Archive for the ‘ Strip Search ’ Category

Strip Search: The Perfect Storm

In Strip Search, Jennifer M. Babcock reviews and recommends comic strips available in print and on the web.

Although this topic has been covered by many before, I would like to give my personal opinion about the dont’s and no no’s in making a web comic. More importantly, I want to share my ideas about what makes a bad webcomic (because we all know that there are tons out there on the interweb). You can take this in however you want: for your amusement or for your own edification. You, of course, can choose to disregard what I say since I’m just another random person spouting my ideas from my digital soap box but as a relatively successful creator and as someone who prides herself as knowing a thing or two about webcomics, I hope you take the time to carefully consider the points I will make.

Before I get into it though, I just want to mention that my presence on this blog will be spotty from now until January. Currently I’m studying for my PhD oral examination, which requires studying six days a week for 6-10 hours a day. I’ll try to contribute when I can but I’ll most likely need my free time to rest and draw my own comic, C’est la Vie.

Anyway, here’s a basic rundown of what I think makes a crappy webcomic and also how to prevent yourself from making one:

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“Monsters of Webcomics” at The Cartoon Art Museum

The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco is having an exhibition called “Monsters of Webcomics” from August 8- December 6, 2009. This exhibit interests me not only as a creator whose work is going to be featured in the Virtual Gallery (woo!) but also as a scholar, especially since I’m the one who curated the first webcomics exhibit, “Infinite Canvas: The Art of Webcomics,” at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) in New York City in 2007.

Here’s a picture from MoCCA’s gallery opening:
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Left to Right: Bill Roundy, Scott McCloud, Matt Murray, Jennifer Babcock: We’re standing in front of a 40 foot long print out of one of Scott McCloud’s “infinite canvas” comics

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Strip Search: SDCC – Webcomics and Syndicates

In Strip Search, Jennifer M. Babcock reviews and recommends comic strips available in print and on the web.

As I’m sure everyone in the comics world knows, the San Diego Comic Con came to a close a couple of days ago. Despite the crazy Twilight fans that made panels almost impossible to attend, it was still a good time. In fact, I actually enjoy walking around the exhibitor’s hall more than sitting in panels the majority of the time- it gives me a chance to shop, people watch, and talk with my peers.

jen stitch

This year was no different. I wanted to get to know my fellow web comickers better and also speak to my syndicate, Universal Press Syndicate, about my comic — C’est la Vie and its future. Finding all the web comic artists was easy. Finding my syndicate was a bit of an adventure.

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Strip Search: Hark! A Vagrant

In Strip Search, Jennifer M. Babcock reviews and recommends comic strips available in print and on the web.

I’m not sure how well known Kate Beaton’s work on her webcomic  Hark! A Vagrant is, but I don’t think its is as well known as it should be — which is saying a lot since Beaton has recently been setting the internet on fire with her talent.   Anyway, if you’re not familiar with her work, check it out and you’ll see that a lot of the themes cover literature and history,  so it’s a little geeky but not in the same vein as a lot of gaming/techy comics like PVP, Penny Arcade, or xkcd.

Miss Beaton, you see, has a background in history and anthropology from Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada- whoever said history was a useless degree is obviously wrong, since she’s obviously made it big with her “history” comics! And while I don’t think that you can really appreciate this comic without knowing an inkling of western culture, it’s become clear that this comic isn’t beyond reach for most people. In fact, I’d say that the only pre-requisite for this comic is an appreciation for the absurd.

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Strip Search: Les bandes dessinnees

In Strip Search, Jennifer M. Babcock reviews and recommends comic strips available in print and on the web.

I’m such a jet setter this summer! Within a week of coming back from Egypt I was back on the plane to Paris, France- ooh la la.

Now, most of what I was doing in Paris was pure vacation fun time but I did some Egyptological research there as well, and of course… comic hunting. Many Americans don’t realize this but the French are quite fond of comics, or “BDs” (short for bande dessinee) as they call them. Go to the Virgin Megastore on the Champs Elysees and you’ll see an entire floor dedicated to them. Fnac, the French equivalent of a Barnes and Nobles, also carries a tremendous supply of comic book albums, and if you take a stroll through the Latin Quarter, you’ll find numerous shops dedicated to comics and cartoon paraphernalia. While I was in Paris, there was an arts magazine that dedicated its cover to R. Crumb and his latest comic Genesis and another one that came out with its annual “BD issue,” which was all about French comic artists.

The French are often seen as cultural snobs so it may surprise many readers to hear that even adults embrace comics as a genuine and legitimate form of art/literature making, but I think if we look at what Francophone countries have in their comics history, it becomes more understandable. Most famously, Belgium, churned out comic greats like Herge (Tintin) and Peyo (Les Schtroumpfs AKA The Smurfs). More recently Americans have come to know the work of the Iranian-French author Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis).

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