The explosion of webcomics is yet another manifestation of the rise of new media. The ease and accessibility of publishing on the web has allowed thousands of creators to find an audience for their projects. This week we highlight a few of our favorite comics and talk with Jonah Gregory, writer for Here There Be Robots and also iconic geek artist and co-creator of Girl Genius, Phil Foglio.

Episode #14 also includes our review of the J. J. Abrams Star Trek reboot plus geek news and events.

Our Geek Week

♦The Three Faces of Peggle – Addon for WoW, Xbox Live and iPod app

♦Lost Season Finale at EMP|SFM

♦Season 1 of the new Dr. Who

♦World of Warcraft – Matt works on getting the full Wildheart Raiment set!

♦Star Trek
If J. J. Abrams had directed an original series episode of Star Trek:

Webcomic Madness

Thanks to our two phone/skype interviewees this week.

Phil Foglio

Jonah Gregory Here There Be Robots

And also thanks to the creators who we featured with our e-mail Q&A. We paraphrased a lot of the answers during the show, but we thought people might be interested in seeing the full answers.

♦Silver Age by Charlie Gavin

Q: How long have you been publishing Silver Age?

A: As a webcomic only since January 2009, but the idea has been around a bit longer than that. I had the idea for a comic centering around super heroes a few years ago, but not until recently have I actually had the time to bring the idea to fruition. The tricky thing, though is that I can’t write for super heroes. Period. Notice that the characters in Silver Age have never used any sort of power, even when the situation might’ve called for it? Yep, there’s a reason for that. Well, sort of. It will all be explained soon enough. But I digress…

Q: Have you considered publishing in a physical form?

A: Not only have I considered the option, but I almost went ahead with a self published comic book very recently! I had (and still have) all of the PSD files, finished and ready to send off to print. However, after a lengthy session with my new co-writer, the future of Silver Age changed and I began to see the project in a new light. All of the sudden, I felt like the content I had prepared for the comic book no longer represented what I now felt Silver Age to be. So I decided to sit on it. Unfortunately, thanks to a new project that is currently demanding my attention, I haven’t been able to give Silver Age the time it deserves (but I’ll go into that in further detail in a moment).

Q: If you were to tell a new publisher of webcomics one thing you’ve learned about doing it, what would it be?

A: I’d tell him or her to keep at it. Because believe me, it’s tough. More specifically, I’d tell him or her to finish a “pack” of premade strips and begin a reliable update schedule with that. It’s all too easy to produce one comic, excitedly post it and then drop the project completely. I’ve figured that out from first-hand experience. I think the only reason Silver Age is still going is because I planned it out ahead. I think I finished about fifteen strips beforehand. Perhaps that’s the magic number.

Q: Silver Age is done in black and white. Was that an artistic/design choice or because of time constraints?

A: Time constraints. 100%. I hate to say it, but color takes way too long for it to be feasible for my work schedule, at least while I have classes in session. But! Starting in June, I can promise there will be color Silver Age. Perhaps not every day, but at the very least once a week. Most likely more often than that.

Q: Any new trades coming out or new projects coming up?

A: Trades as in trade paperbacks? Probably no trades in the near future. If I were to do a book of any kind, it would be even more work to add to an already busy schedule. I’m sure I’ll have something out within a year or two, but it’ll likely be self published. Unless, of course, somebody else is interested in publishing Silver Age. I’m always open to offers of that sort. But yeah, probably not anything soon.

I do have a bit to talk about in the topic of new projects, however. I have a new webcomic debuting possibly this month! Unfortunately, I can’t give any specifics about the topic as it’s not for my own website (it’s a commisioned strip). But here’s what I can tell you:

* It’s full page and full color (along with shading).
* It’s going to be a weekly strip
* It’ll be put before a considerably large audience

Also, I’m developing this comic with a book in mind. Although it’s for a 3rd party site, I’ll still retain copyright and publishing rights and hopefully I’ll have a trade paperback out in a year or two. If listeners would like to know more about the project, they should definitely keep their eyes peeled on the Silver Age blog. Expect an announcement very, very, very soon.

♦The Devil’s Own written by Pete Mesling, art by Brian Beardsley

Q: How long have you been publishing The Devil’s Own?

A: “Welp’s Tale,” which is really issue #0.5 in the series, began publishing serially on the Night Rail Press website in March of this year. There will be one more web issue a little bit later in the first story arc.

Q: How long into doing the webcomic did you decide to publish in physical form?

A: It was really the other way around. We did issue #0 as a print issue and then decided it would be fun to include a couple of web issues in the Devil’s Own series. The nature of the two web issues sets them apart from the series to a certain extent anyway, so it made sense to give them a slightly different presentation. They’ll be included in the TPB though, eventually.

