There’s been a lot of webcomics news lately. I don’t mean the group of creepy Wikipedia editors with an axe to grind against webcomics, but the launches and discoveries of comics on the internet.
One of the nice things about working at The Beguiling is the mini-comics rack. People come in and drop off new comics all the time, and it’s a treat discovering these short little gems. One of my favourites from last year was Torontonian Rosana Fung’s Tomatoes and Other Stories, a collection of short, surprisingly accomplished little stories by a creator I’d never heard of. It turns out Rosana has put that entire issue online at Flicker, for your viewing pleasure. Check it out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thesoapbox/sets/72157594514967876/.
Last year, I kind of used my friend Adi Tantimedh to abuse the New York Comic Con’s security guards. Last week, Adi’s new comic La Muse launched at Big Head Press, and I didn’t mention it… So, I’m batting 0 for 2 here. I did happen to read the first 19 pages of the comic though, and it’s actually pretty great. Adi’s telling a story about two apparently average women who do something special… It’s the kind of humanistic, realistic superhero story that everyone’s complaining doesn’t exist anymore, but here it is on the internet! It’s a big sexy at points too, which if interesting (note: not skanky, but sexy). While the art is a bit… contemporary superhero… for my tastes, it still conveys the action well-enough though, and artist Hugo Petrus doesn’t shy away from drawing the hard stuff and gives the preceedings a real sense of place. All in all, a fantastically solid debut, totally worth checking out. http://www.bigheadpress.com/lamuse?page=1. (As an aside, Adi’s JLA: AGE OF WONDER is a really great little two-issue prestige format Elseworlds that’s worth tracking down. It’s a total shame that it’s not in print.)
My friend Kevin Church and his partner Benjamin Birdie launched a webcomic of their own a few weeks back. It’s called THE RACK and it’s about working at a comic store, and so far it bears no reflection on working at my comic store. Which is lovely, actually, because Heroclix are just Pokemon cards for 40 year olds and I’m glad we don’t stock them. Updated twice per week at http://www.agreeablecomics.com/therack/.
And while I’m on the subject of Webcomics set inside comic stores, I should probably point you to No Pink Ponies. Which is down right now, but which is actually pretty good when it’s up. It doesn’t manage to completely sidestep comic shop / fanboy cliches, but it does have fun with them and the Batman/Superman yaoi page in particular was lots of fun. Also, this is my reminder to myself to add it to the sidebar. http://www.nopinkponies.com/
I thought I had two or three more to mention, but… nope. Maybe I’ll remember later and do a follow-up.
– Christopher
that was a pretty cool mini 😀
tell her to post more!