Rival Angels

The Halfpixel Webcomics Weekly panel was very entertaining, though they didn’t really touch specifically on webcomics. Just stuff like, ‘when will comics become endangered as newspapers,’ kind of thing. Its a good thing I did get my question answered by Dave before, as my question would have almost been off topic. Its important to note that I was there officially as security for the donation box, which swelled after some kind words from Brad Guigar.  And is it me or is Kris Straub way taller in person than you’d think?

The next panel, well that was about monetizing your comic. The only real name I knew was Ryan Sohmer and honestly he was the only one that I could identify with. Sohmer basically started off by saying, ‘Update when you say you’re going to.’ That’s a pretty solid message in my opinion. The other dudes, forgive me for not knowing their names, but the first dude was like, ‘I update when I update. I don’t want to turn the webcomic into another shitty job I won’t like.’ Fine, but not really in line with what Sohmer just said. The next dude has a webcomic targeting librarians. Cool niche, but his advice especially on marketing was a bit too focused. The last dude, probably a cool guy, but not so much in the charisma department. He was like, ‘Yeah,’ ‘Sure,’ and ‘Uhuh.’ Not very helpful. I ended up bailing because the panelists seemed to be getting uncomfortable with each other, which made it uncomfortable to watch. Or at least, not very enjoyable.

Jason and I met back up and found John and Greg and headed back to the QI to clean up. After which, we gave Jim a shout and met up at a mexican restaurant. Jim had the great idea of us naming off our top five webcomics. Great idea because none of us rattled off the same five, so I got to be exposed to some great new comics.

Then, we made a few rounds up and down Main Street, settling on the Toasted Owl just in time for the LICD.com meet-up. We found a booth and a TV with some March Madness. I went to the bar and asked for a Schlitz. No dice. Old Milwaukee? Nope. How about a Pabst? They do!! And on tap too! 😀 No sooner am I draining my second Pabst does Ryan Sohmer and the gang come in. Sohmer comes up to me and asks, ‘You watching TV?’ I answered back, ‘Dude, I’m drinking Pabst!’ A thumbs up and he’s at the bar, though I suspect he’s not ordering a Pabst, but that’s just fine.

I joined him and the rest of the LICD crew and settled into a very cool conversation with Lar. The man was just schooling me with some wisdom. No lie. My friends that I rolled with were still at the booth, until Sohmer dragged them out over by us! Not too much later though the party was moving to the Tunnels and our time was coming to a close. Early mornings and late nights and schedules dictated otherwise so I said goodbye to my new friends.

Hysterically though, I kept running into Joe and Art the next morning. First, in the common breakfast area of the QI. Then, at the gas station where we were both filling up our rentals. Then, at the same rental car company, sharing a bus trip to the airport. That’s not it, even though they got off at a different stop, we still met up one more time going through security, and we talked briefly about the security concerns over a sack full of buttons.

Mad fun, good times and the promise of more come next year. Webcomics Weekend was good because I accomplished meeting new people and learning some new ideas

One last thing, I mentioned last time that Jason interviewed me for Digital Strips. You can check that out here!

Yes, that is Ryan Sohmer caught in the act of defiling Kris Straub’s setup.