evil Lincoln

Narrator: But one....

Panel 11:

Closer zoom, he has vampire fangs or something evil.

Narrator: was evil.

Panel 12:

Evil Lincoln shoots another Lincoln at the Ford Theatre

Panel 13:

Evil Lincoln stabs another Lincoln.

Panel 14:

Lincoln talks to Grant in his office.

Lincoln: General Grant, we have to stop him. Each clone he kills, the stronger he gets.

Grant: Sir, there is one thing you have that he does not posses.

Panel 15:

Grant pulls out a submachine gun.

Grant: True firepower.

Panel 16:

Evil Lincoln is seen giving a speech outside.

Evil Lincoln: Our nation officially surrenders to the South.

Panel 17:

The crowd looks shocked.

Panel 18:

Lincoln walks through the crowd carrying the guns, looking like Rambo meets Abraham Lincoln along with two other Lincolns similarly equipped.

Lincoln: Hear ye hear ye. Your shit is about to get fucked up.

Panel 19:

Caption of Team of Rivals

Panel 20:

Lincoln and the other Lincolns aim at evil Lincoln.

Lincoln: I'll emancipate the shit out of you.

Panel 21:

Evil Lincoln smirks:

Evil Lincoln: We shall see.

OUCS: Daybreakers Parody

2010-01-29T11:00:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the first Open Use Comic Script where when I have an idea I can't use, I will do my best to turn it in to a script. If you need one for the week, feel free to take and use it, possibly even edit, just link me when it is done.

This Episode: Daybreakers Parody

If you were unaware, Daybreakers was that vampire film that came out where vampires who don't get blood turn into crazy Nosferatu vampires and since everyone (not everyone) wanted to become a vampire, there is less and less blood. They hook humans up to machines and the humans not hooked up are fighting back or they want a cure. They find it and then presumably everyone lives happily ever after especially Willem DeFoe's beard. All in all, the movie feels like the Matrix trilogy did with the humans hooked up to machines, the stylistic filming and the few shots with fighting. Also some of the really wooden acting.

Panel 1:

Business Man (the fat guy) and the two executive are in the office talking.

Business Man: All these kids are complaining about Twilight messing up vampires and werewolves. How can we profit from this?

Executive One: Gritty re-imagining of the monsters.

Executive Two: A vampire Matrix!

Panel 2:

Similar

Executive One: You mean Daybreakers?

Executive Two: Hmmmm. What if we mix werewolves and another 90's film.

Business Man: Genius!

Panel 3:

Werewolf Park

Panel 4:

We see Jurassic Park people - the old guy, Jeff Goldblum, little kids and doctor couple standing in front of welcome center doors.

Old guy: Welcome to my park where I made imagination reality. Real living werewolves!

Panel 5:

Goldblum and old man are talking in office with the doctor couple.

Goldblum: Isn't there a threat to having werewolves in a park. Can't they reproduce?

Old Man: Don't worry. They are all males.

Panel 6:

Goldblum looks angry.

Goldblum: That... that means nothing! Lycanthropy is passed on in biting.

Panel 7:

Old Man does not take this shit seriously.

Old Man: At least we'll be fine unless every part of the billion dollar security system fails.

Panel 8:

Old Man knocks coffee on his laptop.

Panel 9:

Room is dark except for eyes of the people.

Old man: Shit.

Panel 10

We see a Jeep ala Jurassic Park with a werewolf on the outside. Researcher and the kids are inside the Jeep.

Researcher: Don't worry kids, they can't open doors. They have no thumbs.

Kid 1: But they do have thumbs.

Panel 11:

We see blood outside of the Jeep.

Panel 12:

Fat guy is seen running with a wolfsbane.

Fat guy: I can sell this for other people to make the werewolves.

Panel 13:

Fat guy is starting down a bunch of werewolves.

Fat guy: Shit

Panel 14:

Parody of Jurassic Park logo but with a wolf howling at the moon ... a wolf made of bones! D: So basically a skeleton wolf.

Possible Extra panels

Panel 15

Old Man and Goldblum are on a boat.

Old Man: At least they can't leave the island.

Panel 16:

Flying werewolves in the sky

Announcement: Format Change

2010-01-28T21:14:00.001-05:00

Ever since I came back from break I have been bothered by my growing sense of ennui towards writing the reviews for the blog. It is not that I have no more of an interest in webcomics. I read through all of PvP, Minus, Marry Me, The Meek, Dead Winter and the new and brilliant Axe Cop (which is currently being overwhelmed on its servers and has no website). My problem is that I have no desire to write reviews for what I read as of right now. It is not that the comics deserve no accolades for their work but that I can't find my muse or inspiration.

Because of this fact, the blog will be temporarily changing formats to a sort of webcomic/comic theory and writing shop among other things. While I have no fully running comics up on the Internet, I have been working on a story for the past 4 years called Socialfist (formerly Super Feudal Communist Russia Team Squad Now!). Socialfist will soon be coming online in about 2 months (late March 2010) if all goes well. Until and after that point, the blog will have a feature called Socialfist In The Making. Here, and eventually at the new comic site, I will post the progress I do when making a comic. This will include character sketches demonstrating and illustrating the development of characters from the juvenile throw away ideas of 4 years ago to more realistic characters that I now have. I will also go into web design and how I went from a bad site to a good one, ideas I have gone through for naming the comic and a bunch of other things related to the comic. I am not entirely sure if it will be useful to everyone who reads the blog currently but the last thing I want is for the blog to die.

Other features that will appear include:

Mini-Reviews - Reviews - But Smaller!

KN/RB News - My Slant On Webcomic News And Also Interviews

Open Use Comic Scripts - Need a comic script to draw, look no further!

and more.

As such, the blog title has changed from Koltreg's Nerding Blog Jamboree to the Koltreg's Nerding/Review Blog. The site should also be moving soon to a non-blogspot post, most likely at the Team Majorca site.

Open Use Comic Script #1 will go up tonight.

Guest Article - Rice Boy By The POWCG

2010-01-22T01:14:00.002-05:00

This week the POWCG somehow confused a Tweet to him about not being able to tell good comics from the bad with a request from him to review Rice Boy and as artist negotiations (read: hey, I will work for 2 days and then quit) are eating my time, I present this as a filler.

My 300^th Twitter said I was done. No more anger, no more videos, I could finally retire. Then I got the call back into action. Koltreg, that son of a bitch, managed to track me down. As of last week, I was peacefully living in a southern Atlantic fishing village under the name of Mako Hooker. Most of my day was out at sea, catching my dinner. It wasn’t much, but it was peaceful, and nobody there could tell a Sonichu from a Dominic Deegan. I finally knew what inner peace was.

Then again, my 301^st Tweet was “Lol. Gonna retire to a South Atlantic Fishing village under the Mako Hooker. Peace, y’all.”

My 302^nd Tweet was a picture of the natives I uploaded using the laptop which I brought, with “Man, this South Atlantic Village kicks ass. I hope some jackass doesn’t rope me in to do a webcomic review.” I brought the laptop, so I could continue to post on the Something Awful forums. After all, those things cost ten bucks.

That’s when he walked in. I was on my boat, casting the first net of the day. The sun beat down harshly on my bronzed muscled skin, but I didn’t care. I marked a little note in a book I kept. Thirty. Thirty clear, beautiful days in a row. I stared out to the horizon and saw a small island, the same one I see every day. I never go past it, but today I wondered…

”Enjoying the view?” I heard a familiar voice say behind me.

“I was.” I said, grumbling at the figure behind me.

“It’s been a long time. I haven’t heard from you.”
”Well, I was kinda living in a South Atlantic fishing village under the alias Mako Hooker.”
”Yes, you mentioned it several times on Twitter. And Facebook. ”
I sighed. “You found me. Want to take off that fedora and trenchcoat? It’s like 98 degrees.”
”No, I enjoy the hypothermia.” He was strange like that.

“What comic?”

“Rice Boy.”
”Heh. You really expect that, don’t you? Not even in a million years.”
”And in return, you can come back to civilization. Maybe catch up on Ctrl+Alt+Del?”
”I brought my laptop.”
”Perfect, you can do it here. On a rainy day.”

“Fat chance. Tomorrow will mark 31 days of sunshine. Go find another patsy.”

The next day was a torrential downpour. The worst I’d seen in a while. Not even the worst Nor’Easter compared. None of my usual wifi hotspots worked, and I think one of the local children ate my laptop.

Rice Boy is a story set in the ninth century of the Red Age of Overside. It stars Rice Boy, who is chosen as the fulfiller of the prophecy to, YOU GUESSED IT, save the world.

Who is Rice Boy? A man made of nothing but rice? A ridiculous Chinese Stereotype? Possibly a guy who races ricers?

Rice Boy is “a little fellow with no arms or legs who lives in the Matchwoods. All he can do is grow plants and watch sunsets and listen to stories, but he's gone on his way to maybe repair the world" Um… Yeah, I’ve seen comics pull things out of their ass before, but this one takes the cake.

Everyone will say this comic is so awesome, especially on the Something Awful Forums. We’re only ironically liking it, like we ironically hate Ctrl-Alt-Del. And here I am to slaughter the sacred cow. It sucks. It lacks coherence, background, and everything thrown in feels like the writer, Evan Dahm did it to say, “HEY GUYS LOOK HOW WACKY I AM!!”

So, the comic starts of with a robot called “The One Electronic” (TOE. LOL it spells toe! See how wacky it is?) and a fat orange guy that ends up dying in the next few chapters looking for someone to fulfill this mysterious prophecy, that we never really feel the weight of. The world seemed just fine, thank you Robot Man. Now fuck off, I got a bunch of shit to do (watch sunsets, listen to stories) that wasn’t explicitly stated in the comic, so we have to go by the author’s word. Speaking of which, you might think that the images T-O-E’s screen mean something, but they don’t. (They’re from old black and white TV shows; observe my indieness!)

So, T-O-E tells Rice Boy all this shit while Orange Fatty fucks off and dies. No good sir, don’t let us get attached to him or anything, like we did with Darth McManus (Ethan and Lilah’s baby, hello?). Yeah, just kill him off to show his desperation. Maybe if the Rice Boy universe had LiveJournal, he wouldn’t be in this mess. So Rice Boy, initially doubting that he is The Fulfliller, sets out to go some wood. Then another fat orange thing, Gerund (It’s a language thing, aren’t I so smart?), hops onto his boat. Like, out of nowhere.

I’ll be saying those four words a lot this review.

Gerund is going to slay the Bleach Beast, in possibly the bluntest conversation ever:
”I guess I will tell you somethings. The monster ate my brother, and ran off. I don’t like killing things, but I love my brother, so I guess I have to.”
”That is a super sad story. Killing monsters is probably a hard thing to do.”
”Maybe, but I have an axe to help” says Gerund pulling up an axe. Like, out of nowhere. “I think is a magic axe.”

“I guess”? “I think”? What is this guy, an Animal Crossing character? I think?

So they go into the woods, talk to an asshole Cyclops, then a tree walks in and helps Rie Boy and Gerund get to their next plot point.

