My Journey into Digital Comics

I know, I know, it’s been a long time since I posted a review to ESO. New, apathetic, and forgetful readers likely have no idea who I am. Allow me to reintroduce myself, I’m the author of the hugely popular (in my mind) and severely lapsed (in reality) Web Pick series. So why haven’t I been posting? I’ve been busy. It seems everytime I get near a computer I have the urge to delve into a new series or explore a new character…you see, my name is Grundy and I’m a digitalcomicsoholic.

It all started when I picked up a dead-tree issue with the the trojan horse of an included digital copy. Being unwilling or unable to turn down free stuff, I promptly downloaded said copy before reading its paper counterpart. I then had to run and left both my computer and comic behind. One greasy beef burrito later, I found myself on the john remembering that I had coveted reading material on my cell. I sat and I read. The experience wasn’t ideal. There will always be something missing when viewing frames one at a time on a small screen. I later reread the comic as God, or at least my comic shop, had intended–at home. By reread I should say that I skimmed. The story was consumed on the toliet, I really just came back to admire the art.

From then on I dabbled in digital comics. Full analog price for digital goods was never platable to me, especially when I could often get the paper comic and the digital comic at the same price or a dollar more than the digital comic by itself. At $3.99 I was faced with the iTunes opportunity cost of a comic that would provide entertainment for 10 to 20 minutes compared to a movie rental that would keep me occupied for at least a couple hours–not to mention the occasional four dollar game with daily replay value. I said to myself, “Self, I’ll only pay what digital comics are worth: $.99.”

Grundy’s Pick of the Week: Romantically Apocalyptic

Surreal, bizarre, and beautiful are the three words that came to mind when I set out to write this week’s pick of the webcomic Romantically Apocalyptic. It is the chronicle of the Captain, an absent-minded boss of various henchmen who may have played a part in the cause of the post-apocalyptic future they now reside. At times, it’s funny. At times, it’s touching. At times, it’s disturbing.

Most of all, I love the art. The use of digitally painted real actors is a refreshing change from the hand-drawn monotony of the comic world. If you are going to start reading, start from the beginning. The story is strange enough without trying to pick it up from the middle.

Grundy’s Pick of the Week: Gutters

Admittedly, I’m a little late to the game with this one. It’s easy to miss a gem or two in the web-comic treasure chest that is the web, but there’s really no excuse for me to feature Gutters this far into my Web Picks. Like Let’s Be Friends Again, Gutters is a comic for comic fans. Unlike LBFA, Gutters uses a variety of artists tackle relevant topics about the characters we love and the industry that profits from them.

A perfect example is the most recent strip inspired by the release of a Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight comic written by Damon Lindelof. Artist “Hawk” mashes-up Batman with Lindelof’s best know property, LOST, resulting in the entire TV series solved in ten minutes by the detective in tights.

If you like meta-humor and know the in-jokes of the superhero biz, Gutters should be a tri-weekly stop for your browser. They update Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Grundy’s Pick of the Week: GeekTyrant

Geek News is almost as big on the internet as News News. It’s ever bit as ubiquitous as tech journalism, social networking and porn. The only problem with geek culture spreading out across the web is that, well, it’s spread out. If you want a CNN-style organization of  your content, you won’t go wrong with GeekTyrant.

At the top of the page you’ll find a list of the five most relevant names in entertainment. Usually these are upcoming movies or highly trending topics in pop culture. Today it’s The Dark Knight Rises, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Amazing Spiderman and Iron Man 3. Below this is an obnoxious banner ad, but, hey, we all gotta monetize. Moving down the page is a list of original articles and links to the geeky stuff of the day. Left of this is much of the same, but seen as thumbnails rather than headlines. This is handy because fan art and movie posters are usually featured here. Overall, I find it a pleasing layout for movie, TV, and comic fandom.

Even if you don’t fancy the format, you can still read the content by plugging the RSS feed into your reader of choice. GeekTyrant is also featured on more user friendly formats like Flipboard, which I feel gives them a certain amount of cred.

