Blank Label Comics... Spotless?!

Odd1 · Post by **Odd1** » Mon May 23, 2005 3:37 pm

Hurray! Another comic forum to polute with nonsense.

Ida · Post by **Ida** » Mon May 23, 2005 3:38 pm

Well, it's a nice webpage... I don't think I quite understand the idea of breaking out of one collective just to form a new, but them about that. And don't hate so much on Keenspot!
At least as long as Chris Crosby frequents the forums...

MixedMyth · Post by **MixedMyth** » Mon May 23, 2005 3:50 pm

Melonpool wrote:
MixedMyth wrote:Mmm. Interesting. Honestly, though, I don't know how much good such a group will do anyone else. It's cool fo the cartoonists, so kudos for them, but I guess I was sorta hoping for a group that would help indy webcomics in general. Advise from pros and the like....a little more interactive. Ahhh well.
It will be, eventually. It's only been live for a few hours.

Ahh. So it is in the plans? That'll be nice. Good luck!

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Mon May 23, 2005 6:15 pm

Well... I greet this new label. Competition is always a good thing. Whenever Keenspot gets more competition, they start actually trying again.

steverules wrote:
Jackhass wrote:
steverules wrote:People, Keenspot is not going anywhere just because a few comics left it.
Then why were you calling them a sinking ship not 5 minutes ago?
Dude, that was in jest. It was a jab at the "us" vs. "them" mentality. So a few comics left Keenspot. They've picked up some power players like Todd and Penguin and the Devil's Panties. Keenspot is in no danger of going anywhere. For every one comic that chooses to leave there are 100 lined up begging to get in.

*gives Jackhass a medal*

Dude... you ruined a good joke. Or made it better, I don't know.

Risky · Post by **Risky** » Mon May 23, 2005 10:04 pm

I've been watching Starshift's page for about a week, the splashes were pretty amusing (without the schlock indeed). So far the comic is... eh... but then again, page 2 just went up, so it's a bit early to judge. The concept is original, at least.

The Neko · Post by **The Neko** » Mon May 23, 2005 10:08 pm

I thought this was hilariously awesome. I mean, the timing of them all leaving at the same time was too conspicuous not to be suspicious. I like how Spot now has competition. Although, it seems that they're all paying for their own hosting, only they're just banded together for promotional reasons.

Ghastly · Post by **Ghastly** » Mon May 23, 2005 10:10 pm

Saw this one coming from a mile away.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue May 24, 2005 5:29 am

The Neko wrote:too conspicuous not to be suspicious.

Halp! Neko started rapping!

RemusShepherd · Post by **RemusShepherd** » Tue May 24, 2005 5:33 am

I find this odd.

Competition is good, sure. But I don't see what they're gaining by going independant as a group. Instead of being admins for just their own comics, the technically adept among them are admins for almost a dozen comics at once. The cross-promotion is no better than the cross-promotion they got at Spot. And I can't see them getting better advertising rates than Spot does.

I'm guessing one of the group is a web/SQL genius, and thought he/she could do it better. Well, best of luck to them.

Steverules · Post by **Steverules** » Tue May 24, 2005 6:31 am

RemusShepherd wrote: Competition is good, sure. But I don't see what they're gaining by going independant as a group.

What they gain is 100% of the advertising revenue from their google ads. It brings them an extra few hundred a month. Enough, for at least one of them to quit his day job and focus completely on his cartoon.

Col · Post by **Col** » Tue May 24, 2005 7:34 am

I can't believe no one's compared this to when all those artists banned together and jumped off of Marvel comics and started Image comics. But then again, I'm probably one of the few people who reads those type of comics.

Edit: And wow, that really is a nice website design. Like Corgan said, I'm inclined to read a lot of those comics now, for some reason.

Steverules · Post by **Steverules** » Tue May 24, 2005 7:39 am

Col wrote:I can't believe no one's compared this to when all those artists banned together and jumped off of Marvel comics and started Image comics. But then again, I'm probably one of the few people who reads those type of comics.

Edit: And wow, that really is a nice website design. Like Corgan said, I'm inclined to read a lot of those comics now, for some reason.

I remember that. Todd McFarlane-YES, Jim Lee-Yes-Erik Larsen-YES. . . Rob Liefield. . . (in my best Darth Vader)
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

And, I, too, am more inclined to read those comics as well. In fact I already added the link to my favorites.

William G · Post by **William G** » Tue May 24, 2005 7:46 am

Col wrote:I can't believe no one's compared this to when all those artists banned together and jumped off of Marvel comics and started Image comics.

The main difference is that the Blank Label artists produce the occasional good comic.

