Couple things going on in the world of webcomics. For starters, the Applegeeks crew are due in next month’s Dark Horse Presents on MySpace. The topic of Dark Horse in general came up at lunch with Rick Marshall yesterday, and we’re astonished by the string o’ webcomics talent that they’ve been trafficking in.

But the big story is undoutedbly the news from CBR that Platinum have entered into a deal to produce a Hero By Night TV show. You remember Hero By Night? Created by a guy named DJ Coffman who, as of this writing, hasn’t actually been contacted by Platinum regarding said deal? Since the partner mentioned by Platinum in their press release, IM Global, appears to have a track record in distribution and has a number of projects in the pipeline, this may be more than just a PR announcement where the project at issue never comes to fruition.

That leaves the obvious question, What about DJ? The contracts offered by Platinum for the 2006 Comic Book Challenge aren’t public (momentary pause here to offer some kudos to Zuda for their disclosure of the contracts; I don’t like a lot of the terms they contain, but at least they’re where we can all see them), so I asked DJ for some broad outlines about the agreement he has with Platinum. I didn’t ask for the particulars of rates or dollar figures, but did get some interesting details:

Judging from that clip, not too much to ask at all.

Finally, following up on Tuesday’s story about Help Desk’s financial woes, creator Christopher Wright is reporting that his readers have dug down into their pockets, and that the site will remain up for at least another month. Obviously, it’s not a long-term solution, but it’s at least a short-term happy ending.

Working on something else right now, but I just read a piece on the power of comics by Ursula Vernon that you need to read now, please.

The holiday (or, if you prefer, Holiday) season is upon us, which means it’s time to find gifts for those on your lists. It’s too soon to say how the ongoing brand dilution is affecting webcomics, but I’m cautiously optimistic. During previous economic downturns, movies, comics, and other relatively cheap entertainment did pretty well — golden age, like.

Today, movies and comics are pretty pricey (although I haven’t gone out and adjusted for inflation or anything, I have a feeling that today’s $10.50 movie ticket is more expensive than the 10 cent matinee with cartoon, serial short, newsreels, and a feature) and big-name comics are likewise trying to support creators in a modest manner, which neccesitates a dollars-per-page cover price that’s a little on the high side. But webcomics — they are mostly free and feature creators worthy of your support, especially when you find designs that would be so awesome to have a loved one unwrap on a religiously-signficant morning (tree optional) and wear to services.

• If you feel like getting something a little more … all-ages appropriate? — there are still options. For all that he seems like a cynic with a crippling coffee addiction, Rich Stevens actually has one of the fluffiest hearts I’ve ever known; case in point: video kitties out the wazoo. There is so much concentrated cute here that I’d get diabetes just from the trailer, were it not for the presence of Hitlercat about five seconds in. But rest assured, when that kitten murders us all, it’ll be adorable. I’ll see your adorable kittens Mr Stevens, and raise you greyhound puppies.
• For me, one of the highlights of the last couple Flight anthologies has been the Igloohead and Treehead offerings by Scott Campbell, who you may recognize from the new Frontalot CD cover, or (if you’re in San Francisco) the Imaginary Friends show running at Gallery 1988 (which also stars fellow Flighter Israel Sanchez and nightmare monger Andy Bell). Some new photos from the show are up at Bell’s LiveJournal, and they look great.
• Speaking of the Left Coast, and art shows therein, James Kochalka will be bringing paintings and even a few songs to Giant Robot LA for “Little Paintings 3” on Saturday the 15th at 6:30 pm. The paintings in question are mostly 2″ x 2″, with a few up to 6″ x 6″ (for those of you outside America, that’s about 5 cm and 15 cm, respectively), with the show running until 10 December.
• Finally, Best of the Year lists are starting to show up — Tucker Stone kicks off the annual crop of webcomics tallies at Comixology. I particularly noted item #4 on his “best of” list: Kate Beaton, anything, and everything, by Kate Beaton. Considering that she doesn’t do a comic, per se, it should tell you something about the quality of her work that it gets recognized as often as it does. I can pretty much promise that nobody besides Stone will completely agree with this Year’s Best list, so let’s get bickering.