Q: If you were to tell a new publisher of webcomics one thing you’ve learned about doing it, what would it be?

A: Don’t look at it as any less demanding than working in print. There’s no reason to let the quality slide just because it’s cheaper and, to some extent, easier to publish a comic online.

Q: How did you decide on the supernatural aspect of the comic?

A: Brian suggested the general idea of doing a story in the style of Hart to Hart (for those old enough to know that reference), with our couple being a witch and a warlock. From there it just sort of snowballed. I’ve published horror fiction of both the supernatural and psychological varieties, so I was comfortable with the idea from the start. We quickly determined to keep the story as deadly serious as we could, despite the rather ludicrous premise. That’s been the challenge and the joy of this thing for me.

Q: Any new trades coming out or new projects coming up?

A: The Devil’s Own is planned as a trilogy of story arcs, so until we can afford to take on some additional talent, that’s pretty much got Night Rail Press tied up. I have a tale of terror in the brand new Potter’s Field 3 anthology from Sam’s Dot Publishing, and Brian recently did some super cool artwork for the Rat City Roller Girls.

♦Sheldon by Dave Kellett

Q: How long have you been publishing Sheldon?

A: Sheldon’s been online since Fall of 1998.

Q: How long into doing the webcomic did you decide to publish in physical form?

A: The first book came out in 2005. So, 7 years?

Q: If you were to tell a new publisher of webcomics one thing you’ve learned about doing it, what would it be?

A: Prepare yourself for a looooong road. It could be years before you even see one dime from it, so enjoy the act of creating in the meantime.

Q: How did you decide on a duck and a lizard as characters? Are they favorite animals of yours?

A: I had to Pekin ducks growing up, and loved them to bits. The lizard was an accident of storytelling, but readers loved him…so he stayed in the strip.

Q: Any new trades coming out or new projects coming up?

A: I’ll have my 6th Sheldon collection out for San Diego Comic Con. It’ll be called “Living Dangerously (With Saturated Fats)”.

♦Rocket Road Trip by Shawn Boyles and Isaac Stewart

Q: How long have you been publishing Rocket Road Trip?

A: We’ve been publishing Rocket Road Trip for a bit over a year now. Our plan was to start the first Tuesday in February of 2008 and then get 2 strips out per week rain or shine. Haven’t missed a day yet. Here’s hoping we can keep it up.

Q: Are you going to publish in physical form?

A: We would love to publish the comics in physical form. It’s always been part of the plan to actually print something up. We just have to wait until it would be feasible to print up a decent number and then make sure we can sell enough of them. I sure want one. In the meantime, we’re looking into making them available through print-on-demand, possibly using Lulu.com. If that’s the case, we would like to have two different versions—black and white, and color.

Q: If you were to tell a new publisher of webcomics one thing you’ve learned about doing it, what would it be?

A: Shawn: To just stick to it. There will be times when you feel like giving up but if you stick to it, it all starts coming together naturally. You find your stride, your humor, your process and then when it all starts to click, that’s when the fun really begins. That’s when characters start to come alive and talk for themselves. Unexpected things happen and it’s all just so much fun. So stick to it.

Isaac: There are a lot of things you can be doing with your time, so if you don’t love making comics, find something you’re passionate about. It’s the passion that will drive you to make the best comic that you can. Put in the time to study what makes comics good—the art, the comic timing, the plotting, etc. And then work, work, work to find your own style. Be consistent in posting, and you’ll eventually find your audience. Be positive about the whole thing. You can do it! (When in doubt, Find someone who draws better than you do and ask him to be the artist.)

Q: Does Bruce Campbell know he’s in your comic?

A: I hope so. We’re big Bruce Campbell fans. That’s one of the big reasons he’s in the strip is because we wanted to kind of pay homage to a guy we love so much.

Q: Any new trades coming out or new projects coming up?

A: Rocket Road Trip was originally meant to be a cartoon. We have several episodes in the works. We both work at video game companies for our day jobs (Shawn is a concept artist, Isaac animates), so sometimes it’s hard to come home and then do more art and animation. For the time being, however, the comic is keeping us busy. Hopefully more new things will be on the way: books, shirts, buttons, vinyl stickers. . . . We’ll also be doing a live question and answer session over at www.comicchatcast.com this Sunday at 5pm Mountain time.

