Sara Holwerda, Webcomics Reporter. Sorta.

Adam-

In regards to the lecture i went to this evening...

Ted Rall was the speaker. He is a political cartoonist, and has work in something like 140 publications. or he has 140 editiors,..I took a page and a half of notes. mostly bc he was a funny guy and said some things well. but also i wanted to get the dish for you, bc it sounds like his approach to comics is similar to yours...i/e/ not going to school specifically for it, being an avid fan, and consistantly doing work and putting it in a public venue. you have your blog, Ted got his start flyering NYC with his comics. To the point he was arrested. He mentioned Scott McCloud's book, 'Understanding Comics,' and the most important thing he said in regards to what you're doing is that web comics are the new thing.....with the only major drawback being that they aren't economically beneficial for the artists. some bloggers, like you probably know, are charging advertisers. of course, high readership is key there. also, merchandise is a good way to go, like strongbad t-shirts. But he cited persistance, exposure by any means nessesary and being in ever publication you can, and general marketing tenacity as being very big factors for success. He's got a publication DEVOTED to web comic artists, and it's called ATTITUDE, and the third volume is coming out. Like I said, i'm not sure how often, but it doesn't hurt to try. And he's pretty infamous on the left....he's cited as the #15 of '100 People Who are Screwing up America.' (the writers of this book i'm sure did not include Bush, and probably did include Micheal Moore, just in terms of alignment...)

Anyway...I hope this was informative. I really like his talk anyway. he made jokes about his shirt the entire time...it's orange, and it's the one he wears on fox news bc apparently blue is the best color to wear on tv, and orange is the absolute worst.

I think you should come to ann arbor for the film festival. not sure when it is....but i think you'd totally love it.

love you

sara