The spiritual/cartoonical heirs of Harvey Kurtzman had their shindig on Saturday night, and as near as I can tell from the winners list, the most calls to the podium were for various Daredevil properties and one Ms Kate Beaton, who won for Best Online Comics Work, Special Award for Humor in Comics, and (most impressively) Best Cartoonist. The exceedingly modest Beaton remarked on her Tumblr:

To have won these awards is touching, and reaffirming, and I was not expecting so much faith in my work, but I thank you for your votes and your confidence. God knows, I am not the greatest cartoonist drawing breath at the moment, but I will try to always improve, and produce the best work I am capable of. I hope that I live up to your present opinion in further endeavors.

Also grateful for all of the wins: Mrs Brad Guigar. See, Brad was Kate’s designated award-acceptor, which meant he got in a lot of cardio sprinting to the podium and back three times, which means that he’s healthier today that he would have been otherwise, and why on earth wouldn’t a healthier Brad be a wonderful thing?

Continuing the webcomicker presence at the podium — Ram&0acute;n Peréz hasn’t been able to keep up with Kukuburi so much due to the demands of paying work, but since one piece of that paying work was the stellar (and twice-honored) Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, I’d say that Pérez made the right decision. And rounding things out, Vera Brosgol will always be a webcomiker in my heart, no matter how unfinished Return to Sender remains; she was justly recognized for Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers for Anya’s Ghost, about which this page has had much good to say.

One more thought regarding Maryland’s annual designation as Center of the Comics World: this Friday, the day before SPX kicks off in Bethesda, the University of Maryland (College Park)’s Stamp Student Union will be holding a special panel discussion on webcomics:

“Pixels and Paper: Comic Art in the Digital Age,” is a panel discussion at the Hoff Theater in Stamp on September 14th from 2:00pm – 4:00pm about the creation and dissemination of comics in the digital age.

FREE and open to the public, the panel will converse on a number of topics related to the creation and dissemination of comics using both analog and digital methods, and how those choices are made.

Participants include Sally Carson (Fixpert), Becky Dreistadt and Frank Gibson (Tiny Kitten Teeth), Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content), and Rob Ullman (Atom-Bomb Bikini).

Not listed there, but also participating: Holly Post, Vice President in Charge of Kicking Your Ass for TopatoCo. This panel will feature much good information, and probably hugs.

As we hurtle headlong into next week’s San Diego Comic Con, now is as good a time as any to remind you that postings next week will be on their own schedule. Cool? Cool.

• Previously noted, the hands-down best publisher of graphic novels, :01 Books will be at SDCC, but now it’s time for me to share with you some of who and what they’re bringing (many thanks to Gina Gagliano at :01 for passing along the info, as well as numerous advanced copies throughout the year).

  To start, I realize that some of you may object to that “best publisher” claim that I made, so check out the Eisner nominees from :01 this year: Nursery Rhyme Comics (Best Publication for Early Readers and Best Anthology), Zita the Space Girl (Best Publication for Kids), Anya’s Ghost and Level Up (Best Publication for Young Adults), and Zahra’s Paradise (Best Graphic Album — Reprint). Bascially, a :01 publication has a one in three shot of being recognized by the most prestigious awards in comics.

  Second, check out who will be visiting the booth: Jorge Agurre and Rafael Rosado, Vera Brosgol, Zack Giallongo, JT Petty, Thien Pham, Nate Powell (also an SDCC Guest of Honor), Dave Roman, and Jen Wang. They’ll all be signing at least a couple of times during the show, so drop by the booth for the schedule. Also check out the program guide for the many :01 creators and staff that will be talking about various topics near and dear to their heart; if nothing else, try to catch up with Colleen AF Venable to tell her how awesome her book designs¹ are. Among those book designs: the just-received, not-yet-released Sailor Twain, which I can’t wait to get my hands on (October, can you come quickly enough?).

