Tired of the same?

Kisai's picture

Tired of reading the same tired story with the same tired character types? Maybe it's time to look at webcomic community collaborations.

Out in the wild wild web, there was a webcomic war that was created... by accident. There are also, dares, comic exercise,and jams. Crossovers have also been done successfully before. Also a quick note that webcomics are being deleted from wikipedia.org

Webcomic Jams have been around a long time, but on comicgenesis they really took off after a small accident.

The Comicgenesis versus Drunkduck war started out as a joke someone put into the wiki. Someone from DrunkDuck found it and then asked in the comicgenesis forums if it was serious, and originally it was just taken as a joke, but then an agreement between the admins of both services took place, allowing for the ComicGenesis versus DrunkDuck war Jam.

Unfortunately, most of DrunkDuck's side of the war was lost when DrunkDuck's service was deleted by their hosting provider shortly after interest in the war died down. Hence Comicgenesis won on a technicality. Since this jam, there has been an unwritten rule for ComicGenesis jams that multiple contributors to the Jam will also save a copy of all the pages, just in case.

The two most successful Jams on ComicGenesis post-DD war are the Fairy Tale Jam (completed) and the currently running MajorJam.

The goal of a Jam is to produce a webcomic with as many different people while trying to keep a coherent story. The above listed jams work because of one person holding the reins to make sure it reaches an end. There have also been many more jams that just trailed off without an end.

The first "jam" I ever saw was the WenProv II from Josh Lesnicks comic "Wendy" forums, unfortunately nearly all the images are lost to time (March 2001.) Again recommending that all collaborations be saved by multiple people.

 

Webcomic dares, are a new (for comicgenesis) attempt at getting people to draw... well anything. The goal being to draw whatever the previous poster dares, and use whatever interpretation you want.

Webcomic exercise, is similar, where you have a set of rules and 30 minutes to draw a comic with those rules, use any interpretation you want. Nobody can see the results until the posting time limit is up.

Crossovers are probably the oldest community based collaboration, often between one or more webcomic artists. The largest one that I remember being the "Great Framed Escape" where the characters from a few webcomics were chased through several webcomics on then keenspace.com (another example of why collaborations need multiple people to keep a copy,) this was unfortunately lost to a system crash.

Crossovers also have a downside, since they become canon with your webcomic, you have to leave that part of the comic accessible through the links it was created for, or better yet, let the other webcomic author involved keep a copy of your part of the strip leading upto, including and a bit after the crossover point. Should the webcomic ever be released in print, that part of the story needs to be included.

Final topic of the morning. Did you know that editing anything on Wikipedia about something you create is considered "Vanity" ? Many webcomic entries have been deleted from Wikipedia due to the authors of the webcomics going in and correcting things about their comics. Now, everyone wants to have the most accurate information possible in an wikipedia entry, but apparently being the author of the webcomic excludes you from editing it or risk the entire thing being deleted.

My suggestion, is create a new wiki entry on comixpedia.org and if you also happen to be on comicgenesis, there is a wiki there too. Put the correct information up there, and let the information migrate over to the wikipedia without your intervention. Problem solved, no more Vanity flags.

 

 

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Airsick_Moth's picture

Good riddance to Wikipedia

Good riddance to Wikipedia for webcomics. The project is administered by a lot of cranky, self-important, self-appointed experts.

Kristofer Straub www.starslip.com

Kristofer Straub www.starslip.com
The William G's picture

Seems like it'd be a match

Seems like it'd be a match made in heaven, doesn't it?


EricMillikin's picture

Crankiness about Wikipedia

Airsick_Moth wrote:

Good riddance to Wikipedia for webcomics. The project is administered by a lot of cranky, self-important, self-appointed experts.

I've never understood the crankiness that comes from self-important, self-appointed experts on what Wikipedia ought to include. My understanding (I'm no expert) is that it's a serious attempt at making a collaborative encyclopedia. It's therefore not surprising that they'd delete articles about how USA Today's journalists assassinated the Kennedy's as well as whatever goofy webcomic entry some struggling artist decided to write about themselves. Honestly, I just can't share the outrage that an encyclopedia deleted entries on relatively minor comics like Gorgeous Princess Creamy Beamy, Hookie Dookie Panic, Okashina Okashi, or whatever.

