Zorphbert and Fred

Time again for me to point you towards another gem in the webcomics world. This time, we’re talking about a comic book shop, a video store, a hardware chick, and… a werewolf. Because, why the heck not? Welcome to Chris Flick’s “Capes & Babes”!

They say you should write about what you know. Well, much like myself.. that’s how Chris started out- the staple “alternative” college student comic strip in your college’s newspaper. I did it too, it’s a great way to dip your toes in. But eventually you move on. Me, I decided to write about aliens in dogsuits. Chris decided to shift the focus from a group of college buddies to a strip mall setting, where he spent his high school years working in a video store…. and close by: a comic book store called “Capes and Babes”. I love these types of autobiographical webcomics. It’s just like in film: it’s ALWAYS more intriguing when you know it (kinda/sorta) really happened! Okay, minus the werewolf, but I am only assuming, here.

The characters Chris developed are the owners or employees of the various stores within this based-on-reality strip mall. Marc’s the manager of “capes & babes”, Jodi (the romantic possibility) is the owner of the hardware store, Roy the werewolf works at the video store, and so on. You can just imagine the little community that grows within a strip mall… every owner knows the other owners, employees complaining to each other about their jobs, the romantic opportunities between that clerk, and the pretty girl 2 doors down… plenty of options for a cartoonist to play with!

The interesting twist to Capes and Babes is that it combines the autobiographic element, but under the guise of these strip-mall employees. Events that are going on in Chris’ life will find their way into the strip… it’s just that it happens to one of his characters instead. Pop culture and current events are tackled (see Avatar reference below), which is always fun and relatable. It’s obvious Chris does not take himself to seriously; his goofy outlook on life and himself in general usually results in some amusing “Scrubs-esque” surreal slapstick . (also, see below). And I know at least 99.9% of us webcomics readers loves us some Scrubs. And werewolves.

As always, I try to nit-pick a little, as the best artists learn to both critique and take criticism well. The most obvious suggestion would be to try out some (more) color, as I am just very curious to see how C&B works in color. But, I know how much extra time is required to accomplish that, while updating 3 times a week, whew. So, I should talk, heh. Secondly, at times I think the strips get a little wordy and overwhelming to read. Again, I should talk (I know I get wordy as well), but I think it takes some seriously refined skills to simplify a comic’s dialog without losing its integrity.. something both Chris and I could work on. Although there’s always exceptions, I think the key to a good humor-based comic strip is succinctness.

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I had the pleasure of actually meeting Chris at the Baltimore Comic Con, and I’m very excited to share his work with you. He’s an ambitious cartoonist and devoted dad, who has often brought his daughter with him to comic cons over the years. “Capes & Babes” deserves a moment of your time to check out, you will not be disappointed. After all, there’s a werewolf involved.

Did I overdo the werewolf theme?

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Another congrats to James Zintel of “Gary & Ted”, a webcomic that you may find very, very familiar. Why? Well:

A: Features an alien on Earth studying human nature

B: title is the 2 main character’s names

C: extensive archives with lots and lots to read!

D: PHENOMENALLY hilarious and well drawn!

Okay, so, tooting my own horn with that last one. I think the biggest difference between Z&F and G&T is our humor- while Z&F keeps it cleverly tame and insightful,  G&T is all about the wacky, pushing-the-limits, and sometimes just-for-fun-absurdity type of humor. The first comic I remember reading featured Gary & Ted talking about a new job, but… randomly… Gary had a cat in a catapult, ready to be fired, in the background. Never explained, or the results shown, but I found that element hilarious! And I think that kind showcases what G&T offers.

You’re still here? GET OVER TO GARYANDTED.COM!

If you are a webcomics reader, my guess is you’ve probably have at least heard of RSS feeds, if not already using them to their fullest. But for those of you who have avoided “yet another internet thingy to learn”, I am here to inform you. If you keep up with various blogs, webcomics, news sources, or other sites that updates on a regular basis, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Readers makes your life easy by collecting them in one place.

