Comments on: Zudathoughts

By: Howard Tayler

Howard Tayler — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 05:51:42 +0000

It’s the old “a rising tide lifts all ships” saw. In some cases it’s true, in others, the ship in question has been moored wrong, or is pointed the wrong direction, and the rising tide does more harm than good.

But yeah, I think that Zuda will affect the webcomics ecosystem by bringing more mainstream comics readers to their computers, and that people like Scott Kurtz (and me, and lots of others) who already have monetization figured out (at least to some extent) are going to fare well regardless of how Zuda and Zuda’s signed creators do.

By: Gary Tyrrell

Gary Tyrrell — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:54:02 +0000

It’s true, you can!

By: Tallahassee

Tallahassee — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:07:07 +0000

That’s not true Gary I can see your shirt in one picture. Granted, you can see that shirt from space….

By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Aug. 13, 2007: Patsy Walker vs. Communism

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:32:17 +0000

[...] Gary Tyrrell comments on Zudacomics, as does Andrew Hickey. (Last link via Joey [...]

By: Greg Carter

Greg Carter — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 15:34:24 +0000

If Zuda gets the kind of diversity that Vertigo has, then this could be A Big Deal(tm). But if it ends up with the same corporate blandness that DC’s main products have become then it will probably still make money without being a great success just from the branding.

I think Zuda will have the same issues as Tokyopop and Platinum if they go the part-ownership route - they won’t get the absolute best material because the really good, smart creators won’t give up rights to their best work. That’s not a bad thing. Get your name out, then zap folks with your best stuff.

I can forsee see two large groups getting published at Zuda:
a) the suckers who are so desperate to be published by DC they’ll sign away everything no matter how many times they are warned. (Hopefully not too large of a group.)
b) the people who will create something just for Zuda, maybe not their best, but good enough to show off what they can do without giving away anything worthwhile.

There will be a much smaller group that will give their best, and won’t mind signing away some rights to let Zuda do some of the work. As long as you understand what you are signing away, again, it’s NOT a bad thing.

I think Zuda’s purpose will end up to not really to be a spectacle in itself, but more an easy place to poach talent from. Unless they start signing exclusive creators instead of properties. And if the noise manages to bring in new audiences to read comics on the web then, as you say, we all win.

By: Myth

Myth — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 18:39:04 +0000

Those that already read webcomics would find deserving creators without Zuda’s intervention, so who is the new audience that Zuda can bring?

I’m not sure if that is 100% true. Back in the days, being invited to Keenspot would provide a monstrous boost in readership, and I saw a similar result in the Modern Tales collectives - one comic would bring a reader in, but they would find themselves perusing all the others presented.

The paradigm is a little different these days, if only due to the number of collectives out there, but I think Zudacomics could easily serve as a similar hub for presenting top tier comics.

I suspect there are more than a few existing readers out there who would use it as such - maybe not enough for it to survive on them alone, but I don’t think they will be nonexistent.