Slashdot Mirror
Independent Cartoonists Band Together for Success
Brad Guigar writes "Six cartoonists, previously hosted at Keenspot, are banding together in a new approach to self-publishing.
They have formed Blank Label Comics, a cooperative group of cartoonists who are helping one another succeed as independents. Each is using his proficiency in a particular aspect of the cartooning business to help the others -- who are doing the same in return.
Scott Kurtz, creator of the daily comic strip PVP, applauded the move. 'The forming of Blank Label Comics is a big story in the webcomics community,' he said in a statement on his Web site, insisting that the 'real story ... is that a bunch of really talented guys are taking a chance, putting their necks out and trying to do this on their own.'"
It is encouraging to see any independent label for cartoons come into existance. Like music, film, or any other artistic medium it is better to have more outlets than fewer. I enjoyed, during my early teen and, later, my college years, a variety of "underground" comics (e.g. R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton) that would have *never* existed at established publishing houses. Some probably shouldn't have existed, but there you are.
The only concern I have with independent labels is their ability to fight off incorporation or extinction. Some independent music and film outlets have consolidated leaving these media under the control of only a few companies. We have all seen the result of that outcome.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
Google search for "Image comics"
If you aren't good enough to get syndicated, keep at it until you are. Alternatively you can find your niche audience, but that road is fraught with peril and many nights of eating nothing but instant ramen and tap water.
Is anyone not an "independant online cartoonist" these days? The only thing there's more of are "internet models" and "blog journalists".
This is a great thing to hear. I've been waiting to see a bunch of artists compleatly buck the traditional system, band together and have a go at it on their own in any media. I'm sure there are quite a few in the music recording field who have tried this, but the recording industry is so entrenched right now that success would be difficult.
The comics industry (as I understand it) still harbors an envrionment where guys like this actually have a chance. I wish them good luck.
The Internet is generally stupid
Ideally in the "dead and buried" category. Comics should either look good or be funny. Megatokyo looks good. Dilbert is funny (or, well, it has its moments, but is funny most of the time). Penny Arcade is both. User Friendly has neither art nor humor going for it, and thus is a waste of time.
Only when Moose is not after him, or the girls are tearing him apart for doing something dumb.
Today's version would feature a tech whiz kid in his family's basement, his arch rival would be a fast talking techno-idiot, the dumb jock would always be jealous that his girlfriend can instant message and he can't, and the two girls would be anime babes with lesbian tendencies for each other. Nah... no one wants to read about that.
We slahdot their server. Go figure.
In the beginning the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and is widely considered as a bad move.
I have not seen any consistantly funny web comics. Most are painfully UNFUNNY. What does "unfunny" mean? That means they are the opposite of funny. They suck the funniness out of other things.
Unfunny web comics killed my inner child.
Humor from a Genetically Molested Mind
Why is it that the Penny Arcade folks are always picking on the User Friendly crowd?
While I applaud their efforts, isn't this how the RIAA/MPAA got started for music and movies?
I wonder how Wiley will mock them this time? He sure didn't seem to think much of Scott Kurtz when he offered his strips to newspapers for free.
I regularly report MSN spam to the Hotmail admins.
It's the natural order of things.
Like the jocks picking on the nerds in Porkys films.
taking a chance, putting their necks out
Umm... does this really take guts, forming a co-op?
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
Sounds like they also created a new team of superheroes... I give you the Blank Comic 6! Cartoonist during the day and upholder of the first amendment on the Internet by night.
EvilCON - Made Famous by
And as a true test of your preperations to strike out alone, we'll slashdot your server(s) and drive you bankrupt from the resulting bandwidth fees. No no, I insist, there is no need to thank us!
DRM = Digitally Restricted Media. This is a viral sig, pass it on.
Megatokyo is really good. I used to work in the video game industry so I was cracking up on all the inside jokes. The only problem I had was trying to figure out what direction (left-right or right-left) to read it in. Thanks!
Look, I've even done all the work for you: the first Achewood. Use the red arrow pointing to the right to go to the next.
