Newspapers and comics

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Dave

Dave

Staff member
I was going to put this in the Cage thread but think it might be worthy of its own thread.

I get my local newspaper every day - the Omaha World Herald - and today when I picked it up it was pretty small. Turns out that they are changing their comics. Now, some changes are great and some are crappy. To save space they dropped several older syndicated comics and added a few newer ones.

Added:

Get Fuzzy - GREAT add! Love it!
Between Friends - Looks like a chick comic. I'm not familiar.
Fort Knox - Never heard of this one.
The Flying McCoys - Never heard of this one either.

Gone:

Love Is - Good riddance!
Cathy - Meh. Never cared about this one.
Drabble - This one was okay.
Adam@Home - I liked this one.
For Better or For Worse - This one was okay, too. I guess the paper doesn't like the reboot.
Willy 'n Ethel - Meh. It was funny occasionally.
Non Sequitur - NOOOO!!!!!!
Mary Worth - Geriatric soap opera? Buh bye.
Rex Morgan M.D. - Dr. McInky goes bye-bye.
Gasoline Alley - Yeah. Don't care.
Gil Thorp - I didn't care about high school sports when I was in high school.
Hagar the Horrible - Meh. Funny 20 years ago.
Sally Forth - I didn't mind this one. I'll miss this one.
Prince Valiant - Really? It was still running? *guffaw*
Andy Capp - See Hagar the Horrible above.
Shoe - I liked Shoe but the jokes were getting stale.
Dennis the Menace - FINALLY! This little prick needs to be beaten down or at least drummed out of school. He's been 5 for like 50 years. Really I think he's a midget pedophile and should be thrown in jail.

So adding 4 and removing 17. That's 13 comics that do not have to be paid. I hope Ed Power is still able to make a living but I'm seeing stuff like this happen more and more.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
In continuing the topic, an interview with Scott Kurtz in Friday's Washington Post. The interview is because he's giving a speech titled, "He Wants to Kill Your Newspaper: An Interview With Webcomics Magnate Scott Kurtz."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2010/02/scott_kurtz_interview_dummy_en.html

MICHAEL CAVNA: So do you really want to kill my newspaper -- even my print comics section? And like Craig Newmark of \"craigslist,\" are you perhaps helping to kneecap some aspect of print newspapers as an intended consequence of pursuing your 21st-century business model?

SCOTT KURTZ: I don't want to kill newspapers. Anyone who tells you that the internet is killing newspapers is full of it. Newspapers don't have to die in order for my business to succeed. Same goes for the opposite. My largest source of reliable income is selling print collections of my book. My most reliable revenue streams are based in the same traditional models that syndicated cartoonists have been employing for years. Newspapers are dying concurrent to us, not because of us. The title -- as well as the T-shirt it's stolen from -- is intended as a sarcastic comment on the subject.


MC: You're billed at Macworld as a \"webcomics magnate\" -- what are the metrics (from \"reach\" to profit) necessary to declare oneself a \"magnate\" of webcomics? And would even, say, alt-cartoonist/skeptic Ted Rall acknowledge that the world of webcomics has a magnate?

SK: \"Magnate\" is a title that [Chicago Sun-Times columnist/moderator] Andy Ihnatko bestowed on me when he wrote that session description. I would never call myself a magnate, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with other people describing me that way, either. But Andy invited me to sit with him on the main stage at Macworld and answer a few of his questions about webcomics. If I must suffer such compliments for this privilege, I will endeavor to suffer them with as much dignity as possible.


MC: Do you think the iPad and like devices -- as well as iPhone apps such as \"Net Comics\" -- significantly affect webcomic readership?

SK: I don't have any real metrics about how mobile browsing has affected my business. I know that more and more people are using mobile devices to access the Net. So anything I can do to facilitate people enjoying \"PvP\" on a mobile device will ultimately benefit me. To that end, we're releasing an iPhone app ... that makes it easier for people to read \"PvP\" on the go.

I'm less excited about the [iPad] and more excited about the content partnerships Apple will have attached to it. That's what I'm excited about, an iTunes for books and comics. I want to be a part of that. I want a presence there.


MC: Will you briefly characterize your thoughts on the Webcomic vs. Syndicated Comic \"Debate.\" Meaning: Do you see this as a genuine battle -- as two distinct warring sides -- or is this all hew and cry from many sides, as everyone adjusts to the comics industry's \"musical chairs\" of shifting business models?

