SubscribeI think the worst thing about this is that it demands that all the comics are in 800*600 pixel format. One area where webcomics have a real advantage over print comics is the freedom and flexibility of the shape and size of the pages and strips, and Zuda just gets rid of that entirelyI'm not sure this is a bad thing. It's definitely a constraint on artists who want to experiment with new forms. I can't speak for Zuda's creators, but I think the goal is to occupy an emerging middle ground between the wild and woolly world of free webcomics and the rarefied work-your-way-up-then-we'll-talk world of print comics. None of the specific comics I've seen on the site have jumped out at me yet, but it's a really interesting system: artists submit samples of their comic, readers of the site vote to choose the best of the bunch, and the winners of those competitions enter into talks with DC Comics to continue the series under the Zuda banner with actual editors, deadlines, money, and so on.
Anyway, this is dumb. If DC wanted to capitalize on web comics, they could have setup a platform for people to write for and managed the advertising for a flat fee. The control freak aspect is an anathema to the web.Well, there are a lot of existing systems like that. There aren't many like this. Back in July, Eric Burns of WebSnark posted a pretty interesting writeup with his impressions of the project when it was in early development. He's quite a bit more knowledgeable than I am about 'the industry' and its workings.
...Shaenon and I gave a lecture on the importance of editors -- how the lack of an editor gave webcartoonists an almost unparalleled sense of freedom, but that carried with it the dangers of a lack of discipline. Editors are good things. They make you produce, on time and to spec. They tell you when you suck and they make you do bad work over again. They remind you that you're being paid to do this -- if indeed this is how you make your money -- and you god damned better not forget that or they'll stop paying you to do this.I think it would be tragic if Zuda were to somehow stomp out other webcomics collectives and independents, standardizing things and pushing out the folks who have spread their wings in the new medium. I think that's pretty unlikely, though. More realistically, it will occupy a new niche of 'professionally produced and edited comics that are distributed on the web.' Time will tell whether the comics that come out of it stands on its own and draw readers who aren't just poking curiously and looking at Zuda itself, but it's certainly interesting and not (IMO at least) doomed from the get-go.
Well, Zudacomics.com will have all the disadvantages that strong editors entail. You're not going to be free to do whatever the Hell you want with your comic. You're going to have to produce. It will have to be of a given quality.
I'm genuinely curious, verb: how do you see that as being a good thing?Well, I'm not saying that 800x600 limitations are inherently a good thing. I just don't see size constraints for some comics as an inherently bad thing. As another poster said, this is about what size constrains are necessary for comics on Zuda.com. Some artists do awesome things with size freedom -- Gabe and Tycho have done a number of special one-offs in various sizes for example. The bulk of their archives are in a very consistent format, though, and I don't think that kind of consistency is a killer for a well-written work with good art.
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posted by Greg Nog at 9:28 AM on December 28, 2007