The guest list really is a who’s who of Internet fame and/or ignominy. Amplifier’s own Joel Bush will be there to hopefully document the event. We gave him a great video camera so honestly, he’s without excuse!
The death of Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax earlier this week wasn’t just a loss for gamers and fantasy fans, but for creative types and undependents all over the world. Some of the web’s best and brightest undependents have been remembering the role-playing game titan as only they can.
According to some highly-regarded scholars of the intersection of music and popular culture (by which I mean, whoever wrote the first entry that came up after my hasty Google search), David Lee Roth once said that the reason most music critics love Elvis Costello is because most music critics look like Elvis Costello. (For those who have never really gotten over the nerd vs. jock tensions in high school — Hi! I’m Mike! — it should be pointed out that Costello later got nominated for an Oscar and commissioned by the Danish Royal Opera, while Roth is now doing this.)
The point is — or should be — the relative acceptability of nerdiness is a somewhat recent phenomenon, and the Internet is helping the bespectacled and pallid among us finally convince the world that knowledge is actually pretty cool. There’s a whole slew of webcomics out there celebrating, and not apologizing for, their creators’ love of periodic tables, quadratic equations, obscure art history, and all other kinds of fancy-pants book-learnin’. Here’s two of them:
Time Magazine’s Lev Grossman calls webcomic Achewood (which is, perhaps, the best comic strip in American history) the best graphic novel of the year, noting “(i)t’s not a graphic novel in every, or maybe any, traditional sense, since its primary venue is the Web, but Achewood is so profoundly genius it would be a crime to put it anywhere but on this list, and at the top of it.” (more…)
Perry Bible Fellowship’s success continues, which is just as it should be. Check out these wonderful figures on your way to reading the whole profile:
Records Broken By the Perry Bible Fellowship? - 10 Zen Monkeys
25-year-old cartoonist Nicholas Gurewitch watched as the pre-order sales climbed past $300,000 for The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories. Close to 27,000 copies were sold even before the collection of comic strips had its official release in November and crashed into Amazon’s top 250. “It bounces off and on Amazon’s best-seller lists all the time,” Gurewitch told me, jokingly searching for an explanation. “Nifty cover? I’m not sure.”
5 Web Comics That Will Make You Ditch Your Newspaper - washingtonpost.com
That’s why comics connoisseurs have been turning to the Internet, where artists can create and publish works that are a little edgier, a little quirkier, and much, much funnier. Here are five favorites.
Click through above for the full reviews.
Click below to support the creators by buying loads of their stuff for your own enjoyment:
Penny Arcade today pulled the curtain off of their new Print-on-Demand Comics. Now almost every comic they’ve ever made is available as a super high quality 11×17 (or 11×11) poster.
Ordering couldn’t be simpler. The familiar navigator located beneath each comic strip simply has a new button that reads “Buy a Print.” Click it and you’re done. No Ajax, no Logins, the item is automatically added to the Penny Arcade shopping cart. You can return to the navigator to add more strips, shop for other PA merch in their store, or just checkout.
A simple, subtle, nearly frictionless purchase process. You can read more about it in Gabe’s announcement here.
Perhaps this kind of thinking is a byproduct of being undependent?
How about a Diesel Sweeties & Despair crossover? Metal Steve modeling for Despair, and Dr. Kersten giving Red Robot management lessons? Just saying.
First, if you are not yet a loyal reader of Fleen, please grab the RSS feed and get on board.
Second, check this great interview with webcomicker Aaron Diaz:
Fleen: Your Favorite Faux-Muckrakers Since 2005 » Being A Discussion On Life’s Changing Priorities
Fleen: Does leaving the rent job shift any of your plans forward?
Diaz: If sales remain stable I’ll continue to make a little more than I do at my regular day job, so I still plan to move out to Portland next year. Even if it fluctuates a little bit I still have some side commission jobs that should help supplement my finances.
Fleen: Now that you rely on your readers for things like rent and food, is there a particular level of nutrition that you’re hoping to maintain? Are your tastes modest, or will you be looking to purchase the premium cat chow?
Diaz: It helps to be used to a very low standard of living. I don’t usually eat any meat or expensive things; a few canned vegetables can keep me going for weeks. In general, as long I have an internet connection and running water, I’ll manage.
You gotta admire Aaron’s spirit and commitment. He’s literally banking on the appreciation of fans. After all, creators are not so undependent that they do not need the support of fans. They do, in fact, rely upon it.
Whether you are in webcomics or not, all Undies can benefit from listening to Webcomics Weekly. Scott, Brad, and Dave provide tons of great stuff in episode 12, which touches on:
These talented folks have accumulated an invaluable store of tacit knowledge, and they’re cool and committed enough to share it with the world.
Subscribe to their RSS feed here and listen regularly.
Undependent™ tracks the emerging class of self-sustaining Internet-based artists. By artist we don’t mean artiste. We mean those content creators whose self-expression originates in and emanates from the Internet itself. The compelling ones attract audiences and in so doing are capable of creating completely self-sustaining businesses with total artistic control. (Read more here)
more
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Apr | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
Loading content...
