Webcomic Beacon #183: Community Showcase: ACT-I-VATE

Fes and Tanya are here to talk about the collective, ACT-I-VATE! 5 years in the making with dozens of contributors. On the show with us we have Troy Wilson of  PANELS FOR PRIMATES, Chris Miskiewicz of EVERYWHERE, Seth Kushner of CulturePOP, Dov Torbin of THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED, and James Smith of GANG OF FOOLS.

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The break song was We Are The Vikings by Koni LaCroiz | Notes: Wyliman, The HOPE: Hero Initiative charity anthology (Diamond Order Code DEC101038.), The Primate Rescue Center, Talking with Tim (Panels for Primates),

Webcomic Beacon #182: Newscast #18: Comic News & Discussion for April 24, 2011

Onezumi and Harknell (Intervention Con) rejoins Rosscott and Eric Kimble for this edition of the Webcomic Beacon Newscast!

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News

Net Neutrality: Europe Sides with Telecoms Throttling Traffic
(Source: GiGaOM)

Darkhorse Starts Digital Initiative
(Source: News-a-Rama – Darkhorse Digital)

Bynder Open Micro e-Publishing House
(Source: Tech Crunch – via GiGaOM)
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Discussion

Scott Adams Caught Sockpuppeting
(Source: Gawker – via Forum post on webcomics.com)

P. Craig Russell Discusses Converting His Comic for an App
(Source: Lurid Media – via Bleeding Cool)

Mark Waid Talks About the Fundamental Difference of Digital and Print Comics
(Source: Robot 6)

Why Editorial Cartoons are Undervalued on the Web
(Source: Cagle Post – via The Daily Cartoonist)

On Demand Services like Netflix Dwarfing Media Ownership
(Source: GiGaOM)

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Tidbits

How to use your College Library as Zombie Webcomic
(via: Bleeding Cool – Original PDF)

Another Eisner Nominee Releases Their Book for Free
(Source: Bleeding Cool)

Scott McCloud’s Very Narrow Tutorial on Lettering
(Source: Scott McCloud – Part 1, Part 2)

Duff Beer Illegal in Lithuania
Lithuania has anti alcohol defamation laws.  The Simpsons Duff bear was found in violation.
(Source: The Australian – via Bleeding Cool)

Lecture by Paul Levitz at Google
DC’s online strategy is to wait for a kid to come up with a good idea and then steal it from him?
(Source: Bleeding Cool)

 

Webcomic Beacon #181: Payment and Funding Options

Jeremy Bernal (NSFW: SexyFur and Tail Heat) and Mac Paladin (Starship Moonhawk) join Fes Works, Tanya Higgins, and Eric Kimble to discuss Payment and Funding Options. Carrying over a discussion from the last Newscast (episode 180), we continue the coverage that VISA is discriminating against certain kinds of websites…. but only in the United States and Canada. All the while MasterCard doesn’t. Don’t worry, we also go into additional ways to accept payments online.

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Sites covered include CCBill, Vertotel, Epoch, Paypal, AlertPay, Flattr, and Square. We have call-ins from Max Vähling (Conny Van Ehlsing) and Caytlin Vilbrandt (Walking on Broken Glass).

Cover Art by: CD Rudd (Sailor Sun)

The break song was Tryna Get Paid (abridged) by Mr. 427| Notes: , | Milestones:Kitsune Kiki (100)

Webcomic Beacon #180: Newscast #17: Comic News & Discussion for April 17th, 2011

H. Caldwell Tanner (LOLDWELL) joins Rosscott, Alex Heberling, and Eric Kimble for this edition of the Webcomic Beacon Newscast! There is much to discuss and cover, including, Photoshop Touch, TokyoPop closing down its America offices, Dave Kellet giving away his book, and more!

We also have an original story setup and researched by our own Eric Kimble. Apparently VISA, the credit card giant, is discriminating against certain adult websites. Essentially, their definition of “adult” includes simple nudity. Additionally, they have been purging websites that don’t contain beings that aren’t 100% human. This includes furries, elves, mermaids, and catgirls.

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Read more on the all of the stories mentioned on this show, and their links,
after the jump:

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News

Photoshop for Tablets Released
(Source: GiGaOM)
From the article “Photoshop Touch will first be implemented in three official Adobe apps scheduled for May release, called Eazel, Color Lava and Nav. Each app essentially transforms your iPad into an additional control device or surface for your desktop-based installation of Adobe Photoshop.”

Proposed Hulu-Like Service for E-books
(Source: GiGaOM)
From article “What does Hulu for e-books mean? Book publishers themselves should get together like NBCU, Fox and Disney did and begin to offer their content — or at least some of their content — in both ad-supported and subscription offerings.