Do you love freedom??? Do you love freedom!!! DO YOU LOVE FREEDOM!!!!!!!!
First, you should link to PA's comic directly, or your commentary on the strip won't make sense in a couple days. Second, black and white is not necessarily bad (Megatokyo is mostly in black and white). The problem with Userfriendly's art is not so much that it's not in color as that it's drawn with all of the skill of a three year old child. If the story was good or the humor funny, it could make up for the bad artwork. Sadly, neither of those are the case.
For the record, I just pulled a couple comics at random. As has already been mentioned, Diesel Sweeties is also good, as well as many others (ctrl+alt+del, Mac Hall when they update, Angst Technology, etc). All of these are better than UF, in story, art, and humor. If UF could pull even one of those out of its rear, it might be worth browsing once a month or so. Until then it's nothing more than a reason to laugh at people that think it's good.
a reason to laugh at people that think it's good.
Come on, why don't people realize that not everyones taste is the same. Frankly, I don't _want_ everyone liking just the things I like. It'd be boring...
...for independent bands to cartoon together.
/ suck it, RIAA
What have you heard bad about Keenspot? Granted, the only webcomic I read on their servers with any regularity is Nukees but I haven't heard any real problems with them. Not that I've been looking either (just a reader, not an artist).
User Friendly's fanbase can't afford Internet connections ever since the entire technical support industry was offshored.
Personally, I find Alien Loves Predator to be pretty funny most of the time. Even being funny "most of the time" is still good. I can't imagine how hard it would be trying to find comic filler for every day of the year. Some people do a fantastic job, and even if you only get a laugh from the material once in a while, it's still making you feel good. I hope these guys succeed at this.
Try actually thinking for yourself. It's quite refreshing.
Guess I was spoiled by Larson. Since Far Side I've yet to find any consistently funny comic stips. Sometimes they'll come up with a refreshing view of things but then completely butcher the art of subtlety by overdoing the punchline.
One exception, though, is FreshMeat which has done a good job of not falling for those trappings... especially the Milkman Dan scenes which always get me genuinely laughing.
Well, I looked at those other comics, and I disagree. I suppose you have to have lived the life of a sysadmin (down, not across) to get the most out of UF, but it is funny. A lot of those comics are heavily targetted at gamers, and while I enjoy games, I'm not that heavily into it.
In other words, you want to be so unique that you'll willingly choose to like pure crap just to be different? Well, whatever it takes, I guess.
If we can dream for a moment that David Willis won't turn Shortpacked! into another infinite loop of "I can't have sex w/ you because I love you" like his other comics, then Blank Label might actually have a decent comic. 1 out of 10 ain't that bad...
Modern Tales has American Born Chinese, Ice, Narbonic, No Stereotypes, Odd Jobs, Paradigm Shift and Wahoo Moris. 7 out of 63.
Graphic Smash has Aces High, Ascent, Digger, Fans, Gun Street Girl, Johnny Saturn, Life's a Croc, Little White Knight, Magellan, Rip & Teri, The Jaded, The Replacements and Vigil. 13 out of 31.
Girlamatic has Jupiter, L'il Mell, Sevenplains and The Stiff. 4 out of 23.
YMMV.
[o]_O
Going independent is a good move for these people who look like they are looking to turn their cartooning into their primary job. However, for most internet cartoonists, I think Keenspot is still the best option for those who make 1-2 comics a week and don't want to deal with the hassle of having to maintain a server, deal with bandwidth issues, etc. The downside of working with Keenspot is that they take a big chunk of the advertising revenue that a site generates. A few weeks back, Tycho at PA had a comment about someone he knew who left Keenspot and went independent and started making triple what he used to make from advertising. For its flaws though, it seems that Keenspot (Or Keenspace rather for those undiscovered comics) is still the best place for a new cartoonist to start.
This kind of alliance between creatives has a good history of working in the comics industry. Malibu was that kind of a cooperative at first, started by a bunch of creatives who turned to someone with passion for comics and business sense. In the end they sold to Marvel, which didn't end well, but it could quite clearly be considered a success for the people who founded the group.
