Print Vs. Web Vs. A Bear Viedo
Lee attended the first ever New England Webcomics Weekend last week in Easthampton, Mass.
This is the first of several webcomics panels Lee recorded that weekend. Please excuse our amateur camera work and lack of any decent sound quality, this is indeed the first video I have ever produced.
All of our NEWW videos will also be posted here as they are edited and uploaded.
And I just noticed I missed an ‘r’ in Gary’s last name. Oh, well, I’ll catch it next time.
NEWW Panel: Print Vs. Web Vs. A Bear from Lee Cherolis on Vimeo.
Super Kaiju Hero Interview
Well today B:DC has it’s first interview. We’re talking to SUPER KAIJU HERO FORCE creators Casey Lau and Jeff Kwan. The first comic came out just last week on the iTunes App store with more promised in the near future. Every installment will be available for free. Check it out HERE or at Crispy Comics.
So, without anymore delay:
BRAINSTORMING Digital Comics: Give us the log line for SUPER KAIJU HERO FORCE.
Super Kaiju Hero Force: It’s an origin story, so its hard to give an exact log line for it since we don’t want to give too much of it away. But if you love Japanese monsters, Ultraman and reality TV - then you’re half way to enjoying Super Kaiju Hero Force. The best way to explain this is What if Matt Groening had created Godzilla? We think it would be something weird like this.
BDC: What specific works in the giant robot/ monster genre drove you to create SUPER KAIJU HERO FORCE?
SKHF: The whole genre is awesome! We’re on a steady diet of Kamen Rider and Ultraman shows right now because they keep updating them in Japan every year to keep kids interested and while we’ve seen huge leaps and bounds in special effects for movies like Spider-Man and Iron Man, the Japanese still won’t let go of the rubber outfits and the miniature cities - and while its super cool to see and all kinds of awesome, its just hilarious that you still see zippers and we just got to thinking “what if the guys in the suits went crazy one day” or if the South Park kids got into them - that’s when it started to gel and make us laugh we kept going.
BDC: When, and what were the circumstances that begun your venture into iPhone comics?
SKHF: I think like many comic fans when you start using an iPhone or iPod touch the first thing you think after you get your Facebook set up is, “I wonder how Jim Lee’s art would look on this?”
We saw that some other companies were putting re-formatted comics onto the iPhone and thought someone should make original comics, we’ve done the printed comic dance before and the flash comic but this platform seemed to be almost perfect for us in terms of user base, ease of distribution and revenue generation potential - and we had tons of ideas and we decided to go with this one first, but its the first of many new comics ideas we plan to launch 100% digitally.
BDC: What is the process for coming up with the slick end product on the art side? Is it all digital?
SKHF: Yes its all digital - I guess the only time pen and paper are used is when I jot down notes for each of the stories and do doodles which will never see the light of day - from there Jeff and I bounce Google Docs back and forth refining a concept until its tight enough to plot and then drawn and colored digitally.
BDC: There are many hints in the captions and art about the future of the SUPER KAIJU HERO FORCE (such as the GARGANTURO sporting some shorts in his first panel, but not another). How far have you plotted the story out?
SKHF: Yes we’re finishing the artwork for the final chapter now. So we’ve given ourselves a huge headstart to the whole thing so we can have the luxury of speeding up the delivery of new chapters if its well received.
BDC: What is the creation schedule you’ve set up for yourselves to keep up with the biweekly release? Do you have a buffer of a few strips?
SKHF: We’ve been working on this since September, purely part-time, but it will be completed by the time you see #3 so that’s one thing we won’t be behind on. We’re going to begin work our next series in April which is different than Super Kaiju Hero Force in tone and style.
BDC: What are your thoughts on the future of digital distribution? Do you see it as THE method of delivery, or just ONE method?
SKHF: Of course its just ONE method. We are all hardcore comic fans and grew up with them, and we love comic shops - but since we’re not specifically doing superheroes - we wanted to find a distribution channel that allowed regular people an easy way to read comics. After seeing so many superhero movies, we feel that audiences are ready to grow their comic reading habit just like we did in the 80’s into other types of comic books. How much further would a Scott Pilgrim go if it was released digitally as well? And how many countries could get in to it that much faster? We feel complete digital delivery is still at least 10 years away, and while it comes there will still be ways to get comics at comic shops and bookstores, just as movies will always also be shown in cinemas not just as downloads.
