Month: July 2012

Sheldonista Mallory Eagles sent me in this awesome shot: “…I have found a lovely spot to put our brand-new Arthur statue now that he’s home. The thing I love the most about
this is that they match.”

That’s awesome, Mallory: Thanks!

I think we’ve buttoned up the last remaining bugs for the new site, but it’s worth askin’: Any remaining bugs you know about that I’m missing?

Drop me an e-mail, or post below — and thanks for the help!

I’ve done a strip on this topic before, but David A. Bell’s wonderfully written article, “The Bookless Libary,” has me thinking about the impact of eBooks on the way our culture reads, so forgive me if I revisit it.

The idea that eBook readers, once they are truly cheap and dominant, will kill either the traditional local library or traditional publishers’ business model is one that I find endlessly fascinating. It’s an interesting and not implausible mind game, to imagine scenarios for both…although truthfully, I imagine publishers maintain the upper hand. They are the ones who control the “supply” of new books, as well as hundreds of thousands of existing copyrighted works. They can choose to limit supply, delay supply (as is done with movies, after theatrical runs), limit user-counts on any digital copy, or refuse to sell eBooks to libraries at all.

And yet I find myself more drawn to the flip-side idea: The scenario where publicly held and publicly lent books in a digital public library system could slowly bring down publishing as we know it.

We all know why people tended to buy a paper book when the same book was available from the library. You got a fresh book that was yours, forever yours, to display in and complete your shelves of books. It had no library “stains,” no torn-out pages nor dog-eared, hand-noted chapters. You didn’t have to wait on another librarian patron to return the book so you could check it out. And it never had to be given back. No, a store-bought book was yours,in the way that only a physical object can be yours.

But those impulses change dramatically when it comes to digital goods.

Think of it from the average consumer’s angle: What, aside from the altruism of supporting new art or their favorite artists, is the impetus for a mass audience to buy an eBook… when the identical zeroes and ones can be borrowed for free? Sitting on their couch at home, would the average person choose to instantly buy a book, or instantly borrow that book, when both require picking up a tablet and 10 seconds of downloading?

Libraries were born out of scarcity, after all. A book was expensive to produce, expensive to keep safe, and (generally speaking) rare. What happens when a book is neither expensive to produce, distribute, maintain, or copy? What happens when your local library has the computing power to give everyone in their community a free copy of every book ever written?

The internet has shown, again and again, that the average consumer always tends toward the cheaper, faster solution. And all things being equal between delivery systems, there’s no debate which one is more advantageous for the individual: The borrowed copy.

But I wanna hear your thoughts on the matter. I’m fascinated to hear other people’s thoughts on it. And by all means: Link to any relevant articles by librarians or publishers. I’m curious to see where the existing decision-makers come down on the topic.

I’m sure you remember that I’m working on a feature-length documentary on comics, called STRIPPED, with my good friend and co-creator, Fred Schroeder. Well this week, we have some fun news:

Bill Watterson of Calvin & Hobbes is involved in the film! Read more about it, here.

I just wanted to take a second to thank everyone who came by at San Diego Comic-Con to say hi. Everyone was so kind with their words for Sheldon, Drive and Stripped — it absolutely made my year. Working throughout the year, there are mostly quiet moments alone, drawing. So to have these concentrated five days where all these kind folks tell your superlative things about your work….it’s just lovely.

I’ll hold onto your kind words throughout the rest of the year. It’s sustaining…I kid you not.

Thank you thank you for all being so awesome!

While touring around the old Disney animation studios in Burbank (…got to go into Walt’s office!), I took this pic with Walt & Mickey. I kinda want this on my driver’s license, now.

I had the pleasure of having my friend and fellow cartoonist Brad Guigar stay over right before San Diego Comic-con. And in the process of trying out my new stand-up drafting table, he also drew this most excellent guest strip for Wednesday’s Sheldon.

Thanks, Brad!

