Thank you to Brigit Grant and her editor, Cate Langmuir for the great coverage of Jane’s World in the new issue of London’s Pride Life magazine. They have a cool application that allows you to check out the magazine online if you aren’t able to pick it up in person. The JW story starts on page 37.
Sometimes you have one of those days where you’re just feeling overwhelmed. On those days if you create a comic online (note to self) you should not take comments to heart. Well, yesterday was one of those days and when I checked the Comics.com comments field I just didn’t take it so well. (Scroll down the comics.com page to read the comments.)
But today is another day, and optimism is my mutant power.
That being said, the issue of free content on the Web is still stewing in the back of my mind from yesterday. Nothing on the web is actually free, and because of that I believe the Internet as we know it now, is going to go through a huge transformation in the next few years.
We’re all so used to Googling something online and getting lists of news items and stories, but most of that free information originated at a brick and mortar newspaper or magazine. Places where reporters and editors get paid a salary, benefits, where the rent on the building is paid, etc. What happens to all the “free” content on the web when newspapers cease to exist?
According to the New York Times (online), The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will stop printing in 60 days unless the newspaper’s owner, the Hearst Corporation, can find a buyer by then.
If Seattle’s oldest newspaper stops publishing this spring it will join a long list of American papers that have fallen victim in recent years to changing habits, economics and technology.
The Cincinnati Post: 1881-2007
The Albuquerque Tribune: 1922-2008
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: 1863-2009?
Nearly 200 dailies have expired since 1990. And, in almost every instance, their deaths have touched off civic mourning that suggests a shuttered newspaper is more than just another failed business. (According to the Seattle Times online)
Losing local newspapers, whether we realize it now or not, is a looming civic crisis.
Having worked at newspapers for the first 12 years of my illustration career, I have my own opinions about why they can’t retain readers, but the collapse of the newspaper industry will have far reaching effects in our democracy… effects that I don’t think we’re even able to predict.
Comics will not be the only victims of the contraction of media space and dollars.
I guess in my knee jerk response to criticism of my own “free content” online it got me thinking about the bigger conundrum of “free content” which has never really been “free” in the first place.
from Monday’s comic
I do check the comics.com site from time to time to see what comments are coming through. This particular group is an interesting thread. And I’d love to hear some feedback: http://comics.com/janes_world/2009-01-26/
JW used to be daily and free to Comics.com visitors. You don’t have to be an accountant to know that “free” will not pay your power bill. BUT collecting the comic into book form will get you some cash but people who read the comic online for free don’t necessarily buy the books when they come out. So while you’re doing the “free” delivery of your comic you have to have a day job to pay that silly power/light bill.
So riddle me this, kind readers… what is a modern day cartoonist to do?
Keep providing free content because you love to do comics (which has been my path thus far) because newspapers are closing daily (have you noticed?) or go offline and do the work for your own enjoyment, with no worry about deadlines?
The “weekly comic” was my solution to keep JW online AND keep caught up at my “day job.” This means however, that some weeks the comic will be longer and sometimes shorter… based on where the break in the flow of the storyline makes sense. It’s a challenge to pull out segments of a longer narrative and have them work as stand alone installments online.
Weekly is certainly not ideal, but I thought adding color might soften the blow.
And for those of you who support indy comic artists by buying the books this whole discussion is a moot point (AND THANK YOU!!)
Comments welcome 
I was rearranging some artwork and came across this partially finished drawing of Jane and Chelle on Chelle’s motorcycle. The image was for the cover of Issue 23 and now that I’m looking back I wonder why I didn’t like the original sketch. I suppose I thought the front tire was too prominent in the image for a cover illustration. But now that I’m looking it over months later I sort of like it.
Anyway, just thought I’d share in case you guys are into “partially finished” images. You can click each image to see a larger view.
Partially finished illustration
Final cover for Issue 23
Excerpted from Monday’s JW comic on Comics.com
I meant to post this image on Monday or Tuesday and here it is FRIDAY. (How does that happen?) I was just going to do one of those “insider” posts about this current trend in my life. For some reason, for the past year, I’ve been inexplicably drawn to the pairing of orange and green. This has manifested in accessories, shoes, Timbuk2 bags, dishes, furniture, etc. Can anyone out there explain what this means? I’m sure there’s some psychic root that I should be aware of!
And then today, my creative life partner, Jason McNamara, sent me a link to a new review of The Martian Confederacy. Thank you Ryan McLelland for a VERY nice review of our book on the Aint it Cool News site. Feel the love.
Have a great weekend. If you’re reading this in Chicago then I hope you have ear muffs and mittens!
As one of my kind readers, Warren, pointed out a couple of weeks ago, the home page for Jane’s World didn’t really reflect the new outlets where Jane appears. It also didn’t reflect the timing of WHEN Jane appears. So today there’s a new home page with new and improved links. Cheers!
A few readers may notice that today’s comic is a repeat. One of my personal favorites that I thought might look cool in color. It also offered me one more week to get new material ready for the site. A little “holiday” respite if you will.
But I just wanted to let folks know that this is the last repeat.
Happy New Year… onward and upward with fresh Jane.
Hello friends, neighbors and fellow comic fans. I hope everyone had as much fun on New Year’s eve as I did!
And I wanted to let Jane’s World fans know that my pal in comics, Stephan Pastis, (aka: Shallow Breast Guy) has a new blog.
Check it out: Pearls Before Swine Blog