It’s that time again, folks. Time to give some less fortunate children the holiday they’ll never forget. Child’s Play is one of the coolest charities I’ve ever had the joy of participating in, not to mention the only real ongoing one spurred from Webcomics. I highly suggest you get involved, even if it’s just spreading the word.
And a happy holiday greeting of your choice, to anyone who reads this.
Webcomics. For me and everyone else involved in this community, this activity, this art form and brand new medium and every other grandiose adjective we can possibly apply to it… The word has gravity. We capitalize it. We emphasize it. We live in this utopian intenet culture called Webcomics and it’s filled with every one od us, convinced tht it is the ultimate. It cannot be beaten, it is the brace new world for sequential art.
I often wonder if it’s being taken too seriously. And this is coming from the guiy who does more than one podcast about Webcomics.
I’ve been labeled as the Quintessential Webcomic Enthusiast. I would gladly consider myself this. Hell, I love Webcomics so much there’s nary a thing involving them I don’t do. Except make them, it would seem.
I look forward and I see the future of Webcomics. This Age of Webcomic history that will come in 15 years or so. Wehere Webcomics are a household name, a common item, and perhaps even overtaking and supplanting the newspaper strips. We’ll have movies and TV shows and your children will be waering Webcomics pajamas on their way to bed.
I wonder who, amongst us, we could see participating and achieveing that. I assure you, it won’t be one of us. It’ll be someone brand new, someone from the outside coming in, taking with them their fame and notoriety that came from their previous career(s). They will go to Webcomics, and the public will go with. He or she is the one that will bring Webcomics to Grandma and Grandpa.
It won’t be one of us.
It might not be any of us at home.
In the common dwelling, where they boot up their arm computers and read their webcomics over coffe. The average person may not be reading Penny Arcade or PVP. They’ve got a narrow topic in gaming, they have taken and gilled that niche. It’s foreseeable that they cannot grow outside of that niche. It ill be the new webcomics, which will be accessable and readible ny grandma and frampa, It will be gamiliar and it will be traditional in srtlw.
It will be familiar.
Er eill not see the success that will come to the mOm and Pop comic. We’re inmdy, we’re alternative. we appeal to the minority. The majority need will be filled, for good or for ill. And that’s where Webcomics will be a thing.
And that bums me out, frankly. I’f really like tosee the blank label guys or PA get that success.
But it won’t be the same. Do you understand what I’m sauing?
I hope you do, because I don’t.
This is NaDruWriNi in action, folks. I have no ide what’s going on, and I seem to have lost most of my luvidity.
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I… wasn’t looking at the keyboard just then. As far as I can surmise, that’s nigh indecipherable. Basically, what I said what truly makes Webcomics the medium that it is, is less the comics themselves, but the delivery method and the direct creator-reader communication. Where we see as infinite, it still has its limits. And somehow, we need to identify these limits and detsroy them.
Are the limits our topic choice? Is it our deliberate off-the-beaten path content desicions what’s keeping us from becoming that household object? Is it our nerdcore nature? is it the profanity we use, and the harshness that comes with being edgier humor?
Are our very creative desicions keeping us from becoming that household name? Is it by simply being ourselves?
I do wonder.
There’s a less utopian vision I have. More hellish. I also wonder if this is all just temporary. If one day, the bubble will burst and everything comes crashing down. I do worry about that. I’d like there to still be a Webcomic “Industy” by the time I’m ready to make my move. Oh yes, I’m biding my time. That must be it.
I’m on this topic because a friend, a mentor, gave me the idea to talk about how I see the future of Webcomics. The truth of the matter is I can only speculate wildly, because I don’t fucking know. I’m not a future predictor, I’m not a planner. I’m an improvisor. So I’m not worried about where we’re going, or where we’re headed, because I know i’ll be along for the ride. Cuz I’m Phil Fucking Kahn.
Mother fuckers.
I can’t resist. Sorry to say, but I must re-participate in this great event, the one and only NaDruWriNi. And I will do it here.
I will be drunk, and I will be talking about Webcomics. This is something you may want to check out this page on November 4th (or 5th, depending on what time of day I decide to write). If you want to see previous drunken writings on Webcomics, they are found below:
This is NaDruWriNi in action
Sober Repostings of Drunken Rants
Those two drunken writings are ones I count amongst the best pieces I’ve ever written in blogform. Possibly the two I’ve recieved the most feedback on as well.
So yeah. It might be a good one.
I think I’ll talk about my votes and predictions for the WCCA’s this year. But before I discuss my votes and predictions themselves, I want to make a few things perfectly clear:
1) Yes, I am on the committee staff thing for the WCCAs. I vote on policies and I have some sort of say on how things go. That has no real bearing on how the winners will be picked in the end. Aside from that, I refuse to influence the end desicions based on my opinions, beyond whether or not a comic belongs in a certain category, and my basic votes as a participant.