There’s not so much going on in webcomics and I’m running on way too damn little sleep (I thought you had to have young children to be this tired during the day), so this is gonna be quick.

• Because I’ll probably forget next week: Happy 2990th Stripaversary to Tatsuya Ishida’s Sinfest. That’s a lot of damn strips.
• Webcomics Idol down to four — Soul Driver out; Lawn Darts, Marooned, Shi Long Pang, and the chronically underreviewed Simulated Comic Product remain. Also, the feedback from judge Brad Guigar is an education for all who do webcomics. Check out this thread for a prime example. It’s a testament to this year’s Final Four that I can’t decide who should move forward and who should be dropped at this point. Well done, all.
• And just because it’s got the angriest-looking characters in all of comic-shop themed webcomics (an estimated 12.84% of the total medium), props to Capes & Babes on hitting a year of strips today. Now scowl for the camera and say “Grrrr!”

Christopher Wright’s been at the webcomics game for a long time — Help Desk started on a now-defunct computing website more than twelve years ago, and has been running on its own site for the past nine. In that time, life has interrupted the strip on occasion, and it looks as if it may do so again:

[T]he summary is that I’m running out of money, and as a result I may have to take down EvisceratiNet (eviscerati.net, ubersoft.net, evsicerati.org) for a while until I can afford to resume publishing. There are ways out of this predicament–a sudden influx of money from enthusiastic supporters, a sudden offer of a decent job, a sudden winning lottery ticket–but given the current economic climate I’m thinking the lottery ticket is my best shot.

The full piece is an enlightening read — Wright isn’t begging for support, just laying out the economic facts about how he presents us with Help Desk (and Kernel Panic, and Old Skool Webcomic, and now PCTown, not to mention the editorial sites under the Eviscerati umbrella); basically, he pays to provide these items to us for free, and via that distribution to get things off his chest that need off-getting. Think Thomas Paine with a grudge against Microsoft. And the thing about Paine and his philosophical descendents? You really can’t get them over the urge to shout from the metaphorical rooftops for very long:

If I’m forced to shut down the server due to lack of funds to keep it going, it won’t be the end of the world. This was the risk I took when I made the decisions I did so very long ago, and when you take risks you need to be willing to face those consequences. When I have money again, Help Desk will come back — and hopefully you will as well.

Fleen wishes Wright the best of luck, and should the worst happen, we’ll be waiting with bated breath for his triumphant return to editorializing and muckraking.

• In other news, did y’all in England know there’s a show on this weekend? The one-day-only Thought Bubble Festival in Leeds runs on Saturday the 15th, with the likes of Lil’ Johnny A and Liz Cusack as invited guests, and a whole mess o’ exhibitors including a cat charity. US comic shows get past-their-prime Playmates and Hooters calendar girls, UK shows get cats in need of help — I know which one I’d rather have a booth next to.
• Finally, ’tis the season and all that. Childs Play 2008 kicked off five days ago, and as of this writing has already cleared the $100,000 mark. The economy can be as much of a bitch as it wants to be, and the better angels of our natures will still prevail. Well done, and keep up the good work.

So Chris Onstad made it to the New York Metro area on Friday evening; I had never met the gentleman before (unsurprising, as he keeps a relatively low profile, with even photos of the man being Pynchonesque in their rarity until this year), and found him a capital fellow. I have only one regret about the entire affair, which we will get to presently.

My buddy Brett and I met up with Chris Hastings, David McGuire, and Rick Marshall Willenholly at the bar next door to Rocketship. Our intrepid crew can be seen in this photo from the Rocketship blog report.

As it turns out, the line would wind through the comic shop, into the back hallways, and through a door back into the bar by the time we were done — Onstad, faced with a signing line more than five hours long, wisely fortified himself with all that the very skilled bartenders had at hand.

Finding out that Onstad was signing for five hours really puts the two and a half we spent in line in perspective — in part, it was so long because he took the time to greet every person that came up to him, shake their hand, and talk with them for a minute or two. For that time, the fan in question was his entire focus, which is a remarkably kind act on his part. Having obtained a sketch in my copy of The Great Outdoor Fight, I walked the line backwards and estimated that 150 people still remained at that time.

