From Warren Ellis' now-dead Edison Hate Future webcomic.

Because I felt like it, that's why.

["Mr. Big Ideas" T-Shirt by rstevens of Diesel Sweeties! Get yours HERE!]

Greetings from Amsterdam!

I'm SO loving the T-Shirt you recently sent me... Thought you might like a picture!

Yours,

TLG

--
Todd L. Gilbert,
US Army Retired, R.N. (Ret.), Philogynist, Raconteur, Tech Freak, Blogger, Podcaster, Rabid Hyver,
Photographer, and WickedJazzSounds Ambassador!

Read "Waking up in Amsterdam!" http://wakingupinamsterdam.com
E mail - todd [aT] agitprop [D0t] nl
Skype Me: agitprop777
Twitter: http://twitter.com/agitproper

Diesel Sweeties is one of the very coolest comics on teh intarwebs!

Your raconteur showed his support for the effort by spending a relatively tiny bit of cash for a cool new T-Shirt!

(The adorable girls, I found at SugarFactory on Sunday Night at WickedJazzSounds here in Amsterdam! :) )

UPDATE: I got a rapid reply!

god dang, you're living the life! can i post that?

My response:

Sure you can post it! I just did... ;)

This week starts off with a look at Ctrl-alt-del, a web comic that has gained quite a bit of popularity. Wednesday I'll continue my look into the X series with the next installment, Universe X Vol. 1, and I, honestly, haven't figured out Friday yet. I'll have something by Wednesday.

Background: Surprisingly, I could not find a lot of information about Tim Buckley, even his website does little to provide some kind of biography of the man, unless you want to sift through his monotonous news posts. I don't. What I could find is that a lot of people think that Mr. Buckley is a giant, arrogant ass. I haven't personally met the man but his news posts, those I did read, do make him come across as a bit egotistical.

I did find a lot of information about the singer/songwriter Tim Buckley who is dead. No correlation between the two as far as I know.

The comic itself has made Tim Buckley enough money that it has become his career similar to Penny-Arcade, PvP Online, and Megatokyo. Like PvP, Ctrl-alt-del (I refuse to call it CAD, is there any other way to make your comic sound more worthless than by calling it CAD?) also has an animated series made by the same company that does PvP's series. Interesting...anyway, CAD: The Series is currently in its second season.

The comic was started in October of 2002 using the cliché two guys on a couch who play video games plot. Since then Buckley has added several characters and unlike other comics, apparently, rather than just having the two guys cliché Buckley actually has a lot of continuity and long story arcs in his comic. It has evolved a bit since its early days. In general though, it does stick to its tried and true formula. Currently, there are three collections of Ctrl-alt-del out and an offshoot comic series featuring the two main characters as gamer/super heroes.

The Comic: Like I said above, Ctrl-alt-del started with and mostly sticks with the cliché two guys, a couch, and video games formula of web comics. However, he does do long story arcs and does have continuity. For some reason every where that I looked acted as though those two things were unique to web comics. I can list 4 web comics that I've reviewed on this blog that feature long story arcs and continuity along with their stand alones, PvP Online, Something Positive, Real Life Comics, and Megatokyo all of which are funnier, better written and drawn, and generate enough revenue that the creators do not have to work. It's a weird argument that I do not understand.

Anyhow, the comic mainly follows two friends that are loosely based on the creator and one of his friends. The character Ethan is based on the creator while Lucas is based on his friend. There are several other characters that have become recurring since the debut of the comic. Ethan dates a “hot gamer chick” (more cliché of course) named Lilah, and Ethan and Lucas have a third roommate named Scott who has penguin named Ted (a joke based around on Scott's use of Linux which Ethan hates, ha, ha...). There are also store employees at the places of work for Ethan and Lucas and a group of ultra-violent gamers who are different colors. The last reoccurring characters is a man named Chef Brian. Why his character is in the comic I don't know. He never interacts with the other characters and is usually just seen in his 4 panels spouting off the most random things. For example:

Ever wonder why fresh socks taste so fresh?

This is followed by a series of panels with almost nothing to do with the first one. It's so funny that I die laughing every time, mostly because I'm burning my eyes out after reading such crap.

Oh, I forgot one other character who has become important, Ezekiel the X-box robot who is sentient that the character Ethan made. I'm just going to ignore that story line.

Recently, Tim Buckley has come under a lot of fire from other comics, reviewers, and fans because of a story-arc that he ran. In this arc the character Lilah suddenly has a miscarriage. Because I really enjoy Zero Punctuation I'm going to link you to a “review” of this story arc by Yahtzee. It's hilarious and basically says what fans are feeling. Buckley did take the time to defend himself but it comes across as a bit weak in my mind.

The most amazing thing about this miscarriage is the suddenness of it. The comics previous to it don't hint at all to the coming “drama” and there are several instances during this arc where comics interspersed in it don't mention it at all or try talking about it while still attempting to keep to the formula. It is a very awkward and unfortunate turn. The comics that are supposed to be funny aren't and the weird mix of miscarriage comics and random other comics severely reduces that tragedy that might have been felt by readers. Instead you just end up feeling weirded out and thoroughly confused since nothing is really explained either. Again, check out the Zero Punctuation video, Yahtzee's critique is hilarious.

The biggest complaint that I read from others is that Ctrl-alt-del has a copy past feel. I think that it has grown past that a little bit but the beginning was very copy paste. It seems like the characters are drawn once put in all four panels and dialogue is thrown in. In more recent comics it hasn't been as bad but it is still there.