Ghastly · Post by **Ghastly** » Tue May 24, 2005 8:30 am

William G wrote: The main difference is that the Blank Label artists produce the occasional good comic.

Mr.Bob · Post by **Mr.Bob** » Tue May 24, 2005 8:34 am

Nothing brings a bigger lump to your throat than an accusing French mime.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue May 24, 2005 9:29 am

Well, William G has posted in this thread, I have no doubt that soon enough it will burst into a flamy debate and be locked, so... IN BEFORE THE LOCK!

steverules wrote:
RemusShepherd wrote: Competition is good, sure. But I don't see what they're gaining by going independant as a group.
What they gain is 100% of the advertising revenue from their google ads. It brings them an extra few hundred a month. Enough, for at least one of them to quit his day job and focus completely on his cartoon.

That and according to Howard Tyler, profit that he got was more than he and Keenspot got while he was on spot - which IMO was accusation of bad business plan, at least concearning the choice of adds and similar stuff. So I guess these guys hope that their income will tripple, just like his was. Actually, I can imagine that that was the deciding factor.

Steverules · Post by **Steverules** » Tue May 24, 2005 9:51 am

Hmmmm. Scott Kurtz tells the whole story. Now we can sleep at night.
http://pvponline.com/

From PVP:

After working with these guys for four months, I can finally let the cat out of the bag.

Six of Keenspot's premiere cartoonists have left to go independent and start their own web comics label. You can read the official press release at their site here.

In the fall of 2004 I started chatting with Kristofer Straub about his leaving Keenspot and going on his own. I told Kris that I had had a similar conversation, independently, with several other cartoonists and that he should contact them to discuss going independent and starting their own web-label.

In March, Kris and I made a list of people we felt were "safe" to contact about the possibility of leaving Keenspot. This was going to be a delicate task because many of these guys were, honestly, scared to leave. I told Kris to let these guys know that I was on board and would be lending advice, support and, hopefully, a lot of traffic to their new endeavor. And so the wheels started to turn.

The basic ideal behind the move was as follows: Individually, these cartoonists could probably not easily survive outside Keenspot on their own. But together, sharing knowledge, resources, talents and traffic, they can accomplish together what they could not alone. And, outside the stagnant management of Keenspot, they could actually earn more money and make PROGRESS. The downside was that now THEY were responsible for all the problems, troubles, and potential failures down the road. They couldn't blame Keen for their woes any more.

The forming of BLANK LABEL COMICS is a big story in the webcomics community. It's a big story because of the change I've seen in these cartoonists over a three month period. They went from being afraid to leave Keen to being afraid NOT to leave. They went from not owning their own URLs to working up their own archiving scripts and setting up their own hosting.

They've experienced their first setbacks too. Their first choice for hosting didn't work out, scripts failed intially, and someone tried to spoil things by leaking the news about Blank Label early (Manley you ass). That's good. In three months, I've seen these guys do and learn more than after spending three YEARS at Keenspot. And now these problems don't seem so scary anymore. Now they are more confident and that's progress. That's progress before the site has even gone live.

A lot of people are going to try to put a spin on this story: Keen management will publically say that they are happy for the guys at BLC but they know they'll be back. Keen loyalists will say this is my further attempt to destroy Keenspot and anti-Keen people will claim this is the first nail in the coffin for Crosby and crew. Don't buy into the spin.
The real story here is that a bunch of really talented guys are taking a chance, putting their necks out and trying to do this on their own. They are removing themselves from the community and the drama to focus on making progress. Most importantly, they already have.

I'm proud to be a part of Blank Label Comics, even if it's just as an advisor and instigator. I'm proud of these guys.

And I'm looking forward to what's in store from them next.

Starline · Post by **Starline** » Tue May 24, 2005 10:03 am

Ghastly wrote:Saw this one coming from a mile away.

Same here.

Starline

Ryuko · Post by **Ryuko** » Tue May 24, 2005 1:44 pm

steverules wrote:
Col wrote:I can't believe no one's compared this to when all those artists banned together and jumped off of Marvel comics and started Image comics. But then again, I'm probably one of the few people who reads those type of comics.

Edit: And wow, that really is a nice website design. Like Corgan said, I'm inclined to read a lot of those comics now, for some reason.
I remember that. Todd McFarlane-YES, Jim Lee-Yes-Erik Larsen-YES. . . Rob Liefield. . . (in my best Darth Vader)
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

And, I, too, am more inclined to read those comics as well. In fact I already added the link to my favorites.

Mmmm... Image. Is anyone else reading The Walking Dead? I love me some zombie-comic.

Col · Post by **Col** » Tue May 24, 2005 6:17 pm

I read the first trade paperback of Walking Dead. Not bad. Really liked the art. Right now I'm looking for some collected editions of Invincible.