Details are sketchy -- and I mean, we've got nothing to go on but a promotional picture at this point -- but it looks like the Peanuts gang are going to have some brand-new adventures:

Boom! Studios, under their newly-branded "Kaboom" kids imprint,  has apparently acquired the license to put out comic books starring Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest. Will these be reprints or new stories? If new stories, will they retain the look and feel of the classic comic strip, or be more like the newer animated TV specials? Read more...

Tags Boom Studios, Charlie Brown, Peanuts, Snoopy

By Sean Kleefeld

Not that long ago, the only comics that most Americans read were printed in the newspaper. There were the standard gag-a-day comics like Blondie and Peanuts, of course, and more dramatic, serialized narratives like The Phantom and Mary Worth, whose storylines would run over the course of weeks and months. As the 20th century waned, these latter strips became less common and the comics page of any given newspaper was almost exclusively given over to the likes of Beetle Bailey, Hagar the Horrible and Marmaduke.

Comic strips were largely controlled by what are called syndicates. These basically act as middlemen between the comic strip creators and the newspapers. Not unlike how an agent negotiates between an actor and a film studio. With barely a handful of comics syndicates, that means that the newspaper funnies across the U.S. are hand-selected by a small group of men based on what they think people will want to see.

Of course, that was all before the Internet. Comic creators now don’t need to go through a syndicate. They don’t even need to deal with a newspaper. They can publish whatever comic they want online.

These are webcomics.

The term “webcomics” is perhaps not ideal. There are a lot of comics that can be found on the web. You can go to Garfield.com or HeathcliffComics.com and read those cats’ adventures on the web too, but they’re essentially just republishing material that was meant for the newspaper. Webcomics are those that were published first (and possibly only) online.

As I suggested earlier, a prime benefit of webcomics is being able to publish a comic without a syndicate filtering the work. Anyone can publish their own comic and many people do. So it should come as no surprise that, even back in 2007, there were 18,000 readily countable webcomics being published online, with some estimates of the total number ranging up over 35,000. Compare that to the 200 or so that the major syndicates deal with.

Now, admittedly, many of those comics probably aren’t very good. Sturgeon’s Law states, “90% of everything is crud” after all. But even 10% of 18,000 is still nine times more than all of the newspaper strips, so there’s bound to be something there for everybody!

See, not only are there a lot more webcomics to choose from, but they range all over the map in terms of genre and style. Some are based on gaming humor, some on fantasy adventures, some on slice-of-life moments, some on exotic space epics. There are webcomics made with simple pen and ink tools, some made with 1980s-style computer sprites, some made with cut paper, some made out of century-old clip art. The range of what’s available, especially in comparison to the 20th century, is staggering. Read more...

Tags Digital Comics, Girl Genius, Kleefeld on Webcomics, PVP, Webcomics, XKCD

By Nick Nadel

If you’re even remotely familiar with the webcomics scene, chances are you’ve heard about Kate Beaton. Since launching her web site, Hark! A Vagrant in 2008, Beaton’s hilarious takes on everything from “Nancy Drew” to Aquaman have earned her a healthy following (over half a million unique visitors a month) and work in both The New Yorker and Marvel’s Strange Tales II (her “Kraven goes to the prom” story was one of the high points of the series).

So it’s no surprise that Beaton’s first hardcover collection will be released from Drawn & Quarterly this fall. Featuring material from her popular web site along with brand new strips, the new Hark! A Vagrant collection should expose Beaton to an even wider audience. (A self-published collection, “Never Learn Anything from History,” is available through Topatoco.) Beaton possesses an uncanny ability to skewer stuffy historical figures, great works of literature, and comic book self-seriousness (her surly, chain-smoking Wonder Woman is one of the most vivid depictions of the character in years) while also showcasing her subject’s basic human foibles. Now that she’s joined the home of Adrian Tomine, Daniel Clowes and other indie comix greats, it’s safe to say Beaton’s profile will only rise higher. Which is great news for fans of fat ponies and Nikola Tesla’s swarthy mustache.

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Tags Drawn and Quarterly, Hark A Vagrant, Kate Beaton, Webcomics

After 70 years of service, Brenda Starr follows fellow red-head Little Orphan Annie into retirement. The Chicago Tribune reports that the comic strip "Brenda Starr, Reporter" -- which at one point ran in 250 newspapers -- will end on January 2nd. "Starr's" long-time creative team, Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich and June Brigman, have decided to end their association with the adventures of the adventurous female reporter -- and rather than find replacements for them, the Tribune decided to end the strip.

"There's sadness about stopping, but no regret and no ambivalence," Schmich told the Tribune. "It came to me really clearly that I was done. … I don't think the character is dead. But the comic strip in this form is."

This leaves the question open: might Brenda Starr rise again in a medium other than newspaper strips? Could a comics publisher like Dynamite or IDW bring new life to the iconic character, turning her into a comic book "superheroine" of sorts? Read more...

Tags Brenda Starr, Comic Strips