• Know what you won’t be able to pick up at SDCC? The Schlock Mercenary boardgame. When my evil twin told me that his game guys wanted to send me a review copy, he didn’t mention it was going to be the single largest item ever delivered to The Fleenplex for review. This thing is heavy, on account of it’s stuffed full of thick cardstock pieces, in a box that is far more solid than anybody used to American boardgames would ever consider necessary. Those of you that like Euro-style games, it probably feels right at home.

  So yeah, all those pieces (which, by the way, are double-sided) — gonna be a while before I get the chance to punch ‘em all out but when I do, I can tell that the good folks at Living Worlds Games love me and want me to be happy, because one of the items in the box was a little bundle of sealable bags to sort those pieces into. Just saying, I had to make a trip to the supermarket for Zip-Locs when I bought Settlers of Catan.

  My only complaint being (and this is preliminary, as I haven’t punched out all those double-sided pieces yet), the designers put in such necessary play-pieces as banana peels and cursing, but didn’t manage duct tape or an ominous hummmmmm? Priorities, man! On the other hand, the entire purpose of the game is to be recklessly violent and make a bunch of attorney drones go Pop! Mostly; the rules (which I have had time to read through) feature different styles of gameplay, from kill people and break things to retrieve the macguffin without dying. With all the characters, tools, objectives, floor layouts, and game styles, it’s going to have a hell of a lot of replay value.

  Schlock Mercenary: Capital Offensive is up for pre-order at Game Salute, or you can get it from Howard Tayler at GenCon Indy (mid-August) or ChiCon 7/WorldCon70 (end of August), and eventually at his store.

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¹ You could also note that she’s got the Best Tattoo Ever, but if you lead with that it could come off creepy.

So many talented folks to talk about today. Are you ready? You should be ready.

Updating more people at SDCC (which kicks off, goodness, a week from tomorrow for Preview Night), namely:

• I missed Becky Dreistadt and Frank Gibson because they’re exhibiting under the name Monster Milk, their LA-based collective of friends and colleagues; had I but known, I would have pointed you to booth 1232. And I managed to completely overlook the fact that Kazu Kibuishi has taken out space under the name of Bolt City Productions, booth 2235; lots of Flight, Flight Explorer, and Explorer: Mystery Boxes contributors will be dropping by there, so keep your eyes open.
• Speaking of big comics shows, the Harvey Awards have announced their nominees, to be voted upon and handed out at Baltimore Comic-Con, 8 and 9 September in (obviously) Baltimore. As is often the case with the Harveys¹ there are some headscratchers and discussions as to whether or not a particular nominee really belongs on the ballot, but they’ve done a pretty good job in the category of Best Online Comics Work, and I don’t have any complaints with this year’s field:
  • Battlepug, Mike Norton
  • Bucko, Erika Moen and Jeff Parker (and just in time for Bucko’s print release)
  • Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant, Tony Cliff
  • Gronk, Katie Cook
  • Hark! A Vagrant, Kate Beaton

  Fantasy (with giant critters), murder-mystery (with juggalos and dick jokes), swashbuckling action (with kick-ass ladies), all-ages humor (with cutie-pie of a monster), and history/literature used as a prism to comment on the state of society (with Strong Female Characters searching out yogurt that makes you poop) represents a pretty wide swathe of story forms and genres. Nicely done, nominators!

  The Harveys also have a number of creators from the web/indy-comics world scattered through the other categories, including Beaton’s print edition of Hark! A Vagrant (Special Award for Humor in Comics), Vera Brosgol’s Anya’s Ghost (Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers, and this page’s Best Comic of 2011), the many talented creators of Flight #8 (Best Anthology), and Beaton one mo’ ‘gin as Best Cartoonist. Fleen wishes all of the nominees the best of luck.

• Speaking of burying the lede, you have probably noticed by now (since the story broke yesterday while I was messing with SDCC session listings) that Pendleton Ward’s other Frederator Studios animated series, Bravest Warriors, is getting a comics treatment, and it comes courtesy of artist Mike Holmes and A Softer World scribe Joey Comeau, with cover work from Boxer Hockey creator Tyson Hesse.

