DC's Zuda online-comics venture

[spqrblues]

DC is launching a hip new down-with-the-kids webcomics venture called Zuda Comics, for which they are soliciting content in, basically, a contest: You submit your webcomic in their 4:3 aspect-ratio format, DC select candidates to post online, there's open voting on which dozen webcomics DC will serialise online and eventually publish in print, and the DC editors choose an additional half dozen comics they like. Since I know a lot of fellow webcomics artists frequent this joint, I figured I'd post about it in case you hadn't heard.

I am cynical (on account of I am almost always in cynical mode, except when I'm in manic wild-eyed idealist mode, no in-between state), and the We-Are-Hip-Dammit! desperate tone of the website just makes me more of a cynic. But, who knows, this could be the big break some people need and want. Of course everyone should tread carefully over any contract and licensing agreements, once they are revealed, including the rules for just submitting a project. Cynic though I am, I have to admit that money and recognition are good, and DC can certainly bring eyeballs to our pages. Hm. I dunno. I think everybody should work for me. Me ME ME bwahahaha. Ahem.

Commentary abounds:

Newsarama
ComicGenesis (wherein I mouth off, a tiny bit)
Journalista, cynic like me (scroll about halfway down the page)
T Campbell suggests caution...well, calls it "slippery"
Lea Hernandez skewers
PW Beat seems upbeat, brings up licensing
...and in other places in the usual comics circuit.

Comments

a grain of salt

[viistar.livejournal.com]

I smell fish.

Sounds like they don't want to pay to look for artists... or do R&D (walk into a bookstore) to find out what's actually selling.
Something tells me they'll try to screw over whomever they pick, seeing as though once you enter DC is in charge (and since they haven't posted lic agreement, copyright rules, who owns what once you enter....)

What was that other contest they mentioned on CG? top 100? top 50? Whatever, I don't remember, but the winner from the year before... was a spandex clad super hero. AND he was wearing a mask. (big surprise) ...so I don't really think in contests like this they're really looking for anything NEW NEW...

*shrugs*... meh.

Re: a grain of salt

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Do you mean "Hero By Night," that won the Platinum Studios Comic Book Challenge last year? An interesting idea... for a superhero-in-spandex comic. I just read some commentary by the creator of that comic, who basically says: he has thousands of ideas, and this could make him some money and gain him recognition, so he won't cry over losing a portion of rights on this one concept. For those of us who pour body and soul into each project--which I think is a strongly prevalent attitude amongst webcomickers, even counting the folks who shrug and say "I just do it for fun"--thinking of any comic one does as simply being a work-for-hire job pitch is a big change in mental direction.

So... I might not call it completely screw-the-artist shenanigans, but my guess is that DC wants to use the vastiness of the web to turn a profit first, and will worry about nurturing new talent and unconventional ideas second.

I'm feeling SO disillusioned about the publishing of graphic novels and comics in general today for many reasons, not just because of Zuda (has DC explained anywhere what/who a zuda is?). If thirty or twenty thousand bucks, euros, or some other currency would only fall out of the sky and into my free-from-NYComicCon-Viz bag, I'd start my own imprint... or maybe a Xeric-style grant... or maybe just muffin distribution at small-press comic cons....

Re: a grain of salt

[viistar.livejournal.com]

I guess it all comes down to their fine print. Everything that I do exists in the same universe, so them owning even a small segment of that could feel ...off to me.

Yeah, hero by night... that sounds right...? I really didn't stick around when I saw a dude in spandex, but that's my own bias... ^^;

As for your first paragraph, I agree with you, whether or not you enter is really based on how you see yourself, and how you want your work treated. If I churned out comic ideas on a daily basis, then maybe losing one for commercial purposes (for the benefit of self advertisement) wouldn't matter, but really, I don't work that way. But if you would do a comic with the explicit purpose of getting hired by DC or Marvel (or insert large publisher here) everything would be different, I agree.

but my guess is that DC wants to use the vastness of the web to turn a profit first, and will worry about nurturing new talent and unconventional ideas second.
But that's just it... I don't think they ever WILL! For some reason I guess I don't see them actually looking for unconventional ideas... Considering what my roommate tells me about how Marvel and co, control stories, art styles (too grossed out with the whole, some artists just trace porn...), etc etc, that seems to be asking them to change horses in mid stream.
Zuda feels like putting DC putting makeup on a pig. It's still a pig.