SK: For years, newspapers have been subsidizing syndicated comic strips, providing them with a captive audience and allowing them to claim paper readership numbers as their own. In return for this, the syndicates have provided papers with safe content that's neither appealing nor provocative to a younger audience in the slightest. These practices are starting to bear bitter fruit. Newspapers suddenly don't want to pay as much for content that doesn't bring in new readers and syndicates can't attract exciting talent with the rates they're being offered.

Now if a syndicated cartoonist wants to get into an argument with me over this, they're welcome to, but it won't be very productive for either of us. I'm making a living with my comic strip despite that fact that I'm not charging anyone to read it. That's possible because my job doesn't end with the strip itself. Syndicated cartoonists tend to think of themselves as artists, Web based cartoonists tend to think of themselves as publishers or creators of \"micro-media\" (a term Robert Khoo coined).


MC: What's the biggest influence \"PvP\" has had so far on the comics industry -- from creators to readers?

SK: I can't imagine what my influence has been. I've been able to pursue my childhood dream of being a cartoonist through self-publishing on the Web, and I've tried to help a few others learn how to in the process. If that means that a few more childhood dreams are being met in the world... well, then, that makes me feel awfully good about my adulthood.
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S

Soliloquy

SK: "Magnate" is a title that [Chicago Sun-Times columnist/moderator] Andy Ihnatko bestowed on me when he wrote that session description. I would never call myself a magnate, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with other people describing me that way, either. But Andy invited me to sit with him on the main stage at Macworld and answer a few of his questions about webcomics. If I must suffer such compliments for this privilege, I will endeavor to suffer them with as much dignity as possible.
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The tastemaster's modesty is... unconvincing.
 
E

edzepp

That little snippet aside, it was actually a pretty good interview. I like his (comparatively) more level headed take on the subject.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Dave said:
I wish I knew why it's doing that. I HATE IT!
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It's such a strange problem that I googled it, just to see what I could find. Apparently older versions of vBulletin had something called "magic quote" that would automatically add slashes like that, something to do with secure code, but that feature was supposed to have been phased out a while back. Also, other forums are having the same trouble with vBulletin 4, but with the code boxes, though others are having trouble replicating it.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
I think I may have just fixed it. Thanks, Figment!

---------- Post added at 01:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:47 PM ----------
This afternoon, Kurtz, creator of the webcomic \\\"PvP,\\\" will speak at Macworld at San Francisco's Moscone Center. The provocative title of his main-stage session: \\\"He Wants to Kill Your Newspaper: An Interview With Webcomics Magnate Scott Kurtz.\\\"


Comic Riffs recently caught up with Kurtz to ask about his creative and commercial hopes for the new iPad; what constitutes a webcomic \\\"magnate\\\"; and whether he, indeed, is really out to kill our newspapers
Click to expand...
Test!

---------- Post added at 01:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 PM ----------

Failtest!

---------- Post added at 01:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 PM ----------

Test #2:

This afternoon, Kurtz, creator of the webcomic "PvP," will speak at Macworld at San Francisco's Moscone Center. The provocative title of his main-stage session: "He Wants to Kill Your Newspaper: An Interview With Webcomics Magnate Scott Kurtz."
Comic Riffs recently caught up with Kurtz to ask about his creative and commercial hopes for the new iPad; what constitutes a webcomic "magnate"; and whether he, indeed, is really out to kill our newspapers

This afternoon, Kurtz, creator of the webcomic \\\"PvP,\\\" will speak at Macworld at San Francisco's Moscone Center. The provocative title of his main-stage session: \\\"He Wants to Kill Your Newspaper: An Interview With Webcomics Magnate Scott Kurtz.\\\"
Comic Riffs recently caught up with Kurtz to ask about his creative and commercial hopes for the new iPad; what constitutes a webcomic \\\"magnate\\\"; and whether he, indeed, is really out to kill our newspapers
Click to expand...


---------- Post added at 01:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:52 PM ----------

So it only does it in BB codes like quotes.
 
Steve

Steve

Wow, that's amazing they dropped so many comics. I pulled up Fort Knox and died just a little. We are hard on the old syndicated comics like Dennis the Menace and Marmaduke but as a kid I loved those strips. Garfield, Heathcliff, even Family Circus. I remember in 2nd and 3rd grade going to our school book fair and picking up a Hagar the Horrible and Broom Hilda and thinking they were the best things ever. It's like believing in Santa Claus. It's fun while it lasts but eventually the curtain is pulled back and the Wizard (of Id) is exposed to be the sham it is.
 
S

Soliloquy

edzepp said:
That little snippet aside, it was actually a pretty good interview. I like his (comparatively) more level headed take on the subject.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I do have to hand it to him... Kurtz did a good job with the interview. He seems a lot more respectable.

For his sake, I hope he can keep it up.
 
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