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Daily Grind Webcomic Challenge

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the this-could-go-for-awhile dept.

Dauntilus writes "Bent Comics is sponsering a web-comic contest. Contestants put $20 into the pool, and they must update their comics 5 times a week. If they fail to update on time, they are out. Last artist in gets the pool. The contest started yesterday with a sweet $1,120 in the pot. A few big webcomic artists like Scott Kurtz (PVP) and Chris Crosby (Superosity) have even show up for the fun."

20 of 264 comments (clear)

  1. No PA :-( by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Interesting
    and they must updated their comics 5 times a week. If they fail to update on time, they are out.

    That eliminates Penny Arcade :-(3x a week, frequent screwups, but worth the free price of admission all the same.) Call me greedy, but I'd love to see PA daily =)

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:No PA :-( by kurosawdust · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Man alive, there are some different tastes on this here site. I personally can't stand Penny Arcade - I don't think it's funny at all - but I think the best (and unfortunately underrated) webcomic today is The Perry Bible Fellowship.

      Hilarious stuff.

  2. Don't forget Greg Dean! by Mage+Powers · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Of Real Life Comics. I read that daily too along with PVP and Superosity. Personally I was hoping Piro would join in, he'd be first out :)

  3. Re:ctrl alt del! by Carthag · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Diesel Sweeties would probably win, if R. Stevens signed up. He said he's not going to, though.

  4. Metacommentary has already begun by UCRowerG · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.checkerboardnightmare.com/

  5. Re:ctrl alt del! by NeoSkink · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'll take quality over 5 updates a week anyday.

    Forcing them to update constantly would likely kill the comics we know and love until the contest is over.

  6. Quantity over Quality by lbmouse · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It doesn't appear that any of the strips have to actually be good. Me and my stick-figure-guy could win this one.

    1. Re:Quantity over Quality by CoffeeJedi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      are either of these comics relevant anymore?

      I still read UF every day, just out of habit, I havne't laughed at it in about a year. The only good storyline he's had in ages was the "The Thing" parody in Anarctica, but other than that, Illiad's just phoning it in.

      As for Dilbert, it was cutting edge 10 years ago, but Adams has let it stagnate, its still the same tired joke told by the same nonentity archetype characters. To put it bluntly, its the new Garfield. its good for a chuckle, but its not engaging like PvP or Sluggy Freelance.

      --
      May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
  7. 5 times a week? by Tuffsnake · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wait so this is basically a contest to see who's life is so devoid of content that they never miss a day of logging on and updating their cartoons ... sounds like whoever wins is really the biggest loser ;)

  8. Re:ctrl alt del! by carninja · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Penny arcade only updates 3 times a week, and I doubt they really wanna change that.

  9. Nice way to borrow money by Yomers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nice way to borrow money from those 'big webcomic artists' ;)) I bet at least 2 of them will produce 5 comics a week for a very long time...

  10. Re:What about quality ? by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I could update my comic a ton of times a week if it was done poorly.

    Have you ever seen Get Fuzzy? Granted, it's not a web comic (though it may be on comics.com or such) but they guy must have a time altering machine, for all the detail he puts in that strip. Wood grains, individual hairs, even the New Zealand All Blacks logo on Rob's cap. If the guy can do that strip daily, who's got a leg to stand on to say they can't?

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  11. Good practice by grungebox · · Score: 4, Informative

    I think anyone that's ever tried a webcomic knows that consistency is the biggest challenge. It's hard to develop a routine and get strips up in a timely fashion with some degree of regularity. That's a critical factor in determining a strip's early success at drawing an audience. Internet users are lazy, and if you don't have any timeliness, they move on. People might counter with Mac Hall or Megatokyo, but those premiered during a slightly less dense webcomic atmosphere. Also, they drew audiences in with the art, which is the other key component. You can slack off on the updates if your art kicks ass and still maintain a decent audience. Hell, if you get both you become a rising megastar like Apple Geeks or Scary Go Round.

  12. Re:ctrl alt del! by Rei · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah... some comics "cheat" every so often. For example, Sluggy Freelance almost never misses an issue; however, as an example, they recently took a few days off by making comics via using X-com screenshots and putting dialog bubbles on the characters instead of drawing comics. Sometimes, too, they'll have a guest artist (sometimes a deliberately poor one for comic effect) take over strip for a week or so.

    --
    Clean coal harnesses the awesome power of the word 'clean'.
  13. Re:What about quality ? by grungebox · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Darby Conley does the strip for a living. He doesn't need a time machine, just the extra 8 hours a day the rest of us are working. It's still an awesome strip, and it makes shittily-drawn and shittily-written strips that much worse by comparison, but just keep in mind he's not quite the superman most webcomics people with fulltime jobs and a daily strip must be.

  14. Re:Another one. by PopeAlien · · Score: 3, Funny

    I swear, someone is putting nonsensical grammar into every single article, just to see how we squirm and ped.

    I dont know about you, but I ped myself when I readed that, but I haven't really started squirming yet.. I'll keep you posted.

    --
    air and light and time and space
  15. Re:ctrl alt del! by ikkonoishi · · Score: 4, Informative

    Or Schlock Mercenary. Hasn't missed an update ever. He said he wasn't entering because it would get boring if it went on for years without a winner.

  16. KeenSpot and KeenSpace artists join in the grind! by strredwolf · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not only Chris Crosby, Brad Guigar, Ryan Smith and Steve Troop have joined from KeenSPOT... ...but up and comming artists Jennie Breeden (The Devil's Panties), Bruce Goer (A Day in the Life), and Matt Johnson (Cortland) have joined from KeenSPACE.

    The SPACE team WILL WIN!!!

    --

    --
    # Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
    $Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
  17. And the winner is... by Bazman · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...a perl script that uses the GD library to draw random squiggles and the fortune file for text. Updated from a cron job.

    Indistinguishable from half the web comics out there IMHO :)

  18. Anyone intrested in a 20 year, no-intrest loan? by delmoi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm sorry. It would be extreemly easy for someone (or a couple people) to keep doing something once a day for the rest of their lives. I predict this is going to take a very long time to resolve.

    Now, it might be intresting they put the money into a mutual fund or something, so that if the contest did take years, the reward would be worth it

    --

    ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n