  Should I mention that it is completely a coincidence that Ward’s Adventure Time comics are written by Ryan North², in whose attic Joey Comeau once lived? Or that Mr North can often be found in proximity to Mr Comeau in a shirtless and/or unconscious state? Coincidence?

  Only in the sense that Mr North and Mr Comeau, both being incredibly creative individuals with a habit of seeking out likewise creative individuals, would inevitably meet. And in all honesty, I can’t think of anybody better suited than Joey Comeau to embody the spirit of teens that save aliens with the power of their emotions, since we all know that Joey Comeau is 147% unfiltered emotions by weight.

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¹ Which are nominated by petition, with no jurying or comitteeing between the masses and the nominations, resulting in sometimes unusual choices dominating with nods in multiple fields.

² Nexus of all Webcomics Realities and So Many Other Things, You Guys.

So the Eisner nominees got announced the other day, and I was pleasantly surprised to see some of the work that was recognized, along with unpleasantly surprised to see some of what was omitted. In other words, a completely typical year. Let’s start with the nominees for Best Digital Comic, which we will recall are:

[O]pen to any new, professionally produced long-form original comics work posted online in 2011. Webcomics must have a unique domain name or be part of a larger comics community to be considered. The work must be online-exclusive for a significant period prior to being collected in print form.

That would be represented this year by:

• Bahrain by Josh Neufeld
• Battlepug by Mike Norton
• Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff
• Outfoxed by Dylan Meconis
• Sarah and the Seed by Ryan Andrews

They are, respectively, a piece of comics journalism (16 pages), a serialized fantasy story (ongoing), a serialized adventure story (wrapped at 118 pages, second story forthcoming), a fairy tale from the POV of the participants (22 pages), and a macabre story reminiscent of Momotaro (5 infinite canvas installments, equivalent to approximately 100 pages). Bahrain is the only one new to me.

The nominees provide a nice glimpse into both the the strength and the weakness of the category — there’s an incredible variety of work, but it’s just as hard to decide what the requirement of “long-form” means. Serialized ongoing story? Check. Done-in-one? Check. Seemingly anything that’s not a continuity-light gag strip or single panels would qualify, but there’s still a conceptual difficulty in seeing works that are five to ten times longer than others in the same category. Still, if I have my questions about things that might have been nominated (top of my list: anything Emily Carroll did in 2011), it’s entirely down to preference; there’s nothing on this slate to be embarrassed about.

Speaking of missing, I understand that the nominations are mostly drawn from submissions sent in by the creators themselves (or their publishers), but I’m wondering about some things that were left out. While the submission policies don’t explicitly say that the judges can include overlooked works that weren’t submitted, I have to believe that such discretion wouldn’t be frowned upon either¹. All this to say, no nomination for Hark! A Vagrant for either Best Humor Publication or Best Graphic Album — Reprint? Kate Beaton was everywhere in 2011 (and deservedly so), inarguably one of the two or three biggest stories in comics², and likely the one that reached the most people outside our rather insular community. Her absence is baffling.

That being said, having been on the inside of an awards process this year — and having taken some lumps for it — I can say with certainty that I have much more sympathy for Jackie Estrada and the Eisner committee than at any prior point in my life. It’s an imperfect set of nominations, because no process for choosing and no people involved in that process can be perfect. I trust that everybody involved did the best they could with honest intentions. Nor could I be annoyed with any nominations list that includes the likes of Dave Kellett (for Best Humor Publication), Colleen AF Venable (Best Publication for Kids (ages 8–12)), or Vera Brosgol³ (Best Publication for Young Adults (Ages 12-17)). Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees.