While there are many RSS readers out there, I am going to show you how the one I chose to use works- Google Reader. If you already have a gmail account, setting up your Google Reader feeds is quite easy. To add a feed (a favorite website’s updates) to your list in Reader, there are 2 ways to “subscribe”:

1. You can add it manually through Google Reader itself be searching for the site’s name or URL  -or-
2. You can look for that little orange universal symbol on the site itself, and click it to add the subscription
   

Once you subscribe, Google Reader will show you what sites, blogs, webcomics, news sources have updated that day (and previous days). You can then read a portion of those updates right in Google Reader, and if it’s intriguing enough, you can click the link to go to that page directly. As you can see, it’s basically a bookmarking/listing utility, with a little preview of what’s going on at each site (no more guessing as to if it updated!). Even better, you can create folders to sort different categories- like sports, webcomics, news, even forum feeds if you are apart of a forum (that you keep forgetting to check, like I do), very handy! I use it religiously to collect everything I read. For webcomics readers, often the webcomic image itself is included in the RSS feed, so you can literally scroll through your favorite comics all on one page!

And now a tip for the more advanced: those who have a website! A great tool in Google Reader is the ability to share a folder of feeds on your own website. For instance, say you have a folder of favorite webcomics, that you constantly update, and would like to post that list on your site for others to see. By going under “manage subscriptions”–>  “folders and tags”, you can “Add a blogroll to your site”. This feature will allow you to customize the list and colors a bit, and then generate code that you can paste into your website. And the best part, for me anyway, is when I subscribe to a new feed in Reader, it automatically updates it on my site. How I love syncing technology! You can see how I utilized my Google Reader blogroll right HERE

So now go, and embrace what RSS feeds have to offer you!

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A VERY belated fanart piece for the winner of the last PWITM Contest, Mike Witmer of Pinkerton! Congrats again Mike, I hope you enjoy my little tribute to Pinkerton!

Pinkerton’s tagline is “A Furry Little Drunken Soap Opera”. I think that sums it up, except for maybe “…and Your Online Source for the Best Quotable Lines”. Seriously, every update includes a hilariously quirky gem that simple must be reiterated at an opportune time. Plus, who couldn’t love these fuzzy freaks? Check out Mike Witmer’s Pinkerton folks, you won’t be disappointed.

First off, thanks to everyone who voted. Its nice to get a general idea of your audience, because you never know who is silently reading and loving your comic, but doesn’t feel right leaving comments.

As for the age breakdown, it’s basically about what I thought, and I fit right into the demographic age-wise. I am not surprised the majority of my readers are male, I knew from the get-go that webcomics.. and well, comics in general.. are a male-dominated industry. It’s cool, I’m used to being “one of the guys”. But I was expecting a slightly bigger turn-out from the gals than I got. Maybe… um, like 40% or so? I mean, almost 75% of the readership is male.

This makes me contemplate what makes a webcomic “guy-friendly” or “girl-friendly”… and what about Z&F turns off (most) women (or doesn’t attract them)? I mean sure, I would figure there’s more male webcomic readers than female. So, already, the scale is probably tilted. An interesting side note is that often new readers figure I’m a guy off the bat. I wonder if that’s a “male-until-prove-female” assumption that is applied to every webcomic author anyway, or if the writing and/or art in Z&F somehow exudes testosterone, LOL.

I could get totally, insultingly, stereotypical here and figure that most women would prefer sappy romantic manga type webcomics, that’s why they wouldn’t give a rat’s @$$ about 2 alien-dogs. But the other side of that stereotype is that men only prefer to read superhero action blood-and-guts type stuff. Which leaves goofy little humor strips like mine somewhere in the middle. Maybe the sci-fi element is way more masculine that I had thought. Maybe my social networking activity (that gets me new readers) tends to draw in more males. Maybe women don’t like to take polls. Who the heck knows.

I wonder what the demographic of other female cartoonists (who do a unique type of comic) is like. Does Danielle of “Girls With Slingshots” have more female readers than male, overpowering the general demographic? What about Jennie Breeden of “Devil’s Panties”? Now, those are two comics centered around an atypical heroine (or multiple ones)… a bit different than androgynous alien-dogs. Maybe in there lies the reason.

So, faithful readers, what do you think? Is Z&F a more male-oriented comic? Or is the discrepancy due to the demographic being already skewed?

P.S. my apologies for using the stereotypical “pink for girls” and “blue for guys” on the chart. Oh, the irony! Or is it hypocrisy?