Strip News 7-10-9

We’ve been busy, busy, busy…

• Let’s start off with the Webcomic Overlook’s review of Daisy Owl and Loyalty & Liberty while Webcomics Critique looks at Shades and gibberish. Really. Gibberish. Peiz looks at Cricket’s Creature and ComixTalk reviewed The Deformitory. Illinest covered Melody and Read About Comics reviewed Fight Or Run.
• Martian Messages lays a thoughtful (not hysterical or overly emotional) smack down on Marvel Divas in parts one and two. Fictions reviews Ignition City as The Daily Crosshatch brings us the second Subway Story and Comics Worth Reading points us toward Sequential Shorts. Forbidden Planet brings us a comic about fear – Reasons Why I’m Scared To Love You. RPG.net introduces Spazznik and then asks for the forum denizens to share their favorite Awesome Webcomics. Madinkbeard brings us comics by Haverholm.
• Forbidden Planet also briefly comments on Journalista’s interview of Dirk Deppey and his most other kinds of books comment. Hero Spy grills Ken Marcus with just five questions while Comics Worth Reading gives us the skinny on Drawing Words and Writing Pictures – which is a must have how-to comic book. If you haven’t seen this listing of comics that celebrates diversity, then check it out now. One of the featured comics is Bayou, which you may know from Zuda.
• And of course, you must already be aware that Operation Mongoose is nearing completion. Read the previous declassified updates starting here and be prepared for Tuesday’s final update in Operation Mongoose. Somehow, I expect Abel has a surprise up his sleeve.
• MPD57 interviews Gabe Ostley of the Hammer – in the tub?
• I don’t think I need to elaborate on this …The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip.
• We’ve all seen comic character silhouettes, but most I’ve seen few that are mainly to show size relations and general shapes. This one expressly shows character in body language as well. And for those of us who would like to increase our humor quotient by at least, say, twenty percent then this is a good read.
• This Week in Webcomics is looking for suggestions on what readers want the site to cover? There’s a poll that will run for about ten more days so get your suggestions in. Also, Da Blog weighs in with thoughts on what is accomplished by web comic reviews and what should be done. Comic Related (in the July 2nd posting) talks about their blog evolution/revolution and the changes in store. Warren Ellis relates a help me with my webcomic site request, in case any of you are skilled enough to help.
• The WebcomicList had a forum topic devoted to how artists use Project Wonderful to advertise and what the best advice is for artists starting webcomics. The Daily Crosshatch had a wealth of interesting comic news and so did Webcomic Overlook while Smashing Magazine had a post on Vexel Art and Tutorials. Comic Related has part four of Self Publishing up. Rodney Brown loves one dimensional villains and El Santo cleans up nicely in the comments.
• Boing Boing reminds us that kids don’t really want Lucas’s Star Wars, they want their own version of it. Also, we get a fearless response to digital piracy from Michael Stackpole and I have to ask: what response do you get through Twitter? We can also get some site advice from Men With Pens, too.
• And last time, I mentioned the 2009 Harvey Awards but I didin’t mention the flurry of discussion from multiple places about them. You may have read Kleefeld’s opinion, but Journalista pointed us to the thoughts of The Comics Reporter, Broken Frontier, The Beat and Seitler, along with Robot Six and their links to Comics Worth Reading and ComixTalk. There are probably other places, too but the point is that some adjustment is clearly needed. Let’s be mindful that there is always a cry from the crowd for blood whenever a pick-your-best list is assembled. For any awards or best-of lists to be taken seriously there needs to be some impartialness and technical achievement standard built in to the awards. Obviously, there are many options and things to discuss but it’s apparent that real awards cannot be solely based on popularity and group consensus.

ArtPatient.com