• In other news, Brad Guigar has taken an idea and run it in a new direction. Rich Stevens messed around with releasing a month or so of Diesel Sweeties strips as an e-book (mostly to play around with iBooks Author), which Guigar is also doing right now with Evil, Inc., but with a twist. Brad’s download lets you see into the future. The entire month of April’s storyline (and please recall that today is only the sixth day of April) is packaged up and can be yours for a buck and a half.

  I’ve seen webcomics collections hit print with a few strips at the end still to run online, but I can’t recall such an example of sneak peak access before. Approximately 24 hours after announcing the deal, Guigar found the response strong enough that he’ll be repeating in May, and hints at further developments. For those wondering what he would do with all that extra time, Kicking his buffer in the ass appears to have been at the top of the list.

• Jeph Jacques is heading to the entirely classy environs of Yale University on Thursday, 12 April, for a Master’s Tea, which (as noted previously) is a Big Damn Deal. Not noted in print previously — but believe me I noted the crap hell out of it privately — Yale does a really terrible job of providing any public information about said Teas. We’re six days out and the only schedule I can find only goes up to the 10th. There are many colleges at Yale, and this tea might not be held at Pierson, or maybe it will?

  Basically if you want to go, I’d advise hanging around the Pioneer Valley on Thursday morning until you see a large man with tats and piercings and a Great Pyrenees headed south towards New Haven, and follow him.

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¹ The guidelines do say that the judges could add, modify, or delete entire categories (and it’s my understanding that happened this year), which to me is a much broader power than merely including additional works for consideration.

² NB: not just comic books.

³ I told you Anya’s Ghost was the best comics of the year. Also, disclaimer: stuff that I wrote appears in Kellett’s book.

Honestly, though — it’s fascinating. There’s a tweakability to to, but it’s working with so many variables that the likelihood of every coming up with a simple, reproducible formula to ensure maximum response/value is very, very low. I imagine it will help if you’re a good chess player and like managing your city outputs in Civilization¹. In the meantime, how about some things that are entirely not related to fundraising?

• Let’s start with another theme that I was repeating for a good long while — how awesome Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol. Having taken a number of recognitions and honors (including those of YALSA, CYBILS, Kirkus, and the prestigious “Fleenie”), Brosgol’s story is a nominee for a Bram Stoker Award by the Horror Writers Association in the category of Graphic Novel².
• From Ryan Estrada’s Google+ stream and/or Tumblr, evidence of the popularity of webcomics in Korea:
  

  I was in a Love Hotel. The super fancy kind, with an in-room hot tub overlooking the ocean, and a private theater. When I turned on the home theater, there were three options. Movies, TV, and webcomics.

  Porn was not even among the first set of options. That was several clicks through the menu. That means that a large enough group of people will come to this place, look at all their options, and say “Baby, let’s snuggle up in bed and read some webcomics on the big screen.”

  I think I speak for everybody when I say that I’m both proud and a little scared that webcomics are easier to obtain than porn in a setting that is deliberately designed to promote sexytimes. Also, I want to thank the operators of that love hotel, in that they’ve provided a wonderful excuse for anybody caught there with the wrong person: Baby, we were just catching up on webcomics!³

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¹ Where meeting your goal in plenty of time is like discovering Railroad and Flight while your opponents are still fielding armies of longbowmen and knights.

² Where her competition are the likes of Mike Mignola and Alan Freakin’ Moore.

³ If that ever happens to anybody, I solemnly promise that I will get Brad Guigar to illustrate it and send the original to the offending party.

Also, a few things that are Not Books.

• Books: Yuko Ota and Ananth Panagariya do one of my favorite webcomics (to the point that I know how to spell “Panagariya” without looking it up), and they were kind enough to send me a copy of Johnny Wander vol 2: Escape to New York, for which I was pleased to provide a blurb (it involved Archie). Let’s see if I can repay their kindness with another well-chosen phrase for volume 3, whenever that may come out.