OK, you ask, why should they do that and not just let, say, Google or Amazon do it instead? Unless I’m wrong, publishers are the only ones with big enough rights libraries of both new and catalog titles to package up in a variety of ways to make this idea interesting. And in an agency-model world, booksellers like Amazon can’t adjust pricing as they see fit, only the publisher can (which is why I have my doubts about startups like 24Symbols).”

Amazon is Now Selling More Ebooks Than Paper Books
(Source: Business Insider – via The Daily Cartoonist)

Tokyo Pop Closing Down Its USA Offices.
(Source: The Daily Cartoonist)

Webcomic Beacon Original –
Visa Purging “Furry” Sites From Their Client Base.
(by Eric Kimble)
This is a story that I have been working on myself. The Webcomic beacon is in a sense the one breaking this story.  The short of this story is over the last year Visa has been rejecting any site that is both adult (featuring nudity) and has non-human character (mermaids, catgirls, werewolfs etc).  This rule has been specifically enforce for any site that has Furries in adult situation.

The Fact that I have been able to ascertain are as follows:
Something happened in 2003.  In 2003 Paypal changed it user agreement to ban adult content.  And at almost the same time Visa began and anti pornography program along with the other credit card companies.  Something put the fear of god into these companies.

Upon further investigation it seem the thing that scared the credit card industry was the the Child Protection Act 2257.  In name it was an act to prevent child pornography but the Bush administration pursued it with fervor dedicating a good deal of money to prosecuting business that did not keep the correct records.

Visa campaign was the most extensive.  Nominally a campaign to stop child pornography Visa began reviewing every adult site that used their card and imposed a $750 setup $500 fee to charge regardless of the nature of the adult site’s content for these reviews.  Violator according to Visa standards were drop from the system with out appeal and a percentage of violators were reported to the government for prosecution. Visa campaign went far beyond what the other payment system were doing.

In 2010 Visa began using their review process to drop any site that were classified at adult and had images of non-human character.  This fact has been confirm by a number of site owner and worker at an adult payment gateway system that uses Visa.

Visa refuses to release the factors they use to evaluate sites.  This information is not even given to affiliate payment gateway companies. This fact has been confirmed by a worker at an adult payment gateway. Officially Visa does not allow Child Porn, Rape, and Bestiality from an article in the 2003 CSM.  It appears that Furry porn is being classified as bestiality.

The visa restriction include restrictions on mystical creatures such as mermaid.  (Source: Eric Kimble)

Visa controls about 40% of the credit card market and 60% of the debit card market in 2008.  (Source: Wikipedia)

Visa review process both the fee and the review of site for content only apply to the United State and Canada.  It is not applied in the European Union and a number of site have Incorporated in the EU to avoid the restriction.

Additional Sources Used:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0224/p01s01-ussc.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00002257—-000-.html
Direct contact via employees at CCBill and Epoc
Michael Prokop and Jeremy Bernal
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Discussion

Hetalia: Axis Powers
Japanese Webcomic goes to print and then to animated series.  All about “Boy Love” with the boys representations of countries during WWII.  Went from Webcomic to fully funded animated series in 2 years. Though this may not really news to fans.
(Sources: Toon ZoneWikipediaHetalia IndexesFUNimation Official Site)

Dave Kellet Gives Away His Book for the Chance to Win an Eisner
(Source: Sheldon – The Comics Reporter)

Village Voice Retroactively Pays Artist After Scandal
(Source: The Village Voice – via Comics Alliance plus additional information)

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Tidbits

Axe Cop Cameo In Powergirl Comic?
I don’t know what the heck is going on here but there is a dinosaur on the cover of powergirl that looks awfully familiar.
(Source: DC Comics Website vs Topatoco store entry)

Academic Survey Being Conducted about Webcomic Habits.
(via ComixTalk)

Infinite Canvas Explored
Choose your own path comic posted by Shira-chan.  An interesting way to make comics. This is not an original idea, as it has been explored like this before, but is another example of it.
(Source: Shira-Chan – via Scott McCloud)

How to make an interactive Video
Quick and weird tutorial on how to make an interactive video on youtube.
(Source: ChatMatt&Rob)

Periodic Table of Storytelling
(Source: Computer Sherpa – via Twittering)

Webcomic Beacon #179 (EP): Talking with T Campbell About Webcomics

T Campbell (Penny and Aggie, Fans!, Guilded Age) stays on after Episode 178 (aka Newscast #16), with Rosscott, Eric Kimble, and Fes Works to continue a conversation on the webcomics “model”. Just a short episode, but longer than a normal EP; but a really good listen with good perspectives on the industry of webcomics.

