PRINTMid-Mo comics hit the Web
Columbia artists and characters move online to reach more readers
Jeremy Burt
Jeremy Burt’s Jeremy and Tim comic strip tells the tale of a 9-year-old boy and his best friend, an imaginary lamb. Burt created the comic in the late 1980s but then took 10 years off for college, marriage and kids before transitioning to the Web.
March 18, 2010 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Columbia’s own superheroes, ninjas and talking sheep have made the leap from printed page to digital screen as their creators use the Web to share their work. Web comics are comic strips posted online and usually viewable for free, giving artists an easy way to reach more people than ever before.
“It’s become the primary way to get yourself noticed,” Scott Ziolko says. Ziolko is one of the founders of the Mid-Missouri Comic Collective, an informal group of Columbia comic artists and enthusiasts better known as Midmococo. The group began in 2005 and meets monthly to swap ideas and discuss comic work.
Local artist Jeremy Burt says before the Internet the only way to reach a mass audience was through syndication. A syndicate acts as an agent for comic artists and gets their work printed in as many newspapers as possible.
“It’s almost like these hoity-toity people up on a hill were saying ‘You can’t get there without us,’” Burt says. “And now it’s kind of like everyone’s thumbing their nose and saying ‘We don’t need you anymore.’”
Now local artists share their comics online, but how their work gets there varies. Some draw comics on paper and then scan and upload them. Others scan but then digitize (or tweak) the frames using programs such as Adobe Illustrator. A third option is using a digitized tablet that plugs into the computer and allows artists to draw on it like they would on paper. The artists upload their comics to the Web, and voilá — they are ready to entertain the world.
Because of the reach of the Web, some artists are abandoning print entirely, but others are trying to build an online audience before they dish out the dough for print copies. Gary Lister, creator of a sci-fi adventure Web comic, falls into the latter category. “I think one needs the other, and I don’t think one will ever be totally gone,” he says. “They go hand in hand. Web comics generate interest in the print comics.”
Midmococo member J.B. Winter agrees because he prefers the tangible, hold-in-your-hand kind of comic. “It almost feels hypocritical asking people to read my Web comics when I probably won’t read theirs,” he says.
For most of the Midmococo artists, the business aspect of their work isn’t important. “I’m totally not in it for the money,” says Keith Chan, creator of a superhero comic set in Columbia. “The vast majority of people doing Web comics aren’t making a cent.”
Instead, the reward comes from sharing their work, and that’s what social networking is for.
“The biggest thing the Internet has done for me is being able to shout louder,” says Burt, who uses Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn and a blog. “Back in the ’80s, I would have had to call 450 people and say ‘Hey, did you read my comic strip today?’ Now I put it up, and 450 people know instantly.”
Columbia's Web Comics
Click on the comic to check out more of Scott Ziolko's 3D and Lewis Adventure.
Click on the comic to check out more of Jeremy Burt's Jeremy and Tim.
Click on the comic to check out more of Gary Lister's Morganna of the Borgs.
Click on the comic to check out Public Notice and J.B. Winter's other work.
Click on the comic to check out Joy and Keith Chan's other work.
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Hi,
I'm Jeremy Burt, (the artist of "Jeremy And Tim" - from the article above)
I'm afraid that one of my statements in the article may have been taken a bit out of context, and I want to take a moment to clear it up...
My comment(s) were directed towards the question as to why webcomics have become so prevalent today. The statements reflect the attitude of comic artists who are either using the web exclusively to publish their content, or those who are no longer seeking syndication of their material - UNLIKE myself.
Though it wasn't printed in this article, I went on to say that while you do have more freedom over your content and availability online as an "independent", you don't receive the benefit of a syndicate's value, which is to place your comic strip in a number of venues and media that you would never have had access to on your own.
I would like to say again here what I said then:
While I enjoy putting my comics online, and appreciate the freedom to do whatever I wish with "Jeremy And Tim" for now - I would GLADLY accept an offer from ANY syndicate that showed interest in the "Jeremy And Tim" comic strip. This is an attitude that I have had since I was a child (and, frankly, one that I hope has not been effected by the publication of this article.)
Anybody who has followed my story knows that the only reason that I revived the "Jeremy And Tim" comic strip last year was to generate an entry for Amazon's "Comic Strip Superstar Contest"... a contest being held by - among others - a syndication company. The whole purpose of entering the contest was ultimately to achieve syndication... an achievement that I would still very much love to see come to pass for "Jeremy And Tim" some day (ideally some day in the near future :)
It's unfortunate that one of my only quotes in the article sounded so negative toward the very type of organization that ended up putting me "back on the map" last year with the "Comic Strip Superstar Contest". I owe a great deal of gratitude to Amazon and Universal Press Syndicate for presenting a venue that allowed me to get back into the comics like I have, and it's a shame that the printed version of this article will not reflect that gratitude.
I greatly appreciate VOX allowing me to be a part of this article, but I will say that I have learned a big lesson here about how to respond to questions, and what exactly to avoid saying in the future - regardless of my intent.
Posted by Jeremy Burt on Mar 18, 2010 at 1:37 a.m. (Report Comment)