Rss Feed
  1. Webcomics Weekly

    Tuesday, January 4, 2011

    Webcomics! Know 'em, love 'em, love to hate 'em, hate 'em, who cares? If you're a social invalid like myself you've got at least a dozen of them that you check each day and you may have even have deigned to buy a t-shirt or book.

    But what if you're a social invalid that wants to make their own webcomic, possibly devoting and developing the skill, talent, dedication and understanding so that you can make a living as a professional cartoonist? You might want a little bit of a guiding light to help you figure out the long road ahead. You might want Webcomics Weekly.

    Hosted by a quartet of some of the finest webcartoonists avaliable to host a podcast about webcomics, Webcomics Weekly consist of cartoonist on the web talking about webcomics to those who want to make webcomics and want to know more about webcomicry so that they can succeed with their own webcomics (webcomics).

    Webcomics Weekly is a gol' dang font of information. The topics cover the creative and business end alike when it comes to making webcomics. Topics have included:
    • Rulers
    • How to ship merchandise
    • Hand lettering vs. digital lettering
    • Do's and Don'ts of conventions
    • Feedback
    There are four hosts, which provides the listener with different points of view and a variety of methods for everything they talk about.

    Let's meet them, Tiger Beat style, shall we?

    The Heartthrob: Kris Straub.
    He enjoys writing both Starslip and Chainsawsuit, long walks on the beach and listening to you talk about the drama that goes on during 5th period geometry.
    The Bad Boy: Scott Kurtz.
    Will your sign match up with this fiesty gemini? Scott keeps himself lean and mean by letting you know exactly what's on his mind! Turn ons: understanding gutter size. Turn offs: girls that wear too much body glitter!!!!
    The Cute One: Dave Kellett.
    Put your pencils down from this multiple-choice test on heart-breakers! Dave Kellett may have two Masters degrees but that doesn't keep him from wanting to learn all about you!
    The Sweet One: Brad Guigar.
    Here's what Brad has to say about what makes him a fan favorite:

    "Throughout life the way you approach something like that, the way you are able to receive something like is different. For example, if you're ten years old and your dad says something about your mother in a way that indicates that they're actually two married people and it's like "Ew, gross!" you don't want to see your dad kiss your mom or anything like that, it's gross when your ten. But then it's twenty years old and he makes a comment and it's like "Yeah, these are two married people, of course he's going to kiss mom... uh, I don't why I'm doing the whole 'kissing mom' thing... "
    ... thanks Brad!

    Relevant Links:
    Get the most recent episodes here.
    Find the archives (episodes 1-39) here.
    Check out each host's webcomic. I can verify the fact that, if you're me, you'll enjoy all of them.


    Hey Look, Another Site:
    Webcomics.com, a "tremendous resource of practical information for webcartoonists." This site is outside of my purview, but from what I can tell it features in-depth articles/tips/tricks from some of the leaders in webcomicry. It is subscription only, but if you're an actual webcartoonist go ahead and give it a look.

    Content Rating: Majority Clean. Explicit episodes are tagged appropriately.

    Average Episode Length: Most episodes will cost you about an hour of your time, give or take ten minutes. The longest episode is a mere five seconds shy of 140 minutes. The shortest episode clocks in at an adorable 31 minutes. Cootchie-coo, little episode!

    Scott Kurtz: No, dolls and mannequins will come to life and kill you. That's a fact.
    Kris Straub: Yeah, that's a given.
    Brad Guigar: Mannequins too?
    Scott Kurtz: Oh, yes.
    Kris Straub: Why not? Why not, Brad? They're instinct with hellish life! They don't like that they've been made in our image but they can't move. They can't enjoy life! They just have to watch and they're miserable.
    Scott Kurtz: And they're waiting for you to drop you guard.


    Drinking Game: Take a drink each time syndication is mentioned. Drain your glass if it sets off a rant.

    Release Schedule: Weekly-ish. Their track record is a bit spotty when it comes to maintaining the "weekly" part of the podcast. Lucky for you there is a huge backlog of episodes to keep you busy if they skip a week or two! Or three.

    Music: Your choices in music vary from that one song every podcast uses with the two guitars that goes:
    bink-bink-bink
    deedle-eedle-deedle-lee
    bink-bink
    deedle-deedle-eedle-eedle


    OR the one that goes:

    woan-de-now
    wonna-na-da-de-now
    dooooow-de-wonna-won-wow
    w0nna-wan-won
    bwon-bwon-bwon-bwon


    OR ONE OF THE OTHER SONGS THAT EVERY FRIGGEN PODCAST USES. COME ON, GUYS! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY JUST LICENSE SOMETHING ORIGINAL!

    Unintentionally Good Part: Brad Guigar's laugh. It's like puppy dogs wrapped with rainbows.

    Unintentionally Bad Part: To be fair, I can't peg down a "bad part" for this podcast. I listen to it for the personalities behind the mics. If you're an aspiring webcomic artist, I can't speak for whether or not the information and opinions offered are sound. This podcast serves a small audience; give it a try to see if it's worth your time.

    As someone who has absolutely no investment in making a webcomic, I really enjoy this podcast for the personality of the hosts. Start at the beginning of their archive, give it a shot, maybe you'll enjoy it as well. Let me know in the comments!