In the meantime, an assassin named Golgo is sent by a frog king Spatch, son of the previous candidate to fulfill the prophecy, to kill Rice Boy and TOE. Let me restate that: A fucking frog sends a black thing that fucks its sister, named after a Japanese manga series (gamers, weaboos, lend me your viewership!) to kill Robot Rorschach and a quadruple amputee.

One more time: A fucking frog sends a black thing that fucks its sister, named after a Japanese manga series (gamers, weaboos, lend me your viewership!) to kill Robot Rorschach and a quadruple amputee.

Rice Boy, ladies and motherfucking gentlemen.

Right, so TOE dies, and Golgo scares off his assistant Dolly in a drunken rage. It walks off into the forest, and uses its GPS boots to find TOE. Luckily, she finds the body in time to bring him to a shaman. His brother or something, invalidating his name, The ONE Electronic, comes to take him away on a cube horse.

You know what? I’m not gonna bother relating all this crap to you, because the second something’s introduced, it’s disregarded, like it’s part of its own world or something, and all this shit is common place, like A GIANT KKK MEMBER CUTTING OFF HIS HAND TO GIVE ROBOMAN PASSAGE INTO A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN SEE PEOPLE’S MEMORIES.

Although we do find out that Rice Boy comes from A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO REPRODUCE AND COMMUNICATE BY CUTTING OFF THEIR HEADS…

Like, out of nowhere.

So a few hundred strips later, the machine fight off some purple things and the frog men, so Rice Boy can go fulfill the prophecy. BUT WAIT! Turns out The One Electronic was the fulfiller all along! JUST… FUCKING… DANDY! So the words of Ridrom have been fulfilled, and Rice Boy wakes up in his house as if NOTHING HAPPENED.

Seriously, like, out of nowhere. At least it’s competently drawn whatthefuck.

The comic is basically Prog Rock without the wicked solos: fucked up imagery, incomprehensible bullshit, and terrible writing all ham fisted in the name of symbolism. Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar. And Rice Boy is one cigar I’d like to stamp out and kick in the sewers.

Looking For A Webcomic Artist

2010-01-19T11:46:00.002-05:00

I am working on about communist superheroes called Socialfist. It is a socio-political farce pointing out the flaws of logic in political extremism along with classic superhero humor and more.
Due to my previous artist getting a promotion I suddenly need a new artist to restart/continue the comic. It would be preferable to continue though the comic (as to not need to pay for each page again but if the artist is unable that is fine and understandable.
If anything I am looking for an artist who is able to create a comic style similar to that of Russian poster art out of the 40s and 50s. Like this [link] or similar. I figure the average artist has an idea of what I was talking about. The very stylistic and blocky design.
The comic would be at least a weekly update (depending on pay and contracting and such) with eventual funds coming from ads, product sales and cameo donations. Along with this I am also working on getting the comic picked up by a decent number of comic producers and if that happens, compensation would quickly increase.
Pay will be negotiated with each candidate depending on quality, etc. If the comic goes well, which it should and will do, there will possibly be an average wage within a year or so. Factors of this include an ability to produce comics on time, working ahead of schedule, doing additional designs (for shirts, buttons, etc) and more.
If you somehow find this, link to your work and I will look through your gallery and decide based on what I see there. Also if you have an IM or something that works.
I've been working on the story for about four years and I really want to see it published/produced.
The previous comics by Iori may be seen here (site is being redesigned): Due to a contractual thing, the character costumes would likely need to be redesigned as well so if you are accepted, that would be the first thing to do.

Interview With El Santo

2010-01-18T22:09:00.003-05:00

This week I went toe to toe with webcomic reviewer El Santo of The Webcomic Overlook. We met in the battleground that is known as that creepy chat box I have on the site. Things got tense and funny. Enjoy.

Koltreg: Greeting sir. How is it going?

El Santo: Sup

Koltreg: I just finished dinner.

El Santo: Awesome! I need to feed myself sometime soon. I am just drinking me some Coke.

Koltreg: I highly recommend it. I had store brand cream soda, a french dip sammich and some rice crackers.

El Santo: That is hardly a dinner. It is barely nourishment.

Koltreg: The rice crackers were carmel covered. That makes all the difference.

El Santo: Yum.

Koltreg: Well let us get this interview going.

El Santo: Sure! Let's do it like Brutus.

Koltreg: Quisling time has come today...er...what got you into webcomics?

El Santo: OK, to question 1 (I have no idea what a Quisling is by the way)...

Koltreg:A Quisling is a reference to some French war where the locals sides with the opposing side. Also they are crazy people who act like zombies. And I thought you were referencing the Hives. (wealth of knowledge!) Oh, it was apparently named after a Norweigan politician who helped the Nazis take over the country.

El Santo: I shall have to use "Quisling" in passing some time, then.

Koltreg: It is a fun word. Back to the interview though. What got you to start reviewing webcomics?

El Santo: My original response was missing. OK, here goes: I basically love reviewing. I used to to movie, anime, and video game reviews on another site called Guthwulf.com. When I decided to start my own blog, I reviewed a bunch of stuff, but my most popular posts were the webcomic ones.

Koltreg: What were some early ones you reviewed?

El Santo: Oh, the popular ones. Perry Bible Fellowship, Irregular Webcomic, a few of Bobby Crosby's efforts. I have a soft part in my heart for minor efforts, though, so when something like "Year One" comes my way --- a sort of Li'l Marvel's parody --- I'm on it like Donkey Kong.

Koltreg: Was there any point where you realized "Hey, I should just focus on webcomics," like after a certain review?

El Santo: I have to thank David Morgan-Mar. After I posted a pretty positive review of Irregular Comic, he posted a link on his site and I got, like, 1,000 page hits over night. To which I thought, "Man, people who read webcomics are pretty passionate!" That lead me on a long dark road. Pretty soon I broke the webcomic reviews out from my main blog, and then I bought a domain name, and then the rest is history. Truly, I am a glutton for attention.

Koltreg: There are worse and less reasonable things to be a glutton for though.

El Santo: Don't get me wrong, though... it's highly enjoyable.

Koltreg: Oh I know. I'd love that level of semi-notoriety. As you have gotten more notoriety, have you had many fringe benefits?

El Santo: Well, just as a disclosure, the blog isn't really all that notorious. I don't want readers to get the wrong impression here. At best it gets 1,000 to 1,500 page hits a day. It's a nice number, but hardly Comics Curmudgeon numbers. As for fringe benefits... I did have a reporter from MacLean's call me to do an interview regarding Kate Beaton. And I was all like, "I'm an authority on Kate Beaton? What the what?" So... getting my name in a Canadian news magazine ... pretty awesome.

Koltreg: Yeah. Lets talk recent news though.

El Santo: Okay

Koltreg: The Webcomics.com Policy change - are you going to subscribe?

El Santo:Me? No. No-ho-ho-ho-o. I mentioned on my blog that it seems to be more for webcomic professionals, which I am not. More of a blogger who comments on webcomic professionals, really. I can see how it can work out for people who go to conventions to promote their stuff, but I'm an irascible homebody, so I'm not likely to take advantage of their fine, fine benefits package.

Koltreg: What would happen if everything with the policy change goes south? Like, nobody subscribes or only 100 people do?

El Santo: You know, if the main purpose of the subscription was to pay for the site itself, 100 subscribers still translates into $3,000, which is not bad. They're definitely going to start small, but I think the idea is that they have to set a precedent somewhere or no one does. Failure is definitely a possibility --- a strong one, since everyone was getting used to a free blog --- but I think everyone involved is well aware of the risks. Few people make a profit in the first couple of years, I think.

Koltreg: Then again, 3000 is more than the average webcomic makes in a year. Though so is $30.

El Santo: It sure is. What webcomics.com needs to do now, though, is make it clear and communicate what they're trying to do ... and it's been an uphill struggle for Guigar and friends so far.

Koltreg: Do you think instead providing the blog for free and the other services for a fee might be more reasonable? Help more people learn to make money and to build the brand.

El Santo: That's actually not a bad idea. However, I can kind of see where Guigar is coming from, too. I think he or one of the other Halfpixel guys regularly do seminars at colleges on webcomics, and there, they're being reimbursed for their time and work. It's kind of disheartening to spend all your time putting your brainpower on, say, writing a tutorial and never seeing any compensation for it.

Koltreg: I see it more like farming though. You plant the seeds but the last thing you want to do is try to eat them just after planting them. If you foster though, you get a meal...eventually

El Santo: I did mention on my blog too that I thought it might be too early to do such a thing as what webcomics.com is doing. I don't know if the webcomic medium is mature enough. Like many have said, it's still the wild wild west.

Koltreg: With a giant robot spider?

El Santo: Noooooooooaaaaahhhhhhhh~!!!!!

Koltreg: Since you have reviewed other genres, what do you different about reviewing webcomics?

El Santo: I try to delve into more far flung anecdotes with webcomics. I think if I was really matter-of-fact in a webcomic review, it can get pretty dry, especially since people will most likely be very unfamiliar about the comic since they wouldn't have seen commercials, heard third-party anecdotes, yadda yadda yadda. So if I'm reviewing a comic about vampire women, maybe I'll tell a story about my views on the Twilight phenomenon and then bring that into my review. I find I do that more often with my webcomic reviews, which are now about 2000 words or so each ... and that's what makes it fun to write.

Koltreg: Anything about the fact that the story can change and that it is fluid? It kind of bothers me from time to time that "Hey, something I write now may not be true in a few months." Unlike movies or war. War never changes.

El Santo: Ha ha ha ha! Yes, that is very true with, say, Shortpacked!, which started out as a comedy about people in a toy store and ended up being about an LGBT community. I was like ... Ohhhhkay.

Koltreg: Who is transexual in Shortpacked? Is it Mike?

El Santo: Probably Supercar.

Koltreg: Great, now I have to reread everything with that in mind.

El Santo: It will blow you away.

Koltreg: *gay joke*

El Santo: Note to gay readers: I totes did not mean that.

Koltreg: 90% of what I write is hate speech against various groups but my multi racial transgendered bisexual editor cuts most of it. Thats why I only post two articles a week. That and college.

El Santo: ***gggaaassssssspppp**** I am shocked out of my monacle.

Koltreg: You have a monocle under your luchador mask?

El Santo: Monocle, dresses like a Mexican wrestler... maybe I'm really Dr. Mindbender Hmmm?

Koltreg: I have no idea who that is. I am a horrible/recovering nerd.

El Santo: Google him sometime. It's a bald GI Joe villain who has a handlebar stache, a monocle, and no shirt. Best villain EVER.

Koltreg: Oh, I know him. What is your favorite webcomic. As in, all the other webcomics online are going to be deleted by....Digital Porn Warriors and you can only save one. Which would it be?

El Santo: It would have to be ... Jack! The greatest furry webcomic about death and disembowelment and gratuitous nudity. What? It's actually really terrible? OK then... probably Gunnerkrigg Court, which is not Jack. Which is A GOOD THING.

Koltreg: I enjoy that as well. Besides it being a good comic I used the print book as a distraction for my sister so I could burn her Twilight books. Gunnerkrigg Court - Helping Everyone!

El Santo: Tell her it is beloved by Neil Gaiman. Girls love stuff by Neil Gaiman.

Koltreg: Gaiman she likes less. I am the Gaiman Man in my family. Where do you see your blog in 5 days?