Following up that one is the one that Buckley can draw much better than the work he shovels out for his comic. If you take a look at his art website it shows that to be true. There are some wonderful drawings on there and after looking at them and going back to Ctrl-alt-del you feel a little bit cheated, at least I did.

The final complaint, and this is the one I agree with the most, is that Buckley tends to put way too much dialogue in his comics and it really feels like he's name dropping video games. For a pretty good explanation read this VG Cats comic that pokes fun at Ctrl-alt-del.

See?

Exactly. His comics are very much like that VG Cats comic and it does not mean that he is creating good dialogue either. In fact, sometime it's hard for me to get past his dialogue. That and similar to Bob and George and 8-bit the jokes aren't funny or you feel like you've heard them before from someone better.

His dialogue and lack of funny is my biggest complaint, which leads me to...

My recommendation: If you like the tried and true formula then Ctrl-alt-del has everything that you're looking for in a web comic. If you want better art, dialogue, and plot than I suggest you look elsewhere because you will not find it there. This one gets 2 clubs mostly because I haven't given anything 2 clubs yet and the fact that Ctrl-alt-del wasn't so atrocious to deserve a one but not mediocre enough to split even.

♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣

Scyo.

]]> http://comicxpress.wordpress.com/?p=60 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:17:41 +0000 scyo http://comicxpress.wordpress.com/?p=60 Or a third possible tite, Why I Hate Sprite-based Web Comics. 

On Wednesday I mentioned that I have strong feelings on quality and provided my Video Games judgement rules. 

To refresh, or you could just scroll down (if you're on the main page that is), my comics translation is as such:

1. Quality or decent art

2. Quality Plot

3. Compelling characters or funny jokes

This is important because it relates to why I have never read and I doubt that I'll find a sprite-based comic that I've enjoyed. More specifically, non-user created sprites. Yes, I'm looking at you Bob & George and 8-bit Theatre. 

Yes, you could argue that every comic that was made using Stan Lee's characters is similar and yes, there are terrible Spiderman, X-men, and Iron Man comics out there. 

The difference between a Spiderman comic and a Mega Man sprite comic is that at least the art was created by someone. Sprites aren't even that. Most are taken from another website. 8-bit Theatre uses sprites that were on a Final Fantasy website that was shut down recently. In my mind that is hack work. 

So, you can't draw, does that mean you need to "cheat"? No, I think not. 

I can't draw and one day I would like to start a comic series, maybe even a web comic, but I know that I need to find an artist to share my vision. I can create plot lines, the dialogue and discuss how varying scenes might look. They have jobs for this in the comic world. 

This leads to my second rule, quality plot. The problem with most of the sprite-based comics that I've read is that the plot is either A) So convoluted that it's like watching Lost with kindergarteners or B) So simplistic that you feel like you're being insulted by the creator. 

Also, and this is the number one thing that pissed me off about Bob & George, create your own plot line! Sure, B&G tried to make fun of the Mega Man plot but the first 2 weeks of the comic are taken straight from the Mega Man story line. Ha, Ha, very cool and funny. Yeah, B&G does have original plot line later on but they're still bad. B&G falls into the B category of bad plots.

Eight-bit Theatre on the other hand falls into the A category. At first it makes sense and is okay to follow but eventually 8-bit Theatre just gets really weird. I'm still not sure what's happening. It's kind of like watching someone take LSD and then asking them to describe their first day of school.

I realize that I am bashing on B&G and 8-bit quite a bit here but I figured since I've reviewed both of those comics they make good reference points for anyone reading this. Here's the links to the B&G review and the 8-bit one just for even better reference points.

My final rule is tied into the plot. With video games I can forgive a plot with a few holes if the game play is fun and the characters are worth playing. For comics it is the same sort of idea. If the art is awesome and I enjoy the characters or in the case of most web comics if the jokes are generally funny than I'll forgive a bad day or a plot hole.

The problem with sprite based comics or any comic that I don't like is that the characters aren't compelling. Generally, they are stereotypes, and bad stereotypes at that. At that point it's not even worth it because you know how that character will be for the rest of the series, there's really no room for growth.  

Also, the jokes are not funny. Let's take comics based on video games or other books tend have a lot of inside jokes that only people who play those games or read those books will get. True, most web comics are supported heavily by gamers who find the gaming jokes funny but the really good web comics are able to reach a broad audience or have evolved beyond their inside jokes. 

The bad ones wallow in their inside jokes and create a wall for the casual reader. It's not good business and it's not good for the actual comic because eventually you're going to run out of jokes, and then what? Recycling? Ugh, no one wants that. 

I want original, or I want good and sprite-based comics have yet to prove to me that original or quality can be provided. 

---

On the side of the coin that does not mean that my mind is closed off to sprite-based comics completely. I am willing to accept sprites that people have created outside of sprites from the 1980s and early 90s. By that I mean original sprites.

And, I will accept sprite-based comics that feature non-user created sprites but only if they are well written. 

It all comes back to quality and I am just not seeing it in that genre of comics. Maybe some day but not today.

That's it for this one. So, check back on Monday for me taking a look at Ctrl-Alt-Del. Also, I will be seeing the midnight showing of Dark Knight next Friday. Yes, I know that every comic and movie geek in the world will be offering you their opinions but I thought I would use the following Monday to post to talk about Dark Knight and one of my favorite Batman off-shoots, Hush by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee.