Grundy’s Web Pick of the Week: Worth1000

And…I’m back.

If the Internet was Rome, and if Photoshop artists were gladiators, and if this was a better analogy, Worth1000 would be the coliseum. More accurately Worth1000 is an on-line collection of daily contests sorted into categories of theme and skill level. The result is a steady stream of amazingly manipulated images. You may have seen these images on the web-at-large and been taken in by the pixels. Worth1000 has inadvertently triggered hoaxes, celebrity amusement (or abusement) and even major media scandals. (Seriously, the Pentagon once issued a statement distancing itself from Worth1000 images). Needless to say, use this site for entertainment purposes only.

Grundy’s Web Pick of the Week: StumbleUpon

Let’s be honest, one day you won’t have ol’ Grundy here to tell you what sites to visit. If you’re breaking out into a cold sweat right now, just know that’s a prefectly reasonable response. You’d do well to remember the wise words of the good book, The Hitchhicker’s Guide the the Galaxy, and don’t panic! I’ve decided to future proof my web picks. I do this at the risk of making myself expendable by automating the process…and now that I think about it, this is probably a bad move…but ESO isn’t paying me enough anyhow, so here it goes: my pick is StumbleUpon!

Grundy’s Web Pick of the Week: @ThatKevinSmith

This week’s web pick is a tie-in to this week’s ESO Podcast all about Kevin Smith. In the blogging business, we call that synergy. Enjoy!

It’s unclear how much feedback the average celebrity reads on Twitter. I imagine the reply feed of the stars needs a steady refresh to keep up with the “love you, man”s and the “you suck”s of the unwashed masses. I say it is unclear because I rarely see @ replies to respond with follower inquires from the average celebrity. Today’s review isn’t for this celebrity, it’s for @ThatKevinSmith.

Silent Bob is on the other side of the spectrum. He @ replies a lot. Some say too much. Any web savvy fan of the director knows that Kevin Smith is anything but silent. His podcast, called SModcast, is even more dialogue heavy than his films, and word for word, probably funnier. If you’re not prudish in your content selection, I recommend you check it out.

Grundy’s Web Pick of the Week: Rotten Tomatoes

Movies cost over $10 now. And that’s for 2-D flicks! A Hamilton may be a price that the market can bare, but not my wallet. Opportunity cost dictates that I must choose my films and the Grail Knight dictates that I must “choose wisely.” So wisely I shall choose with Rotten Tomatoes.

Disclaimer: RottenTomatoes.com isn’t exactly an obscure choice for a web pick. Most of you are probably familiar with the most popular movie review aggregation site on the ‘net. But, hey, if Hollywood has given up on being original, so can I.

Grundy’s Web Pick of the Week: Great Showdowns

You’ve gotta respect a guy who can come up with a theme and consitently crank out content. I respect Scott C. so much that I’m making his site The Great Showdowns the Web Pick of the Week!

The premise is simple enough. Scott C. highlights two characters or groups from iconic films and paints them facing off. The site has been around a while, so many of the blockbusters you’d expect have been covered, but that hasn’t stopped him from finding very recognizable showdowns to feature.

The art itself isn’t ready for primetime, but I like it. Scott C. has the style of an elementary school watercolor prodigy. As per usual, I’ll let the product speak for itself.

Grundy’s Web Pick of the Week: Project : Rooftop

As nerds, we don’t like artists messing with our beloved characters. Whether it be a DC-wide refresh or a one-off redesign, some of us will always hit the message boards to point out the obvious. We don’t like change.

Or do we? Initial rage aside, we usually come around when the change is for the better. Variety is the spice of life, they say, and I’m always happy to see Wonder Woman dawn the battle armor or Green Lantern supplement his suit with a well placed construct. Too bad there isn’t a place I could go to see a line-up of elseworlds outfits for my favorite heroes…

Turns out there is, Project : Rooftop. It does for fan fic what Project Runway does for models–it plays dress-up. A picture is worth a 1000 words so…

by George Kambadais (www.gkambadais.com)