Things that stuck out during the evening:

• Asking Onstad about his interview with Steve “Ratboy” Inskeep, I was told that it was “weird”. The taping took place at 8am with Onstad in a west coast studio, and inexplicably there was nothing to drink. There was no coffee, nothing in the studio … all I could think was, ‘There’s a warm Sapporo in my car … let’s rock.’ Weird or not, it was great to hear what Ray and Beef’s voices sound like.
• Onstad drew a lot of Roast Beefs, but I chose Mr Bear, based on his self-evident badassery of the past few weeks. Here’s where the one regret comes in — had there been a light turnout and plenty of time to talk without holding up the line, I definitely would have asked for Ray ripping off Cody Travis’s face. But only after I got home did I even think that I should have asked for a picture of Ramses Luther Smuckles. Next time for sure.
• Standing in line just behind Hastings, I was able to observe what two webcomics pros are like when they admire each others work, meet for the first time, and come to the near-instant decision that they need to work on a project togther.
• McGuire has a terrific new giveaway to promote Gastrophobia — a sticker of an entire strip. Stickers I’ve seen plenty, but I think this is the first one I’ve collected with a full story in just a few square inches. Very clever.
• There had been hopes to meet up with Magnolia Porter, but alas we missed each other.
• Onstad confirmed to Hastings the answer to one of the great enduring mysteries of webcomics! Namely, the person in the gorilla suit at SPX07 has now been positively identified! As suspected in some quarters, the gorilla is a prominent webcomicker! Contacted via email for comment, the faux-simian muttered something about getting away with it, if not for those darn kids !

On an unrelated, but no less important note, Fleen wishes a very happy birthday to Meredith Gran. It’s abosolutely astonishing that you are only 24 years old and have already produced a body of such good work going back nearly a decade.

Report on the Brookyn Achewood gathering later. Much later, probably.

In the meantime, please check out Box Brown’s new polititcally-themed strip, Americant. True, we at Fleen don’t usually pay attention to strips ’til they’ve got a reasonable archive to browse through, but I think that Brown’s got an established reputation for quality so we’re pointing you to it now.

A few days before an election is an odd time to launch the strip, but the strip continues apace, and the George Takei-starring musical about the success of Prop 8 was really good.

(Thanks to Joseph Hewitt for the heads-up)

My buddy Lore got all inspired by the Wil Wheaton guest appearance where he busts mad rhymes. Seafood hiphop for life, homes.

Now for the real news: somebody in the hierarchy of syndication has taken note of one of the bright stars of webcomics — indeed, she might be described as the nexus of all webcomics reality — Shaenon Garrity and Jeffrey Well’s Skin Horse has been picked up by GoComics:

Garrity is the creator of numerous webcomics, including the critically acclaimed online comic strip Narbonic. Skin Horse, cowritten by Garrity and Wells and drawn by Garrity, has been running daily since January. Starting this week, it will also run on GoComics.

Skin Horse follows the staff of Project Skin Horse, a secret government organization dedicated to the protection of America’s nonhuman citizens: robots, beast-men, zombies, and other neglected products of mad science. The organization’s field agents are Sweetheart, a no-nonsense talking dog; Unity, a patchwork Frankenstein girl; and Tip, a cross-dressing psychologist and the team’s token human. The comic is both a gag strip and a serial comic with ongoing story arcs.

GoComics is the online distribution portal for uclick and Andrews McMeel Universal.

It’s also the home of such excellent webbish offerings as We The Robots and C’est la Vie. In the past, the semi-syndication offered by the big content companies via their websites was held out as a sort of stepping stone to print syndication, but that seems to have stalled — Little Dee, Boy on a Stick, Sheldon, and others had been offered that possibility of transition to the newspapers, the the leap is far and perilous and many elements of it are inimicable to webcartoonist tendencies.

But Ms Garrity is a smart cookie, one of the best scholars we have on indy comics, webcomics, manga, and the batshit insanity that goes with them. Presumably, she and Mr Wells have consulted carefully with those who are able to give good counsel, and have decided that this is a deal where the risks are outweighed by the rewards; we at Fleen hope that they achieve all that they aim to in this venture (and certainly, it should result in a few more eyeballs over at Skin Horse’s own site).