  What struck me on my reading (and re-reading) of EtNY was its sense of generosity; this is, after all, an autobio strip, and one might well assume that the focus would be on Panagariya and Ota to the point that the rest of the city becomes a mere setting for them to live out their lives, and people that they encounter to be bit players and extras. Far from it, though, as they’ve gone out of their way to share the spotlight, even to minimize their own presence in the story of their lives, and let their cast of friends and co-conspirators have their chances to shine. Many of the best strips feature John, Aaron, Evan or George¹.

  Ultimately it’s about capturing the moment and whoever that may entail (I have had this epiphany at the AMNH, as well as by the Q. northropi, the A. excelsus, and especially the T. rex), and nobody recognizes that moment, nobody captures its essence, in quiet and in enthusiasm like Yuko and Ananth. Also, there are adorable critters, and Garies. So many Garies.

• Books: If you haven’t seen it yet, the new collection of comics inspired by Jim Henson’s The Storyteller is quite good. It might be my webcomicky preferences showing, but I most liked the story by Chris Eliopolous and Mike Maihack (inverting the normal order of things as the Storyteller’s dog — who is named Dog — tells an old Romanian tale of why dogs and cats and mice dislike each other, making more sense than a more modern version where it just don’t add up); the Aesop story by Colleen Coover; and a Japanese tale by Katie Cook. In fact, of the nine stories in the book, three were from China and Japan, and one from Appalachia, which marks a welcome broadening of the basis of the tales (entirely European in the first Storyteller series, and obviously Greek for the Greek Myths sequel series). Terrific work, start to finish.
• Books: End of the year, time to confirm or recant my strong words regarding Anya’s Ghost back in April:
  

  It is 224 pages long, was written and drawn by Vera Brosgol, and is the best comics work of 2011.

  From the perspective of time, I stand by my opinion. I will draw an arbitrary line between the “comics” of Anya’s Ghost and the “cartoons” of Hark! A Vagrant, and say that Vera Brosgol’s story of a moody teen learning uncomfortable truths was the best comic story of 2011. That is all.

• Not Books: In contravention of conventional wisdom, there’s a comment thread on the internet that’s useful and reasonably polite. Well, until the end when it goes off the rails a little, but I’d like to commend to your attention a back-and-forth from Friday’s posting between Ben (no last name given) and Scott Kurtz, which starts here. In particular, I’d commend this part of the discussion, from Mr Kurtz:
  

  [W]hat’s not known is that I’ve already approached some syndicates about consulting the “proper way” and got told that they really, by policy don’t hire consultants.

  I agree that the way it was presented was out there and a little crazy, but at this point, It’s the best way to target the “crazy” person at any of these syndicates that’s willing to buck the system and say “fuck he’s right.”

  So it’s not like we didn’t try other ways first.

  Cross-reference the criticisms of Kurtz² for not going about things properly, say, here. In all sincerity, I ask those that took issue with “how Kurtz³ said it” if this revelation changes their minds. Answers, as usual, on a postcard, and let’s try to keep things polite?

• Not Books: Randy Milholland reached a milestone yesterday, having spent ten years drawing comics of horrible, dysfunctional people (although I really like Fred and consider him a much less horrible person than most of the cast, despite having more than his share of sorrow). But, and this is a thing I’ve noted about Milholland’s work, a thing that I think he does better than anybody else in webcomics, his horrible dysfunctional people are trying.

  At the same time they wallow in their respective psychoses, they’re trying to be there for each other, trying to be better people (even when they don’t admit it), and it’s why I regard S*P (which is so deeply wrong and cynical and vicious on the surface) to be innately hopeful and optimistic. Milholland may not always ‘fess up to all of the sweetness and sincerity he’s capable of (particularly because he seems to have a higher-than-normal quotient of humorless, angry, rage-quit inclined readers), but it’s there all the same.

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¹ Especially George; you might try to convince me that John has the punchline, but it’s all about the vibe that George is projecting. His simple, iconic, almost hermaic representation will follow him all the days of his life and beyond.