And I've never really understood why anybody would read a web-based encyclopedia article about a webcomic when they could just go read the webcomic iself. And complaining that "self-important" people are deleting "vanity" entries that artists wrote about themselves is incredibly ironic, don't you think? I mean, if you want to write about your own webcomic, it seems like you'd be better off getting a blog rather than trying to write about how great your comic is in everybody else's encyclopedia.

Or, you know, write it at Comixpedia, which is an encyclopedia for webcomics after all.Â

--------------------------

Fetus-X is the greatest comic in the world.

--------------------------

Fetus-X is the greatest comic in the world.

tombrazelton's picture

I don't know what's more

I don't know what's more dissapointing - the fact that Wiki is deleting web comic entries or the fact that my entry is nowhere to be found on their list!

 

Theater Hopper -::- Comics about movies every Monday, Wednesday and Friday -::- http://www.theaterhopper.com

Theater Hopper -::- Comics about movies every Monday, Wednesday and Friday -::- http://www.theaterhopper.com
Gordon McAlpin's picture

With all due respect, I

With all due respect, I think many of the webcomics deleted from Wikipedia ARE not noteworthy... (or, rather, the opposite of that: that the ones that were kept were kept for good reason).

Comixpedia.org is good enough for all but the most popular of sites. That's right: I'm saying popularity (or at least notoriety) should be the major criterion for inclusion at Wikipedia. You don't see an entry in Wikipedia for the movie Lana's Rain, do you? No, of course not. Because it's a crappy film that no one's heard of. (Which isn't to equate popularity with quality, mind you.)

IF and WHEN a webcomic has achieved a certain level of popularity, then it might deserve an entry, but until then, I think the webcomics community needs to recognize the fact that were ARE a niche format, with vastly lower levels of readership than TV shows that get cancelled on UPN for even our more popular strips, and we should not act self-important about this sort of thing.

Multiplex is a twice weekly humor comic about the staff of the Multiplex 10 Cinemas and the movies that play there.
Fabricari's picture

I hate to admit, I agree

I hate to admit, I agree with you, Gordon. But interestingly, many of the non-notable webcomics have a larger audiance than a lot of print comics on Wikipedia. Does this mean that the ephemeral nature of our medium contribute to it's lesser relevance?

Just something to ponder.

 

Steve "Fabricari" Harrison
Fabricari,

Steve "Fabricari" Harrison
tombrazelton's picture

I don't necessarily disagree

I don't necessarily disagree with you, Gordon. But it's all about context. If Wikipedia set out to be a comprehensive online encylopedia written around the interests of it's audience, the powers that be shouldn't cherry pick what they think are acceptable entries.

Either it's comprehensive or it's not. The exclusion of certain web comics makes Wikipedia appear beholden to outside interests.

Theater Hopper -::- Comics about movies every Monday, Wednesday and Friday -::- http://www.theaterhopper.com

Theater Hopper -::- Comics about movies every Monday, Wednesday and Friday -::- http://www.theaterhopper.com
DAJB's picture

"popularity (or at least

"popularity (or at least notoriety) should be the major criterion for inclusion at Wikipedia."

I can't believe you said that! Given the absolutely appalling standard of many of the more popular webcomics and the comparatively low "popularity" of many high quality webcomics, this must be one of the worst possible criterion you could possibly apply.

I'd argue that an online directory should either be neutral and all-inclusive or - if it is going to exercise some kind of selection - it should try to guide people towards webcomics of quality (irrespective of current popularity) rather than those which are of popular (irrespective of quality).

Otherwise it will just reinforce the status quo and give ammunition to all those doubters who believe that all webcomics are of a dire standard.

Broken Voice Comics
Because comics are not just for kids

Broken Voice Comics Because comics are not just for kids
Gordon McAlpin's picture

Neutrality and all-inclusiveness

Neutrality and all-inclusiveness is what search engines are for, and websites like Comixpedia(.com) are for pointing people towards quality webcomics, not encyclopedias -- even one that is virtually limitless in size.