Right now the founder is doing this: http://platinumstudios.com/, and that seems to be going quite well. While they don't make much on the comics themselves, they leverage the best of their materials to go to mass market and to Hollywood. It's a good business strategy, and they seem to have tremedous respect for their creative people.
Watch spacetree the spacetree in space (http://www.spacetree.com/ Kurtz linked to at some point on pvponline.com.
A wacky keentoon featuring the escapades of space tree and his buddies.
watch until episode 3 at least - it's pretty funny.
- Mad, ingenous - they've both left you puzzled -
Two points:
Oh, yeah, I was gong to also pimp Something Postivie as a strip that's not about gaming (though they do throw in some pen and paper role-playing every now and then), has decent art (below average when compared against PA or Mac Hall, but light years ahead of UF), is funny, and has an interesting story.
The thing is, Keenspot does have its place.
... some of the money that would otherwise rightfully be yours is going to go to the umbrella organization that's sponsoring you. Going independent might make you more money, if you're willing to deal with the financials yourself. (Ideally, you wouldn't care because you'd be doing it for the love of your craft ... but when you become more popular, the bandwidth and hosting costs more money.)
There are a lot of webcomics out there. And I mean a lot. One of the beautiful things about the Internet is that anybody who can find a place to host their files can make a webcomic. There are no other real barriers (though I might argue that not having any discernable talent should be a barrier).
So how do you find a good webcomic? Well, Keenspot is an option. It's a portal that links to a variety of strips. It has certain standards of quality. It's been around for a long time, and it's well known. So if you're looking for something to read, you can always head for Keenspot.
On the flip side, if you're an aspiring webcartoonist and want to get known, getting accepted by Keenspot is a good bet for exactly the same reasons.
From a business perspective, Keenspot is okay. They sell advertising, and some of the money goes to the webcartoonists. Keenspot has done some work to get into newspapers, too, though I admit I don't know many of the details.
And Keenspot also handles the technical side. They provide the servers and all the website code necessary for a webcomic to function (if I recall correctly, that is). In exchange, you, as a webcartoonist, agree to brand your website with a little bit of advertising.
But Keenspot isn't the be-all and end-all of webcomics. Even though there are so many webcomics out there, the webcomic "community" is pretty small. Many of the artists/writers talk to each other. They see each other at conventions. They hang out. And they link to other comics in their rants. If you're looking for a good webcomic, it's almost as if it's a game of follow the links. All you have to do is find one good strip and read it for a while, and if you pay attention, you'll find out what some other good comics are. Word of mouth seems to be the best way to get known in the webcomic community.
And, as I understand it, Keenspot webcartoonists don't get paid as well as they could. Keenspot is a for-profit venture. It's the same as with any label you might sign with
I've got work tomorrow, so I'm going to wrap it up with a couple of webcomics that have my highest recommendation (not that you'd care, given that you don't know anything about my comic preferences). Both webcartoonists are independent.
Something Positive: It's pretty damn mean spirited a lot of the time, and sometimes gets a bit wordy, but it's consistently funny, and the characters come across as being very human. They have hopes and fears. They grow as time goes on. I think they're pretty believable.
Schlock Mercenary: This is a fine piece of science fiction (certainly much more deserving of the label than is Star Wars), and very funny to boot. It also has very good characterization, and wonderfully twisty, entertaining plotlines. This is probably the first comic I check every night, and I read some 30+ webcomics. I think many Slashdotters will appreciate it too. Incidentally, this strip, like the ones mentioned in TFA, recently split from Keenspot.
The short version--for a longer version, see my post just below this--is that people who belong to Keenspot lose some control over their comic.
They:
-Have to share any profits they make off of the success of their strip with Keenspot
-Don't really get to decide who advertises on their site, Keenspot does (I think that's right)
-Have to format their page in a certain way to meet Keenspot's requirements (which includes a large adbox that points to other Keenspot comics)
For some webcartoonists, this loss of control is a dealbreaker. But for others, having the backing of a large-ish organization (which handles some of the more annoying details) and belonging to an established community are very nice benefits.