Have a good weekend,

Scyo.

Found this gem while browsing VG Cats. Made me remember how much I enjoy (a) Mario and (b) 300.

[Link: VG Cats]

The Perry Bible Fellowship è il titolo di un webcomic nato come striscia pubblicata sui quotidiani, disegnato da Nicholas Gurewitch (nato il 9 marzo 1982). Il fumetto nacque sul giornale della Syracuse University chiamato The Daily Orange, e riceve il suo titolo dal nome di una chiesa nel Maine. Secondo quanto detto sul sito, TPBF compare su una ventina di quotidiani, cinque riviste e cinque quotidiani scolastici.^[1]

Nel 2006 il fumetto ha vinto l'Ignatz Award (premio riservato agli autori di fumetti) nella categoria Outstanding Online Comic, cioè "fumetto online eccezionale"; ^[2] dal 1 agosto dello stesso anno le strisce sono raccolte al dominio www.pbfcomics.com.

Dal 13 febbraio 2008 il webcomic è entrato in una fase di pausa indefinita, l'autore ha infatti affermato che non ha intenzione di far diventare un lavoro fisso la sua attività di fumettista.

Tematiche [modifica]

Il webcomic, che non ha personaggi fissi né storie ricorrenti (ad eccezione di qualche minimo riferimento interno^[3]), è caratterizzato da un tipo di umorismo decisamente surreale e assurdo, che varie volte sfocia nell'umorismo nero, il tutto accentuato dalla contrapposizione con lo stile di disegno spesso infantile o che ritrae ambientazioni fantastiche.
Una caratteristica ricorrente di alcune strisce è presentare le vicende surreali di oggetti antropomorfizzati, alcuni esempi: (2); (3); (4).

Stile [modifica]

Lo stile di disegno è un'altra particolarità delle strisce: parte di esse sono disegnate con linea spessa, campiture di colore piatte e personaggi dai connotati ridotti al minimo, ma altre sono molto dettagliate e realizzate con gli stili più diversi, dall'acquarello alla pixel art. In alcuni casi l'autore si mette a parodiare lo stile di alcuni autori ben precisi (come lo stile di Quentin Blake in una striscia che parodizza il libro di Roald Dahl La fabbrica di cioccolato, di cui Blake era stato illustratore).

Collegamenti esterni [modifica]

• (EN) The Perry Bible Fellowship

Note [modifica]

This comic affords me the opportunity to vent about quality control and to discuss this comic as I generally would. Before that let's figure out who is writing this thing. It's going to be a bit shorter today because I realize that it will become a rant if I make it too long and I'll lose sight of what I'm doing. If you'd like a longer version I'll see what I can do on Friday and make that more of a rant based post. 

Background: Bob and George is a comic that was started by Dave Anez in 2000. It is actually over now with him having ended all the storylines in the comic on July 28th, 2007. However, he is still updating the comic, sort of. What Anez is currently doing is going through and adding commentary to each comic, somewhat like if you were reading the individual strips in book form. Anez also makes short movies using his characters called The Cataclysm.

I couldn't find much about the actual author but here's what I could find. Dave Anez is an instructor at Western Iowa Tech Community College where he teaches physics. He's married. And that's about it. Apparently, he also got his bachelors and his masters degrees from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Not really sure if you needed to know that or not. 

The Comic: Bob and George originally started with a couple weeks worth of Mega Man sprites that Anez had planned on using as filler before he was able to get a scanner and put up his hand drawn comics. 

When he finally did put his hand drawn comics they were ill-received and Anez hated them as well. He ended up going back to the sprites comics for a while before he attempted to put up more hand drawn comics but that was a short lived experiment. In the end Anez stuck with the sprites and continued with them until the strips final day. 

I am going to say this right now so that it's not a surprise down the road. I hate sprite comics. Why? Because in all honesty it feels like hack work. Also, most of the ones that I've read are poorly written and generally, not funny. I am somewhat picky when it comes to art and what I like. I want some kind of talent. The two worst drawn comics I like are Something Positive and Real Life Comics, I realize this. However, SP has interesting characters and the art isn't terrible. Real Life Comics isn't sprite based, in a way it still is hand drawn, even if it is MS Paint, also I find RLC funny. 

I'm going to refer this to my video game beliefs. There's three of them.

1. Good story line.

2. Good Game play.

3. Good graphics.

So, for comics this means good art, good plot, and in lieu of game play: funny jokes. 

Bob and George was not the exception. I thought maybe it could be from what I've heard but it only disappointed. 

Look, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Yay, you can make sprites and you've finally figured out how to make your love of Mega Man into a lucrative project. No. A developed plot line would be nice. Funny jokes would be even better. Also, just because you cuss does not mean that you are funny. I'll give you a real life example and a comic of example of people who are funny with out cussing.

Brian Regan and PvP Online. Regan used to swear on stage but he has since challenged himself not to and his material is still good. PvP swears occasionally but many of their jokes, if not all, are not based around the strategic use of cuss words. 

Fuck and shit are not main stays, unless your George Carlin but that is his thing. 

What do you want to know about Bob and George. First, there isn't a character named Bob or George in the comic for at least a year (Anez got around that by introducing sprites later on but he should have done it sooner). The jokes ring hollow and seem to follow the cuss and it's funny mind set and the plot line is simplistic and unwarranted. It's like Anez tried to make a plot inbetween the Mega Man games and got lost in them.