2) There’s a lot of comics I like a lot, and there’s a lot of cartoonists I’m friends with and work with. And more than a handful that I can consider partners. So there’s a bias there. But I don’t factor that in with my nominations. My votes are simply for the comics that I think are outstanding and fit the category they are for. So if you’re a pal and I don’t vote for you, please don’t feel offended. Nothing against you or your work.
Now. with all that out of the way, let’s get to it.
Heh. I spent so much time at Wizard World Philly this weekend, and the recovery thereof, I completely missed out on my WCCA nominations. Yep, I’m half an hour too late.
Ah well. I have no regrets. But sorry for those who were looking forward to my nominations.
Howdy, folks. Biscuit Press has finally undergone the server change that we initiated last fall, because we’re all slow types. But now we’re on the wonderful DreamHost server, and all is running smoothly. Or, at least as smoothly as can be while we’re still moving in.
If you came by around this ol’ blog at any point in the past couple days and encountered errors, that is why. But now everything seems to be just the way it was before (except for the upgrade to 2.0.2, but you guys wouldn’t see that anyway).
There’s more changes to be had. Particularly around this place. I’m thinking about changing format here, mostly because I’ve grown bored with restraining IJS to just talk about Webcomics and the occasional Video Game. I’m still figuring out what I want to do with this thing, so bear with me on that.
Otherwise, I’ve got a nice and good Con schedule mapped out for the year so far. I’ll keep that regularly updated as it’s own page over on the sidebar on the right there. But I’ll also post ‘em right here, for the activity challenged. Yeah, so if you’re planning on going to any of those, give me a holler. We’ll do lunch.
Wizard World Philly, Philadelphia PA, June 2-4 - Attending
ConnectiCon, Hartford CT, July 7-9 - Guest
Otakon, Baltimore MD, August 4-6 - Workshopper/Panelist
Dragon*Con, Atlanta GA, September 1-4 - Planning to Attend
UberCon VIII, Meadowlands NJ, Octobet 20-22 - Guest
PhilCon, Philadelphia PA, November 17-19 - Guest(?)
Well, I’ve given my givie. Would’ve liked for that combined givie to be much more of a give, but the auctions and the things of that sort did not pan out. So I now hereby put out this offer:
Since I’ve made my donation, and in the spirit of the exercise, combined with me having jack shit to write about, a random person who e-mails me at my glitchphil att gee mail dot com address with the words “Give me a goddamned essay” will recieve an blogpost of their choice. Any topic, any format, whatever they like. You’ve got to e-mail me at that gmail address, and the e-mail must contain “Give me a goddamned essay.” I will randomly choose by way of random number generator from the first 6 or 20 requesters (depends on how many I get). As soon as someone wins it, I will announce their winnership.
It’s all in the spirit of fun. Go ahead. Make me write whatever you want.
As I normally do when I have no criticism or commentary to thrust forward, I post links to some random shit that I think is cool. Because they are.
First up is a brand new community made just for newbies to the Webcomics Creation scene. It’s called Interact, and could prove very useful to up and comers. Go check it out if you’re new to making comics/interested in making comics/a vet who loves to give advice.
The other thing is a Webcomics-inspired movement, that could be one of the coolest things of all ever. Based off of Randy’s Strip, an anonymous effort of spreading love has started called I Lava You. It’s damned cool.
Also, about the Essay Auction: Still waiting to hear back from the “winner.” However, a certain gentleman and I are working out a deal for the same end. I’ll let you know what happens as it happens. In the meantime, my good buddy and Biscuiteer-in-waiting Annie Carlson of I’m Blue has her own auction up and running. She is auctioning off an Autographed Cardboard Tube, signed by Penny Arcade’s own Gabe & Tycho. Proceeds will go directly to Child’s Play. As of this typing, there are about two days left on the auction, so hurry yourselves up.
In other news, I’m home for the holidays. Posts will be limited, because I foolishly left behind the file of all my webcomics bookmarks, the file I made specifically for this trip. Maybe this will be my chance to catch up on some archives here and there. Who knows?
Well I just got back from PhilCon, and boy is my everything tired. I mean fuck. It wasn’t as hardcore as UberCon, and nowhere near as hardcore as the legend of Dragon*Con. PhilCon was a science-fiction literature convention primarily. And I’m not gonna lie. I don’t pick up those… book… things you people like all that often. I lack the attention span time to pick up anything that isn’t comics or a script. If I even have time for those. I haven’t had a chance to pick up my comics from the shop in over a month now.