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Webcomic Beacon #178: Newscast #16: Comic News & Discussion for April 10th, 2011

T Campbell (Penny and Aggie, Fans!, Guilded Age) rejoins Rosscott, as well as Fes Works, for this edition of the Webcomic Beacon Newscast! Again, Eric Kimble is our main newshound for most of the stories we cover.

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News

Joy of Tech picked up by Business Week
(Source: The Daily Cartoonist)

Tokyo Pop to Reboot Website, Again
(Source: Robot 6)

Alice in Wonderland, Drawn One Paragraph at a Time.
(Source: on Facebook – via MTV Geek)

Japan Needs Heroes
Fundraiser for Japan by webcomic professionals.
(Source: itself – via many links – additionally: American Banking News)
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Discussion

15 years of Ubersoft (interview)
(Source: Ubersoft – via Fleen)

Did Doctor Horrible make a difference on the web?
(Source: GigaOm – via Bleeding Cool)

How to steal like an artist lecture
Source: Austin Kleon – via Scott McCloud)
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Tidbits

Grumbling Discontent on the Drunk Duck Forums
(Source: Fleen)

Drunk Duck Quackcast 21.5, revealing their position and what’s been going on.
(Source: itself)

DJ Coffman Post step by step guide of hosting your own comic
(Source: himself – via Fleen)

Eisner Nominees announced for Best Digital Comic:
Abominable Charles Christopher, by Karl Kerschl, www.abominable.cc
The Bean, by Travis Hanson, www.beanleafpress.com
Lackadaisy, by Tracy Butler, www.lackadaisycats.com
Max Overacts, by Caanan Grall, www.occasionalcomics.com
Zahra’s Paradise, by Amir and Khalil, www.zahrasparadise.com
(Source: Eisners – via Robot 6)

Not mentioned on the show:

Rob Granito offers interviews, if you pay
After getting lambasted for stealing other people work and misrepresenting his experience.  Rob Granito has sent out an email saying he was the Charlie Sheen of comics and offering to do interviews for a price.
(Source: Bleeding Cool)

Pearls before Swine animation online.
(Source: The Daily Cartoonist)

Twitter moving to more advertising on the site
(Sources: GigaOm 04/05, 04/06)
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Webcomic Beacon #176: Newscast #15: Comic News & Discussion for April 3rd, 2011

Phil Kahn and T Campbell (Guilded Age) joins Rosscott for this edition of the Webcomic Beacon Newscast! Again, Eric Kimble is our main newshound for most of the stories we cover.

Also, as The Webcomic Beacon The Webcast Beacon Network is gearing up for a new webfiction podcast. In that we are looking into doing webfiction readings and/or audio performances. Auditions are open for people to get involved, so we can make potential selections for regular or semi-regular voice work. The the piece people are welcome to either do a reading or performance, is Bunny Tacos. Feel free to do a section, or the whole sequence. Send submissions to WebcomicBeacon@gmail.com with “Bunny Tacos” in the subject. 128 kbps MP3 files should be good enough for right now, but save your higher quality recording, just in case.

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News

Free Marvel comics at Starbucks
(Source: Starbucks – via Bleeding Cool)

Diamond starts selling books to Borders again.
(Source: Bleeding Cool)
Borders Execs asking for Big Bonuses
(Source: Comic Mix)
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Discussion

Chris Onstad on His Indefinite Hiatus from ‘Achewood’
(Source: Chris Onstad – via Comics Alliance – additionally: Comix Talk)

English Con Kapow criticized for lack of women guests
(Source: End of Show – via Bleeding Cool – related: Comics Beat)

The Marvel/DC copyright on “Superhero” is being challenged.
(Source: Bleeding Cool)

Additionally: DC’s underhanded tactics against the Siegel family
(Source: Robot 6)

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Tidbits

List of Characters that have entered the public domain
The first appearances of many well known superheros are now in the public domain and could be used by creators to make their own stories.  This site has a complete list.
(Sources: Bleeding CoolPop Crunch)

Hentai now an official dictionary term.
(Source: Robot 6)

Peanuts without the Punchline
(Source: 3aenuts – via Bleeding Cool – additionally: Washington Post)

Not mentioned on the show:

Randall Munroe of XKCD releases radiation chart
(Source: XKCD blog – via Comics Alliance)

Marvel surveys it’s users about their comic reading/buying habits
Two interesting facts:
1) Marvel directly asks if people are downloading scans of comics
2) Marvel asks no questions about webcomics or comics for free on websites.
(Source: Bleeding Cool)

Joe is Japanese Comic about the earthquake.
(Source: Joe is Japanese – via ComixTalk and Robot 6)

Proposed Comic: Lois Lane Girl Reporter
(Source: Dean Trippe – via Bleeding Cool)

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Book Releases

Plus One – 9 Months and Counting

Jazz and Jess – Malice and Hypocrisy