BDC: Why are you putting it up for free? Do you have plans to sell it in a print collection later?
SKHF: If Jim Lee or Alex Ross were drawing it then we’d charge. Its a new medium, new characters, we feel like if we want you to take a chance on us that we also take a chance on you. If all goes to plan we’ll find other ways to monetize the comic book - the very next step will be the “Digital TPB” version, where we put everything into 1 application and include other fun stuff like wallpapers, games, creators audio/video commentary - really push the platform its sitting on.
BDC: Is SUPER KAIJU HERO FORCE a means to an end, and experiment, or an end unto itself?
SKHF: All of the above. We’re definitely committed to using mobile platforms as our distribution of choice. We will never say never, but we’re not looking at a print version of this anytime in the near future.
The only experimenting we’re doing is storytelling - how to fit the panels and flow into this digest sized screen. That is the biggest experiment and while we’re going pretty traditional here we’d like to try different ways in this format.
With new products entering the market, its only a matter of time before everyone looks at this platform as a viable business. Let’s see how we get on - we’re more than happy to share with you how the downloads go and how we do in the progress of each new chapter comes out. I think in that purpose because we are the first original comic publisher that lots of other people will want to see how we do before getting on board as well. And to all the creators out there reading this and wanting to get in on it, we are also looking to publish other people’s content as well.
Any plugs or special thanks for anyone?
We love Blog@Newsarama and check it all the time for what’s happening in the comic biz and we enjoy your newly set up Digital Comics column as of course this is what we’re into and it seems you guys are seeing the market expanding like this as well so its good timing that we are talking about this together right now.
BDC: Thanks for answering some questions, and good luck.
SKHF: No problems thanks for doing this, we really appreciate it.
BRAINSTORMING: Digital Comics, Link Friday
Kyle’s Pick: White Ninja
Some comics use all the tools available to the modern comic creator, slap on some slick colors, agonize over every line and word and still can’t accomplish what Earle and Scott Bevan can do on a bad day with White Ninja. I’ve been following the comic for years now, the longest I’ve followed any comic on the internet, and I’ve never been disappointed. With an unassuming art style, and unconventional punchlines how could it disappoint?
They faithfully update with new comics four days a week, and with years of back-stock, you can never see enough. There is no continuity, sense of time or purpose. It just is. Nab them onto you hard drive and make a screensaver with them, you’ll never go a day without laughing again. And hey, if you don’t like it, it’s not because you don’t get it, it’s because you get it.
Lee’s Pick: Kukuburi
Of course, we’re not suggesting that slick colors, deft lines and a polished script are at all overdone. One of my favorites in this category is the webcomic Kukuburi, which is the work of Ramón Pérez of Butternut Squash fame. Kukuburi is a visual carnival, it basically defines the word fantasy. Ramón is a master of composition and produces a beautiful, whimsical world I just can’t get enough of. I’ve been a fan of Ramón’s work since the early days of the Squash and was hooked instantly when he posted the first 4 or 5 pages of Kuku in late ‘07. Now on hiatus, due to the need to have a roof and a paycheck, this weekly comic looks set to return in May according to the site’s blog. Which is awesome because I need my Kuku fix.
So while I await the return of Kukuburi I’m reading the comic adaptation of the videogame Resistance put out by Wildstorm and featuring, yes, artwork from Kukuburi creator Ramón Pérez. I’m also enjoying Ramón’s blog; She’s My Kind of Girl (very NSFW) which is a shameless celebration of the female form in quick pinups and illustrations from Ramón and his artist buddies. See more of Ramón’s work here.
Chasmillion Kids #9-11
Free Gold
The term “digital comics” has become almost synonymous with webcomics, or iPhones comics, or Kindle comics. It’s the banner under which the digital age revolutioneers rally and march to the future. Digital distribution of current monthly floppy copies is a primary concern as well. Any other application of digital comics, and one must be talking about illegal copies, right? Golden Age Comics has a thing or two to say about that.
“Welcome to Golden Age Comics. The #1 site for downloading FREE copyright free golden age comics. All files here available for download have carefully been research by our users and staff to make sure they are in the public domain. To start downloading free comic books now you will need to register an account on our forums and then verify it by visiting link in the email we send you.”