El Santo: Five days... what, is that a Saturday? I'm probably going to be reading and reviewing the Dead Winter webcomic while my wife hits the gym. Her and her exercise, pfeh. Who needs that when you got bone crunching zombie action?

Koltreg: Reiley is a good guy who deserves more views for his comic. I also figured that 5 days is more reasonable to estimate than 5 months.

El Santo: I'm still on page 50, by the way. It ain't bad, but the bone crunching action hasn't really happened yet.

Koltreg: As we wind this down though, are there any questions you have for me?

El Santo: Yeah! It's always nice to run into a fellow blogger slash mortal rival. What sort of character or personality do think your own webcomic blog is? Like I imagine myself the Anthony Bourdain of blogs, and I think Eric Burns-White once said he was the Pauline Kael.

Koltreg: I see my blog as a submachine that gained sentience. It is deadly in the right hands but it just needs that hand to help it. Which is both crazy and yet...yeah that is just crazy.

El Santo: Yes. Crazy. You might want to lay off the Call of Duty for a day or two.

Koltreg: Actually I have no video games. I only have a Gamecube.

El Santo: That's no good. Now you'll have idea what webcomic guys talk about all the time. Video games is the common language.

Koltreg: I used to room with people who shared consoles. I am a recovering nerd as I say though, I put my money towards webcomics, music and food.

El Santo: So, given your meal earlier ... just music then?

Koltreg: Well sir, thank you for doing this interview. It has been... interesting.

El Santo: No prob, man. Thanks for asking me!

This Friday I should be running the review I expected to have up on vacation that came in late of Rice Boy by a controversial Internet figure.

See you then!

No Friday Update

2010-01-14T20:19:00.001-05:00

New schedule means that I need to work out when to update. The schedule will probably be the same. I am going to take off today though to not rush the Minus review. Tuesday is an interview. See you then.

Webcomics.com - My Problem With Paying

2010-01-11T23:50:00.002-05:00

If you live in some cobwebbed, unused part of the webcomic world, you may not have heard that Brad Guigar and the Webcomics Weekly group have transformed the website into a pay site. For $30 a year you get access to: all of the full articles (instead of previews); information for webcomic conventions; and the http://www.webcomics.com/ creators and community and merchandise deals. All in all this seems reasonable and you end up paying $2.50 a month. If you even have shitty rates for your Project Wonderful ads you can probably scrape this together.

I have a few problems with the change that go beyond being able to afford the yearly fee, though.

1. You Are Already Selling A Book On It - I bought How To Make Webcomics at Mid-Ohio Comic Con and the book covers most of the stuff I remember seeing on the website. And it costs 20 something dollars online (I paid $13 at the con if I recall) as opposed to the $30 annual fee for the website. It does not make financial sense. Oh, and most of the stuff in the book I figured out myself, which leads me to my second complaint:

2. The Help Listed Can Be Learned Freely - Mr. Guigar is a professional artist and I respect this fact. He probably learned a lot of webcomic information while working. Still there have been other webcomic artists who learned everything all by themselves. I bet that most webcomic artists that are making a living or even a profit out there have learned what they need to do not through a book or website but by learning over time and through hard lessons. For example a lot of the small webcomics that even make a small profit have to guess and learn which is natural.

3. There Are Better Profit Venues (While Still Seeming Charitable) –Mr. Guigar has reviewed and critiqued several webcomic websites. If he wants to make money off of his own site, this would be something better to charge for. I would be willing to pay a guy who knows about webcomics and web design to review the design of my site. I'd pay more if he offered to services such as making some alternate design schemes. I'd shell out a good amount if he did the entire design for me (or I would if I were not a web design student with several people helping me make my comics sites as I speak). You though, webcomic makers and makeresses with no web-design training, probably would. It would be a smaller market at first BUT if the advice on the site really works, more webcomics would make enough of a profit for the service. What I am saying is that if you offer more people the tools they need to make a profit for free, the more money they can have to pay you later on.

4. Creating Free Content Online – I respect Mr. Guigar for doing the blog and wanting to make a profit. I also respect his belief that ad money may not be enough for a "niche site". But let’s look at another webcomic maker/business man for a second.
Ryan North (of dinosaur comics) has a Master's in Computer science (notably not a business and marketing degree). He has developed several helpful webcomic sites and tools for transcription, RSS feeds and advertising (Project Wonderful, which he profits from). He didn't necessarily have a business or design background and yet he makes his living from webcomics, thanks in part to the other tools he has developed. I can't say if he learned everything over time but every time as I don't know but chances are that he did. He made three tools that he provides free tools for webcomic makers and the only one he charges for directly pays the people that use it!

There are several hundreds of people producing free web content for blogging or coding and numerous other things that take a considerable amount of longer time than a daily article and these people work for donations or just because they love the work they do or because they want fame. Either way though, they are still producing for free.

If you are going to ask people to pay a membership fee, then offer something more than articles, a convention calendar, a community and merchandise deals. Everything currently offered on the site can be acquired free elsewhere. People can blog about webcomic advice (heck, I provide it without people wanting it); convention planning beyond the local conventions is rarely needed unless you are an advanced webcomic maker; communities of comic fans and makers are everywhere online; and (delete then) merchandise deals are only worth it if you want what is being offered.

The information page about subscribing also raises some questions:
- Who gives you feedback and guidance on the site?
- Are you (the people writing the site) going to provide it or is it part of the community?
- What will the feedback include?
- Where do you get the merchandise deals? Is it only with people who post on the site?
- How can you tell how the forum will be and if you will like it as there are many forum personalities?
- Aren't there several thousand free online resources for webcomic makers already?
- How can you say there won't be value for an advertiser when a good deal of webcomic makers make a majority of money off of niche webcomics ad space?
- Wouldn't a cheaper price invite more people to use the site and thus increase the community and the profits?
- Why have a yearly fee and not a lifelong fee for the same amount?
- If you can only see previews of the articles now, how can people tell the value?
- How can you say that this site has the value you are selling it for?

I enjoyed looking at the site every once in a while when it was free and the articles on design where actual sites were critiqued were some of the most important and interesting things.
As I suggested before, why not charge just for that if you need an income stipend?
Why not continue to provide the free loose tips and continue to sell the book instead?

I’m sure I’m not the only one wondering why Mr. Geigar decided at this time to change to a pay site, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who will look for advice and community elsewhere rather than pay. It will be interesting to see if Mr. Geigar gets the response he’s hoping for, or if he suffers a backlash.

See you Friday for the Weekly Review!

Back From Mexico

2010-01-08T14:44:00.001-05:00

Nothing like a relaxing week of walking around ruins, not being cold and reading. I had expected another review but c'est la vie. See you Monday. Sorry for the lateness.

Guest Article - Learning To Write Through Webcomics

2010-01-04T23:59:00.000-05:00

This is from a good buddy and longtime internet associate Eric who does a few things on the Internet, Eric. I am drawing a blank on his site but he wrote a enjoyable article nonetheless.

I’ve been a buddy of Koltreg’s for a while, so I was honored when he asked me to write an article for his blog.
I love webcomics, I really do. I’ve been getting back into normal comics (Transmetropolitian, Deadpool, Batman Confidential to name a few), and while that’s a neat little monthly adventure, I enjoy loading up Firefox at midnight, and checking that day’s bookmark folder. (Yeah, I have ‘em broken down by update schedule). Whenever I want, I can stroll through the archives, and chat with fellow fans for the always pleasing price of free.

One of my best memories associated with webcomics was earlier this year. I was working on a short story, getting maybe 100 words a day in. On my usual check ups, I load up Horribleville. With the night still young, I decided to read through the archives. For the uninitiated, Horribleville is the brainchild of K.C. Green, and it’s a mad, mad, mad, mad look into his creative process. All the breakdowns, the anxieties, the rewrites, are filtered through a demented art style that manages to be sketchy yet sharp at the same time. If you’re ever feeling uncreative, read it.

Then I finally make it through the guest strip month. Out of the blue, I decided to check out Fred Sherbet’s Dead Winter. I plow through the zombie action, with Coheed and Cambria blasting on repeat. I come to the last strip in the archives, and sat there in lament that the next update is only two days away.
My imagination was kicking at the base my skull, I felt like I was going die tomorrow, and if I don’t finish this story by tomorrow, I’d have nothing to show for it. I put on a pot of coffee, and got to work. My favorite part to mention of this story was that I had three songs on repeat for the next 6 hours: “Sympathy For The Devil” by The Rolling Stones, and both version of “Desolation Row” (Bob Dylan and My Chemical Romance).

The point I’m trying to make here is that good writing is good writing, regardless of the source, and you can always tell where things went right. Now, while I don’t have a webcomic of my own (artists inquire at ericdigiwriter@gmail.com), I still love to tell stories, whether it was my short story, writing articles for my school’s paper, or in webcomic form, so I’m here to teach you all some tips on how to be a better writer through webcomics.

Live.

Seriously. You know the old mantra, “Write What You Know”? Then get of the computer (after reading this, of course) and do something for a while that you’ve never done before. Go out with some friends. Meet new people. Take a trip to a place you’ve never seen. Peoplewatch. Take up a new hobby. ANYTHING. If you go out and experience life, then you’ll have all the more stuff to draw from.
Want to know the difference between your average “LOL [RECENT GAME HERE]” comic and the greats like Penny Arcade, PvP and (to a much lesser extent) Ctrl+Alt+Del?
Those people have done shit with their lives. Gabe, Tycho and Kurtz are married with children. Buckley is doing house renovations last time I checked. They’re living. Look at your average gamer comic: do you really see these guys doing something other stereotypical 18-25 male “gamer” stuff? That’s why the same jokes are beat into the ground over and over again, creating a barrier for those who just want to read something funny, instead of wanking off over the “THE CAKE IS A LIE” of the day.

As much shit as he gets from the whole miscarriage scene, Tim Buckley had the right to do the infamous “Loss” strip. He went through one of his own, and knows how it feels. All that anticipation and buildup, all those expectations of a new life shattered? That’s a powerful moment. The reason why it’s so hated and mocked relentlessly is because A. Three strips ago we were having silly comedy, and have had the wackiness for the past 5 years, making it the worst possible place to do it, and B. Ethan and Lilah are more archetypes than characters, so the moment has no weight. Speaking of Archetypes:

The Double Act
You might know this as the “Wacky Guy-Straight Man” thing, but it refers to any comedy where the jokes are derived from the uneven relationship between two characters, and the play off their personalities. Felix is neat, Oscar is messy. Adam Savage is very loose and friendly, Jamie Hynemann is reserved and professional. PC is stuffy and in denial, Mac… doesn’t really do anything. Usually in a webcomic this plays out where one guy is a sarcastic eye-roller, paired with a man so wacky that he mails bobcats to strangers ( http://xkcd.com/325/), eats paper bags ( http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20091202), and beats up his Dreamcast in a drunken stupor (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/9/8/)

The most recognized double act is between Bud Abbot, who was usually a schemer, and Louis Costello, who was normally a man-child, and former always tried to play the latter for a fool. Sounds familiar, right? However, consider the average webcomic to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo4NCXOX0p8

Cool, right? Costello (the fat one) was wrong, but at least knew enough in his own weird way that his solution was possible. He isn’t really stupid, he just thinks in a different way. In the usual “GamerDorks” or “ROFLiends”, Abbot (the tall one) would punch Costello in the face and call him a retard, then cross his arms and go “Heh”.