² And Guigar! Let’s not leave him out of the equation. Poor Brad, always laboring in the shadows … like a ninja poised to strike.

³ And Guigar, ibid.

… and he’s pointing and casually declaring, Comics. Why is it I can’t see this sort of thing happening in America? We suck¹.

• About three months back, Jorge Cham released an initial set of screening dates for his cinematical entertainment, and I noted a screening tentatively set for my backyard. Yesterday, a far more precise screening schedule dropped, and it’s … I think that extensive is not sufficiently broad to describe what it is. More than one hundred showings are listed, with as many as a half dozen on the same day in far corners of the world. I note that Cham himself will be doing live Qs and As at some twenty of the showings, often accompanied by members of cast or crew.

  I’m particularly interested in this one in particular, as it’s very close to my home and thus I’ll be able to buy Jorge a drink by means of congratulations. Hope to see some of you out there, and a special message to all grad students past and present: it’s okay to laugh until you cry, since the alternative most likely available to you is to merely cry until you climb a tower with a rifle. Nameless bystanders, drop a word of thanks to Cham for giving all those potential spree killers a safe outlet for their grad-study insanities.

• Speaking of movies, Dave Kellett announced a bonus set of video clips from Stripped yesterday, featuring Kate Beaton, Ryan North², Richard Thompson³, and Greg Evans. Backers also have access to an extra clip of the man who might have done more to define comic stripping in the past few decades than anybody else: Jim Davis.
• Speaking of strips, Striptease wrapped up today, Chris Daily having been cranking out comics for damn near 11 years and more than 1000 updates. Fun fact #1: Daily was the first webcomicker I ever met, way the hell back at the first MoCCA Fest, probably around the time of the Inker Search storyline. Fun fact #2: just about every other webcomic referenced in those strips is no longer around, but Daily continues; look for book collections in the near future, and for the resumption of Punch an’ Pie from hiatus, and whatever pops into his head because there’s no stoppin’ the guy.
• Received last evening at my twitterfeed, via Patrick Race of Alaska Robotics, a short missive of great import:
  

  @fleenguy It might take a second but I think when you realize what this means you’ll be pretty excited. http://verabee.com/letter/testing.gif

  You guys. You guys. Almost the very first thing I ever wrote on this site was an appreciation of Vera Brosgol‘s Return to Sender, a webcomic so good it retains a spot in my bookmarks even though it’s seen no updates since 2004 and only one brief bloggening in 2007 (plus one crossover via a Scary Go Round guest strip nearly lost in the aether). But damn me if that link doesn’t look like Often and Colette, with perhaps a bit more of the crazy eyes that Brosgol used to such good effect in Anya’s Ghost. YOU GUYS, I AM MAYBE ABOUT TO BE THE HAPPIEST COMICS READER IN HISTORY.

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¹ If you’re going to get het up about that declaration of suckitude, it’s not a general comment on the country as a whole or its relative value or righteousness, just on our tragic underuse of Post-It Notes to create Pedobear on the office wall.

² Nexus of All Webcomics Realities, Northern Division.

³ Not the musician with the extra-nimble fingers.

Time to open up the ol’ Oxford Fleenic Dictionary, see what’s new in the language

• class·y [klăsˈē]
  Over the weekend it was announced by MoCCA that registration for next year’s Fest was open, but also that there was a change of date; the previously-announced 14-15 April, 2012 had become 28-29 April. Wee problem: that’s the same weekend as the long-since-announced Stumptown Comics Fest across the country in Oregon, and a week before TCAF. A lot of indy creators that might have done both MoCCA and Stumptown will now have to choose, and even those on the East Coast will have to decide if they want to be in New York or Toronto in the spring.

