The webcomics blog about webcomics

Happy Birthday, Old Guys

See? Right there! Funded by the lottery. Man, that rules.

Actually, compared to me, Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins are pretty young guys … but Penny Arcade turns eleven years old today, which is practically stretching back to the Cretaceous in terms of webcomics. They’ve had some pretty serious ups and downs in that time, although for a while now it’s been definitely on the sky-pointing trajectory. Congratulations to them for being the sorts that would push themselves further with each update, to give back to their community as much as they do, and for (dare I say it) respectable family men with wives and kids and every damn thing.

  • After all that heart-warmness, let’s turn to the other coast and another old-timer; Jon Rosenberg¹ not only has his second big-publisher book up for pre-order, he’s got an update today that neatly encapsulates Objectivism in words and pictures. Plus, I have always wanted to type the words, Somehwere in the distant infinite depths of space and time, Ayn Rand is sporting a massive chubby.
  • Events! For those of you down with tha’ GMT, may I commend you towards the Thought Bubble Festival, tomorrow through Sunday in Leeds? Looks like the comic-bookiest part will be on Saturday. And may I ask why it is that here in the states we don’t get comics events funded via lottery? If I gotta wait to buy my lunch at the deli because the registers are taken up with people dumping money into Powerball, I oughta at least see some cosplay as a result.

    Back on the left coast, mark your calendars for Legends of Webcomics, an open-studio party in Portland hosted by Meredith Gran and Latin Heartthrod Aaron Diaz with special guests Dylan Meconis, Erika Moen, and Luke Mahan; there is gonna be so much sexy times going on in that studio even if Moen doesn’t bring Cockosaurus with her. Fun starts Saturday 5 Dec, 3 to 7 pm, in PDX.

  • Here is where I’d normally throw in a spy-motif extended joke because I have new relating to Eben07, but I think I’ve used all the good ones up. So straight story it is as we note that Brain Food Comics (formed by the principals of, and to publish the collected comics pertaining to, The Slightly Askew Adventures of Inspector Ham & Eggs) have taken an interest in the espionage-themed webcomic. So that’s an in-house publisher grown out of the indy/webcomics scene, picking up another title; from such small beginnings develop massive successes, sometimes. Best of luck to Brain Food, and with any luck they’ll be crowding out staid titles from the comics shops, and achieve total market dominance in a decade or two.
  • Von Allan’s The Road To God Knows … is getting a wider distribution. The exploration of mental illness (and the effects on not only those ill, but those around them) is being made available as a free PDF, a torrent, or at Scribd.com; the electronic versions are being distributed under Creative Commons Canada licence that grants readers the ability to distribute the online versions of the book for free. It’s also available in physical form via the usual online venues or in the better comics shops and bookstores. More info at Allan’s site.

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¹ Obligatory disclosure: Jon started me out on this-here blog, and in fact owns my soul. I sold it to him for a dollar one night while drinking, and he carries it in his wallet to this day. Next to his butt, where it’s nice and cozy.


Field Report: Operation Plain Sight
Distributed coded message regarding Eben07 to our operatives around the world embedded within public release of seemingly-mundance information. Already seeing results of action based on dispersal. As always, this report remains EYES ONLY and should be securely destroyed immediately upon reading. Report any compromises to Directorate of Operations immediately. Message ends.

The weeping vole struck willy-nilly and with glee at midnight. Operation Plain Sight success. Godspeed, Operative Knee Elf.

[…] up on a post from last November, wherein we noted that the mysterious Eben07 would be “doing print” with Brain Food […]

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