The webcomic review & criticism blog Websnark.com has some interesting entries looking at Blank Label's creation, its choice of tagline, and the webcomic syndicate from which its members departed.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Here is the link: http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/comics.html
A cooperative of independents? Now I've seen everything...
I don't think that statement holds water even by your own reasoning. If lots of people like User Friendly, how does my liking it make me unique? Be thankful that not everyone likes the same stuff I do. You might not exist ;)
Isn't this sort of what the Dumbrella guys do for each other as well?
***
First, you're assuming lots of people like UF :). Second, I was being facetious, as in, "You're a unique person, just like everybody else." You know, like the people that shop at Hot Topic because they want to be "different, like everybody else".
Sometimes I wonder whether what fanbase there is around UF exists only because back in the day it was pro-Linux when little else was, and thus they formed a community. It didn't matter that the art was shit, the stories were shit, and the humor was non-existent. It was Pro-Linux, and that's all they needed. Now, it's just momentum carrying them on. What's the new reader rate of UF? What's their reader growth numbers? I assume Illiad is able to do UF as a full-time job, but how much of that is related to existing momentum, and how much is due to genuine appeal to new people? How many people have been intrigued enough by UF to go read the entire backlog of comics? (when I pick up a new web comic, that's the first thing I do -- I work my way through the archives, usually over weeks or months depending on the extent of the archives. I only do that with comics that really grab my attention, the latest being ctrl+alt+del)
Groups like this are all over the place.
Just in terms of webcomics, fleen was one of the earlier "networks"... and there's also dayfree press. The bit of Major News, as it were, is that it's a bunch of comics that were previously keenspace "titles" peeling off- ugly hill is the only newcomer to the batch. Keen isn't the Mount Awesome some people have made it out to be - if anything, it is to webcomics what livejournal is to drama... and these guys have all apparently realized it's time to move on.
Personally, it's nice to see shortpacked free of keenspace advertising feces- bullshit reduction is something I can always get behind. Joining a network looks like it's a good thing for all parties concerned, if it's something you're comfortable doing.
My own comic is going into its third year without being a member of a network, without having run a single ad. I might get shit for traffic but I know exactly what I'm displaying on my site- display and control of presentation is a huge concern of mine, at least for the time being. I'm sure one of these days I'll get sick of obscurity and spend more effort on increasing project awareness than I currently am on project production. Maybe eventually, like these guys, I'll find some like-minded media creators who want to conjoin into some sort of co-prosperity sphere.
Why is it that the Penny Arcade folks are always picking on the User Friendly crowd?
In the spirit of fairness I would like to point out that neither is even a little bit funny.
Ever.
They both simply put flippant comments about easy targets in word balloons, draw some pictures under them, and call it a comic strip. The only thing that makes them different from the shitty "Kathy" strips in the newspaper is that they are targeted at geeks instead of fat middle-aged spinsters.
The only thing I hate more than obvious pandering from low-quality "entertainment" is when it's trying to pander to me.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
I suppose you have to have lived the life of a sysadmin (down, not across) to get the most out of UF, but it is funny.
I could not possibly disagree more.
Reading UF is like spending your coffee break listening to the rookie members of your office network support team bitch about the same fucking things the guys they replaced bitched about (and the guys before them) while thinking it's the first time anybody has ever pointed this shit out before.
Well, it's not entirely like that... It's sort of like that, only really badly drawn.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
I read many Keenspot comics (maybe around 10) religiously; it's a nice central place to read a bunch of stories on a regular basis. A long time ago it was slow and unstable, but lately it's been great, and has a few comics that are very professionally done.
:)
My big gripe is that a few of the comics that moved off are the ones I read. Now they're not in one area anymore, I probably won't read them regularly. That is of course selfish -- but I imagine other readers don't like the move for the same reason. I'd expect an initial loss of readership for these authors, except for very dedicated fans.