That’s what the disclaimer says right under the title bar. There are decades worth of comics that are yours by virtue of copyright laws. That’s right, copyright laws have finally worked out for us, virtual stacks of excellent comic magazine entertainment, just waiting for you to click on. At Golden Age Comics, it’s free comic day everyday. Check out the original appearances of the characters from Dynamite’s Project Superpowers or ABC’s Terra Obscura. Matt Fraction even brought back Amazing Man in Iron Fist. If you are overwhelmed by the choices, you can find a little help with your selections at Don Markstein’s Toonapedia or Jess Nevins’ Golden Age Heroes Directory. A few of my favorite characters I’ve found are Bozo the Iron Man, Amazing Man, and Doc Strange.
Have you wanted to write a story about a character that isn’t just fan fiction? Anything you write or draw with most of the characters on Golden Age Comics is just as legitimate as what Krueger and Ross are up to at Dynamite. These stories and characters are ripe for the picking, so fill up a basket and make us some pies. In fact, we’ll make a promise that if you start a webcomic site using some of these characters and properly credit the original creators as best you can, we’ll run a blurb on it right here. Send your links to brainstormingcomics@gmail.com.
-Kyle
A Monstrous App
Monday, Feb 23rd: Daniel M. Davis launched what appears to be the first comic-viewing iPhone app created specifically for webcomics. Daniel and his definitely human programmer buddy Ross Cooper share their apps with the world here. Daniel’s version of the app is completely FREE and allows you to receive instant updates and view the latest dozen strips of his comic Monster Commute on your iPhone. Another version of the app, Kapow v1.0, gives you access to an ever-growing library of comics via their RSS feeds. When we downloaded KAPOW v1.0, it was a little buggy. It locked up several times, and we had to restart the iPhone (the smaller Monster Commute app did not have the same problem). However, the potential for KAPOW as a method of exposure and ease of viewing is great. With promises of software updates and additions to the comic selection, we are looking excitedly at KAPOW’s future.
Daniel M. Davis, admittedly raised by yetis in the great Pacific Northwest (all that mist and that up there), has now been living and working in Phoenix, Arizona for a number of years, which is exactly 5 years, illustrating several projects through his company, Steam Crow. Monster Commute is Daniel’s second venture into webcomics and is inspired by the formidable highways of Phoenix on his commute to work. Daniel has just started Chapter Two of the comic and plans to move from gag-a-day format to a longer, story-driven form. This comic drips with style. Daniel’s retro vectors and practiced eye for design paint a deeply textured world of monsters perpetually stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on their way to work. And it’s hilarious.
On the subject of preparing his comic for the iPhone, Mr. Davis commented, “I wanted a free way to make my work more ‘discoverable’. I’m always looking for ways to turn my work onto new folks, and the iPhone seemed like a perfect fit. If you notice, my strip is almost perfectly built for a landscape iPhone. This wasn’t accidental, as I wanted my strip to really work well on screens of all sorts.” When asked how it felt seeing the app hit iTunes and his comic being downloaded, he decried “It’s nearly as great as riding a red sasquatch into battle against the centaur hordes. But it smells much, much nicer. I’m just thrilled that we aren’t stuck in a world where we have to make 19 versions of everything to fit the end device. One of the iPhone’s revolutions, I believe, is that it scales TO the CONTENT. That’s a +7 ability if I’ve ever seen one, and I hope that other devices follow.”
Download the app, and check out Monster Commute , you’ll be glad you did.Daniel M. Davis will be exhibiting at: WonderCon, Emerald City Comicon, San Diego Comicon, and the Alternative Press Expo under the name “Steam Crow Press”. You can also buy Steam Crow’s books here.
Cashmillion Kids #5-8
When last we left the children, they were planning to search for Daisy’s parents in a mysterious sunken jungle. But whatever dangers befell the previous expedition may well prove their doom as well…
A New XPerience
Comics XP is a new website that wants to be the premiere distribution hub for comics online. It’s clear from their site that not only will they work to bring as many comic titles as possible to the web but as many people as possible to read them. The site boasts a weekly Ezine, free to subscribers that will be filled with industry news and articles about the titles in their ever-growing library. What else do we know about Comics XP?