  After a weekend of speculation as to whether or not the MocCA people knew they were stepping into a particularly busy period of time (there’s no mention of it on their website, and consensus ran to “no”), Indigo Kelleigh (showrunner for Stumptown) stepped up with an announcement:

  I just wanted to state for the record, that I know the difficulties in arranging for a venue for an event of this size, and more often than not our own final dates are dictated by the venue’s availability moreso than our desired schedule. I can’t assign any malice to this announcement on the part of the MoCCA organizers, and I hope nobody else does, either.

  It is going to be a challenge for small press exhibitors, and obviously many will need to choose at which of the two shows to exhibit. Having two shows on the same weekend obviously removes one of them from many exhibitor’s schedules, and for those who rely on the convention circuit for income and promotional opportunities, this will clearly have an impact on their bottom line. To that end, we’re looking forward to working with the organizers of the MoCCA Art Fest to find ways to minimize that impact.

  The spring season has become crowded with conventions all over the continent, and I do look forward to continuing to communicate with the organizers of other conventions like MoCCA, TCAF, SPACE, SPX, Emerald City Comicon, STAPLE!, and APE to help ensure that scheduling conflicts like this don’t arise to inconvenience the exhibitors, or attendees, in the future.

  It would be nice to see a similar announcement at the MoCCA, but as has been noted here in the past, that show has been less organized in the years since it left the Puck Building for the Armory, and we may or may not see MoCCA get their act together. In the meantime, Stumptown opens for registration in a week, a bunch of creators have some decisions to make, and Indigo Kelleigh should be acknowledged for being the pro that he is.

• in·spir·ing [ĭn-spīrˈĭng]
  A wee tweet from Vera Brosgol (whose Anya’s Ghost retains my Best of 2011 designation even after the summer releases) caught my eye yesterday:

  I wrote a piece about my life for the Wall Street Journal Speakeasy blog

  You should read it, as it’s a nicely done bit about finding who you are is sometimes an awful lot like who you used to be, and that’s not such a bad thing. I particularly enjoyed reading Brosgol’s essay because it’s not so long now since the Journal ran a remarkably ill-informed opinion piece that essentially shit on the entire contemporary offerings of Young Adult publishing. I can’t say that inviting Vera to have her say is the result of some editor coming to their senses, but it would be nice to think so. In any event, there’s plenty of nonsense for those that desire it, in the form of one of the most amazing comments I’ve ever read. I’m going to quote it verbatim because it is beautiful. In reaction to other comments on Brosgol’s piece:

  Gary Ru wrote:
  You are Mankurts. Thank God that such as you (Mike&Rita) have left my country. Otherwise you would spoil till now in entrances of houses implementing the teenage complexes in powerless hatred to my country. Let your children watch the American cartoons, it’s possible once having something learnt they otmudohayout you by baseball bats as Tom does with Dzheri and will send you na her using the cleanest English language.

  In its own way, it’s also inspiring.

• o·pen bar [ōˈpən bär]
  Well, metaphorically at least. Open Fire!, a new collective of webcomics artists and writers, has launched and is holding a party to celebrate the event. This Saturday, 13 August, at 6:00-8:00pm Pacific (GMT-7), they’ll be broadcasting the festivities here (password: omgcomics), where you’ll be able to meet the creators and mingle with fellow lovers of our chosen artform. Remember: it’s poor etiquette to show up without bringing something, and try not to puke on anybody’s shoes.

No theme today. Sorry.

• Reminder: Anya’s Ghost, Astronaut Academy, and Level Up all release today. Reiteration: Anya’s Ghost remains the best comics I’ve read all year.
• Scott Kurtz continues to mend (and occasionally trip all the balls) from his busted rib, leading to a searing pain in his drawing arm and an impromptu guest week-or-two. It’s pretty cool, actually, because today’s guest strip pointed me back to a webcomic I discovered earlier this year, then promptly lost the link for — Frankenstein Superstar, by John Hazard. It’s still a bit too new to do a comprehensive review on, but I was upset with myself for not being able to follow its progress, and now I can. So I guess that’s a win for everybody except Scott’s ribs? Feel better soon, Scott.
• Jon Rosenberg is getting back on the webcomicking horse, combined with the caring for infant twin sons horse, and is probably pretty darned glad to have taken the visiting the infant twin sons in the PICU horse out to pasture and let it run free, never to return¹. To celebrate, he’s got a new print and t-shirt sale goin’ on (not to mention a considerable number of expenses, cf: infant twin sons).
• Words of Wisdom² from John Allison’s blog today, on the topic of how you present yourself; this one is important enough to quote at length:
  