On the other hand, it's a logical move for the cartoonists. Keenspace and Keenspot are great ways to jumpstart a budding talent or hobby and watch it grow. From what I can tell, the Blank Label starters quite liked Keenspot and regretted leaving it -- but now that their work has matured, they'd like to take it in a direction they can't do under Keenspot. So good for them
If you say "here goes my karma" I will bite you!!!
- Real life
- Phd (perhaps not as funny to non grad students)
- Applegeeks
I would include megatokyo, but it has on average been more serious and less funny lately (though I still enjoy it, and you can browse the archives for older, funnier content).You say 'meanspirited' like it's a bad thing.
Well i suppose you could expect a stream of comments from people strongly disagreeing with you. I'm one of them. UF is damn funny and is really well drawn. True enough, not every UF comic i find funny, or even good. But that's just personal taste. I'm also a great fan of Garfield comics, but i have yet to find one pocket (i have them all) that contains only good ones.
UF amuses me. I have it bookmarked and look at it every morning, together with a cup of coffee. I use it to start the day, and sometimes quote the comic to my colleages and invite them to take a look. I introduced UF to my boss and he loves it enough to read everything in the archives. Don't say it's a waste of time. What is a waste of time is this.
Maybe this is something everyone on the net knew besides me, but I've really really enjoyed what I have seen of Girl Genius Online. Nice plot, nice graphics. Also apparently one of the authors did the covers for some of Robert Asprin's books which I loved as a kiddo.
Think of it this way. PA and UF are both comdeians. Both are trying to go out there and deliver the funny. PA has more varied jokes while UF tends to go the Linux be are teh roxxor route. Occasionally they'll try telling the same kind of joke, maybe customer support for example. UF's material is like this http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050328 PA's version of customer support is this http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-02 -09&res=l
Now obviously the PA one is funnier. You know this, I know this, Illiad knows this. But the Rabid Userfriendly Fans (TM) refuse to believe anything is funny unless their overlord writes it. So they bitch about how everyone unfairly says Uf sucks, even though everyone and their mom knows UF sucks hardcore. A PA fan points this fact out, and like fanboy fights throuhgout the internet a flamewar begins.
What do Saddam Hussain and Little Miss Muffet have in common? They have Kurds in their Whey.
You are absolutely right, but TBH I was more encouraged by the fact that the article had "independent" spelled correctly (not "independant").
There is still hope in the world. Perhaps I should mark this day in my calendar (not calender) as "independence day".
I'm sorry if I haven't offended anyone
They've got Waspi Square, so there's no doubt in MY mind that they've got at LEAST one excellent comic.
That's why I said "otherwise rightfully". It's like a two-person project at school where one person does 90% of the work and both get 50% of the credit. The understanding before the project starts is that they'll share credit equally, but the one who put more effort into the final result ends up feeling kind of bitter.
Keenspot makes money off of advertisement (and maybe other things, but I only know of the advertising part), but they need good webcomics to lure advertisers.
All I meant by that comment is that I recall that some of the webcartoonists have felt like the guy doing 90% of the work.
Beyond that, I wholly concede your point.
And the "ideally" comment was more a shot at people who start webcomics only because they've seen the success that a few have attained and want to achieve the same success. It happens a lot, and the general concensus amongst webcartoonists (based on various rants I've read and webcomic panels I've attended) seems to be that if you're doing it solely for the fame, you're doing it for the wrong reasons.
I usually fall on the side of "love of your craft," but I can certainly appreciate the other side too.
I've really got no problem with a webcartoonist who runs his webcomic like a business, because art supplies, bandwidth and hosting do cost a lot of money. And if you're making a living off of your strip it costs that much more.
A few artists who live off of their webcomics:
Penny Arcade
Sluggy Freelance
MegaTokyo
8-Bit Theatre
Player vs Player
Schlock Mercenary
Something Positive
Ctrl-Alt-Delete
And those are just some of the ones that I read and can remember.
