Whither Webcomics?

"It's my sincere belief that in ten years entire cottage industries will exist that do nothing but analyze the psychology behind horrible webcomics."
Zack "Geist Editor" Parsons, Something Awful, February 2, 2004

"Hey, why wait ten years?"
Mayerson, March 20, 2004

[Previous entry: "Problematic July-ish 2004"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Friendly Hostility August/September 2004"]

08/14/2004 Entry: "Problematic ends! (?)"

Eh, this is so dull, not even I can find anything to say about it. Next!

Nefertari is just as thin-skinned as the girl who scribbles her.

Interpersonal Satanic Communication

Hey, that should get me and Sandra some hits, y'think?

Bow wow wow. Meow meow meow

This strip is the equivalent of a vamp in music. It neither moves the narrative forward or provides any insight into the characters (even if that were possible).

I, personally, can't believe she bit Betsy either. Betsy was being a bitch, not threatening and I thought Nefertari was saner than that. Oh well, no accounting for these weird fillips that eject from Sandra now and then. Who can know what she'll thrash out next?

Did Nefertari put on seventy-five pounds since the last comic or is Sandra having problems with her proportions (again)? Hm.

I don't really understand the slap at Amnesty International. I mean, they are doing their level best to clean up the Cowboy Gulag Sandra's state taxes (do they have that in Texas?) go to support. And, yes, I know AI has tried to clean up the LA County Sheriffs, but that's not my fault either. However, I'd never diss AI. If the bush junta steals another term, I might be needing AI very very much.

"No comic next Monday, though, as I'm still vacationing. :) Next Saturday will be the last Problematic episode, then we'll jump straight into the modern day. :D Whee, folks."
FHLJ, August 7, 2004

Oh, thank God, so there IS something to look forward to!

...? That was confusing. But here are my thoughts:

1. Hm, huge jump in time and, possibly, place the audience is supposed to understand.
2. If this is a transition strip, it ain't working for me.
3. Oh, dear lord, where are my smelling salts? Fatima looks like a cross between Tybalt O'Donnell and Groucho Marx!
4. I'm going to cave in and see if the FHLJ can shed any light on this one.
5. No, nothing at FHLJ except an icon of a hugely pregnant naked lady in profile.
6. Oh well.

And zo, apparently (and confusingly), that is that for "Problematic" and I say thank you, Jesus. As far as jumping into the modern day, as Sandra promises, I suppose that means "Friendly Hostility" will be cranking up and we'll soon be treated to Fox and Collin trying to slither into each others bodies tongues first. All we can do now... is wait.

So, until then... we wait.

But here's something to read while we're waiting:

Bonus Material

*~*1*~*

You know, I don't even have to look for these things anymore; they now find me. This is from the Prism comics previews book that I didn't even read at Comic Con (A big thank you to L, for spotting, transcribing and sending me the pertinent sections of the article).

"Webcomics offer delicious freedom," says Sandra Fuhr, creator of the online romance comic BOY MEETS BOY. "I have no editor telling me what to do or what not to do. No criticism that my characters are too gay - or not gay enough."

How would she know what an editor would do if she's never had one? All kinds of editors are all kinds of different. And, secondly, BMB wasn't all that gay in the first place because with the merest slip of the pencil, they could have been chicks. As it was, they were chicks with dicks. I mention the phenomenon of straight, bi or lesbian virgins trying to write gay porn in "Whither Webcomics?" It's not just in webcomics, but all over the internet and I find it a little odd.

"It's a fun hobby, and it'a nice to be able to follow any creative thread I want."

Hobby? I thought it was cult.

"BOY MEETS BOY beat out a host of hetero comics to win the 2003 WCC award for 'Outstanding Romantic Comic'."

Mainly because Sandra badgered and badgered and pleaded and pleaded for people to vote for it. Full Disclosure: I did not vote for it.

"Although the comic ended in early 2004, all the archives are still available online. Al there are plenty of other romance comics on the Web. Fuhr says that her new comic, FRIENDLY HOSTILITY, will soon feature a same-sex couple Positive Liberty."

Positive Liberty? I've no idea what that is and Google yielded nothing.

"Having a comic available only online automatically puts you closer to your audience, and you definitely get input on what they like and what they don't," notes Fuhr, of BOY MEETS BOY. "The audience lets me know when I'm doing something right, when the story is engaging, and if I'm making them smile...On the negative side, a few people get very upset if the story does not go in the direction they want."

Please notice that it's always about our longsuffering Sandra and never about anyone or anything else. Me-me-me-I-I-I, c'mon Sandra, get off it. If you spend this much time talking about your fans, you must be spending far too much time thinking about them.

"The article is called Web Slingers, by Bill Roundy, pp 120-124. Prism Comics: Your LGBT Guide to Comics #2, July 2004. Published annually by Prism Comics, $4.95. (http://team.prismcomics.org/ for ordering information)."

There's a nice picture of Tybalt with the article, which tells you who the best character in the strip was, followed closely by Gio, formerly Skids (not pictured).