I’ll give you a more contemporary exampleof a good double act: Homestar Runner. Yeah, Homestar’s the dunce, and Strong Bad is the “smart” one, but at the very least, they’re still their own people. The different peripheral characters have their own associations with either one. Marzipan tolerates Homestar, but hates Strong Bad, and Bubs’s “sales tactics” work better on the naïve H*R, whereas Strong Bad gets screwed more indirectly. The important thing here is that this play on personalities is an act, and not the sole motivation behind the characters.

3. Going back on the whole “experience” thing, Read.
Not just blogs either. But books. Did you know that Hunter S. Thompson, the writer of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, re-typed “The Great Gatsby” ad verbatim for practice? He wanted to get a feel for Fitzgerald’s writing. Or, as he put it, “to know what it’s like to have those words flow through him”. Since webcomics are a more “minimalist’ medium, you don’t need as much prose, but books can definitely serve as an inspiration. Read different styles too. Even read the newspaper, just to see all the different ways people can convey information and put a picture in your head. To counter that:

4. Read shit as well.
Just so you know what NOT to do. I think something like Sonichu servse as an example of how to do it wrong in every way possible, from writing dialogue, to telling a story, and even life in general. Just try reading it, as well as any bad webcomic aloud. Doesn’t it feel awkward to say? Aren’t you left with frustration wondering who the hell thought having someone say that was a good idea? Good. Now go back to your own work. I’ll guarantee you’ll be looking out for poorly written walls of text. (http://cogsdev.110mb.com/cwcki/images/9/98/SchuComic9P92.jpg). It’s even worse when the author gets really pretentious about it and yells “YOU JUST DON’T GET IT!!”, like in the infamous Broken Mirror, a comic John Solomon soundly thrashed in his blog.

I’m serious, the bitch writes like an English major desperate for validation of her liberal arts degree. The most infuriating instance of this is when a punk rock looking chav says: "Shouldn't I furtively thrust a wad of fifties into your palm before heading to the sewers… clandestine, intent on pursuing my perilous trade?" instead of “Shouldn’t I slip you some cash, then sneak off into the sewers with the other crack heads?” Who the hell use furitively in casual conversation? I know what those words mean, but they belong in the mouth a pretentious douche, not a druggie. It’s a sound lesson in giving each character their own voice. Which brings me to:

5. Remember, you’re writing for ME.

At the end of the day, you need to get your idea into my head. Because it’s the internet, there is some leeway as far as your audience. You don’t have to use stock jokes and appeal to the lowest common denominator. Penny Arcade assumes you keep up with video game news. Theater Hopper assumes you keep up with the latest movies. Some comics, like a regular read of mine PhDComics, assumes that its audience has at least gone through some post-undergrad work, or at the very least is college educated. However, you have shit like XKCD which goes too far in that direction, with some strips assuming that I look at random physics entries on Wikipedia just to get a half-assed pun.

Or anything Kate Beaton, that makes me go back to the nightmare that was High School Global History. However, she at least jokes that can be amusing outside of the historical context of the strip. Same goes with Penny Arcade: you might not get the reference, but you can get the joke.

Those are only a few of the ways webcomics can teach us some valuable lessons about writing. Oh! One more important lesson:

6. Set a schedule.

I was super productive during NaNoWriMo because I had a deadline to work with. All good webcomics follow a strict updating schedule, to keep in the habit of writing. While something Lackadaisy Cats is the exception to the rule, the author does have multiple page updates that are of professional quality. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a VGCats-like scenario where you’ll get something meh every other month that ends in a Y.

But really I brought it up was because Koltreg wanted this by Sunday, and instead I masturbated and played Team Fortress 2.

Guest Review - dinosaurs vs robots

2009-12-31T23:59:00.001-05:00

The first review is by James from the webcomic SketchCountry.

dinosaurs vs robots

The 'versus' comic has been a cornerstone of the publishing industry ever since Trog vs Grunt was lovingly inked on a cave wall in 3000BC. There's something instantly appealing about two classic comic characters going head-to-head in the ultimate showdown. Robocop vs the Terminator, even Batman vs Predator if only for novelty value.

In the grand tradition then, Robots vs Dinosaurs puts two classic comic standbys together. A robot and his pet cyber-hound move into their new home, to fine it's been pre-occupied by two decidedly odd dinosaurs. Cliché as it may be, hilarity genuinely does ensue. I discovered Dinosaurs vs Robots a month ago, and I've been a fan ever since readingthis strip, closely followed by this one.

Presentation is high quality throughout. The classic inking style is well executed and more importantly the website is tidy and navigable (based on comicpress' superb plug-in for wordpress). The only colour special to date is further evidence that the author, BWGunner, has talent to spare. This isn't a comic that's standing still either, a move tophotoshop recently was another step up in terms of quality.

The plot has moved on too, from the surreal beginning to the start of an epic space opera with the introduction of the FIB, a tiny pirate hunter. To be hyper-critical, his introduction (with a healthy dose of exposition) has been the only slightly clunky episode to date, but having passed that bump we're back to a fast-paced comic with good pacing. The comics end on a good gag, build the story and keep up momentum, a tough challenge for any writer but managed admirably here.

So, fifteen comics in, where are we? This is a hugely promising comic, from someone who can clearly write as well as draw. With too many webcomics you get one or the other, so here's hoping the regular Sunday updates keep coming.

Heads Up

2009-12-28T23:59:00.000-05:00

Apparently I misjudged the number of days I will be gone so his will count as the Tuesday update. I have two coming up though on Friday and Tuesday. The review for next Friday will be up late Friday if at all.

Happy New Year.

If You Book Faces

2009-12-28T15:18:00.002-05:00

If you are on Facebook, I suppose you may want to advertise the blog by becoming a fan in which case you should click here.

The First Annual Kollies

2009-12-23T22:57:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the first ever semi annual Koltreg's Nerding Review Blog Awards Blog Blog Blog or the Kollies. The awards come with nothing except a few views, some nice words and a pair of robot hands if you come and meet me in person to receive them in the next ....5 days. I came up with a decent number of categories so I hope you enjoy. Honestly though, I was not able to award every comic I wanted so just because something does not appear it does not mean it is not good.

Either way, enjoy. I'll meet you after the list.

Best Added Webcomic (Older Than A Year)

*MS Paint Adventures* I added it and fell in love really quickly with the comic. I spent an entire night reading the Problem Sleuth archive and I have done so twice since. Epic, hilarious. Check it out.

Daisy Owl

KinkoFry

Best Added Webcomic (New This Year - Mostly)

*Gunshow* KC Green's newest piece of work is immature, intelligent and dangerous. Check it out now, funk soul brother.

Hanna Is Not A Boys Name

City of Reality/Love Me Nice (Tie)

Best Art - Minimalist:

*Nedroid* Simple, crisp and yet he has proven his chops on Dr. McNinja (as the colorist) and through his more advanced art.

Bear & Kitten

Allan

Best Art - Adept:

*Boxer Hockey* Simple, colorful and bright - Tyson Hesse shows why he may very well be the next great animator n the country.

MS Paint Adventures

Love Me Nice

Best Art - Advanced:

*Lackadaisy Cats* I confused an illustration of a cat with an actual photo. Need I say more?

The Zombie Hunters

Hanna Is Not A Boys Name

Best Writing - Comedy:

*Unwinder's Tall Comics* Deep, ironic and somewhat delusional. Amazing but in more than just a guttural laughing way.

Scary Go Round/Bad Machinery (Same Series)

Daisy Owl/MS Paint Adventures (Tie)

Best Writing - Dramatic:

*City of Reality* Dark with a story that is deepening as the story goes on.

Gunnerkrigg Court

The Meek

Best Character - Comedy:

*Rittz - Boxer Hockey * Psychotic, disturbing and immature.

John Egbert - MS Paint Adventures

Dr. McNinja - The Adventures of Dr. McNinja

Best Character - Dramatic:

*Luca deSadar - The Meek* Just read it to understand why.

Annie - Gunnerkrigg Court

The One Electronic - Rice Boy

Best Comedy Webcomic :

*MS Paint Adventures* See best added webcomic - comedy listing.

Boxer Hockey

Bad Machinery/Scary Go Round

Best Dramatic Webcomic:

*The Zombie Hunters* Zombies in a scary and realistic world with even scarier characters.

Rice Boy

The Meek

In the next year I hope to see some major changes in the K-blog. First things first I will be going and moving to my own server off of this. In doing so I hope to foster a larger community, gain some credibility and be able to have some more freedom with design. Here is to the next year. I will do my best to update on time though I am going away for a week. I will send it to my associate who should be helping out while I fight Aztecs in Mexico for their gold.

Pax.

Also if sending me an article, please send it by Monday at the very very latest.

Double New Comic Review

2009-12-22T13:56:00.001-05:00

Both of these comics are new but I want to help them grow them with my blessing since I apparently have a few big webcomic reviewers watching me. Share the love bigger and more well known reviewers!

Also I apologize for any errors in the writing. I wanted to get the article up today and my editors were both busy. If there are any errors that you see, feel free to contact me with the handy contact box.

Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name by Tessa Stone

Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name is a mouthful. It is also one of the most artistically energetic comics I have seen in a while. Each page is charged to the tip with color and excitement. Not to mention the coloring is amazing as well as the linework and the writing and generally the comic has a style that is all its own. I mean jeeze the comic is great. I feel overly energized just writing about it.

The art for HINABN is as I said, very stylistic. The lines are all varying in size and shape and made with skill and care. The colors have a beautiful watercolor look to them. Even the font and the lettering choices work well and seem to have consideration applied to them. I can hardly stop giving praise for the art of the comic.

The writing is equally as strong with well defined personalities and relationships already prevalent. The comic mostly focuses on Hanna, a boy (or man really), who runs a paranormal detective agency. Thus they deal with the paranormal. The storytelling itself also has a great sense of irony as the energetic story is told by a dead man with no energy or ability to convey it. Purposeful irony points are gained.

I love the comic, the art is amazing and the writing is great. Start reading it now and you wont be disappointed.

On an unrelated side note I'd love to see the comic go into print based solely on the looks.

Final score:A+

(Sorry for that but my brain literally starts going wild when discussing or thinking about the comic, I enjoy it that much.)

Love Me Nice by Amanda Lafrenais

Love Me Nice reminds me of the all too short-lived series Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. The show was intelligent, witty and catered to that crowd. The tone and the pacing between the show and the comic are similar as well. The comic has a great deal of potential for attracting a bigger, more intelligent audience and getting more critical praise than the average webcomic. Basically I am saying the comic is refined and intelligent. It is a good thing that there are no funding or ratings for webcomics like tv shows have because it would probably fall to be replaced by yet another gaming strip. A comic as great as this with a more niche appeal deserves love.

Love Me Nice is essentially the tale of cartoon characters working in a world where they exist as actors and real people instead of just drawings, sort of like Who Framed Roger Rabiit. As a new comic there hasn't been as much storyline developed since there are only 27 pages but it is not rushing into things which is appropriate. There are hints of things though and I enjoy reading each page.

