T Campbell's Blog
Writer of Penny and Aggie, Fans (also called Faans), Rip & Teri, Search Engine Funnies and A History of Webcomics. Experienced webcomics editor, currently seeking full-time work and working on strange and interesting new things...Monday, July 17, 2006
Goodbyes.
First some minor stuff: my History of Webcomics Comic-Con panel is Sunday at 10:30 (not 11:30 as previously reported) and Keencast has an interview with me from before I left Clickwheel. And Phil Kahn wants you all to check out his and Rob Balder's I'm Just Drinking page, which includes riffs on lots of comics, including a couple of mine.
Still with me? On we go, then.
These last few days have been a series of goodbyes. Goodbye to Oxford with its seemingly endless bookstores and sleepy intellectualism. Goodbye to England and Paris-- I've tried to see as much of both of you as time and travel budget will allow. It's been awesome.
Goodbye to Chao and Vanessa, the kindly Chinese couple who made me not just a tenant but part of their family, and fellow tenants Kristina, Marva and Tot. Goodbye to the great friends I made through the Internet and saw here in the flesh for the first time (the first, I hope, of many): Alan Dicey, Denise, Wednesday White. Goodbye to Corin and Tag-- I'll miss our conversations about pop culture. Goodbye to William, Mike and Mark... sorry things didn't work out like we hoped.
Goodbye to some old ideas and some old ideals. The controversy surrounding History and my break with Clickwheel have challenged a lot of my old assumptions and made me reconsider my attitude toward webcomics, comics and my own career. I've always believed in personal growth and change-- the first comics story I ever put online had change as its theme.
I haven't completely figured out what all my new positions are-- which is going to mean that at SDCC, I do a fair amount of reminiscing and a lot of listening, not so much with the visionary stuff.
This blog has encouraged me to flirt with self-obsession, and right now, I'm a lot more interested in what other people think. Maybe by the time my own panel gets going, I'll have processed enough of that to figure out where we go next.
Still with me? On we go, then.
These last few days have been a series of goodbyes. Goodbye to Oxford with its seemingly endless bookstores and sleepy intellectualism. Goodbye to England and Paris-- I've tried to see as much of both of you as time and travel budget will allow. It's been awesome.
Goodbye to Chao and Vanessa, the kindly Chinese couple who made me not just a tenant but part of their family, and fellow tenants Kristina, Marva and Tot. Goodbye to the great friends I made through the Internet and saw here in the flesh for the first time (the first, I hope, of many): Alan Dicey, Denise, Wednesday White. Goodbye to Corin and Tag-- I'll miss our conversations about pop culture. Goodbye to William, Mike and Mark... sorry things didn't work out like we hoped.
Goodbye to some old ideas and some old ideals. The controversy surrounding History and my break with Clickwheel have challenged a lot of my old assumptions and made me reconsider my attitude toward webcomics, comics and my own career. I've always believed in personal growth and change-- the first comics story I ever put online had change as its theme.
I haven't completely figured out what all my new positions are-- which is going to mean that at SDCC, I do a fair amount of reminiscing and a lot of listening, not so much with the visionary stuff.
This blog has encouraged me to flirt with self-obsession, and right now, I'm a lot more interested in what other people think. Maybe by the time my own panel gets going, I'll have processed enough of that to figure out where we go next.
Comments:
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Well, I do think that webcomics have recently gone through a big transitional period recently, it might be good timing that you're re-thinking a lot of your previous impressions and outlooks. It's hard to really verbalize the big changes I've seen in the field, but it might just be personal experience clouding perception. I can say that the decrease in drama lately has really helped stem my sardonic outlook on it.
Looking forward to seeing you at the con. I'll have to stop by the Antarctic Press table to get the book on Preview Night or somesuch.
Looking forward to seeing you at the con. I'll have to stop by the Antarctic Press table to get the book on Preview Night or somesuch.
R.L.
When I first entered the webcomics world back in late 2002, the idea of webcomics was still this massive question mark. And there (generally speaking) were two camps with designs on the web.
There were the geeks, who saw comics on the web as by geeks, for geeks, about geek topics. (Even if they voiced this view indirectly)After all, who uses computers the most, but geeks? No need to waste time moving beyond that.
And the artistes, who saw comics on the web as being by everyone, for everyone, about anything. (All of whom spoke too openly, perhaps? After all, everyone and their mom uses the internet now, surely they'd be willing to take a few minutes out to read a comic? All that was needed was the right comic.
I all fairness, artistes have always been the ones who dare to dream, and dare to try new things. And while the artistes provided new tools, and techniques that have been accepted and incorporeated into comics as a whole, like all dreamers, they lacked the practicality to take advantage of them.
These days, webcomics are not a big question mark. We know how shit is now. Say what you want about the geek-comics-for-geeks people, but I have recently realized that they are right. Comics are a medium of geeks, by geeks, for other geeks. And it will never be anything but that.
Those changes you're seeing can be described as this: The dreaming time is over. The geeks won. But they had the homefield advantage.
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When I first entered the webcomics world back in late 2002, the idea of webcomics was still this massive question mark. And there (generally speaking) were two camps with designs on the web.
There were the geeks, who saw comics on the web as by geeks, for geeks, about geek topics. (Even if they voiced this view indirectly)After all, who uses computers the most, but geeks? No need to waste time moving beyond that.
And the artistes, who saw comics on the web as being by everyone, for everyone, about anything. (All of whom spoke too openly, perhaps? After all, everyone and their mom uses the internet now, surely they'd be willing to take a few minutes out to read a comic? All that was needed was the right comic.
I all fairness, artistes have always been the ones who dare to dream, and dare to try new things. And while the artistes provided new tools, and techniques that have been accepted and incorporeated into comics as a whole, like all dreamers, they lacked the practicality to take advantage of them.
These days, webcomics are not a big question mark. We know how shit is now. Say what you want about the geek-comics-for-geeks people, but I have recently realized that they are right. Comics are a medium of geeks, by geeks, for other geeks. And it will never be anything but that.
Those changes you're seeing can be described as this: The dreaming time is over. The geeks won. But they had the homefield advantage.
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