Come on - this…this is gold! Might be the first time I actually go for the signed print of the strip option Onstad offers.
Click the comic to see it in it’s full-sized glory.
So, we’re about a week and a half into the whole Zudacomics.com thing, and I have to admit, I’m not too terribly impressed. To date, I’ve tried registering twice, attempted to get my password sent to me via the automated retrieval method and tried reaching Zuda’s tech support twice via their contact form.
At this point, I’ve had no luck and zero replies.
I’m not writing off Zuda just yet; it’s a little early to jump to that conclusion. However, it’s not a good sign that they’re unable to handle as basic an issue as a person being unable to register to use the site, especially since one of the big selling points is that the public is supposedly going to be determining who gets the contracts they give out.
Anyone else having similar results or better luck when they try to sign up?
Additionally, they’re sticking with their flash-based delivery system, despite it’s tendency to render anything other than fullscreen mode virtually illegible, and the commenting system is still displaying posts in an incredibly annoying reverse order. I really hope they get it together and address these issues, as I know I’m not the only one whose Zuda experience has been underwhelming so far.
With a pretty decent amount of fanfare, DC comics launched their new webcomics initiative yesterday with ZudaComics.com going full-on live. Jeremy Love’s “Bayou” has about a dozen and a half pages already online, and it’s easy to see why it was selected as the first “instant winner” strip, getting a full Zuda contract. But what about the rest of the site?
At the site’s default size, the comics are nearly illegible. The full screen presentation is practically breathtakingly beautiful, but I’d hazard a guess that many, if not most people, aren’t going to use the full screen option. It’s one thing to surf through your daily comics in the morning at work, but it’s another thing entirely to have them take over all of your screen’s real estate. This is actually a pretty significant problem that Zuda’s going to have to figure out soon in order to cement themselves in people’s daily viewing routines, I’d think. Otherwise, I like the the flash interface more than I thought I would have, despite it’s minor Safari issues.
The next issue should be much simpler to solve, but is probably even more important to deal with in the short term. One of the hooks Zuda is using in it’s nascent stage is that new regular strips will be voted on by readers, and those garnering the most vote will receive contracted runs on the site. The problem is, I registered last night, never received my password in email (you aren’t allowed to select your own password for some reason), and despite submitting a request for a lost password twice, I still haven’t seen a single Zuna email.Yes, I’ve checked my junk mail - no sign. I emailed them through their contact form on the site, so well see what happens next. Still, this is a major problem that should have been better dealt with prior to the site launch.
Another site issue that I’ve seen already has user confused is their decision to list comments on the comics and blog postings with the newest at the top rather than the bottom. It’s probably the most minor inconvenience of the three I’ve found, but it’s still counterintuitive and goes against the normal comment flow people have gotten used to on hundreds of thousands of other websites. It’s definitely not going to encourage any sort of meaningful conversation as long as it remains in it’s current configuration, that’s for certain.
As for the comics themselves, there’s good and bad. “Bayou” is definitely worth it’s win, and I’m pretty stoked to see where it goes over the course of it’s run. Of the contest participants, I’d have to say that “High Moon” is my clear favorite, followed by “Battlefield Babysitter,” though the latter has some serious lettering issues. KFR friend Steve Ellis is producing the best art of his career on “High Moon,” and I’d love to place my vote for it i I could just get registered. The rest of the comics range from all right to pretty freaking horrible, but I’m not feeling it’s necessary to hate on them by name since the one thing that’s obvious is that all the creators involved are pouring their best efforts into them.
Not only are the daily strips legitimately funny, if off color, but the Sunday editions have been absolutely amazingly gorgeous since Tatsuya Ishida has gone to full color. This strip may not be laugh out loud hilarious, but it’s pretty damn awesome. Sinfest’s bread and butter may be the sex and drugs humor, but Ishida’s religious strips are my favorites.
With Andrew Duncan
According to conventional wisdom, the daily newspaper comic strip pretty much died right when Calvin and Hobbes (the last of a culture-saturating holy trinity that included The Far Side and the somewhat lesser Bloom County) called it quits. For once, the conventional wisdom is, for all intents and purposes, correct.
Sure Doonesbury is still cruising along — but usually around the editorials page. Get Fuzzy has its moments, and the defunct Boondocks, while crudely drawn, was sharp, daring, and funny. But really, thanks to shrinking newspaper circulation and conservative editorial mandates that hinder taking chances on new talent, there is no compelling reason to read the daily comics page.
But there are more than a few reasons to pay attention to online comics, where it’s arguable that today’s smartest and most innovative comic strip cartoonists ply their trade. It’s true, the quality can be truly spotty, but some strips — like Perry Bible Fellowship — are head and shoulders above anything in the paper.
And then there’s the strip that’s even beyond that: Achewood. Chris Onstad’s bizarre and singularly hilarious comic is arguably the finest comic around these days, online or in print. Full of strange, likeable characters, simple but thoughtfully paced art, and earthy, gut-busting, clever/crude humor, there’s never been anything like Achewood.
Below are 25 reasons why we love Achewood. After reading them, you’ll also be addicted. To boners.
“More Frenchin’” 08/13/2002
“Cheers” 09/12/2002
“ASS IN YOUR PANTS” 11/18/2002
When an article has this line in the first page:
This is the story of how two douches from Spokane, Washington, became the most powerful players in the videogame industry.
You know it’s gonna be good. Wired recently spent a week or so in the Penny Arcade offices and came out with a pretty interesting read about Gabe and Tycho’s real-life alter egos.
Holkins and Krahulik were booking their own ads and charging “about 98 percent less than they should have been,” Khoo says. They had signed away book publishing rights to a guy who moved to Alaska and refused to pay them. They hooked up with a dubious Net company and nearly lost the rights to their intellectual property and the name Penny Arcade. When Khoo met them, they were living off donations from readers and contemplating the prospect of day jobs again. “Jerry and I are good at making comics and being funny… and that’s it,” Krahulik concedes.
Khoo coaxed them into a second meeting and presented them with a 50-page business plan. He offered to quit his analyst job and work for them free for two months. “They should not have trusted me,” he says.
They did. Holkins looks back in astonishment at what easy prey they would’ve been for an unscrupulous person looking to get their hands on the business. “Luckily, Robert perceived greater value in fixing us to the front of his chariot and riding us forever,” he says.
Khoo has created a successful business model that includes merchandising, creative services, and book publishing (they’ve recovered the rights). But the centerpiece is online advertising. A bell rings in the office, signaling that the Penny Arcade sales department has just closed another deal on a banner ad from a game publisher. As with every ad that appears on the site, the potential advertiser first had to send over a copy of the game, and Holkins and Krahulik had to deem it worthy. “There were fights about that at first. We’d swat down a $20K buy that Robert had spent weeks working on,” Holkins says. “But he quickly realized that our choosiness helps him.”
Man, this strip is just simultaneously amazing and disturbing. It’s what other comics aspire to achieve, the laugh accompanied by that slight twinge of “bleaugh” in your gut. The next strip is pretty damn good, too.
I love Achewood.
Chris Onstad, via his Achewood cast, catches up with the creator of Comic Sans and proceeds to give him the treatment Tony Soprano style. I for one approve wholeheartedly - that bastard’s just getting what he so richly deserves.