*~*2*~*

Keenspot moves to SoDak!

"It's big business for Cresbard, population 140."

Wow! The Crosbys are going from Greater LA to a town of 140!

"Keenspot grossed almost $200,000 in 2003, which was 81.2 percent more than 2002, Crosby said."

I'm so glad revenues are up for 2003. When I spoke to Teri in early 2003 for background on the Keenspace section of "Whither Webcomics", she said 2002 was a very rough year. Well, I hear it was a rough year for everyone on the net.

"Crosby and his mother, Teri Crosby, plan to arrive in Cresbard this month. She is co-founder of Keenspot. Teri has wanted to move to South Dakota for a long time, Chris said."
California company relocating in Cresbard, Associated Press, Posted on Tue, Jul. 06, 2004

I find that interesting because in one of the few conversations I had with Teri, she said she was raised in Temple City, California and loved it so much, she had trouble living in neighboring Alhambra (I think), California. Hm. Anyway, I hope she'll like living in SoDak.

I have tremendous respect for Teri Crosby. When Chris Crosby was twelve or thirteen, Teri started selling his homemade comic books in her video rental store. She even drove him and another comics-making kid cross country to a comics con in Philadelphia early in her comics publishing career. I believe it's one thing to be supportive of your child's creativity and dreams, but how many moms start a business for it? Teri has managed to combine good mothering with a good business model and that impresses the hell out of me.

If she had time, I'd love to interview her (I think SeqTart would love it!), but I'm sure she's terribly busy setting up shop in SoDak. Best wishes on the move, Teri!

*~*3*~*

"The panel has to exist by itself, otherwise the integrity of the art is in jeopardy. Until the artist arrives at the point where he realizes that by drawing a single panel he has a single work of art that exists by itself as a single statement which can live by itself, only then can all the panels live together. And then you reach a totality that is completely out of the realm of the infantile kind of page continuities that comics are filled with.

"Bernard Krigstein (1919-1990) is routinely listed among the great comic book pioneers of the twentieth century. And yet, with the exception of his EC period, the vast majority of his work has been unavailable since its original publication. As a result, the full measure of Krigstein's contribution to the art of comics has never been widely appreciated."
Mars Import Catalogue (Hey, I take these insights where I find them.)

See, contrary to what the can't-remember-before-the-internet-set thinks (see below), I'm not making this stuff up. There's been volumes written on sequential art (yes, chillun, that is what it's called), and, though it's a dirty job, someone's got to write about webcomics. That it happens to be me is just lucky lucky lucky.

And Sandra's panels in "Problematic" never achieve the stand alone quality Krigstein refers to, so her strips remain in "the realm of the infantile kind of page continuities that comics are filled with", and in webcomics, that would be squared.

I sometimes wonder if Sandra is trying to cram into a webcomic a story that would be better told in another medium. I've no idea if she realizes this or not. For her to strike out into another medium, she'd have to leave her fanbase, and she might not be willing to do that.

*~*4*~*

"She is old enough to remember the days before webcomics, so she must be right."

Dear me, another little Live Journal Jockey fan, NapoleonHerself, no less. Oh! What burden for me! Tsk, I keep thinking I'm going to retire and then a whole new generation discovers me and so I must soldier on. Hey, these LJ Comments are a comedy goldmine in and of themselves. One of them thinks calling it sequential art is pretentious. Well, in Sandra's case that might be true, especially the art part. However, this genre is called sequential art whether that makes the children giggle or not. They giggle at the words penis and vagina, too, so there's nothing to take seriously there either.

Yes, there are days when I would like to quit, but there's always a new strip and then Utopia to, um, look forward to, so I don't see how I can abandon my fans anytime soon. Alas.

Anyway, back to the quote above: honeychild, I'm old enough to remember before MTV, when only hookers and strippers wore thongs (formerly known as G-strings), and when unprotected sex wasn't lethal, just stupid. However, thank you for the link, kiddo, and I've returned the favor. Every link boosts my Google spot and brings in more people who agree with me, but don't have an LJ because they have other things to do (like interact with real life).

What's interesting in all this criticism of me is that it's never of my work, but of me as a person. Also interesting is that there has never been a constructive, well-composed, well-thought out critique of Sandra's work - positive or negative - anywhere that I can find that I feel is on par with my own critique of her work. And critiquing Sandra and her milieu is just my little hobby that's transmogrified into a public service due to all the fame and adulation I've received lately.

And so, in the spirit of Public Service, here is the Mayerson Challenge: Anyone who can email me a decent critique of Sandra's work, one that can pass my editorial muster, will be posted here in it's entirety, including the name and email address, under the Mayerson Fairness Doctrine of Equal Time for Other and/or Opposing Views (MFDETOOV). Now I'm just going to sit back and wait for the masterpieces to roll on in! Y'all know where to find me. Offer good until December 31, 2004, void where prohibited.

*~*Next update: Sometime in September, maybe October. See you then, kids!*~*