Some odds and ends:

Monday noon is the deadline to put your name down for my Manhattan Seminar taking place May 1 and 2.

Neil linked to it, so I should also let you know that Why I’m Not Neil Gaiman (2001) is online in case you’ve never read it.

Our old friend Matt (who was totally Thor in the Secret Wars Re-Enactment Society!) has been directing the wonderfully dark and twisted There Will Be Brawl, with co-creator Zach Grafton.

One week until China. Have a great weekend.

In the comments to an earlier entry about formats and Lightbox 2, Chris Bolton links to a full screen version of the same approach that’s worth checking out as well.

Of course, this has precedents. Whatever you think of Zuda and their business model, I think they at least had their eyes on the ball when it came to design priorities. “Fit the screen/fill the screen” isn’t a bad way to go for page-to-page formats. Unlike strips, which can thrive in a terrarium of distractions, long form comics work best if all other distractions go away until the story is over. Sadly, both full screen modes seem to short-circuit keyboard commands, but we can’t have everything. (No wait. Screw that! Why can’t we?)

My dream “next page” button?: The spacebar.

Or better yet: Just tap and slide.

We’ll see.

First reader to find the secret message wins.

[Warning. Read comments first. And notice the date.]

It’s all here. Help out one comics’ greats any way you can.

Also going the distance is David Chelsea who’ll be dedicating his next 24-hour comic event to raising money for Wilson.

Hope you’ll join me for my two-day making comics seminar in Manhattan, courtesy of the MFA in Interaction Design Program at the School of Visual Arts and IxDA NYC. Details here.

In reference to our earlier thread on formats, I think for those who choose a screen-fitting page-to-page approach, the format SMASH uses is one of the better ways to go.

Designed for photo slideshows, I assume (at least that’s where I usually see it) but a nice fit for long-form comics.

[Update: They’re using Lightbox 2. See comments.]

And the first one to get that reference wins second-biggest nerd prize.

Don’t know if you’d glanced at the right sidebar, but we now have a proper feed, as well as (thanks to Lori) a syndicated livejournal feed.

"Scotty McCloud" by Becky from Tiny Kitten Teeth

Met an old friend of the family (and her own wonderful family) at Vassar last month who called me “Scotty.” I realized that my older sister Ruth was the only one who ever called me that. (Diana, the FOTF, was about my sister’s age).

We did have a “Scotty” (Scottish Terrier) named “Maddy” for years though, sadly no longer with us. Preceded the naming of Neil’s youngest, though no cause-and-effect should be inferred. 

Random thoughts, spurred by yesterday’s inbox, and an adorable bit of art from Becky at Tiny Kitten Teeth.

The New England Webcomics Weekend (remember?) was a big hit and newsworthy in and of itself, but of special interest to the mad scientist set (okay, me) was their “Infinite Canvas Room”—a big room of blank walls anyone could add post-it panels to. This was the same method that produced Merlin’s groundbreaking PoCom-UK-001 at London’s Institute for Contemporary Arts in 2003. No Merlin around to adapt this one, but fortunately we have this video walkthrough to commemorate it.

“…Goldman started with a definition of what comics are: stories told with words and pictures”

[SXSW “Comics on Handhelds” panel – link via James Burns]

Dan Goldman is, I’m sure, using the above in the spirit of opening minds to comics’ range and flexibility. But under the image of the Watchmen “motion comic” it offers a grim reminder of how our conception of comics now can point us down some dark roads in the near future.

I don’t doubt that a lot of hard work and earnest creativity went into the building of the WMC, but if the future of comics is cheap pseudomovies on cell phones, you can count me out.