It’s been a long time a-comin’, but the new Sheldon site is live. We were shooting for a cheerier, cleaner look that streamlined the site…and I think it came out pretty great! I hope you like it.

Speaking of which: I need to publicly thank Tyler Martin for the excellent design work, and Phillip Karlsson for the hosting implementation. As with any new site, there will be bugs a-plenty, so please bear with me (especially as this is launching while I’m away at SDCC, and can’t fix much until next week). But we’ll get to any bugs, I promise!

A few notes on the new site:
– As you may have noticed, all the strips will be growing larger, from 800px wide to 900px wide. It’s gonna make for a much better reading experience. But! We’ve only upsized about 3,000 of the 3,500…so those won’t go live just yet.
– One of my favorite new features is the “5 years ago today” section, which shows you what strip ran way back when. Just click the image to read that strip!
– There’s now a “permalink” button for linking to today’s strip, and social media links! Woo! 2007, here I come!
– On the “Extras” link, you’ll see I’ve started adding in videos. I’ll be adding more, as we go…especially as trailers for the movie start appearing!
– The formatting of the store and forums are both still wonky, as we go live. I’ll attend to those next week. Be patient if you notice something weird: We’ll get it fixed.
– Previously, if you missed grabbing the original art, you were out of luck. But now, you can grab a print of it.

As always, bug catches are appreciated, either below in the comments (…if they’re working! Ha!) or via e-mail to me. Thanks, all!

I’ll be there all five days in booth 1228, with TWO new books (new Pugs books & new Drive book)! Here’s what you need to know:

Here’s the breakdown:

1.) New Pugs book is debuting at the show! The original Pugs book just went into a second printing, and the new book will be joining it at San Diego. It’s called “Pugs: They Think They’re People. Really Old, Retired People.” Here’s the cover:

2.) New Drive book! I’m really excited for you guys to see this one. The advance copy that I have looks sa-weet.

3.) There’ll be a few posters new to San Diego, as well. Like the Batpug poster and the Wine Spectator poster!

4.) Friday night, please don’t miss my panel for my documentary movie, Stripped! 7-8PM, Room 25ABC. We’ll be screening over 8 minutes of the film, as well as sharing behind-the-scenes stories, and answering any questions you have for us! It’s gonna be a pretty fun panel: We’re pretty fun guys. (Aaaaand, we have one huge bit of news that comics fans are going to go nuts for.) Come on out! Friday, 7/13/12, 7-8PM, Room 25ABC!

5.) ONE LAST THING! If you’re coming to the show, and want to snag a piece of original art at $25-off the normal price, please e-mail me. I can’t bring all 3,000 strips to the show, so I really need you to e-mail me with the one you want. T’anks!

I’ll be there all five days in booth 1228, with TWO new books (new Pugs books & new Drive book)! Here’s what you need to know:

Here’s the breakdown:

1.) New Pugs book is debuting at the show! The original Pugs book just went into a second printing, and the new book will be joining it at San Diego. It’s called “Pugs: They Think They’re People. Really Old, Retired People.” Here’s the cover:

2.) New Drive book! I’m really excited for you guys to see this one. The advance copy that I have looks sa-weet.

3.) There’ll be a few posters new to San Diego, as well. Like the Batpug poster and the Wine Spectator poster!

4.) Friday night, please don’t miss my panel for my documentary movie, Stripped! 7-8PM, Room 25ABC. We’ll be screening over 8 minutes of the film, as well as sharing behind-the-scenes stories, and answering any questions you have for us! It’s gonna be a pretty fun panel: We’re pretty fun guys. (Aaaaand, we have one huge bit of news that comics fans are going to go nuts for.) Come on out! Friday, 7/13/12, 7-8PM, Room 25ABC!

5.) ONE LAST THING! If you’re coming to the show, and want to snag a piece of original art at $25-off the normal price, please e-mail me. I can’t bring all 3,000 strips to the show, so I really need you to e-mail me with the one you want. Thanks!