Reading some of Anez's commentary even he states that he wonders why he thought various jokes that he did were funny at the time. 

I'm somewhat surprised he got a following considering his own artist hate.

I think we're done, if you want to see it for yourself go but don't say that I sent you there because I wouldn't do that to you.

My recommendation: It's outdated, unfunny, and has no artistic talent. I'm only giving it a 1 because zero is just mean and he did somehow manage 1,000 readers a day at his peak. I give him respect for managing that even though it baffles me. 

♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣

Scyo.

Download

One of the things that enhanced this for me was that when I read the rules of the game I was immediately distracted by the prologue to Good Omens (no link necessary, we leave that as an exercise for the reader) and God playing poker so when I started to read Panel 2 I was even more jolted than if I hadn't been distracted.

Confession: this context-jumping and conclusion-reaching happens all too often. Works fine in school, less than fine in a conversation. Now that I think about it, the chance of making a correct choice as a result is pretty much exactly reversed. What does that say about school versus real life? Or has my mind, along with my memory, degraded that much since university.

Empires Comics index.htm é un sito specializzato in news sui comics americani.

Cliccando sul link si arriva ad un  portale che, tra l'altro, offre tutta una serie d'informazioni sul mondo variegato delle produzione fumettistica made in USA.

Nick

Il web sembra essere un ottimo veicolo per incrementare la conoscenza dei comics, Per esempio vedete che cosa ha realizzato la Ape Entertainment :

Il video (bellissimo) girato con veri attori è l'iniziativa che la casa editrice Ape Entertainment
(San Diego, California )  usa per sponsorizzare la storia del loro mondo fantastico.

Credo che sia la prima volta che si usino attori in carne e ossa per pubblicizzare un fumetto e con che qualità. Forse, chissà, potrebbero anche farne un film vero è proprio.

Nick

La  tavola del comics  è presa dal sito www.fictionclemens.com

Pencils by

Colors for Issue 1 by Alejandro Marmontel

Colors for Issue 2 by Veronica Gandini

Colors for Issue 3 by Nicolas Pina

Non c'è niente da ridere (in originale NICHTLUSTIG, il cui significato in tedesco è pressapoco identico) è il titolo sotto il quale sono state pubblicate le raccolte di vignette umoristiche realizzate dal fumettista tedesco Joscha Sauer. L'edizione in lingua italiana della raccolta consta attualmente di due volumi, pubblicati dalla casa editrice Planeta deAgostini

La storia editoriale [modifica]

Le vignette raccolte sotto il titolo Non c'è niente da ridere furono originariamente pubblicate da Sauer sul proprio sito internet a partire dal 2000; solo nel 2003, ed in seguito al successo che il fumetto ebbe sul web, una casa editrice tedesca, la Carlsen, decise di pubblicarne l'edizione cartacea, appunto con il titolo NICHTLUSTIG.

Il fumetto [modifica]

Una delle caratteristiche salienti del fumetto riguarda il suo stile di disegno: a differenza della maggior parte dei web comic, per lo più realizzati con disegni più o meno stilizzati e sovente tramite computer grafica, le vignette di Sauer sono disegnate rigorosamente a mano, con uno stile cartoonesco simile a quello Disney, e colorati ad acquerello.

Lo stile umoristico alla base della comicità del fumetto è difficile da definire; stando ad una dichiarazione dello stesso Sauer, può essere definito come "humor nero diagonale". I protagonisti delle diverse vignette sono spesso animali dai comportamenti antropomorfi, esseri di fantasia (quali yeti, alieni e robot) e, ovviamente, esseri umani. Spesso di essi vengono posti in risalto o ridicolizzati i comuni stereotipi, trasfigurati al punto da risultare comici: il ricorso agli stereotipi risulta necessario, oltretutto, per facilitare l'immediata comprensione del fumetto, per lo più composto da un'unica vignetta. Un esempio tipico possono essere le varie vignette che vedono protagonisti dei lemming, sempre intenti a trovare nuovi modi -spesso piuttosto creativi- per suicidarsi, secondo quella che è la comune credenza popolare. Oltre a questo, il fumetto presenta spesso delle comuni scene di vita quotidiana, rappresentate però sotto una luce sarcastica, ironica o semplicemente illogica.

Oltre alle vignette, Sauer ha realizzato anche delle storie più lunghe, ugualmente comiche, che si articolano anche in due o tre tavole ed apparse solo nelle raccolte cartacee in volumi. Curiosamente, ed in contrasto con l'estemporanea comicità delle vignette, le situazioni presenti in queste storie spesso ricorrono o vengono richiamate in altre, creando una sorta di intreccio che aumenta la sorpresa e, di conseguenza, l'ilarità del lettore.

I personaggi [modifica]

Sebbene ogni vignetta del fumetto possa essere comprensibile a sé, in alcune di queste compaiono alcuni personaggi ricorrenti, come i già citati lemming suicidi, che vanno a comporre un vero e proprio cast di personaggi più o meno improbabili, che talvolta finiscono anche per interagire tra loro. Fra di essi vi sono:

• degli Yeti sempre affamati, con idee piuttosto particolari su come uccidere le loro prede. A loro si aggiunge talvolta un kraken, apparentemente a suo agio anche fuori dall'acqua
• dei Clown
• una personificazione della Morte, con tanto di falce.
• due scienziati pazzi, Wilson e Pickett, inventori, fra l'altro di una macchina del tempo e di un robot assassino, NF-700, che nonostante la sua programmazione omicida insegna in un asilo
• due dinosauri, fuoriusciti dalla macchina del tempo di cui sopra
• il signor Riebmann, un curioso personaggio che vive nell'intercapedine di un muro, ed il suo vicino di casa
• alcuni elefanti pasticcioni ed ingombranti
• un uomo in costume da pollo
• alcuni mafiosi
• due alieni

Pubblicazioni [modifica]

Dei primi due volumi, pubblicati in lingua italiana, viene presentata appunto questa edizione.

