Webcomic Collectives |
shades (David A J Berner)
hunted (David AJ Berner and Kyriaco Kyprianou)
thy will be done (EC Nickel and Alexandre Lobao)
the lumbering dead (Lee Munday)
immortality (EC Nickel with David AJ Berner)
perfect storm (Rob Jones and David AJ Berner)
the long vigil (EC Nickel with David AJ Berner)
lighten up (David AJ Berner and Harsho Mohan Chattoraj)
chooken (Bev)
slackerz (Scott Smith & Scott Hepting)
f@nb0y$ (M Parkinson)
hocky zombie (Chris van Gompel)
one-liners (Shishio)
zed reckoning (Matt Munn)
stark reality (BMB)
amazing superzeroes (Jason Sigler, Nick Ruffilo)
templar, arizona (Spike)
pixel (Sean Conchieri)
hedlinerz (Chad Diez)
cartridge (Chris Jeffery)
Comment (August 2008): I don't know how many webcomic collectives are allowed to list Chooken and Horribleville on their masthead before we are forced to assume there are more than one version of each. I suppose it's my job to figure these mysteries out, but they always end up the same way: there is no one in charge of updating the site, or if there is, they are incompetent. I'm not sure I want to spend my life making these determinations. If the collective doesn't care, why should I? This site managed only two updates to their NEWS section this year, but did add two members -- and add them to the masthead. Who knows?
Some members are added by decision; others endure the annual "Webcomic Idol" pageant and the accompanying reader vote. (Memo to Comicdom: If you and your webcomic are decent, there are groups that would love to have you without subjecting you to gongs, "Applause" signs and spring-loaded trap doors.) As much as I like the average person (I don't, really, but I try), it's hard for me to imagine sharing a coop with someone who has been assigned by the electorate at large.
News updates are unsigned, forcing us to guess who is talking. The forums are stuck in neutral.
The administrator has written something called BitArtist, referred to by himself as "my little webcomic script." I'm on record as being FOR creativity, FOR innovation and FOR competition, but this sounds like futile noodling while the real action is elsewhere, apparently unobserved by anyone here. "Sounds like" doesn't mean is. I could be wrong.
What would help:
- Demonstrate common cause
- Make clear the purpose
- Professionalize the presentation of the BitArtist concept so people can size it up
- Sign the updates and do them at least monthly
- Put at least one personality forward
- Fix the endless tape loop of idol applicants
- Condense the forums
- Put the group logo on your member comics
- Consider the artist/photo/bio/art sample approach used successfully elsewhere. Humanize yourselves.
- Create a banner page so fans of your line-up could host a linked image or logo
October 2008: Sean Conchieri, apparently playing a leading role in promotion of this year's Bombshelter Comics "Webcomic Idol," has taken issue with my comments above, and is flaming and sniping me on comics forums. An invitation to discuss his concerns directly went unacknowledged, and the tantrum continues. Words come easily to me, and I would have changed anything he felt strongly about, or worked in his response. I am certainly not incapable of errors or misperceptions, and when covering groups that are completely uncommunicative, it is possible for errors to creep in.
Needless to say, my desire to be of assistance has been stripped away, and I can hardly wait to see whether the person who gets stuck with this Little Lord Fauntleroy is someone who deserves it.
December 2008: Web Comic Idol [sic] winner Simulated Comic Product is presumed to have joined the Bomb Shelter Comics collective, though the masthead remains unchanged (including long-departed members) and no media announcement has been detected. Bomb Shelter Comics may be the only collective where our membership accounting appears more accurate than their own.