Thanks for the link! I almost didn't click on it, because even peoples' suggestions on funny web comics are no good. This comic actually has good artwork!
He's right.. Warlocks ARE a support class!
And they said zombies weren't real!
Funny and NOT trying to be userfriendly:
Jendini.com
I wish more cartoonists would do "realistic" storylines without the sci-fi/fantasy copout of not being required to make any sense. I also like that the animals don't talk. :-)
Disclaimer the author is a friend, and I am actively attempting to spread the word about this new comic
I still read it every day, and it still has its interesting/sometimes funny parts (the Largo storylines), but I cringe every time Piro complains about calling one of his potential female love interests.
Many Bothans died to bring you this sig.
Similar, in the sense that it has a similar distribution method and profit source.
It's a niche comic, but then again "shortpacked" is mostly funny to people who are/were into 80's toys and collecting, and melonpool is for sci fi fans.
These were all keenspot cartoonists though, and Illiad isn't. The FAQ says they're not taking on more members for a while, and Illiad's been around long enough as an independant that he more than likely has the promotion channels set up they way he likes it. These guys have been under keenspot's wing for quite some time (paul southworth has been there from the beginning), so they're having to start a lot of stuff from scratch.
Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
A few very talented cartoonists have also banded at Dumbrella many years ago.
We wouldn't be so compelled to do so if UF didn't take it hard and fast in the nether-regions. Seriously, UF is suckling at the teats of mediocrity. I'm *in* tech support and I find it untolerable.
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart, he dreams himself your master."
Keenspot also sells comic books and has subscription content and services.
The comic books that I've seen (I have a few) are usually just reprinted comics you can see on the 'net though, and don't really fit the format. There's a few that are new material and made for comic books.
The premium service for the first year sucked balls (I didn't renew after that, so I don't know what it's like anymore). I don't know if they ever got the comic viewing code working right, and they still seem to have little premium-only content. Of course, you get a keenspot premium banner instead of the ad banner when you go to the regular comic sites.
They also sell stuff as well, like stuffed animals and t-shirts and such.
Also, you didn't mention, but they run keenspace - free hosting for comic strips that haven't been accepted as part of keenspot. A lot of keenspot comics started out as part of keenspace. Of course, they advertise on there as well.
Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
Counting "Fans" really isn't quite fair, as it's reached the end of its long and excellent run. Similarly, I wouldn't count "Calvin and Hobbes" to the credit of the UComics syndicate, because while excellent, it's reruns.
Or are you a Chicago Democrat? =)
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
Whether a comic is about tech support (as already said by others the vast majority of comics are _not_ about tech support), and whether the artist and the writer have any talent are two completely unrelated things. They're completely orthogonal.
There is stuff that did (briefly) touch tech support issues or work in a tech company, but is most of the time funny. E.g., Angst Technology. No, it doesn't whine either, it's not a bitter "management sucks" Dilbert clone, and it has quite a funny take on a lot of games.
And conversely there is plenty of stuff that has nothing to do with tech support, and it still sucks because those folks really have no talent whatsoever.
And some folks just simply are whiners, and that's that. I've seen "comics" whining about tabletop gamers, whining about a boss in retail (totally not tech-related), or whining about their own life and patting themselves on the back in the most pathetic verbal-masturbation way possible. Again, it doesn't have to be about tech support, or even vaguely related.
The bottom line is that there's a _lot_ of stuff on the internet. There's just too much and too diverse of it to squeeze into a neat "everyone is in category X" (e.g., UF-clones, whiners, whatever) generalization.
That's just part of the internet, I guess. The good part is that anyone can post anything, but the bad part is also just that. You _will_ get to wade through tons of crap to find anything you're actually looking for.