Andy checks out the Comics XP Reader
We know the site is a bit bare and their software isn’t in beta yet. We know this because instead of launching full bore with guns a blazin’, Comics XP has chosen to make the launching process public and transparent with their status updates accessible through their forum. It’s certainly an unconventional approach, especially in these fast-paced, strike while the iron is hot, times where if word of your “next big thing” gets out you run the risk that someone else with the know how and a faster crew can beat you to the punch.
So which punch is Comics XP throwing? The concept of eComics isn’t a new one; Marvel has been distributing its comics online for a fee since Nov 2007. Independent publishers have been releasing .PDF downloads for years. DC’s got Zuda and iVerse has comics on the iPhone and now the Google Android. It’s hard to know without more information and something better than a thumbnail image to figure out what Comics XP wants to do with their comic reader software.
Here’s what I hope Comics XP (or any of the other hopefuls on the digital comics frontier) will be able to give me :
- A universal file format or one that can be converted easily with their software or website (.cbr, .cbz, etc…)
- A catalog that includes my favorite titles from mainstream companies
- A submission policy just as open to independent and unknown publishers
- Unlimited re-downloads (incase my hard drive fails and I lose my downloads)
- A decent free preview system
- A free monkey with every eComic purchase
Except for the last one, Comics XP addresses a good part of my wish-list. They certainly look like a very promising distribution option, especially for creator-owned independent titles. We don’t expect to see anything from either Marvel or DC up on there catalog anytime soon, if ever. Both companies are too large to be submit themselves to splitting profits with a third party developer. However, if this proves a successful model, it wouldn’t be a surprising move for the both of them to develop similar services. Once more content is released on the site we’ll do a follow up and get a better picture of where Comics XP fits into the digital comics universe.
Here’s one last thing, a wishful fantasy; picture one website with the same selection as your local brick and mortar store, with never a title out of stock. Likely it wouldn’t have EVERY title. It would be more like Hulu.com fused with an iTunes-like library browser but for comics with a decent amount of big names as well as small, new and old. 
And all of it free.
That’s what I want. No matter how unrealistic it seems. Eventually, someone is going to get close enough.
Adventure Serials as Webcomics
It’s no secret that the web comic world and the print comic world are vastly different, and there is nothing at all wrong with that. Though the visual language is the same, the optimal format and distribution is not. The same things that bring people to a comic store every week/month are not always going to be what causes someone to search for comics on the internet. With the immediacy of distribution on the web, it makes much more sense to go with strip formatting at a hirer frequency of publishing. Like most strips in the newspaper, the majority of web comics are gag strips, likely because it is easier and more effective to tell a joke in 4 to 8 panel intervals than it is to tell an on-going story. These factors, among others, have many believing that the adventure serial is a hopeless sell to the internet crowd.
It is true that the web is more suited for shorter installment strips, but let’s look at our newspaper strip history, as it seems to serve such an appropriate model. This year we not only celebrate the 70th anniversary of Batman, but also the 75th of Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, and the 104th of Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo, two of the greatest newspaper comics ever published. The fact that you recognize either of those strips, and I sincerely hope you do, is a testament to the success that adventure strips can have. Zuda.com’s (DC’s online imprint) top strips have all been adventure strips, most notably the very first comic to go up: High Moon.
The web comic audience maybe different than the print comic audience, but that doesn’t mean that such an audience only desires one kind of web comic. They may not go to the comic store, but statistically speaking, they probably bought tickets for the Dark Knight. The web audience enjoys adventure just as much as anyone, but just like the funny pages, web comics seem to offer little in variety of genre. Of course there are many examples out there of long running adventure and drama serials, but they are nearly buried under the avalanche of humor strips.
The challenge seems to be finding a natural pace and phrasing for the story so it works in bite-sized intervals as well as from beginning to end. The same is true of print comics, however, a person who purchases an issue of Spider-Man is likely to finish all 22 pages of story in that issue. With a free web comic, the reader has nothing invested in the reading experience and is just as likely to never read the next strip as he is to follow it. Also, the internet browsing mentality is more geared for quick, pizzicato perusal than it is for reading page after page in sequence.
In the dawning age of print comics releasing digital contingents, more comic store goers are looking for what web comics have to offer them. Humor me as I post my own adventure strip, Cashmillion Kids, on a biweekly schedule on this blog as an experiment.
