Skip to main content

Eric Schwartz

Nominees for Webcomic

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on April 17, 2009 - 08:22

The Comics Reporter has a list of the nominees for the Stumptown Comic Fest Trophy Award nominees.  Nominees comes from artists exhibitiing at the event (and are being run this year by Shannon Wheeler):

Outstanding Webcomic

DRAFT List of 100 Greatest Webcomics: Comedy and Drama

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 22, 2009 - 14:50

Last year I posted a couple times (Previous posts on this "research" project were here and here) about a possible article on "ComixTALK's 100 Greatest Webcomics" which would be something like the American Film Institute's list of the greatest movies of the last 100 years.

A recurring comment to the previous two posts was what is the criteria for this.  I'm always a little hesitant to give too much guidance when part of the point of asking this kind of thing out loud is to listen to the resulting discussion of what everyone else thinks the criteria should be.  For the AFI list judges picked films based on criteria such as Critical Recognition, Major Award Winner, Popularity Over Time, Historical Significance, and Cultural Impact.

That sounds about right to me.  We've got a round decade plus a year or two of webcomics to look at it.  Critical reception (both from peers and critics), and popularity are both relevant to thinking about the impact of a webcomic.  WCCA awards are somewhat indicative of what peers were impressed with in a given year and more recently awards like the Eisners and Ignatzs have recoginized webcomics.  Historical significance and cultural impact are a little harder to pin down but various "firsts" in webcomics are important and comics like Penny Arcade have had a much wider impact on popular culture than most comics do these days (put aside the legacy superheros of comics -- what other "new" comic, let alone webcomic, in the last decade has had a wide cultural impact?)

Another thing AFI did that might be useful here to help sort through the vast numbers of webcomics one could talk about is to also think about categories or genres of work.  Just as a simple matter of numbers if a webcomic isn't one of the best of a larger type of story -- or frankly, so startlingly unique it's hard to categorize -- then it's hard to imagine it's one of the 100 Greatest...

So to move things along I'm listing another "draft" of titles submitted by the crowds but this time I've tried to break them up into drama and comedy so as to help avoid complete apples to oranges comparisons.  In doing that I've realized (1) it's hard in many cases to decide; and (2) there are probably more comedic than drama on the list so far.  I think it would make sense to whittle down the two lists to 75 each so as the final list is no more than 3/4 of one type or the other.  Of course we could further do genre type lists but for now this was enough work on my part.

So -- your assignment (if you choose to play):

  1. Name the comic you're talking about (you're also welcome to nominate ones not on the list -- I KNOW there are many I haven't even thought about yet -- it takes time to review all of the corners of the web)
  2. Tell me where on one the two lists (comedy and drama) it should be (you could give a range of slots if you're not sure). (If you think I've got a drama on the comedy list or vice-versa let me know!  I'm not "done" - this is fairly dashed off still at this point)
  3. Tell me why!  Referencing awards, critics, historical achievements, strengths and weaknesses of the works are all really helpful!

Dramaticus Super Personae

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 17, 2008 - 14:19

Dramaticus Super Personae:

So apparently webcomics did not invent comics drama... but I'm much happier writing in a pretty drama-free zone these days.

NOT-RELATED ROLLING UPDATES TO WHAT WILL MOST LIKELY BE MY ONLY POST OF THE DAY:

Cool series of "interviews" with Neil Gaiman as part of the Julius Schwartz Memorial Lectures at MIT. (h/t Boingboing.net)

Another good post on writing for comics (versus novels) from Mark Waid over at Kung Fu Monkey.

November 14th DRAFT version of 100 Greatest Webcomics List

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 13, 2008 - 21:02

This is an update to a previous post here, thanks for the cumulative suggestions on that thread.  JUST so we're clear - this is open-sourced to everyone research for a possible article to appear next month at ComixTalk.  I don't endorse the list or the order at all; at this point I've tried to include all of the suggestions I've gotten and I also went through all of the comics ComixTalk has ever reviewed and pulled quite a few titles.

We're at the point where it'll be most helpful if you tell me comics you think should go on the list, where (what number approximately) and which comic should get bumped.  If you just want to change the order you can do that to but there'll be another post before the month's through asking for help with that.  

Sabrina Online by Eric W Schwartz

Ursa Major Awards Voting Open

Submitted by Erik Melander on March 20, 2007 - 07:32

The Ursa Major Awards have released their list of nominees for 2006. The award, which is also known as the Annual Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Award, is presented for excellence in the furry arts. Voting is open until April 14 and requires registration after which the ballot can be sent in by email.

SILVER AND THE PERIODIC FORCES LAUNCHES TODAY

Submitted by quinnbeast on March 28, 2005 - 05:00

Make Like A Tree Comics artists Jerzy Drozd and Sara Turner launch their first full-color comic, Silver And The Periodic Forces, today (March 28th).

Silver And The Periodic Forces is a story of interplanetary battles between good and evil told in the style of the Saturday Morning Action Adventure cartoon. There will even be "commercial breaks" over the weekends featuring guest artists Mark Rudolph of City Yarns and Rhiannon McCullough of Schwartz Krueuz.

WCCA 2004 Finalists Posted

Submitted by Dedos on June 21, 2004 - 16:55

The finalists for the 2004 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards have been posted. With this milestone, the polls are now open for all registered web cartoonists (registration information can be found here) to determine this year's winners. The fight for Outstanding Newcomer looks very interesting with Count Your Sheep, Questionable Content, Skirting Danger, and Sore Thumbs all vying for the title.

(Full List of Nominees Below)

Al Schroeder

Submitted by Anonymous on May 29, 2004 - 13:50

Executive Editor

Al Schroeder Talks with Sparks and Neveu of Stoopid Pigeon

May 23, 2004 - 21:00

A befogged pigeon, an abrasive squirrel with a strap-on, a gay robot who collect vintage records, a skull-faced stripper, an insecure head without a body, and a lustful pumpkin. All are the main characters of Stoopid Pigeon, a long-running (coming up on five years!) webcomic that nevertheless has been under the radar of many webcomic readers. Al Schroeder interviewed the two creators of the admittedly offensive and explicit, but often delightfully funny comic, and you can read the results here.