The art for Love Me Nice has mostly been black and white linework and it works for keeping the comic grounded in the false reality that it creates. If it were all brightly colored like the first few pages it might be too distracting and lose the sense on realism that it is building. The characters are also well designed and diverse and prove that Mrs. Lafrenais has the talent needed to blend multiple styles of characters into one setting with making them look overly different.

The comic is intelligent, creative and well drawn and deserves your attention. A+

Coming up this Friday will be my Year In Review article where I discuss my favorite new comics, the comics that did the best over the past year and my predictions for the next year. Following that I have a few guest articles including on from the infamous Angry Webcomic Geek that should prove well opposed to my normal stance on comics and then maybe one or two other guest articles.

Reach Out And Touch Space

2009-12-21T23:10:00.000-05:00

In a recent discussion with Rico brought on by my sudden need for a topic, he pointed out the fact that comic characters rarely touch each other. I had never thought about it before and had to see for myself. I quickly looked at the most recent comics of my current reading list (as it was a random sample) and only 5 comics had people fully touching (or 6 if you want to count partially off panel stuff). The comics were Gunshow, Lackadaisy Cats, Nedroid, The Meek and Three Panel Soul. This brings up the question - why the hell don't more creators draw their characters touching? The reasons themselves fall into three categories - they don't need to be (which is self explanatory), they can't be drawn that way or the artist is afraid to draw them that way.

If the scene doesn't call for the characters to be touching, then there's no need for the creator to draw them touching. The last thing I would like to see infact is more and more people having their characters touch solely because of this article (haha, that would never happen). Touching can be an important tool in storytelling though. The embrace is one of the most telling signs of body language.If two characters are having a discussion there is likely no need for them to touch. If nothing else, there is a need to understand anatomy and it is a reason a lot of comic makers struggle. They must be able to grasp anatomy and use it like the tool that it is, otherwise they are in trouble.

If their grasp of basic anatomy and physicality is so poor that they cannot draw their characters touching, then the artist must figure out how to get past that hurdle. This is possibly the fault of the author though in my experience as an artist, drawing these interactions between fully imagined characters can be difficult. They must cease to be 2-dimensional figures and have a more real depth. They must now be able to exist more outside in the reality than before. Basically it is more difficult.

The difficulty here is overcoming that fear. I honestly hate artistic fear more than anything as it has the power to destroy and distort dreams. Unlike that average trope the schoolyard bully though, standing up and saying you are not afraid of anatomy is enough to master it. Anatomy is a difficult thing to learn as you must still find the skills needed to overcome it. Perhaps this fear is what keeps some artists from progressing. Perhaps it is that force of progress though, that may cause webcomics to become a more respected medium.

Fear, difficulty and necessity are all forces that gather to stop the webcomic artist. This truth extends beyond simply being able to draw characters touching. It becomes the sole truth of drawing anything. You must learn and gather what you need, be able to do it no matter what doubts you have. Those five comics I pointed out are all drawn by artists who know this truth in one way or another. They are not the only ones on my list who do. Either way, the next time you are drawing take a look at their work for inspiration. Leave your comfort zone and try something a little different.

Obviously Running Late

2009-12-20T00:20:00.002-05:00

I forgot that the holiday season required a great sacrifice of personal time. Still I can't complain. I will do my best to get the articles (double update!) ready for Tuesday.

Pax for Now.

How To Get Into Webcomics - Part 3

2009-12-15T12:43:00.000-05:00

Apparently at least two people have found the previous articles in the series helpful. The number is rather small and I dare say that I wish I could be sarcastically joking about my number of readers, but alas this is not the case. Nonetheless, as part of my promises that I make from time to time, I must finish this series and then just maybe, my goal of summoning a talkative and positive community of blog readers shall be completed successfully. Holding off on this article any longer would increase the likelihood of instead summoning an elder god whose very presence and eldritch typing would reduce me to a gibbering shell of a man.
In the previous sections I have discussed finding comics you enjoy in Part 1 (will link this) along with the building of communities, an idea I expanded upon in Part 2 (will link

this).

So far I have only talked in detail about joining a webcomic community while reading webcomics as if this were the only way to "read" webcomics. While I am a rather social animal and desire this relationship between myself and similar fans, not everyone desires the companionship and community that I do. This is in the same way that everyone may not desire a companion as seen in Firefly or a community as seen in the TV show of the same name (both are highly recommended for viewing).

The point of being in a community is to be socially interactive as you, most likely a nerdy person, may not be prone to be. While on this note I am basing the lack of a social life on stereotypes of the nerdy community at large. I am aware of the following facts as well:
Not all people who read webcomics are nerds.
Not all nerds are the pasty, skinny, glasses wearing nerds.
I myself am rather tanned, have good vision and I also enjoy popular music, consorting with people in "the real world" and eschewing my former nerdy habits and hobbies as a sort of ritual cleansing to prepare myself for the adult world. I ramble though and for that I apologize, you nerds.

If you want a rich experience from reading webcomics without the social interaction, then simply read them. I wish that I might be more specific than that but I can’t. You simply need to read webcomics.

As this article deals with social interactions involved with webcomics, if you are not a person who enjoys this topic then I can say your interest might fade after this point. I am about to further discuss the webcomic social interactions as pertaining to forum activity and conventions. I apologize as well for being longwinded right now as a side effect to listening to books on tape (It is John Hodgman's first book if you wanted to know).
Now, the forum community is a rarely changing place, except on the very minute scale. The general face and feel will stay the same (unless some massive mod action occurs) and as such, the chances are that you can tell the state and alignment of the forum after a short time there. As I am a recovering nerd, the word alignment made me apply the Dungeons and Dragons alignment scale to forum types. For examples examine The Table Below.

The Table Below:
LG: The forum is run mostly with moderator control and the rules are enforced but only as a way to make sure little or no trolling happens.
LN: The forum has mods but they only act when things truly get bad or when there are spambots.
LE: The forum has mods who are dicks and use the rules to ban members often for their fun.
NG: The forums are self moderated usually by karma with people quickly weeding out troublemakers.
NN: The forums are self moderated but they allow people to mess around as long as nothing too bad happens, unless it is hilarious.
NE: The forums are self moderated in theory but about 6 people really control everything.
CG: The forums are a social ground where there are no rules and people simply believe in working together.
CN: The forums are a social network with people who you like or dislike and avoid if you hate them.
CE: See YouTube, 4chan and pretty much the stereotypical Internet. Chaotic but entertaining. You ask them for computer help and you end up erasing your memory with a magnet.

The alignment of the community generally affects how you should act and if you should be there at all. If you are nervous when you are about to post a comment, you may be at the wrong forum. Once again, I cannot speak any more specifically on the topic nor can I necessarily find a good example for each alignment as it is your journey to make.
I myself am currently active on a LN forum, the VG Cats forums and a LG forum, the MS Paint Adventures forum. I was previously on hybrid LN/LE forum over at the Slackerz but my actions there garnered me some derision and I have since vacated it.

Conventions are the final topic of the article and are the aspect of the webcomic community that I am least familiar with. I have attended gaming conventions which I reported on and I also have attended a comic-book convention though it was small and only had two webcomic artists there (thank you again Mr. Guigar). I have so far lacked the transportation, motivation and money to travel to a webcomic convention so far

though I hope this will soon change.

As such is the case I cannot say much on the topic other than if you are going, treat each webcomic artist with respect (though you may loath them in some cases), respect everyone there (even if they reek of onions) and try and support the artists if you can by buying something (as booths and travel and hotels are all expensive). If nothing else tell them that you enjoy their comic and what you like about it. Also if you get stuck in line, be patient and don't seem like you are in a hurry. You don't want the webcomic people to rush your turn so make them not rush other people’s turns.
Hopefully now you know more about the world of webcomics than you previously did. I know slightly more myself though my knowledge pertains more to the school of not promising three articles when you give the basic stuff you need in the first article. That is all as it is currently late and I am behind on several projects.

No Review This Week

2009-12-10T17:37:00.004-05:00

I am taking the weekend off to focus on finals week. I will attempt to have part three of "How To Get Into Webcomics" up on Tuesday though. If not, finals will be why.

Also, are you interested in guest writing an article for the blog on webcomics, either personal reviews or an essay on theory and practice and trends and such? If so shoot me an email and contact me via chat.

Edit: I ended up googling myself since I got a big link yesterday from Akira the Don for a sound project. Apparently much more famous webcomic reviewer El Santo found my blog and commented on it thanks to help from Art Patient. Kudos to everyone. Now just comment a little more and show me that you readers all exist.

I am off to bed at a late hour.

How To Get Into Webcomics - Part 2

2009-12-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

So let us say for a second now that you've been reading the webcomic for a few months. You get up early on the mornings it updates to check for the new page and to post about it. You like to check the forums at work or at school and see if somebody replied to your pun about “robots” and “bolts”. Well even if you are not to that extreme, my point is that you are enjoying a comic now. You are ready for the next step. Now you need something more: a new comic, a new way to validate your fandom or even to try and make you own comic.
It took you three weeks of heavy reading to get all that way through the MS Paint Adventures archives or you wanted to slowly savor Unwinder's scathing critique of internet culture in small doses. Suddenly though you are lost. You get to the front page of the site and the next button leads nowhere. You have caught up in your reading! Now without that immediate-content high you are feeling like you need a buzz. Something else to focus on. This is where look to start reading bigger webcomics or try something that you see randomly in an ad or on a forum. Feel free to pull something randomly off of the list. You have your main comic so far to stay with. Take chances, make mistakes, get messy as the saying goes.
After a few weeks of trying new webcomics, you feel that urge. You still have feelings for your first webcomic. It was there and it introduced you into the form. You want to repay the feelings. This return for the hardwork and labor is why some webcomic artists get into the game. The easiest way for you to repay the good feeling the comic gave you is to simply donate a few bucks directly to the artist or to buy something that they are selling (or even have somebody get it for you … the holiday season is coming up, after all.) If monetary compensation is out of the way, find a way to increase the audience to the comic. Can you link it to friends who may like the comic? What about using Facebook/Myspace/Twitter to discuss the comic? If social networks are not your thing, write the artist a note of thanks explaining what you like and dislike about the comic. If you’re involved in the comic’s forums, post your thoughts or fan-art there. This is positive reinforcement that webcomic creators enjoy, knowing they touched somebody personally.
Now you may feel that you know the world of webcomics now. You think you might be able to make one yourself. First off, take a moment to think about it. Making a webcomic is a big commitment. You need to go and dedicate your time to do this. Have you ever drawn or written before? Is there any sustainability in the idea? Yes, I DO mean to discourage you from rushing headfirst into the form just because you like it. It is hard to get into especially with little training or talent or background knowledge. As authors working in all literary fields will tell you, you need more to be a good writer than just being an enthusiastic reader. I have written an entire article on the topic here though so that may benefit you if you want to make your own.
Part 1 discussed getting in your first webcomic and community. Here in Part 2 we covered where to go from there. Part 3 will be next Tuesday where I discuss a bit of forum Netiquette, conventions, and how to have a fulfilling webcomic life without the forums.