• Sauer, Joscha: Non c'è niente da ridere, Planeta De Agostini, Barcellona, 2006, ISBN 978-84-674-3944-1
• Sauer, Joscha: Non c'è niente da ridere n.2, Planeta De Agostini, Barcellona, 2007 ISBN 978-84-674-3946-5
• Sauer, Joscha: NICHTLUSTIG 3, Carlsen, Hamburg, 2005, ISBN 3-551-77393-9
• Sauer, Joscha: NICHTLUSTIG Wochenkalender 2006, Carlsen, Hamburg, 2005, ISBN 3-551-96518-8
• Sauer, Joscha: NICHTWEIHNACHTEN, Carlsen, Hamburg, 2005, ISBN 3-551-78641-0
• Sauer, Joscha: Nicht lustig, Piper, München/Zürich, 2006, ISBN 3-492-24510-2
• Sauer, Joscha: NICHTLUSTIG Wochenkalender 2007, Carlsen, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-551-68301-8

Altri progetti [modifica]

• Wikimedia Commons contiene file multimediali su Non c'è niente da ridere

Collegamenti esterni [modifica]

• (DE) Sito ufficiale

Today is all about 8-bit Theatre. 

Background: 8-bit Theatre was started in 2002 by University of Florida graduate Brian Clevinger. While his web-comic is his main source of fame he has also written a book called Nuklear Age, and is in the midst of writing the sequel. Besides 8-bit he also did two mini-comics called Dynasty Memory and Field of Battle. Apparently, at one point he had a take over of Ctrl-Alt-Del at one time that was called off by the creator of that comic eventually. I don't actually read that particular comic, despite its fame, so I don't actually know the details behind that one. I'm not really feeling a big loss because I missed it though.

The Comic: Unlike many web comics that feature traditional art styles or at least somewhat hand drawn, even if it is a mouse, styles of art, 8-bit uses sprites. Specifically, Clevinger uses sprites from the first Final Fantasy game. He also uses various backgrounds from that game and other sprite based or photoshopped backgrounds. While it may seem from time to time that the various comics do not connect his main characters are involved in a long plot line. Black Mage, Fighter, Thief, and White Mage make up the core of his characters with appearances from Red Mage and Evil Princess and various Final Fantasy monsters. Yes, the names do match the sprites. 

I do enjoy his use of sprites to make something semi-original and explore various characteristic stereotypes. Black mages is evil, Fighter is the a-typical jock/glory hound/complete idiot, Thief is consumed by his greed, Red Mage is equal to Fighter but with magic and an obsession with D&D and the White Mage is the common sense amongst a sea of stupidity. 

However, I think that it does get old after awhile. Admittedly, I did start reading 8-bit around '03 and I was in a different mindset. I went back through the first 50 comics or so recently and was shocked that I ever laughed at them. It has its moments but that's like saying Epic Movie has its moments. There aren't enough to warrant me sticking around, or even starting in the first place if your name is Epic Movie. I don't know why I sat through even 20 minutes of that movie. Why?

Anyway.

My recommendation: If you're really, really, really into Final Fantasy check out 8-bit Theatre. If you like Adam Sandler's worst movies (8 Nights of Hanakuah, Mr. Deeds, etc) then check out the comic. If you want to save yourself some time, effort, and brain cells, I'd say steer away from it. If you're still in highschool then read it. I was 14 at the time, so the timing seems appropriate.

♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣

Un originale bimestrale fantasy con attualità giovanile e fumetti, ideato da sceneggiatori e disegnatori italiani. È appena uscito il primo numero della nuova serie del magazine a fumetti «Isa & Bea Streghe», la rivista che torna in edicola per iniziativa della casa editrice Asmi, nuovo editore in Italia su licenza della Editing Communications.
Destinata a un pubblico di pre-adolescenti tra gli 8 ed i 12 anni, la rivista racconta la storia di due ragazze dotate di poteri magici, una nata nel Medioevo e l’altra nel futuro, che si ritrovano grandi amiche ai giorni nostri.
«È una sfida difficile quella che abbiamo voluto raccogliere con il rilancio della testata Isa & Bea Streghe - ha dichiarato Alberto Serraino, direttore generale Asmi - Del resto, nei momenti di crisi o ci si ferma e si accetta di vivacchiare, o si rilancia con l’impegno dei creativi e di chi deve dare risorse. Gli artisti coinvolti nel rilancio di Streghe sono tutti di prima qualità, la redazione è agguerritissima, i messaggi trasmessi alle giovani lettrici sono positivi ed anche i genitori credo se ne potranno accorgere facilmente. E di messaggi positivi i nostri giovani hanno sicuramente bisogno».
«Isa & Bea Streghe» contiene due storie a fumetti complete, una delle quali proposta da una lettrice, ma anche rubriche su look, tempo libero, giochi, test e oroscopo. Il primo numero ha un prezzo di copertina di 3,90 euro, con in regalo otto anelli e due lip gloss glitterati. La tiratura di lancio è stata di 70mila copie.