Also to be seen: like most of the content company portals, GoComics only allows the non-subscriber to go back a few weeks in the archives, so it’s not known how a those who love their newspaper comics enough to pony up the dough will react to the … not quite so family-friendly content that occasionally (and hilariously) makes it way into Skin Horse. Here’s hoping that those who stumble upon such content and are shocked — shocked, I say! — find their perception of comics a little wider than it was before.

Well done, Shaenon and Jeffrey. Knock their socks off.

Tyler Page’s Nothing Better returns today, and you might say the new semester is better than ever. Ha, I crack myself up sometimes.

• Webcomics Idol is down to five: The Superfogeys, The Book of Biff, Xylia, Newspaper Comic Strip, and Calamities of Nature. Little surprised to see Shi Long Pang out so early, but what are you gonna do? Edit to add: dammit, this is what happens when I try to catch up on things in a 10 minute window. Thanks to Lenny in the comments for setting me straight. On a side note, I’m really enjoying the quality of feedback from the judges this cycle — good, trenchant advice in there.
• David Malki ! did a really good interview with occasional boothmate and once (and future?) webcomicker Nick Gurewitch, but you can’t read it yet. It’ll be in the next PBF book from Dark Horse (due in February), but you can read an excerpt here.
• Lastly, it’s not April Fool’s Day, so I’m forced to take the following from Wes Molbash at face value:
  

  I’ve decided to end YHT.

  This decision was not an easy one, and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it and talking it over with my friends and family. 2008 has been a difficult year for me personally, and I believe that now is as a good a time as any to end one project and start working on the next.

  The final “You’ll Have That” strip will be published on Friday, January 2nd, 2009. I hope to tie up as many loose ends as possible over the next two months, and I’ll try my darnedest to post these last strips on time! In February of ‘09 I’ll be launching a new comic feature here at this site.

  Weirdly enough, I don’t think that this is bad news. It’s not a sudden decision, there’s a natural end planned for the strip, and Molebash has clearly found a new project that he’s fired up about — those are all elements that lead to a reinvigorated and even-more creative cartoonist. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

Making the rounds — a question from Rick Marshall (tireless promoter of cool things and friend to children everywhere) to various webcomic creators: Who would your characters vote for? Answers so far from Rene Engström and R Stevens in their LiveJournals, and by the time you read this, Marshall should have a collection of responses at his blog. Oh, and Rick? Keep coming up with cool ideas like this one before I have a chance to, and I’m bringing back the Sleestak references. Just sayin’.

• The official rapper of webcomics sees his new CD shipping today; those of you that pre-ordered have probably been enjoying the downloaded tracks, but I’m a physical artifact kind of guy. That’s why I’m extremely pleased that The Front slid me a disk a few weeks back and I’m loving it. Bear in mind — I’m a suburb-livin’ white guy who can no longer deny that he’s in his forties, and thus not the prime audience for hip-hop of any sort. But Final Boss (like its predecessors) has earned its spot in heavy rotation for my commute — the only thing that makes me feel better about facing the working day than Front is Radio Lab, and Jad & Robert don’t rap.
• Hey, webcomicker! Ever wish you could bend the ear of an entertainment lawyer? Joey Manley wants to hear from you. Expressed by the Colonel:
  

  Over the next few months, I will be doing a series of podcast/interviews with Phyllis Kaufman, a leading media/entertainment/intellectual property rights attorney here in NYC. The goal of these interviews will be to help give webcartoonists a sense of how to successfully negotiate a publishing/movie/videogame/etc. licensing deal.

  We’re still trying to figure out a structure for the set of interviews (whether we’ll take it medium by medium — a book deal podcast, a movie deal podcast — or issue by issue — or what). But I hope and expect that these interviews will be useful and meaningful.

  If you had Phyllis in the room with you, what would you ask her about this stuff? And if you have a contract that you’ve signed or are about to sign, would you be willing to share it with us (we promise never to tell anybody), so that Phyllis can speak with an understanding of the actual kinds of deals that people are having shoved at them? I’ve already shared with her the Zuda and the TokyoPop contracts, both of which are public info, but any further information we can obtain would be useful.

  Responses can go directly to Joey, whose surname is Manley, and has been known to keep an email address at the Google-based email service, which I understand is a dot-com.