City of Reality Review

2009-12-03T23:05:00.001-05:00

City of Reality by Ian Sampson

I pointed out in the Byrobot review that webcomics nowadays need a flare to be seen in the stale sea of the Internet. It takes a flare that is not only bright but also useful. If you shoot a flare that is too flashy and gaudy, it can be ignored for being tacky. Comics that use Flash usually fall into this category especially if they use it as a cheaper form of animation (Note: This does refer to MS Paint Adventures which uses Flash well). City of Reality actually uses Flash well, both creatively and as a device to tell the story.

City of Reality is a comic about a city called Reality which exists in what seems to be part of a vast network of virtual worlds. The comic has revealed only a little about what the entire universe is but from what I can tell it is a bit of virtual reality and video gaming with each section of the world having its own society and laws. The main city is an idyllic place where everyone gets along perfectly, even to that sitcomic level where cats and dogs would shake hands and be friends. This lifestyle of peace and perfection in and of itself could easily destroy the comic but by making it only one world, by introducing the universe and by dealing with actual issues and philosophy, albeit a little light in some areas, the comic develops realness.

The story mostly follows the exploits of three kids as they work to save the world. As a superhero team, they learn about the world and go on missions, learning about life at the same time. It sounds hackneyed and uninteresting but the way the comic is set up, it works. It balances comedy with enough drama to be able to be taken seriously.

As I mentioned in the beginning though, I am a big fan of how City of Reality incorporates Flash. Without giving it away, it allows for time travel, choose-your-own-adventure and a lot of other interesting ideas. Most of all, it feels like it fits with the comic.

The art in and of itself is not necessarily stylistic but it is solid and cartoony at least early on. There do seem to be hints of changes in art style depending on the world. The use of lighting in the comic is also well done and Ian Sampson knows how to create a mood.

The infrequent (bi-monthly!) update schedule could be a problem, but actually works for the comic. "How", you might ask? By posting an entire chapter of about 30 pages or so with each update. It makes the two updates worth the wait. Each section is satisfying and you want to come back. Not to mention you avoid getting lost in long running storylines or by forgetting details between updates.

All in all, the comic is excellent. If the art were tweaked a bit more to be more stylistic (the thin lines art doesn't do too much for me) I would have it on my list of all time favorites for dramatic comics. It deserves a look and a spot on your reading list. A+

How to Get Into Webcomics - Part 1

2009-11-30T22:31:00.005-05:00

Welcome to part one of my proposed three part series on webcomics from the fan end of things. You, the readers or potential readers of the genre, have an unfortunate scenario. You are most likely thrust headfirst into the wide sea of webcomics with little direction or information. With no map or general sense of direction you can miss out on rescue. So that is why I am here, partially to give you pointers on where to go for a good start in the genre, how to expand what you read and what to do afterwards. This week we will focus on you getting your footing, or your island but either way, lets drop the metaphors.

Nobody starts out with the same webcomic knowledge base or from the same exact point. There are too many webcomics you can start reading and heck, even if you start reading the same one that 500 other people do you can still have a different experience with it based on when you start reading or who you know that is also reading it.

I myself started out with Dominic Deegan and VG Cats which a friend linked me to. Neither of the comics were perfect but I loved that ability to discuss the comics with my friend and we made inside references to it. He read a few other comics I never got into and I started exploring more and more comics until I reached my current point. Along the way I dropped Dominic Deegan because I stopped enjoying it and VG Cats stayed because it rarely updated but it was decent enough when it did. The fact that I was also a forum member on VG Cats helped me to keep reading (but the forums have mostly trended away from reading the comic to become a separate entity which no longer focuses on the comic). Still, these two webcomics set me on my way by exploring what they linked.

Finding your own path is the most important thing because nothing sets off a potential webcomic fan like a failing webcomic. The ideal webcomic to start with is a middle aged webcomic. The creator is dedicated enough that it will most likely not end, the community is small enough to make a mark and you can feel free to be yourself without worrying about people being jerks. It is honestly more important than it sounds because a majority of trolls seem to be those people who started around trolls (people who make others angry for personal enjoyment). Another benefit of webcomics of this size is that they are aware of other webcomics. They will link to them and help you to build your own list. They will form groups and help each other become accessible at conventions and other areas. While you grow you are helping the author grow.

If you go with a big or small webcomic you face threats. If the comic is too big or too small, the ego is a threat. Authors may not update, they may decide to start other projects or they may just go and rest on their laurels. See VG Cats, Perry Bible Fellowship or one of the thousands of webcomics that are under 20 pages long with updated that are months behind schedule. These other comics often have dangerous forums for you as well. The small ones may be dead or filled with bots (which I can attest to - I had more advertising robots on my old forum than posts). The big forums can be harsh landscapes full of those “sage” posters with tens of thousands of posts where the slightest mistake causes you to fall under attack. Monetary dangers, pledge drives and such can also befall these comics killing them. If the comic starts putting out more news updates asking for money than new comics, you have a problem. If the artist makes more t-shirts than pages, you have a problem. Start with a medium webcomic.

However if you want something you can just read, that is fine. These comics are community links and community is what makes webcomics work. These are not the ivory castle of the print comics. These people are fine getting down and dirty. I will discuss community in the next section but here is my list of starter webcomics.

The List:
Nedroid - simple, random comedy
Dead Winter - zombie horror comedy
Unwinder's Tall Comics - Internet culture critique comedy
MS Paint Adventures - choose your own adventure parody
Gunnerkrigg Court - smart fantasy adventure
Allan - autobiographical webcomic

The List consists of webcomics with good communities to try, where you can begin your webcomic reading campaign.

The following list consist of good non-community webcomics.

The Strictly Reading List:
Penny Arcade - The Main Gaming Webcomic
The Adventures of Dr. McNinja - action adventure comic
Scary Go Round/ Bad Machinery - adventure comic
VG Cats - rarely updating gaming webcomic

These comics are not bad but I am simply less familiar with the communities or they are bigger communities. They are still great to read though.

When you have your webcomic list though, what can you do when you want to find more comics you enjoy, how can you reciprocate your appreciation and where will you go. Come back next Tuesday for part 2.

Interview with Jenny from The Zombie Hunters

2009-11-24T15:19:00.004-05:00

Happy PreThanksgiving readers and visitors (who hopefully become readers).

Today, an interview with Jenny R. from The Zombie Hunters. It is about 10 minutes (9:45) so short enough for that lunch break. Listen to it here!

No update Friday since I will be passed out from family activities and feasting. Have a pleasant holiday or generally good day for the non-North American viewers.

Pax!

Edit:

The List of suggested webcomics can be found here.

Byrobot Review

2009-11-19T23:45:00.001-05:00

Byrobot by Byron Hussie

Byrobot falls in the category of comics that I describe as purposefully simplistic. These comics focus on breaking down the comic to the roots. Works in this category usually consist of individual pages that are three to four panels of very sketchy artwork. In fact in my interview with Byron Hussie, he confesses that he doesn't spend very much time on the comic. It shows but honestly the comic works because of that simplicity. This ironic negligence that has caused other similar comics to strike it big - ie Toothpaste For Dinner, xkcd, Explosm (to a lesser extent) and so on.

The art as I said is very simplistic. A primal force that breaks humor to the basics. Sketches. That same term that we use for short bits of comedy. Not always full formed.

The writing for the current comics either come from the readers in the form of loose ideas or from the mind of Hussie himself, a seemingly chaotic world of loose associations and references. The jokes themselves often lack a true punchline.

Besides the fan submissions and the family connections (to Andrew Hussie of MS Paint Adventures) the comic lacks the big draw it needs to stake its claim in the genre. Possibly multiple daily updates, maybe alternate comics or maybe figuring a way to allow people to post comments on the comic themselves

As it stands now it is good for a laugh or for a moment but it lacks completion. Still as a new comic with a long background of older material it may just find that missing piece. B-

Next week I review City of Reality, a webcomic that uses Flash well!

Interview with Rico from Art Souls

2009-11-17T02:36:00.002-05:00

Rico does a enjoyable comic called Art Souls that you can find here. The interview is timed at 13:12 (short enough to listen to mayhaps?)

Check it out here and tell me what you think.

Next Tuesday I have an interview with Jenny from The Zombie Hunters.

Fronting On The Internet -A Letter to TheWebcomicList.com

2009-11-12T22:35:00.003-05:00

Sorry to Byrobot for preempting the review of your comic for this but I got caught up with work. The review will go up next Friday.

I am a man who enjoys webcomics as you 10 or so readers know. I hate the bad ones where people don't realize how bad they are. I enjoy the ones where the creators attempt to improve. What really pisses me off though are websites that list webcomics. Not because they are biased but honestly because they are unbiased. This factor means that a poorly made webcomic is given the same space as Penny Arcade. While it is "fair" and such, webcomics are about quality.

One of the sites that is a major criminal is TheWebcomicList.com. I sent a list of my grievances to the person running the site:

Dear Mr Young,
My name is Luke "Koltreg" H*** and I like to read and write webcomics as well as run a blog where I review webcomics to help people find good ones. In theory your website, The Webcomic List should also help people find quality webcomics. This is based on the idea of what a search site is supposed to do which is to help people find quality content so they don't need to wade through bad content. Instead though, The Webcomic List is a visually abrasive, poorly managed abyss filled with mostly bad webcomics.
Now, as much as I enjoy webcomics through my pursuit of the genre I have come to the revelation that not every comic is good. Not every comic deserves notoriety. Not every comic deserves a chance. Its like how not every Little Leaguer will become a professional baseball player. A majority of the people who make a business of hosting webcomics and following this practice hold little or no care about the genre that you are supposedly supporting. I am talking about DrunkDuck, ComicGenesis and SmackJeeves. These sites are the tools of the desperate and the undedicated comic creators. There is a reason Chris Crosby of Keenspot created Comic Genesis, to keep the name of KeenSpot somewhat untarnished. To show the cream of the crop. You show all of the crop and this is a bad business practice.
What I am suggesting is that you find people who care about the genre of webcomics to fix the site, to provide content and to generally clean up the dead comics, look for actual quality work and elevate it up. Have editors sections. Have weekly suggestions that you make if you care about the genre. Reach out into the online community and find people who are talking up quality work. Invite comic creators to use your website. Invite blog writers to write content for you for extra views. If nothing else, fix the web design.

A small list of things to fix:
- Orange is a poor color to base a site design on. Change it to something more professional. You are a professional web designer and yet the site is ugly and looks unprofessional and this is coming from a 1st year web design student and the opinions of three other students who are in the work field.
- The square links to comics at the top are annoying, there seems to be no quality control and it seems to serve little purpose other than to scare away potential users.
- Fix the ads that you have and hold some tact. Remove the Evony ads if nothing else so that some webcomics can buy space there and even then, don't sell the ads to any webcomic. Hell, you let The Outer Circle post and that is a horrible webcomic composed of pure copy-paste art, misogynistic-humor and cookie cutter characters. One of your ads is just a black and white blur.
- It is hard to tell what are and what are not links. The W3C made web links blue and underlined for a reason, so you could tell what they are. The FAQs have no underlines at the top so for all that I know, they could be simple text.
- Overall it is cluttered, difficult to navigate and it shows a lack of care.
- Check for update patterns on the webcomics that are on. Yes it is unfair for comics that infrequently update but it is a business. If you were to only make a site every few months, you would be out of a job.