I just can't seem them relinquishing control long enough to experiment with really interesting or new stuff. I have no delusions of them actually printing a story with a decent female lead, without hyper-realism, fully clothed, etc, or any character who's more than the sum of their stereotypes... I doubt they will ever publish anything I will want to buy. I don't fit their target audience...

ok that wandered... just a little. What can I say....I'm procrastinating.

Yeah, that would be something... starting a publishing company. I like the shonen sunday model, where an artist gets a few pages or a chapter a week... and every month or two it rolls over to a volume for each story.

I remember you talking about looking for a publisher... don't give up! ~_^

Re: a grain of salt

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

In short: I've given on up on "the establishment" (down with the Man, etc.). If you want vibrant and interesting and new, you have to do it yourself. Or, I guess, try to work for First Second.

In long: Well, I need to get going on my commute, so I'll get to a longer answer later this evening :)

Re: a grain of salt

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Hmm. The Lea Hernandez rant (link added to main entry above) brings more snark to this than I possibly could :)

This is my favorite part:

[heykidzcomix.livejournal.com]

We're using a lot of open source technologies to build the final Zuda Comics site. That's just how we roll.

Cheaply!

Re: This is my favorite part:

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

What a weird quote. That's "just how we roll"? Maybe they are going for over-the-top parody-of-hipness. Is it supposed to translate to: "We are just like the legions of other webcomickers, and cannot afford a big programming staff"? Oh, wait...

I'm interested in seeing what the delivery system for the actual comics will be. Something that combines "ease of use" with "cannot be saved to your hard drive except with screen caps," I assume.

Re: This is my favorite part:

[heykidzcomix.livejournal.com]

The whole thing seems very skeevy, no? I get uneasy reading it. But if you're looking for publication (as I think we all are), the best thing we might be doing is building up Sugarskull. A bunch of the Act-I-Vate people are beginning to get publishing deals and whatnot, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that we might do the same in the not-too-distant future. But that's off-topic for here.

I'd heard that the reader they'll use is Flash-based, so you're right there. I just hope it's better than what Marvel uses for its online comics.

Re: This is my favorite part:

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

The reader they're using for the Minx sampler mildly irritates me, with its circa-1990-something curvy click-here-to-turn-the-page graphic and generally slow interface. But the slowness could be on my end, as the irritation certainly is.

Re: This is my favorite part:

[(Anonymous)]

If you're looking at it on your computer, then it's on your computer - the problem is finding it.

Using Firefox on Windows XP, go to C:\\[User Name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[Bunch of weird letters and numbers.default]\Cache

If there's more than one user on the computer, you might have to look through each one.

Sort the files by date, and look through the most recent files for something about the right size - do some guessing - and rename the file something sensible to open it.

Try this site:
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/
look for a file roughly 20k in size, rename it something.gif and take a look at the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon they don't want you to save.

For a YouTube Video you're going to be looking for a multi-megabyte file which you will rename something.flv - of course you'll need an flv player to check it out; here's the one I use: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Try it!
Steve P

Re: This is my favorite part:

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I recently discovered VLC. Good stuff, that.

[bougieman.livejournal.com]

Consider me very fucking skeptical.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I'll stay skeptical until one of the webcomic winners tells me the number of zeroes on their royalty check and their cut of the licensing pie.

I might have respected them more if the pitch had been something like, "We're DC. We're a big fucking company and we want in on webcomics. If you want to get some mileage out of hooking up with our big name, make some money, and don't mind us making money and publicity off you, check this out..."

[viistar.livejournal.com]

oh. like... being honest?

novel idea.