Wednesday - December 1, 2004:

I may not agree with HB all that much but I'm a big fan of his youthful enthusiasm, and it's on full display today. There are some beautiful moments in Nekko and Joruba, but I have to say Keenspace's archiving structure prevents me from enjoying anything they host. I have to turn off my firewall and internet security to see any of the strips. The effort means I don't read many strips on Keanspace, none really. I'll check in with Nekko and Joruba again though, eventually. The story's moving verrrry slowwwly, too slowly for my taste, but the robots and other high tech fun kept me clicking. I'd like to see how this worked in a tighter script with a plot That's a little less linear. That said, it's something I'm wrestling with on one of my projects. The story's just huge, the bear's in the telling. As for Nekko and Joruba, sure, there's the anticipation that something big is coming, namely Mars, and there are a couple of secondary plots running around, but I need to know a little more about where we're headed before I can be counted as anything approaching a rabid fan.

This doesn't mean I didn't enjoy Nekko and Joruba. I did. There are actually only three strips on my short list, Acid Keg, Achewood, and PvP. I don't really have a long list. I like to surf for the next big thing and the little things. All three happen to have RSS feeds that make it really easy for me to stay on board, but they really are top notch funny. Of the three, Acid Keg has the lowest readership, but Steve Hogan belongs in the club. The art alone is worth a gander. My review of his work should run in December's Web Comics Examiner. Oh, and Butternut Squash brings the goods, but only once a week. I'm guessing they're too swamped with paying work to put out more often. Oh, and I almost forgot the up-and-coming Fish Institution and the evil that is Narbonic and, and. . . I guess I do have a bit of a long list.

Actually, any banner you see at Journey Into History has my free endorsement. With clicks on those banners still up around 5%, I'm out to prove to advertisers that people will click through for quality entertainment. I still maintain that comics on the web can drive business even more effectively than comics in the newspapers. The print flight (heh) of late may work out for a small number of strips, but in the long-run, it's the corporate sites that will snap up the best strips. The Websnark guy wrote at length on the syndication efforts of Pennie and Aggie, PvP and the Keeners yesterday. The big consumer sites are the best chance for profit in the web-comics world though. The individual web-comic creator can out-cool some of the brightest marketing departments in corporate America, and very soon some of those companies are going to realize it. Either that or one of us is going to have to let them know. Dibs on Coke and McDonalds.

-Bob Stevenson