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Sarah Ellerton

Comix Talk for Thursday, July 15, 2010

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on July 15, 2010 - 08:36

In the last issue of Dark Horse Presents on MySpace, there's a new Bee story from Jason Little; a comic based on the video game Mass Effect, a comic written byLeVar Burton plus a funny riff on a scene from Star Wars by Frank Stockton.  Future issues of DHP will be at Dark Horse's own website. (h/t Scott McCloud)

I also point you to a comic on digital civil rights in Europe that is pretty interesting, particularly if you're interested in the topic. (h/t BoingBoing)

CODE: The new convention Intervention will be hosting a workshop on Comicpress for Wordpress run by one of the developers, Frump.  This is a great idea, one that I'm surprised I haven't seen at other webcomic-friendly conventions.  Attendees to the workshop will get a bonus -- a free download of the automated Cast addon for ComicPress. The Cast addon displays cast members in a totally new way, showing when they first appeared in the comic, how often they have been in the comic, all of the comics they were in with links and other statistics as well as individual biographical information.

CONVENTION: Gary reports that Jorge Cham is organizing another Webcomics newspaper-style handout for this year's San Diego Comicon.

REVIEW: Roya Grinstead reviews the webcomic Romantically Apocalyptic with which the reviewer "was floored by its miraculous visuals, its marvellous concept, and its delightfully dark, whimsical, and twisted humour."

MILESTONE: Spwug notes that the webcomic Dreamless by Bobby Crosby and Sarah Ellerton has only one page left to post.  A review of the comic by Spwug is here.

DEAD TREES:  Scott Kurtz announced that he is leaving Image to return to self-publishing his comic books. 

The Queen's Hype: The Independent newspaper hypes some webcomics including The Oatmeal, Hyperbole and a Half, Cyanide and Happiness, The Perry Bible Fellowship, Ctrl+Alt+Del, xkcd, and Girl Genius.

One Punch Reviews #25: Dreamless

Submitted by El Santo on August 18, 2009 - 13:00

onepunch

DRAFT List of 100 Greatest Webcomics: Comedy and Drama

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 22, 2009 - 13:50

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!

Webcomic Team-Up of the Gods

Submitted by El Santo on January 12, 2009 - 12:17

So… Keepspot just issued a press release (gleaned here via Comixtalk) that Bobby Crosby and Sarah Ellerton are teaming up on a new project called Dreamless.

SARAH ELLERTON AND BOBBY CROSBY TEAM FOR DREAMLESS

Submitted by Chris Crosby on January 11, 2009 - 01:20

Apple Valley, CA, January 11, 2009 - Illustrator Sarah Ellerton (Inverloch, The Phoenix Requiem) has teamed with writer Bobby Crosby (Marry Me, +EV, Last Blood) to launch Dreamless (dreamlessmovie.com), a new weekly comic on the Keenspot webcomics network. The high-concept plot has yet to be revealed, but it has been described as "a fantastical romantic tragedy like you have never seen before."
Said Crosby, "When I put out a call for artists, I was pleasantly surprised to hear from [Ellerton]. This seemed like the perfect project for Sarah and I want to thank her for the incredible job she's doing."
"I'm really excited about this collaboration with Bobby Crosby for Dreamless," said Ellerton. "I've never worked with a writer before, so it will certainly be a new and hopefully enjoyable learning experience for me. Illustrating for this project will push me creatively and issue me with artistic challenges that I may not have had the courage to do in my own projects. Bobby has written entertaining and unique stories in the past, and I'm confident Dreamless will be no different."

Webcomic Wire - 12/23/08

Submitted by NightgigTim on December 23, 2008 - 14:44

Drawn from sources that are having a hectic holiday…

The Webcomic Heard 'Round the World: An Interview with Lora Innes of The Dreamer

December 1, 2008 - 21:35 | Xaviar Xerexes

Lora Innes is the creator of the popular historical fiction webcomic The Dreamer about Beatrice “Bea” Whaley whoose dreams about a Revolutionary War soldier named Alan Warren lead her into adventure.  Issue #1 of the print series from publisher IDW came out in November and the webcomic is up to episode #123 (page 23 of Issue #50).  I got a chance to interview Lora via email earlier this fall.

An Interview with Crystal Yates, Creator of Earthsong

November 30, 2008 - 15:10 | Xaviar Xerexes

Crystal Yates is the creator of the fantasy webcomic Earthsong.  The comic has a complicated mythos; in it the planets are somewhat like gods and the creatures that live on their surface are their offspring.  I don't want to write out the whole mythos but many different species are relocated to the world of Earthsong.  Despite the involved world-building that went into the concept, it's a pretty easy webcomic to get into and the art is nicely done.  I got a chance to interview Crystal earlier this fall via email.

November 14th DRAFT version of 100 Greatest Webcomics List

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 13, 2008 - 20:02

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.  

Can I Get a Webcomic?

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on October 27, 2008 - 08:30

COMIXTALK
If you're just joining us this Monday we've got new stuff posted this weekend including interviews with the creators of ZAP!, Chronillogical and Misfile.  Plus Dr. Haus reviews the webcomic Mistakes of Youth.  We've had a big October issue so if be sure to check it out to see what else you might have missed!

BOMB SHELTER WEBCOMIC IDOL
It's another edition of BSC Webcomic Idol and I'm a judge again.  I'm not sure if they're letting you vote off a comic each week or you have to vote for your favorite (and the least vote-getter leaves) but either way it's an elimination contest.  I keep doing it because the entrants have been strong contenders and the feedback and dialogue over the webcomics has usually been very interesting.  Plus ultimately some good comics get a lot of exposure.

I've gotten a chance to look at some representative work from all of the webcomic entrants but I'll definitely be digging into each of them.  Unlike the other judges who all are extremely talented comic creators I am the "journalist" type so my feedback may be more general but it'll be aimed at whether I think the comic is working for the audience.

MILESTONES
FLEEN in writing about American Elf's 10th year anniversary asks "would yesterday’s American Elf tenth anniversary strip be the first webcomic that went for ten years on a daily basis? I think it might."  I think the answer is clearly no.  American Elf is certainly a comic that has been created for 10 years on a daily basis but it was only published on the web on a daily basis back to 2002 (here's the Wayback Archive for the site).  I have a ton of respect for Kochalka's work but his career at this point in time is largely split between a pre and post-web era.  (Moreover, American Elf is not the first journal-style published on the webcomic, Drew Weing's The Journal Comic got to the web first.  I saw Heidi MacDonald's panel with James Kochalka at SPX this year and he actually cited seeing Weing's webcomic as a strong motivation to agreeing to work with Joey Manley to put his diary strips up on the web.  UPDATE: thanks to James Kochalka for commenting below -- and just to clarify -- Drew's contribution to the genre of journal/diary comics was putting it on the web, essentially as he made them; an idea that someone assuredly would have got to but I think it's generally agreed that Drew acted on first.  As to the basic idea of making a daily journal comic, Drew's comic came well after James Kochalka's work.)

UPDATE 2: Very interesting podcast of an interview between Joey Manley and James Kochalka at the recent SPX in Bethesda, MD.

REVIEWS
A review of The Phoenix Requiem (h/t Journalista!).  ComixTALK recently interviewed the creator, Sarah Ellerton.

ADVERTS
Ryan North writes that he's updated the help/FAQ system at Project Wonderful.

EVENTS
Blog@Newsarama writes about the Transgender Day of Remembrance Webcomics Project.