  On more occasions than I care to count, someone has come up to me at a comic show, pressed their little photocopied effort into my hand, and said “it’s not very good”. And 49 times out of 50, I manage to stop myself saying “then why on earth should I read it”.

  Your work may not be of a professional standard, it may be loose, “sophomoric”, poorly lettered, imperfect — it may be flat out rotten — but you finished something, and if you finished one thing, you can finish another, and you will improve.

  Self-criticism is a valid exercise and a vital component of improvement. But it is not an attractive attribute to strangers.

  Out and about, on the scene, I want to see you beaming with pride that you made it out of that room with all your teeth and most of your sensibilities intact. [emphasis original]

Very little to add. If you’re the sort to judge your cartooning skills as inferior to John Allison’s, it’s not a leap to judge your social skills as being the same; you’d leap at the opportunity to follow his cartooning advice, so give his personal interaction advice a damn good listen.

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¹ Or possibly shooting that particular horse with high-yield atomic weaponry, you can never be sure, and it was a bastard of a horse anyway.

² The capital-w is warranted, as these words are very wise.

Warm, bright, sunny, low humidity, and just hours after an anxious afternoon/evening of tornado watches. Oh weather, can you be any crazier/more wonderful?

• It’s less than a week until three books by noted webcomickers drop — one may stoke anticipation for Anya’s Ghost, Astronaut Academy, and Level Up here, here, and here, respectively. Come Tuesday, you can find out if I was right about them or not¹.
• Heroes Con kicks off this weekend (starting tomorrow, actually) in Charlotte, NC, and while their website seems to list a considerable number of guest cancellations (including Frank’n'Becky and Tyson Hesse), one has to expect a certain amount of last-minute plan changing and it’s nice to know in advance of the show rather than be disappointed, yes? In any event, Fleen Faves heading to the show include Danielle Corsetto, Dustin Harbin, David Malki !, Carla Speed McNeil, Andy Runton, Dean Trippe, Joel Watson, and Jim Zubkavitch. Tell ‘em I said hi.
• If you find yourself in the opposite of North Carolina (generally agreed by most authorities to be Toronto), you can still get your fill of webcomics people, as Ryan North² will be speaking tomorrow night on comics as part of a lecture series that invites people from completely different fields to talk on completely different things to spark creativity. As the website of The Treehouse Group states:
  

  3 people × 3 topics = 1,000 ideas

  North will be joined by John Paul Morgan (speaking on the process of invention) and Nathalie Desrosiers (speaking on Twitter and civil liberties).

• Finally, it has been established in the past that if there’s one thing that gets under the skin of Kate Beaton, it’s that comics cliche of the woman twisting her spine to show of breasts and buttocks simultaneously (and a rightly-so under-skin getting, as it’s a truly ridiculous and pandering pose). Exhibit A.

  It has also been established that when something does get under the skin of Kate Beaton, that something is in for a cartoon dope-slapping. Exhibits B, C, and D. Just in case you ever wondered, Huh. Can cartoon high-heeled shoes ever truly be sarcastic? the answer is “yes”.

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¹ I was.
² The linguistically pedantic amongst you may object to the term “webcomics people” being applied to Ryan North, who forms but one webcomics person. However, these pedants are overlooking the fact that Ryan North easily qualifies for a plural term, much like how the Queen of England uses “we” and “us”. Ryan North is, after all, both the Toronto Man-Mountain and the Nexus of All Webcomics Realities. Deal with it.