Fanflow: Awesome at a Premium
Have you ever collected box tops or proofs of purchase? Have you ever known the thrill of deciphering a secret code that only your new club decoder ring will show you? No? Well get ready, because webcomics are about to bring it back for a new generation.
We’re talking about fan clubs.
Specifically we’re talking about Fanflow brought to you by the good people at assetbar.com. Assetbar is an innovative group of tech developers specializing in flexible and customizable web tools that help you manage your content and connect with your audience. In their words: “Fanflow helps artists afford to create new content that otherwise wouldn’t exist. If you have fans who crave more from you, then premium content Fanflows may be a great addition to your free work.”
This is especially attractive to webcomic creators who, almost by definition, are the exact people Fanflow was designed for.
Comic creators Chris Onstad and Scott Kurtz have signed on and are offering their readers additional content using the Fanflow service, with many more comic creators sure to follow. The main comic strip is still free but now with a small payment you can access premium content and “members only” features. Most of this content creators are already producing and releasing erratically through multiple, unconnected channels. With Fanflow, all the content is brought together and made accessible only to subscribers. Content offered can include: community moderated comment and message boards, streaming video while the artist works, members-only messages from the characters and authors, exclusive wallpapers downloads, podcasts, photos, in-progress previews, even music. But really, there’s no limit to what creators can give their Fanflow members.
Of course, premium content memberships already exist; Sluggy Freelance fans will be familiar with Pete Abram’s Defenders of the Nifty community. And getting special downloads as incentives for donations is also pretty common. Fanflow updates the process and makes it easier for users no matter what size audience you start with. Of course, the quality of the club depends mostly on the comic creator’s diligence in continuously updating their members with more and more content. So if you’re just barely able to keep your comic’s update schedule as it is, Fanflow may not be for you. Still, it’s good to see new tools being released that work so easily with the webcomics model. Keep an eye on Assetbar.com for more.
Comics we’ve found using Fanflow:Achewood, Octopuspie, PVP, Starslip. ( By the time this posts we’re sure there will be more.)
iVerse, You Verse
In November of last year, iVerse Media released their first round of comics on the App store for the iPhone (whenever I say iPhone, we also mean iPod Touch). Since then, there has been a steady stream of new titles and releases. Readership of these comics, many available for free, soared over 100,000 in just two months. iPhone sales exploded this holiday season, and each customer, new and old, is scrambling to see what this little machine can do. The opportunity to pave a new market for digital comics has never been greater. Some have said that all it will take is an iTunes for comics before digital comics will take off, well now comics are on iTunes.
So far, iVerse titles are available from FREE up to (top price) but most go for 99¢ which isn’t bad for full length comic book content. Everything released has been an adaptation of existing, published comics. Some are older, but most are within the last few years. Nothing from the big two either, as is to be expected. The method of viewing is simple, the panels and wordballoons are cropped and placed into 480×320 segments that you scroll through with your finger. Here is where their adaptation method hits a few bumps. Clearly, these panels were not made with this screen size in mind, indeed some of the comics predate the iPhone. This can sometimes result in jagged points of other panels creeping into the frame, or awkward splits when scrolling to the next panel.
It is only a matter of time, however, before original content developed with the iPhone’s specs in mind gets accepted. iVerse does, after all, have an open submission policy. Truly, the format is something more akin to a strip as opposed to a comic book, but that’s not to say that it can’t be just as dynamic as a book can be, if done in a thoughtful way. Like Scott McCloud would say, don’t look at the 480×320 screen size as a prison cell, but as a window. A “panel” could be more screens than just one (fig.1). In fact, you could make a comic out of one continuous panel, if you like, all scrolling across the same panoramic background (fig.2). Use the motion of scrolling the next panel as a design element instead of treating it like an obstacle. Done properly, you could even plan the panel sizes in such a way that they could be arranged on a printed page for a trade paperback copy (fig.3).
I don’t think that iVerse is going to sink the battleship of comic books, at least not very soon. It’s not even their goal. Digital comics has been waiting for something sexy (for lack of a scholarly, economic term) enough to sell them, and I think the iPhone is exactly sexy enough. The dawn of the digital age is just breaking over the horizon, but their isn’t yet enough light to tell what shape it will take. What I do know is that I’ll be watching iVerse closely, watch them find there way in a new marketplace for sequential entertainment.