TOKYO
Dopo aver occupato grandi e piccoli schermi, i supereroi dei fumetti come Spiderman e Superman si sono ora lanciati alla conquista dei piccolissimi: quelli dei cellulari. Gli uomini d'affari che leggono fumetti sui treni - in Giappone se ne vedono in quantità - potrebbero presto farlo sul display dei loro telefonini grazie agli editori che stanno cercando di digitalizzarli per guadagnare sfruttando l'appeal del settore tecnologico.
Secondo gli analisti, il lancio dell'iPhone di Apple potrebbe contribuire alla diffusione, e il suo touch screen renderebbe la lettura più semplice e affascinante. Mentre il numero di utenti dei cellulari si avvicina ai 108 milioni - l'85% della popolazione giapponese - gli operatori si stanno concentrando più su servizi di contenuto e trasmissione dati che sui servizi voce.
Mail, download di musica e navigazione Internet sono già ampiamente diffusi, e gli analisti si aspettano che fumetti siano i prossimi. Nell'ultimo anno fiscale i fumetti hanno rappresentato la quota maggiore delle pubblicazioni su cellulare, per un valore complessivo di 204 milioni di dollari, il doppio rispetto all'anno precedente, secondo la società di ricerca Impress R&D.
"Fino ad ora, gli utenti hanno usato ampiamente il cellulare per le mail", ha detto l'analista di Shinko Securities Tomohiko Okugawa. "Ora che si va verso giochi e fumetti ... quest'area si rivelerà molto interessante". Secondo l'analista di Nikko Citigroup Hiroshi Yamashina gli schermi dei nuovi cellulari, più grandi e migliori, aiuteranno la diffusione dei fumetti.

My Defense: So I'll cover three little bits with this one straight from the comment I received.

A – I admittedly left out some information that should have been included in the original post. Chris Crosby is the founder of Keenspot, a website that allows amateur or even professional cartoonists to put their comics online. Now, I did Google Bobby Crosby and Chris Crosby individually. For Bobby the first five pages all talk about Bobby Crosby the Oakland A's player, not the Bobby Crosby the cartoonist. I found 3 references to Bobby Crosby in those 5 pages and they were all related to the comics I mentioned in my earlier post. 

Then I looked up Chris Crosby, found the Keenspot info, and found 2 articles relating to Bobby Crosby. Those articles solely mentioned that Bobby Crosby was putting comics onto Keenspot. That doesn't really say brothers right there. In my final attempt I googled them together and it took another blog reviewing Last Blood for me to find information that even hinted that they were related. So, no, it was not an “easy” Google search away.

B – In the comment Crosby says that I got all my credits wrong for the other comics that I mentioned in the post. If you want the truth, what I did was go on Wowio and do a search of Chris Crosby, then Owen Gieni, and finally Bobby Crosby. I wrote the comics that turned up as comics that they had contributed to, mostly because, you know, THEIR NAMES WERE LISTED ON THEM. I suppose that's besides the point though. By the way, the review on that other blog is much better than the one I did, I recommend you check it out. While you're there check out the comments under the post. I am inclined to believe that Bobby Crosby is insane after reading those things. 

Anyway, that's my defense of myself. I could be wrong, and as Crosby implied I could be a disgrace to college students and journalists everywhere. I'll let you be the judge of that because I will admit that I am learning right now. I'm trying to make these blog posts interesting and informative without lieing. So, if I do screw up I'll admit to it. However, lets try to keep it constructive, no one learns from negativity.

Background: Penny Arcade is written by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik of Seattle fame. Of all the web comics out there Penny Arcade has become the most famous and expansive one to date. They have 4 collections of their comics out currently, they also just recently released episode one of their game, On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness. Beyond that the two are responsible for one of my favorite charities, Child's Play and the biggest consumer gaming expo in the country, PAX, now that E3 is for industry types only. They've been writing the comic since 1998 when they were being featured on another gaming website. Since then they've worked on their own website and have offices in Seattle. Holkins and Krahulik, in spite of their fame, are still very accessible people. They attend many cons on the west coast including Sakura-Con, Emerald City Comic Con, Comic Con in San Diego, of course, their convention PAX.  Over the years they have kept Penny Arcade consistent with updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

The Comic: Krahulik and Holkins don't really believe in continuity and there are several examples of this in their blog entries on comic days. However, they do occasionally have little “plots” that last a week or so. The longest that I've seen them do was a Cthulhu Christmas story a couple of years ago. Usually, their comics are stand alones that have something to do with video games, card games, or computers. Being a gamer is almost a prerequisite for reading their comics. Although, even if you don't all the references and inside jokes their comics can still be pretty funny. If you like crass humor they have plenty of that stuffed in as well. 

While most artists get better over there years at making their art more realistic, Krahulik has gotten better at making Tycho and Gabe (Holkins and Krahulik's alter egos in comic form respectively) look more cartoonish. He has a very distinct style that I think is a lot of fun to look at and Holkin's ridiculous vocabulary is also a bonus for you linguists out there. 

Penny Arcade has stayed pretty much the same since the beginning. The art has improved immensly and the jokes change daily as most of their humor topical which keeps the comic pretty fresh. Also, I think between all their events, the comics they've made, and the games they continue to play you can really see how much they love what they're doing. 