Sincerely,
Luke "Koltreg" H***
http://koltreg.blogspot.com/

(1)

I was rather unprofessional I confess. I woke the next morning with this reply:

Not quite sure what the point of this email is, other than to offend?

I’m curious what makes you the expert? J

Regards

Ash Young

Evoluted New Media

(2)

So I replied with this:

I am aware that some of my wording was rather harsh and obtuse in my previous email and I partially apologize for my unprofessional tone. I am not a professional or an expert though and I am far from being an self entitled official reviewer of the genre, I still love webcomics. As much as I want the webcomic genre to grow into something respectable, I know it can't be done through equality for comics. There is a need for echelons of quality in any free and growing media. The comics like Achewood, Penny Arcade and PVP made their way to being profitable by being the best, by dedicating themselves to the art and while some bad webcomics even made it, these popular webcomics earned the fact that they entertain thousands of people. As the owner and manager of the website you have an opportunity.
You can help create something that people want to actually use to find new and quality webcomics. I see that the way to do this is by making is harder to be featured. If a person pays the $15 fee and then stops updating you have the money but you also have a dead webcomic. The lists themselves are hard to navigate and unless you know the exact name of what you are searching for it is a hassle to find it. If this is what the visitors to the site are doing then they normally have their own link to the webcomic and then your site serves no purpose.
I spent my time looking at other webcomic websites where people at least make somewhat of a profit. These writers and managers do things different and while not perfect, they do something that I see is better. Other webcomic sites reduce what they advertise to what they see as being worth it, not to any site waving a stick (and most use Project Wonderful created by a webcomic creator supporting the genre). Other webcomic sites hold actual reviews and create a sense of community by having recognizable names and personas for the people who work on the site. Other webcomic sites have been able to get actual webcomic artists to create content for them for free and for more than just being a publicity stunt.
Like I said though, I am not an expert at all. I am an amateur (which is what any reviewer is until they are paid). I am still an art student learning a lot of the generic stuff. It is my love of the genre that gives me a reason to send these emails though. It is the fact that when I used your site to find new comics randomly, 18 out of 20 that I found had not updated in over at least a year. It is the fact that I showed the site to web and graphic designers, they said that the site look unprofessional. It is the fact that you are the third site that comes up when I google "webcomic" and this should mean it is a useful site.
I really have no strength though. I have no power and nothing of value that makes me right or that means you have to listen to me. I am just one person on the Internet trying to improve a site on something that he loves and love is worth fighting an impossible fight.

Sincerely,
Luke H***

(3)

It has been about a week without a reply. In discussions on the topic and the site friend of the blog Chris Jeffrey commented

"Well when it was launched (which was at least 5 or 6 years ago) it kicked the shit out of other comic list sites. (4) However, the only things added since then have been the Twitter links and the forum user-run awards. (5)"

which says a lot about the website and how it is being run.

I doubt anything will come from my single email but if you agree, feel free to send him an email or 12.

1) "Koltreg" H, Luke. "The Webcomic List." Message to Ash Young. 7 Nov. 2009. E-mail.

2) Ash Young. "RE: The Webcomic List." Message to "Koltreg" H, Luke. 7 Nov. 2009. E-mail.

3 "Koltreg" H, Luke. "RE:RE:The Webcomic List." Message to Ash Young. 7 Nov. 2009. E-mail.

4) Jeffery, Chris. Twitter. 7 Nov. 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2009.

5) Jeffery, Chris. Twitter. 7 Nov. 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2009.

Byron Hussie Interview

2009-11-10T19:58:00.003-05:00

The Koltreg Blog presents an interview (chat style) with Byron Hussie of Byrobot. Come back Friday for a review and Tuesdays for Interview type stuff.

Koltreg: Indeed. This interview is setting Koltreg Blog history. The Kol-Byro-Intro-Show.

Byron Hussie: Huge. Huge.

Koltreg: Massive.

Byron Hussie: Shall we?

Koltreg: Oh, we already are. But lets get down to the business. How would you describe your comic?

Byron Hussie: not very well drawn

Koltreg: Haha.

How would you describe it so people would want to read it?

Byron Hussie: I'm not much of a salesman but you know, I'll take an idea and do something that maybe you wouldn't expect. Lots of bait and switch and non-punchline punchlines. Also maybe it's kind of cute?

Koltreg: In a way.

Koltreg: It reminds me a lot of your brothers older stuff.

Koltreg: Manimals and such.

Byron Hussie: Humanimals

Koltreg: Yeah.

Byron Hussie: Yeah, we have been drawing comics like this for years. He used to do them on a website called "Team Special Olympics." He'd do kind of tossed off stuff like I do called scriblettes. Then he had another tier where he'd work a little harder on the artwork called "blurbs." And then occasionally he'd do really detailed expansive stuff like whistles. I basically can only do the scriblette type stuff. I have not worked very hard on my art. But yeah we have been doing this kind of crap since we were children.

Koltreg: I have a brother so I understand that whole competitive relations and interest thing.

What would you say are your favorite webcomics right now?

Byron Hussie: Achewood is probably my all time favorite. I also like Jeffrey Rowland's stuff, Wigu and Overcompensating. I like KC Green because I kinda see his stuff as what I would do if I was better Same with White Ninja and uhhh Dr. McNinja is classic. MSPaint Aventures is good too.

Koltreg: I do see a lot of similarities between some of the comics you are mentioning, KC Green and White Ninja. The humor and the art and such.

Byron Hussie: White ninja i think has kind of a similar backstory, two dudes just drawing little comics to amuse themselves for years. Then eventually putting it online. KC probably too although I don't really know what's going on with him.

Koltreg: Oh, I thought the creator was the third Hussie brother.

Byron Hussie: White Ninja?

Koltreg: Yeah

Byron Hussie: Nah no relation there I'm afraid. Just two Hussie bros. It would be kind of weird if there were a third. I wonder what that guy would be like.

Koltreg: Probably living in an attic.

Byron Hussie: Or maybe a sister. I wonder what it's like to have a sister. I have a step sister but it's not quite the same

Koltreg: I have a sister. Its mostly annoying.

Byron Hussie: Is she attractive?

Koltreg: No. She's like, 15.

Byron Hussie: Oh ok, probably a deal breaker.

Koltreg: Yeah. The whole unattractive and underage thing going for her.

Byron Hussie: I dunno i mean you probably aren't being objective, maybe she is a real beauty.

Koltreg: Well, I'm pretty sure women aren't objects. Except for washer women.

Byron Hussie: Interesting theory, next question!

Koltreg: What do you do when not creating comics?

Byron Hussie: Which is most of the time. I think I've put in maybe 2 hours in the last two weeks actually making comics. I could probably be doing 2 per day. I have a job at a financial consulting firm.

Koltreg: Ah. Making the money feel better?

Byron Hussie: Just doing stuff with financial data, not very glamorous but they give me all this money that I can use to buy food with. And other things.

Koltreg: Horses?

Byron Hussie: Not that much. I don't know how much horses cost ... probably at least a grand. And then you have to stable them which is like getting a second apartment I imagine.

Koltreg: So you find it hard to pony up for them?

Byron Hussie: Yes, neigh impossible.

Koltreg: Yeah, installion a stable is pretty expensive.

Byron Hussie: Um. whatever floats your oats?

Koltreg: I see what glue mean?

Byron Hussie: Dude, not funny.

Koltreg: :(

Byron Hussie: I mean um...not filly? Just kidding it was funny. Its funny when horses die and are made into glue.

Koltreg: It must be a sticky situation for their riders but moving on would probably be best.

Byron Hussie: Other than the job and the 2 hours of webcomicking I don't actually do that much because having a job takes up almost all of your time and is basically terrible.

Koltreg: Yeah. With all that compensation and such. An atrocity.

Byron Hussie: I mean, I feel like the universe owes me that without my having to work for it. The universe doesn't seem to feel the same way.

Koltreg: So, what can we expect to see in the future of the comic?

Byron Hussie: I intend to expand my production er.... increase since I'm basically doing all requests right now. It doesn't give me much room to work on some of the series I have. Serieses?

Koltreg: Seriouses?

Byron Hussie: I'd like to produce maybe like 10 comics per week and have some way the readers can toggle between the daily random strip and whatever series i am working on. I also at some point am going to go back and add alt text to all of my old strips because that lets you do an extra meta joke. Everyone loves that kind of thing. Also "comment on this strip" would be fun. Very web 2.0.

Koltreg: You could go secret Web 5.0. Let people post comments on the comics themselves.

Byron Hussie: That would be really metaphysical.

Koltreg: Eventually posting nothing and letting the reader imagine the comics.

Byron Hussie: That would be very PoMo, maybe PoPoMo.

Koltreg: PoPoMoTro

Byron Hussie: Yes, not sure what the tro is there.

Koltreg: Troll

Byron Hussie: Hmm, not sure what that means in this or any context.

Koltreg: Troll as in work the audience to your amusement. Trolling forums and such.

Byron Hussie: I am familiar with the concept. Are you suggesting that my comics are kind of like trolling the reader?

Koltreg: No, but if you were to post a blank page that filled up with comments over the comic. Post Post Modern Trolling.

Byron Hussie: I'm a pretty good troll, check this out.

Creationism is real.

How does that make you feel?

Koltreg: :O

Byron Hussie: More like Evo-lie-tion.

Koltreg: My mind sir, has been blown.

Byron Hussie: God Bless the Men and Women in our Armed Services. Freedom Ain't Free!

Koltreg: :O

Byron Hussie: Next question?

Koltreg: If you could play a game of pool with any two famous people, who would they be?

Byron Hussie: I'm really bad at pool. I dunno let me think.

Is Cokie Roberts still alive?

Koltreg: They don't need to still be alive

Byron Hussie: Ok well nevermind her anyway.

Koltreg: She is by the way.

Byron Hussie: Did you just wiki her

Koltreg: Yeah

Byron Hussie: Hard question. How about Robert Downey Jr and Morton Downy Jr. Morton Downey Jr loved smoking so much that it killed him.

Koltreg: Sounds like an interesting game.

Byron Hussie: That is rare, right.

Koltreg: That pretty much wraps up my questions as well.

Byron Hussie: Oh ok. Cool, thanks for interviewing me. I hope it was enlightening

Koltreg: It was.

Byron Hussie: Cool well i'm actually gonna go draw some comics. I did 2 already tonight. One is called "Give me back my eagles."

Koltreg: Well, have a good evening then and keep up the good work and I look forward to the updates.

Lacakdaisy Cats Re-Review

2009-11-06T08:30:00.000-05:00

While I enjoyed How To Make Webcomics I must admit, rereading it at the current time has been uninteresting to me at best and my attentions have been focused towards graphic novels and such frivolities. Thus, you get this instead.

Guilt over dropping a good comic is one of the worst feelings that can assault the faux professional webcomic reviewer. I know, because I am one.