Multiplex is a twice weekly humor comic about the staff of the Multiplex 10 Cinemas and the movies that play there.
xerexes's picture

Comixpedia.org Does Strive For Inclusiveness

Actually for Comixpedia.org we are striving for inclusiveness. There's no threshold for creating an entry for a webcomic (that's a big difference from Wikipedia's philosophy).

____

Xaviar Xerexes

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.

Xaviar Xerexes Oh yeah... this place is called ComixTalk now.
Gordon McAlpin's picture

I hadn't meant to include

I hadn't meant to include Comixpedia.org when I referred to "encyclopedias" since Comixpedia.org is meant for very deep information on one specific subject -- webcomics -- whereas encyclopedias cover a broad range of subjects. Whether or not it counts as an encyclopedia, though, yes, absolutely, Comixpedia.org should be all-inclusive.

Wikipedia, on the other hand, should be a relatively shallow source of information on an incredibly broad range of subjects. But along with that, it ought to be kept a little shallow -- for concision. It's supposed to be a quick reference.

Multiplex is a twice weekly humor comic about the staff of the Multiplex 10 Cinemas and the movies that play there.
xerexes's picture

Gotcha...

 I hadn't thought that much about the word encyclopedia though I guess. Is it incorrect to call a one-subject (webcomics) resource an "encyclopedia"?

____

Xaviar Xerexes

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.

Xaviar Xerexes Oh yeah... this place is called ComixTalk now.
Gordon McAlpin's picture

I think it's debatable.

I think it's debatable. I suppose it's arguable that within the one overriding subject, there are a number of different subjects: techniques, genres, strip and character entries, etc.
Multiplex is a twice weekly humor comic about the staff of the Multiplex 10 Cinemas and the movies that play there.
Kiba's picture

Webcomics that are popluar

Webcomics that are popluar are easier to maintain because you have a lot of fans who keeping their eyes on it.

 Unpopluar webcomics are harder to maintain in general because there is less people watching out for vandalism and all the other stuff.

scarfman's picture

I must have a fairy

I must have a fairy Wikieditor or something, because my webcomic has had an article at Wikipedia since about six months after its launch date, and it doesn't seem there's ever been a nomination for its deletion, not that I'm wiki-literate enough to suss. The article at Comixpedia.org was copied from the Wikipedia article and is usually less up-to-date. Go figure. My best guess is that it's because of my subject matter. So the next person who wants to know, "Why don't you invent your own characters?", ...

 

Paul Gadzikowski, paul@arthurkingoftimeandspace.com

Arthur, King of Time and Space New cartoons daily

Paul Gadzikowski, paul@arthurkingoftimeandspace.com


Arthur, King of Time and Space New cartoons daily
Kiba's picture

My guess is that

My guess is that comixpedia.org is not that popluar.
xerexes's picture

Not Sure What You Mean

Of course as a whole Comixpedia.org is not as widely traffic'd as Wikipedia although hopefully for webcomics it will grow as a resource. As to why certain entries as not kept up-to-date in comparison to Wikipedia entries it's simply a matter of effort. Comixpedia.org is only going to be as good as the effort put into it.Â

I am actually working right now on making sure there are entries in it for all of the webcomics I added to the Comixpedia Library effort from the beginning of this year. But it takes time to do even that...Â

I don't have a clear idea of the traffic of Comixpedia.org right now - it's not quite as much as Comixpedia.com the last time I checked though.

 

____

Xaviar Xerexes

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.

Xaviar Xerexes Oh yeah... this place is called ComixTalk now.
Molapro Andrew's picture

A few months ago when one of

A few months ago when one of my fans did one for me, it was up for deletion within the hour.




xerexes's picture

Comixpedia.org Is the Answer

You should copy that material over to Comixpedia.org. (1) We don't delete any entries (although they may be edited just like at Wikipedia) and (2) if your webcomic does later meet Wikipedia's thresholds you'll have an entry at Comixpedia.org you can copy over to it (Both Comixpedia.org and Wikipedia use the GNU license).Â

____

Xaviar Xerexes

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.

Xaviar Xerexes Oh yeah... this place is called ComixTalk now.

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