My Recommendation: If you haven't already heard of these guys you need to go and check them out. However, I will admit that if you are not a gamer or do not enjoy crass humor you will probably not enjoy this comic. Me? I love both topics. So, this gets the rare 5 out 5 from me. Really, do check out Penny Arcade.

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toothpastefordinner.com

Download

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Background: Sinfest was started at the beginning of 2000 by Tatsuya Ishida. Ishida is based out of California. The man has not released a lot of information about himself. What I could find is that he went to UCLA in the 1990s and did a comic strip for the college paper, The Daily Bruin. I found that he at one time worked for Image Comics where he penciled for Godzilla and G.I.Joe comics. There was some information that he co-created a comic called StrangeLove with Stacy Freeman for Entity Comics in the 1990s but I couldn't find any information that corroborated that and besides, Entity Comics doesn't actually exist anymore. So far, Ishida has released three collections of his comic and sells them through Cafepress and Amazon. Occasionally, underneath his comic Ishida updates with little rants that he calls, “The Resistance.” His diatribes are little essays on why is bad-ass. Some of them are quite funny and others are just over-the-top ego in their attempt to be funny.

The Comic:   Sinfest is a weird mix of several comics lumped into one. There are several references to Peanuts, especially earlier on in the comic, and the two main characters are like a very sexual Calvin and Hobbes. The two main characters are Slick and Monique, the perenially “right” for each other friends who will never get together. Ishida uses several other characters to prop up their relationship including God, the Devil, and a talking Pig. Slick hangs out with the Pig and a nerdy kid. Sometimes they are involved with God and the Devil but usually they encompass their own storylines. The God and Devil are their own stories with a God worshipper, a Devil worshipper, two angels, Buddha, and a Chinese Dragon god. The comic also features plots involving a talking cat and dog who are supposed to be his pets. There are plot lines but most of the comics are written as stand alones. Ishida updates the comic daily usually with a colored Sunday comic. Actually, there are so many ridiculous things in this comic that it is a little bit hard to follow sometimes but usually it's pretty funny. The art has improved since the beginning but it still feels relatively the same. Ishida has a fun anime-esque style that lends itself well to his stories. 

 My Recommendation:  I really like Sinfest. I enjoy Ishida's humor and his art is a lot of fun to look at. He is usually consistent with his updates. The only problem is that every once in awhile he goes on vacation without telling anybody and there won't be updates for weeks at a time but that is pretty rare. So expect some chuckles and consistent updates from Ishida. I recommend you take a look at Sinfest. 

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Background: PvP Online was started by Scott Kurtz of Dallas, Texas in 1998. Since then the comic has changed style, format, story, and the website has been updated and upgraded several times. Kurtz has morphed the comic from seven days a week, to five plus a colored Sunday, to five again. The art has changed dramatically from day 1 to the present day story line. It really is a progressive comic, artistically. Kurtz himself has gotten steadily more and more famous within the comic world as well. He has been a runner up and a winner of the prestigous Will Eisner award. His was for the recently created Best Digital Comic. PvP is not limited to the web though. Kurtz has published single issues and trades of his online work through Image and continues to do so. He also wrote a book with Kristofer Straub entitled, How to Make Web Comics. Kurtz can usually be found at various comic cons in Dallas and is a big support of Zeus Comics. He is also annually at Comic Con in San Diego. He is a very accessible creator. Kurtz runs a podcast with Straub to talk about web comics and comics in general. It is generally updated once weekly. One of the cooler things that Kurtz has done with his comic was teaming with Blind Ferret Entertainment of Canada. With Blind Ferret Kurtz created an animated series of his comic called PvP: The Series. You have to subscribe to see it but if you like the comic, I think that it's worth it. He currently writes a side-comic called Ding! about World of Warcraft.

Currently, Kurtz updates the comic Monday through Friday. He recently finished a huge plot line where two of his main characters got married, two more “matured” (you'll have to follow the series to really get that one), and one disappears. 

The Comic: Like Megatokyo, PvP started as a comic that primarily focused on gaming. He mostly makes jokes about video games but he does focus on Dungeons and Dragons from time to time. As the comic as gone on he has lessened the focus on gaming and created compelling characters and plots for his readers to follow. Unlike Megatokyo though PvP's plot lines are simple to follow and even with cliff-hangers. His work week update schedule makes it easy to understand and he manages to provide enough to leave the reader satisfied. Of course, not all his updates are focused on plot and he still produces stand-alones that tell pretty funny jokes. 

As I mentioned above, PvP has changed its looked significantly since 1998. Kurtz has truly progressed his art, stylistically, and professionally. He used to do his comics by hand and photoshop the lines on them but now he uses a wacom tablet. To really see how far his skill has come check out some of his more recent posts, including the wedding and a pretty epic battle between Santa Claus and the infamous Scratch the Cat this last Christmas. 

Despite the evolution of his comic or perhaps because of it, the comic has improved immensely but Kurtz has not lost the feel of his characters or of the original comic. In fact, I would argue that he has only intensified it. 

My recommendation: I've been following this comic since about 2001 and I have really enjoyed reading it. Of the web comics that I'll be recommending, this is in my top two. I truly recommend that you check it out. If you like any of the other comics that I've recommended so far than I believe that you'll enjoy this one as well. This will be one of the few 5s that I give out for web comics. The only drawback to new readers is that you'll have to dig through the archives to catch up but hey, even the oldies are good so you definitely should. 

♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣

Up now is Something Positive.

Background: Something Positive is serial heavy comic by Randy Milholland. He is based out of Boston, Massachusetts. Milhollland has been creating the comic since 2001. He generally updates daily. However, he tends to get sick quite a bit and he does go conventions around the North east so his update can be sporadic. Unlike most of the web comics that I've reviewed, Milholland does not have a collection of his comics and, I don't know if there is one in the works or if it's even been planned. However, he does update three different comics that you can check out on the Something Positive website. He does one comic that features a younger version of one of the side characters from Something Positive. He also does a super hero spoof comic that is pretty good as well. The first one I mentioned doesn't get updated very much anymore but he does update the spoof comic pretty regularly. 

The Comic: Something Positive follows about five different main characters with a rotating cast that are “regular” but are not featured enough to really be apart of the main cast. While the comic is a serial, it features very small plot lines but it also has quite a few stand alones. Each comic adds to the over-arching plot lines. The comic follows the five main's lives and flows between the dramatic and the comedic regularly. 

Milholland's art has improved quite a bit since he began. He has smoothed out his drawings and made them less cartoonish. His characters and backgrounds have become more realistic. The story lines of his comic have split in the past year. Two of his main character have moved to Fort Worth, Texas where Milholland is originally from and the rest are still located in Boston. It makes for sudden shifts in the story which are a little confusing, especially, considering the fact that he gives little warning as to where the next one is going to go. 

One of the biggest problems with Something Positive is that he introduces characters that he creates plots with that, honestly, end with those characters just disappearing eventually. He's done several times with characters that the five mains were deeply involved with. Kim and Jhim are just two examples of this. 

My recommendation: Sorry for the rather crap review of this one. I tried to put effort in to this one but it's such a weird convoluted comic that it's hard for me to put it down correctly. Milholland does create some compelling characters with rich back stories but some of it gets lost in the appearance and disappearance of various characters. I'm giving this one a two but if you like out and out cyncism and irony than you should enjoy Something Positive.

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Scyo.

I'll be adding the hot links later on. I have some business to take care of first so expect hot links by about 1030 or 1100 tonight. Okay, it's up.

> PRESENTATI

Mi chiamo Gabriele Pennacchioli e lavoro come animatore, story artist e designer alla Dreamworks.
Ho sempre amato i film d'animazione ma da piccolo ero piu' interessato ai fumetti, specialmente i supereroi Marvel. Uno dei miei favoriti era il "Silver Surfer" di Stan Lee e John Buscema. Cosi' sono diventato un disegnatore di fumetti. Ho disegnato per Diabolik, Intrepido, il Giornalino e Dylan Dog. Ma sono stati i film d'animazione di Don Bluth,
"Il Segreto del Nimh", e un bellissimo libro scritto da due veterani della Disney (The Illusion of Life) che mi hanno fatto tornare la passione per l'animazione.

Purtroppo il tipo d'animazione a cui ero interessato veniva fatta esclusivamente nei grandi studi Americani e questo rendeva l'idea di diventare animatore piuttosto remota. Ma la fortuna ha voluto che alla fine degli anni novanta il regista-produttore Steven Spielberg aprisse uno studio d'animazione a Londra. Cosi' mi sono deciso, tra mille
incertezze e qualche paura, di provare. L'esperienza e' stata solo di pochi mesi ma sufficienti per farmi decidere che quella era la vita che volevo fare. In seguito ho lavorato per altri studi in diverse citta' Europee: Monaco di Baviera, Copenhagen e ancora a Londra dove ho animato il personaggio principale del film “Sinbad”. A Monaco ho avuto l'
opportunita' di realizzare un cortometraggio: "The Shark and the Piano" che ha vinto diversi premi in vari Festival Internazionali.

>> COM'E' IL TUO RAPPORTO CON IL MONDO RADIOTELEVISIVO

Da quando mi sono trasferito qui in America ho smesso di guardare i programmi televisivi alla televisione.
Ci sono alcune serie che seguo come "24" e "Lost" ma preferisco aspettare l'uscita su DVD.

>> IL TUO CARTOON PREFERITO

Amo i film d'animazione in generale senza distinzione di generi. Mi piacciono molto i film di Miyazaki per il senso poetico che infonde nelle sue storie. Amo I film della Pixar per la loro grande capacita' nello storytelling. "The Incredibles" ha uno sviluppo dei personaggi magnifico. Mi piace molto l'umorismo di Shrek e credo che il secondo
capitolo dell'orco verde sia un capolavoro del cinema d'animazione.

>> HAI UN SITO WEB

Ho un Blog che e' una specie di diario/sketchbook. Quello che amo dei Blog e' la possibilita' di poter vedere quello che i vari artisti in giro per il mondo fanno e pensano. Credo che sia un grande mezzo di comunicazione.
http://gabrielepennacchioli.blogspot.com/

>  DI COSA TI OCCUPI ATTUALMENTE

Ho finito di animare su "Kung Fu Panda" un film di cui sono molto orgoglioso e che sta avendo un grande successo qui in America. Ora sto lavorando come story artist ad un nuovo progetto per la Dreamworks diretto da Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch).Ho anche finito il mio nuovo libro "The Young Minotaur" che verra' presentato al Comic Con di San Diego.

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Gabriele Pennacchioli

Animator/Storyartist/Designer
Dreamworks Animation

(http://gabrielepennacchioli.blogspot.com/)