But still, from there to claiming that basically there's _nothing_ on the web that isn't a whine or a clone of User Friendly, that's quite the blatantly false extrapolation.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Honestly, I don't see why this is news. This is virtually how ALL comic artists and companies came into exsistence. The great thing about comics is that they are relatively cheap to produce (not including the time required to write and draw them). Almost ALL comic book companies started as small independent publishers "bucking the system." What makes these companies big is the quality of their content. And certainly, there are a LOT of crappy comics out there. But there are a good number of small, quality comics publishers out there, and new ones are created every day. Popular indie favorites are Top Shelf, Monkeysuit, Dark Horse, and Fantagraphics, among others. In June, check out the MoCCA show in NYC, or the SPX show in September, for two big conventions celebrating indie comic publishers. The overall level of quality never ceases to amaze me.
Great one here. PBF is sublime brilliance. I have never seen anything like it.
Do you love freedom??? Do you love freedom!!! DO YOU LOVE FREEDOM!!!!!!!!
Fred stopped writing it after like, strip 20. It's been funny long after Rodney left.
I knew of the merchandising and Keenspot Premium service, but not really how the profit sharing breaks down where they're concerned. I didn't feel qualified to bring them up.
As for Keenspace, some very good comics have come from that service, and continue to come from that service. But there are so many Keenspace comics, how do you find what's good? Outside of going through each comic, one by one, I think word of mouth (or waiting for them to get promoted to Keenspot) seems your best bet.
See my previous comment: "One of the beautiful things about the Internet is that anybody who can find a place to host their files can make a webcomic. There are no other real barriers...."
*grin*
Er, Rodney stopped writing. Shut up, it's early.
I swear to God, I pray every night for a zombie outbreak, because it's the only way Democrats are evar gonna take back the White House!
[o]_O
yet another creative split on the web. so? dandy. web=a Wasteland of creatives literates watching one another, all waiting for golbal success. you make money or watch the group an ugly death (with writers, usually 6 months) .. cartooning? I'm area163. Did the web thing when search engines had only two cartoons. (95/96) didn't float to the top. didn't get spamed. (Hint being popular is JUST like having a lot of spam fans.) life goes on. watch where the money goes.
packrat ; writer-informer. http://packrat.comicgenesis.com http://www.youtube.com/area163 https://www.smashwords.com/
There are serious problems with User Friendly quite aside from whether it is funny, quite aside from taste, and completely unrelated to opinion.
User Friendly is OBJECTIVELY worthless.
Their artwork is drawn in MS paint, and is low quality (objectively).
Furthermore, the plot is nothing more than last week's slashdot headlines, framed as if to seem original or maybe insightful. In fact, user friendly is a troll.
I can speak on this matter with authority, as I purchased every user friendly collection, so that I could carefully read it and make sure that yes, it is not worth my time.
Hamsters are at least as feathery as penguins. HamLix
UF used to be funny enough, but I lost interest in it long ago when I realized I hadn't laughed at it for months. I've been a sysadmin for 10+ years so I find the setting humorous enough, but stopped finding the jokes funny a long time ago. Every time I check back from time to time it still just doesn't do anything for me. Of course, I also stopped reading Dilbert as well. It just felt like I reached a point where I had apparently seen all the author's available jokes and was just seeing them recycled in various ways over and over.
Oh, the windows user is stoopid, and the tech support guy has to take calls from stoopid lusers! Ho ho ho! How droll!
Doesn't Keenspace have a ranking system? I semi-annually go through various webcomic ranking systems, checking out the top 50 or so looking for new comics.
jred
I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage...
Word of mouth, or what I used to do - go through on a day when you're not doing anything and randomly click in the keenspace list any comic that has been updated recently. You get a lot of misses, but a few hits.
Word of mouth seems best though - I remember the number of comics I read jumped significantly after I found damonk's (of framed! fame) links page. Too bad he doesn't do it anymore.
Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
It's ironic that you're posting as Anonymous Coward. We got a Peter Parker/Spiderman thing going here?
EvilCON - Made Famous by
The Blank Label guys are ex-Keenspot. Most were never on Keenspace.
Oper on the Nightstar
If they have banded together, they're not independent any more.
So the title should read, "Independent Cartoonists Give Up Independence for Success."
Not really. Did the original thirteen states banding together as the United States lessen their independence from England?--Al
MINDMISTRESS ---the greatest super