Online Comics.... The Future?
I found this pretty interesting.
Do online comics, and get paid. Problem is DC 0wns your work, or at least I'd imagine they would.
Still not a bad deal. Thoughts?
Monday, July 9, 2007
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9 comments:
ridiculous. what's the argument for signing over any rights at all to dc for a webcomic? there is virtually no risk at all on their part to slap a comic up on the web. it's not like print publishing. it would have to be one hell of a page rate, that's for sure.
one of the "selling points" is that the comics that get published will be chosen by the zuda community. how is that good? it is obviously bad.
seems like a grab for properties from eager, unsuspecting artists.
from the times article:
>>The company, [DC], views the initiative as a chance to increase its library of intellectual properties, which can be lucrative as films, television shows and toys.<<
!
re: the aspect ratio. 4:3? everything is moving away from 4:3. tv's, desktop monitors, laptops are all going widescreen. the only phone with a big enough screen to read comics on it is the iPhone, which has a 3:2 ratio. and they are jumping on 4:3 now like it's the safe choice? so incredibly stupid, so incredibly dc.
in the newsarama article the one of the guys tries to sell the different aspect ratio between print and zuda 4:3 format as the reason zuda artists won't get equal pay. that is so incredibly insulting it's hard to believe he actually said it. let them run that by moebius and all the other european artists who work in 4:3 dimensions (not to mention all the other artists all over the world who work in formats other than the standard 2:3 american size).
plus the name is stupid. zuda? who comes up with this shit at dc? (the logos look pretty nice though)
So, it seems like Ben will be submitting. I, on the other hand, am a little more skeptical.
I'm all for opportunities to expand the comics medium, but this looks like a piss-poor execution of a decent idea.
His aspect ratio comment was retarded. I could maybe see an argument for size (a loose argument) but ratio? Thats just stupid. I'm doing comics in 1x20 ratio from now on. And what?- they 'created' the magic 4:3 ratio? Dumb.
The rights thing is just rude, unless the page rate is very high. But I doubt it.
I'm interested to see if this develops into anything decent, but right now it's definitely going to turn into a forum of crappily drawn, unimaginative shit. And then some shittily drawn, but funny in some way, thing will catch on - and DC will make money off of it, and the artist/creator will be unknown.
Still, I'm somewhat interested in 'testing the waters'...
I'll check them out in San Diego.
i'm already working on my submission! how did you know?!
size argument doesn't work either though. making the "original art" for a webcomic is exactly as intensive as it would be doing it for print (which is where dc seems to see this stuff ending up anyway). and if you assume the webcomics people won't be using the assembly line method, then they will be doing a shitload more work than the average dc print artist.
zudazudazudazudazudazudazudazudazudazuda.
we should submit scans of our butts and see how well we're voted.
Tom Spurgeon responds via Chris Butcher.
http://blog.newsarama.com/2007/07/11/all-i-wanna-do-is-zuda-zude-zude/
Looks like you do have copyrights if you sign up. and you get royalties based on other uses. The deal seems to be getting sweeter.
gabe, gabe, gabe... you are like an eyeless lamb, awaiting that ol' kabob stand.
yes, you own the copyright to the work submitted. but if you get chosen for a spot you'll have to sign a deal with DC:
"Once one of the creators is selected, it’s a much more complicated relationship with contracts and so on, where there are participations and all of that" [from newsarama interview with Perazza and Bruning]
participations being the key word there. apparently the rest is too complicated for us to possibly understand.
this is my favorite, btw [from same interview]:
"[independent webcomics are] a lot of labor and a lot of effort. If you want to do that for a living, you have to handle all the aspects of it. You have to handle the online ad sales, the scheduling, the rights –"
DC would be glad to takes those troublesome rights off your hands! Thanks for the help DC!
one more:
"it’s pretty compatible with the other deals that we get into with creators"
remember how phil said he got pretty much the last good deal from them? i don't think the zuda winners are going to get better offers than vertigo and wildstorm artists, do you?
all that being said, we'll all find out for sure when the contracts are revealed. though i feel if the contracts were great, they'd be yelling it from the rooftops instead of being vague and evasive.
maybe we should just submit to this for the exposure, but not take the deal if selected for a contract gig. If it's run by the fans and all, then they will see your work and vote for it and maybe visit your website and see that you have a webcomic there, and just go there to see your stuff.. i dunno, i still want to see what happens with this. Is there anything similar out there that's already up and running?
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