But that’s a radical tangent. Getting back to PhilCon. There was plenty of novelty in and of itself that yes, my name is Phil Kahn and I was attending PhilCon. It elicited many double takes and bouts of denial. Not to mention that their programmers listed me as “Phil Khan.” However, at a science-fiction convention I’m not sure I would be right to expect any different.
Highlights? There was one panel about how we keep our surface lives and our fandom lives separate (we do?). Which about halfway in, developed into a support group where attendees started coming forward with their tales of being the downtrodden nerd/geek/dork/otaku. Yarns regaling us with the scorn and disappointment that solely attending a sci-fi con inspires in their parents. Others still wondered aloud to the group what life would have been like if their parents were fans, or maintained the fandoms they once held.
It was really fucking uncomfortable.
So Bryan Prindiville and I went to a different panel about Hollywood adaptations of properties, their successes, their failures and whatnot. It was sufficiently riveting discussion, as this is a topic that I speak upon with frequency, being both a comics nerd and a filmmaker. The best part of the whole panel was when the moderator told us a great anecdote that he overheard while he worked in Hollywood. Essentially, a group of producers, marketers, chairmen, deskmen, ottomen, and every other hybrid of furniture and man got together and very seriously came to this revelation:
“I think we have to stop making movies that suck.”
At the panel’s conclusion, Bryan and I decided to track down Rob Balder and finally give Filk a chance. I’m sure it was a really uncommon moment that we came in (most assuredly the wrong time), where one Filking lady was playing a heartfelt and melancholy ballad upon a mandolin. In response, Bryan and I decided we needed a stiff drink.
Having said drink, and a decent meal, we returned to the Filk Circle and had a seat. They were now on Sea Shanties. And the flow of the evening would continue to “invoke” other topics or other songs, and invocations could not be ignored. Being delightfully drunk, I was able to enjoy the Filking very much. I even got into it at times, supplementing with my own vocal percussions (colloquially referred to as Beat Boxing), and it was fucking grand.
The next day found us waking up ass early at the crack of 9:40AM to attend our Webcomics Panel. The charming Charley Parker was there waiting for Rob, Bryan and I, and we had soon realized that Rich Burlew would not be attending. We had resolved to go on in his stead, carrying the Webcomics Gonfalon proudly. We discussed a lot about how webcomics are made, the collectives trend, the Webcomic Telethon, the definition of “comics” as a medium, and so on and so on. It was a successful panel, overall. The people seemed generally interested in the topic at hand, which spells victory in my book.
At panel’s conclusion, it was on. We were hosting a suite party that night, and preparations were duly underway. I had to procure Cranberry Concentrate and a Stolen Blender, which sent me down to South Street, and my apartment. Despite my roommate’s awareness and approval of the blender being taken, I requested that he at least pretend I was taking it against his will. To which he would not oblige. Kindly son of a bitch.
Also, I grabbed a very special girl and brought her with me back to the convention. We walked around and checked out the art, most of which we agreed was cool but would never be seen on the wall of any place we lived. Also we checked out the vendor’s room, and I spent a good 25 minutes deliberating over whether or not I should buy a Gunblade replica. I’m glad I didn’t, because that’s $55 that’s better spent on family for the holidays. Also, killing people is illegal, so the need for owning such a thing is minimal.
Soon after, the partying was under way. Many parties, many rooms, but I have to say that our party had far and beyond the best drinks and the best atmosphere. That’s because we’re awesome, and therefore everyone else is not. Rob and Mike Pederson where the benevolent hosts and fun-slingers extraordinaire. The evening was, indeed, pretty fucking cool.
This morning milady and I decided to bail imminently. It’s finals week after all and work was to be done. The staffers were very friendly, the programming was solid (for y’know, book people), and the partying was very decent. A splendid “Relaxicon,” as they call ‘em.
And to all you new folks reading this here blog, I say welcome. Stay a while and listen. Likely, you’re souls in search of answers. Additional Diablo Quote. Now, I’m off to recluse myself into final papers and other such doom.
Wow. $52 in under an hour. That’s really impressive.
Also, I definitely gotta thank Jerry for the link. I wasn’t expecting that. I mean, I asked him to spread the word about the auction, but that was definitely a wonderful perk. Thank you, dude.
Or maybe I should be cowering in fear, in case our server gets totally wanged? Which is definitely a possibility. Ah well. I’ll take a wanging for charity.
Anyway, I’m off to PhilCon for the weekend. Hope to see you there. Webcomics Panel will be at 10AM on Saturday. We just learned that Webcomics Vet Charley Parker will be there, so I’m excited to meet him, as well as Bryan Prindiville. And as seeing that cool cat Rich Burlew and my good bud Rob Balder. Yes sir, this panel is shaping up to be pretty damned good.
So this is me putting up an away message for the weekend. See you on Monday.