♦Kapow iPhone webcomic reader

♦Comic Genesis

Listener Suggestions:
♦Sluggy
♦User Friendly
♦Least I Could Do
♦PvP
♦Ctrl+Alt+Delete
♦Orneryboy
♦Penny Arcade
♦Joy of Tech
♦Megatokyo
♦Toothpaste for Dinner
♦Natalie Dee
♦Superpoop
♦Perry Bible Fellowship
♦Garfield Minus Garfield
♦Ph.D Comics
♦No need for Bushido
♦Errant Story
♦Shortpacked
♦Bohemian Drive
♦LFG
♦Multiplex
♦Monster Commute
♦Questionable Content
♦Unshelved
♦Wondermark
♦Girls With Slingshots
♦Plush and Blood
♦Order of the Stick
♦Sam and Fuzzy
♦Starslip
♦Erfworld
♦Bunny
♦Dinosaur Comics
♦Evil Inc
♦Goats
♦Johnny Wander
♦Wtfduck
♦Devil’s Panties
♦Dreamland Chronicles
♦Sandusky
♦VG Cats
♦Lost & Found
♦Legend of Bill
♦One Small Step
♦Zoodotcom
♦Minos the Minotaur
♦Elderly Apple
♦Rick the Stick
♦Y2 Christ-lite
♦Night Zero
♦Alien Loves Predator
♦Something Positive
♦Theater Hopper
♦Indexed
♦User Friendly
♦XKCD
♦A Softer World

Geek news

♦Retired Navy Capt. Gregory C. Johnson, a Seattle native and former Navy test pilot and NASA research pilot, is making his first space flight on the Atlantis mission to the Hubble Space Telescope

♦Warner Home Video has announced that Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 21st, just two days before the opening of the San Diego Comic-Con. The film will be released in 3 versions: a single-disc no frills version, a 2-Disc Special Edition, and a 2-disc Blu-ray Edition.

♦Cannes Film Festival opens with Disney/Pixar’s Up in 3D

Make Shannon Watch a Bad Movie

This week’s movie was Shadow of the Sword

next week’s bad movie is Hell of the Living Dead

If you’d like to dare Shannon to watch something, contact us by either email seattlegeekly@gmail.com or call us at 206-201-2352 or our Skype name is seattlegeekly all one word

Intro music this week was the Penny Arcade Theme from MC Frontalot. His latest album is Final Boss. The Penny Arcade theme is from his first album Nerdcore Rising, available on his website or through iTunes.

MC Frontalot is also one of Wired’s 100 Geeks you should be Following on Twitter

Outro music was the Rocket Road Trip Theme Song!

Next Week’s Show: Raising Geek Kids – how to and we’ll also reminisce about geeky things that we did as kids

Events

♦May 15 – 17, 2009 – Zompire – Portland, Oregon

♦May 16, 2009 Bossanova Ballroom 722 E Burnside Portland, OR Zombie Prom. Theme “Enchantment under the Dead Sea”

♦May 15 – 16, 2009 Hotel Oregon McMinnville, OR – McMenamins 10th Annual UFO Festival

♦May 15 – 21, 2009 Arcane Comics in Ballard and West Seattle – 5th Anniversary Sale. All Back Issues will be 50% off Everything else will be 25% off

♦May 15, 2009 8:00pm – 11:00pm EMP|SFM Seattle – Gears of War 2″ Event at EMP|SFM
*As a way to give back to the dedicated fans who have helped turn Gears of War into an entertainment phenomenon, Xbox LIVE will host a First to Play event. Be the very first to play an unreleased multiplayer map from the Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection, a compilation of new and previously released Gears of War 2 Game Add-ons that launches on July 28. In addition, fans will get to hear directly from the makers of Gears of War 2 during a creators panel featuring Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps and Gears of War 2 writer Joshua Ortega. Moderated by Larry Hyrb, Xbox LIVEs Major Nelson, the panel will feature a discussion about the latest developments in the award-winning Gears of War franchise. Admission is free and open to the public. However it is limited to first 800 attendees. Attendees must be 17 or older, or be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

♦May 15 – 16, 2009 Egyptian Theater Seattle, WA – Midnight Movies at the Egyptian – The Dark Crystal

♦May 16, 2009 10 am – 5 pm EMP|SFM Seattle – Family Day at the EMPSFM.
* Performances by local band The Glasses in Sky Church at 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm. The Glasses are an indie-pop band from Seattle playing up-tempo songs with sunshiney energy.
* SIFF Films4Families in JBL Theaterselection of short films the whole family can enjoy. You can see everything from comedy to drama, classical to current music, or animated to live action. Peppered throughout the program will be trailers for upcoming Films4Families feature films at SIFF 2009 (May 21 – June 14).

♦May 17, 2009 University Street Fair University Way, Seattle – Playing live: Kirby Krackle

♦May 19, 2009 8pm ToST Lounge Seattle, WA – Playing live: Allecia Clemons, Kirby Krackle, Micah Boyer

♦May 19, 2009 EMP|SFM Seattle – Seattle – Exposed: Inside Film, Reel Fear: An Evening with Local Horror Filmmakers