This guilt trip has brought me back to comics being returned to the list in a series I'd call "Back from the Dead List" except the Dead List is dead and Nietszche is god or however that goes. I don't read enough actual literature, but I do it because I love you...errr love comics. Yeah....

Lackadaisy Cats by Tracy J Butler

Booze: fuel of the greedy, drunk and the MacGuffin hunters of the comic Lackadaisy Cats. Set in a much fuzzier version of the United States in the in Prohibition era St. Louis, the comic follows the employees of a speakeasy. The plot of the comic develops naturally on its own with dubious actions, shady (and sepia-toned) characters and well researched dialogue as opposed to it being forced..

Property damage, murder, rumrunning and dirty clothes: sins for characters in this world where the law holds little sway. The story in the comic is still developing but with the way that it is building its characters and background, the world is already a rich one. Characters interact in a real way, the aforementioned MacGuffin works as a great draw and the fact that everything is period appropriate make the writing attractive. Also, there are some bits of pure poetry in the comic that make the comic even more worth reading. The comedy is rather black so be prepared to get your hands and conscience a bit dirty for liking it since good and evil are a mixed bag in the comic.

The art is a jumble of images and panels, a sense of disarray matching the mood of the comic. A seemingly ordered monologue suddenly derailed makes perfect sense. The art itself is very beautiful to look at. the creator is adept, even with basically monochrome sepia-toned art, at convey the characters' emotions and humor. The whole package is just great.. The characters can be slightly confusing though if one does not pay attention. And yes, while are the characters are anthropomorphic cats, the comic avoids the....ugh... furry fetishes by not converting the comic into a furry art fapfest while still allowing the characters to hold a, dare I say it, sexuality.

My one and only complaint about the comic is the schedule of updating once a month with all of the pages. I find that it is a rather cumbersome thing to check for three pages (though they are worth it) for a single comic. This was my reason for originally dropping it and as the last update was late in September, the problem still is prevalent.

I digress though. Finish this review and then immediately check out the comic. The art is great on its own and the site has enough bonus features to merit actual bonus feature pages (I'm looking at you sites with pointless extra pages!). If you don't like the comic, I'd honestly be surprised. If you haven't read it, give it a try, if you did but dropped it, pick it back up.

Grade: A+

Next week:

I probably talk about Sandman and other graphic novels I have been reading.

To The Readers:

Any Thoughts On The Comic?

Any Comics You Want Me To See?

Have You Noticed The Chat Box Moved?

Just leave a message or drop me a line.

Off This Week

2009-10-24T10:44:00.001-04:00

I forgot about the blog this week until about 8 pm last night. Going to reread How To Make Webcomics and get a review out early.

My Views on Two Views on Webcomics

2009-10-15T22:22:00.002-04:00

Over the past few weeks I picked up and devoured How To Make Webcomics. I ended up also reading the much shorter State of the Webcomic Union by Jeph Jacques of QC. As you'd expect when reading two works assessing similar ground, I agree and disagree with points made by both sides. For the most part I agree with Jacques' apparent philosophy, but I also find myself agreeing with many of the points made by the team behind How To Make Webcomics. Both parties hold the experience and the success to make a point. I should probably give How To Make Webcomics a more complete review, and heck, I'll do that next week but for now you guys get this.

Jacques comes off as a much more open figure for the webcomics world. His review talks not about building a community around your comic of fans but building the community with the fans. Its like building a house for Habitat for Humanity as opposed to building a house to live in with your friends. Both have their values but as it stands, I'd rather be with the people I am doing the comic for than separating myself from them.

Jacques also seems to hold a better handle on the idea behind making a profit from your webcomics. Where How To team focuses on what comes off as a formula, Jacques confesses that there truly is no real format. He doesn't remark on marketing much except for the benefit of TopatoCo (which ironically works as the store for two of the people who wrote How To Make Webcomics).

I also agree that the community of webcomic fans has changed. While I never paid attention to blogs until I got my own, there do seem to be relatively few webcomic blogs or at least few notable ones. The last one I was aware of was Your Webcomic Is Bad And You Should Feel Bad which seems to have been replaced by the Bad Webcomic Wiki. (side note: apparently Your Webcomic Is Bad And You Should Feel Bad has also been deleted from Blogger) The name literally says it all, it is a wiki on bad webcomics. On the bright side it does offer positives and the format is generally cleaner than the old tirades on comics of the previous site. Trolls also seem to have died down though since the average webcomic targeted either ignores it or they erupt in a flamewar, luckily the secondary effect is much less likely.

The community of webcomic readers seem to generally be more willing to support their creators, partially because of aging which seems silly but a lot of the original webcomic readers were teenagers. Teenagers often have trouble spending money. As the age though, they are more likely to support and Jacques seems to recognize the trend (though not outwardly stating it).

The community of webcomic creators was also almost fully left out of How To Make Webcomics. Jacques recognizes the need for them. Kate Beaton for example rapidly shot to fame because of the connections (and because the comic was very good). The How To team seems to hold the general opinion that you mostly ignore other comics which can be a tragic mistake. This has led to a mentality of isolation where some confused comic artist are lead to believe that if you start teaming up or linking other people, you are losing views when in fact, you normally and often gain more.

Honestly the only points I disagree with Jacques on are the hesitance to use the term webcomic and the jab at webcomic bloggers. Both points have some validity though The term webcomic holds the negative (though less so than normal) stereotype of the word comic cooped with the negative connotations of the word web. Comic fans use the word graphic novel for a reason though.

As for the jab at webcomics bloggers, well ... as ironic as it may be, I agree that there's no real value in writing webcomics reviews other than my ego, as Scott Smith pointed out. Reviews seem to offer little to nothing of value to most readers, except for the one thing Jacques seems to forget: reviews can send readers to new webcomics they might not otherwise discover. The problem is that to my knowledge there are no major webcomic blogs with wide readerships. There are just blogs like mine that are read by small pools of people. Approximately ten people, in my case. If I gave up though, I'd do the opposite of what I need to do - practice my critical-analytical thinking and writing skills.. I am a better writer I was before and as long as you are supportive, there is nothing wrong with writing about webcomics.

All in all Jeph Jacques has made some really valid points on the webcomic industry. Whether it is the time lapse, the alternate perspective or the abbreviated writing at this time I believe he may have one of the better guides for making webcomics out there. Not to say that How To Make Webcomics does not have it's points but I will cover those next week when I review the book.

Unwinder Interview

2009-10-11T02:04:00.002-04:00

Edit: Thanks to the wonderful services of my techie, the interview is up here now.

Scary Go Round Video Review Retrospective

2009-10-06T22:34:00.004-04:00

I talk in accents, reveal my goofy face and review Scary Go Round.

This Friday, new audio interview with Wilson Parker of Unwinder's Tall Comics

Warning for Lateness

2009-10-02T12:43:00.001-04:00

I've been rereading a long (and now completed comic) and due to my affinity for it and due to my side project, I will be attempting to make a film lookback/review on it. Look for that soon. Probably Tuesday at the latest.

Earth Beta and Oglaf Reviews

2009-09-24T22:29:00.002-04:00

First and foremost I must apologize for the review posted three weeks ago. I was unaware of the content and the fact that the so called "blogger" carnivorouscritic did not actually hold a blog or exist. I figured somebody would have taken the name. It works well. I shall not be removing it though as a testament to my own flaws i.e. the fact that I did not look up his history. Or blog. Or if they were a he or a she. Hubris has beaten me down harshly.

I must apologize that this is two weeks late. I actually had this done in time but the content was such that I needed to reflect on if I would want to actually post it. Also I had finals so, yeah.

Now, after the last negative review, I made a vow to hold off on the bad webcomic reviews. While they brought popularity to lots of other reviewers, I want you the reader to find webcomics that you might enjoy. When a comic calls itself "The Most Underappreciated Webcomic" though, a problem becomes apparent. When this comic is not Bear & Kitten, Nineteenth Century Industrialist, Amazingly Average or one of the other several webcomics with low readership I subscribe to, there is something wrong.

Earth Beta by Bryan

Remember Penny Arcade? The comic that is often (incorrectly) credited with creating the video game webcomic genre? The comic that has millions of readers and is able to support its creators making tons of money? Remember how originally when it started, its humor was really bad by our modern standards but it was revolutionary at its time? Remember how the humor has changed with the times and the art has developed as well? Remember how they originally used to include Jesus for no reason? Only one of those things you should remember should applies to Earth Beta. (Its the Jesus one).

Beating old ideas into the ground is the encyclopedic entry for Earth Beta. From the two roommates, to Jesus, to creepy random creature, to ....okay. I am stopping here. I want to just get the point across that this webcomic is shitty. I mean, I used to draw a horrible webcomic in high school. I recognized it as such. I eventually stopped drawing it. I never posted it on the Internet. The author needs to hold up to his plan of stopping after six months.

The roommates are interchangeable talking heads making sound but barely communicating anything. Here inlies the problem. They are failing at making a point anywhere in the story. They are failing at making memorable characters. They are failing at making an interesting and well made story. The comic calls itself a "Storyline Comic." It is only in that the events are stories in the same way that eating only marshmallows is a balanced and healthy diet. Which it is not. Combining loose storyline with the fact that they force every possible storyline stereotype down the readers throats makes it worse. I could rant on and on but I only read the first 100 or so comics before I felt a sharp stabbing pain I could no longer ignore.

Character design and art is taken almost directly from the Tim Buckley Copy-Pasta College of Comic Design. Originally the characters are all horribly jumbled polygons. Looking at the current art, they are now partially anime inspired polygons. With poorly drawn figures. And no necks. And oven mitts for hands. In the FAQ, he responds that he came up with the idea of not using necks because he wanted to be able to switch his characters heads for humorous purposes. This works mostly because his characters are mainly guys, a girl and an annoying flying thing. They can switch the personalities and nobody will notice. Seriously. Also using images from google for background is a lazy technique. Then again, in a comic as poorly made as this, it is merely a ripple in the pond. When the pond is under a torrent of rain.

My roommates have gotten used to my crying when I find a horrible webcomic. Or when I declare I lost faith in humanity. They flock over and see what new horror I found to stare at it like a carnival freakshow. They shared my cries of anguish looking at this comic. Four art students declared it was ugly unfunny comic. This means it most likely is. It means your audience has no taste to tell you to improve. That is what I am here for. To rip you up and give you the tape to repair yourself.

Now, you declared in your artist page you will quit the comic if it does not pick up in six months. Do it now. If you wish to improve though, start a new comic. Make better character models, use necks for Christs' sake. Plan out a storyline, write scripts out and send them to somebody who hates you to review them. Or at least somebody with a good sense of humor. If nothing else, they can at least make your writing better.

I've had enough of dealing with this though and it has literally left a bad taste in my mouth. Bad art, unfunny humor and the giant balls to refer to itself as "The Most Underappreciated Webcomic". It is true, but only because he misspelled under-appreciated. D

Oglaf

They are adult comics that are well drawn, funny and mature-sort of. Enjoy them anywhere but at work and only if of age.

No need to rant, no need to say more. I am all reviewed out for now. A+

Next week I hope to have finished my retrospective on the recently finished Scary-Go-Round.

Also in my personal comic news, SFCRTSN restarted here because it is important to recognize your mistakes (even after you sink in $200.)