Webcomic News Roundup: MoCCA, Silly Sketches and Somber Tales
I’ve spent most of the day looking over MoCCA Art Festival schedules and guest lists for this weekend, so it’s been a light one here at ComicMix. Before I slide back into MoCCA madness, here are some short bursts of info and links from the webcomics scene that I’ve been meaning to share.
Yesterday, Diesel Sweeties creator Rich Stevens ended "two years of procrastinating" by announcing the launch of online tee shirt store teeshirtparty.com. Simply put, the store will feature "our favorite tee shirts designed by independent artists and bloggers." Go ahead and give it a look.
On a side note, I would also like to point out that, out of the five artists currently associated with Tee Shirt Party, ComicMix has already interviewed (or is in the process of interviewing) four of ’em. Expect to hear from me soon, John.
In his first of two mentions in this roundup, Fleen’s Gary Tyrrell sparked an interesting comment-thread debate when he posted his thoughts on Hero By Night creator DJ Coffman’s parting of ways with Platinum Studios.
Wigu and Overcompensating creator Jeffrey Rowland (the subject of a March interview here on ComicMix) recently revealed the new poster he created for (and will be selling throughout) MoCCA this weekend.
You didn’t miss my recent interview with Adventures of Dr. McNinja creator Chris Hastings, did you? Up next are A Softer World creators Emily Horne and Joey Comeau. Yes, I’m breaking new ground and conducting a group-style webcomic interview. Be there for the non-stop thrill ride!
Just like every other Friday for the past 16 weeks (with one exception), there’s a new episode of FreakAngels to read, courtesy of Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield. and just like every other week, it looks (and reads) amazing. Be sure to read it from the start if you’re just joining the story.
On a serious note, if you haven’t seen these 5.12 Earthquake Strips by Beijing creator Coco Wang, grab a seat and do so. Gary Tyrrell originally pointed me to these comics based upon stories from the recent earthquake that demolished significant portions of China and left a horrifying number of casualties (somewhere around 70,000 deaths, last I heard). You can learn more about the earthquake here and read a more detailed story about the strips over at CBR.
Here at ComicMix, we kicked off a new webcomic series while drawing another to a close this week. The first issue of our latest free, original webcomic, White Viper, featuring a story by Erin Holroyd, pencils by Dick Giordano and inks by Frank McLaughlin, has been generating a bit of a stir with its big NSFW opening scene. Apparently, it was a big hit in the Twitter scene.
Earlier in the week, Bo Hampton’s Demons of Sherwood closed its 25-issue run with, what else? A big battle!
Oh, and I almost forget to mention this one: Subscribers to Anders Loves Maria creator Rene Engström’s twitterings were treated to an impromptu sketch session Wednesday, as the Swedish creator took art requests, sketched them and then sent out digital photos of the finished art. She’s posted a gallery of the sketches (including the "alligator on a computer" some damn fool requested), but be warned: some of the images are definitely NSFW. (The sketch requested by Ugly Hill creator Paul Southworth comes to mind here.)
Finally, in case you missed the news that has been causing the biggest commotion ’round these parts, ComicMix Chairman Brian Alvey recently announced major upgrades to our Online Comic Book Reader. The upgrades were so significant, in fact, that we’ve been calling it the "2.0" model lately.