EpiGuide’s EpiCast #12 – June Webserial Recaps & News

Our new EpiCast goes back to the basics: recaps of the latest webserial installments, and news (and plenty of discussion) related to the world of webfiction and online publishing.

As always, hosts Kira and Michael begin by sharing summaries and commentary on a varied selection of webfiction serials, including what we believe is a first–three out of four series included in our recaps are brand new to the EpiCast. We also talk a little bit about how writers can improve their recap writing if they want to entice us readers to their sites. Writers, pay attention!

Next we look at the news, where you’ll hear chat about a real life scare turned into a believable but fictionalized upcoming webserial storyline, a controversial venture from Kindle (what else is new?), an exciting opportunity for a wider audience for one extremely popular series, and a recently launched webserial about a rarely visited subject… zombies. And finally we have a call for submissions out for authors who’d like to have a selection of their work read on our affiliate network, the Webcast Beacon. (Heard the announcement and are interested? Write webfictionworld (at) gmail.com to have your serial considered.) Don’t miss the request for news items and our sincere thanks to our sponsors!

Once you’ve listened, hop on over to our Podbean site, the EpiGuide forum, or our new Webcast Beacon site (links below) to share your own thoughts on these topics and this episode. Many thanks to everyone who helped out by submitting your recaps and news stories!

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Episode Notes:

Recording date: This episode was recorded in two sessions on June 2 and 10, 2013.

Rundown:

  • 00:00 – 01:02: Opening pleasantries and teasers for the episode ahead
  • 01:03 – 19:42: Webserial recaps and commentaries/reviews
  • 19:43 – 20:28: Invitation to submit installment recaps
  • 20:35 – 41:43: Online entertainment and ebook news and discussion
  • 41:43 – 44:57: Request for news items, thanks to our sponsors, and closing remarks

Links to the sites mentioned in this episode:

Music credits: “Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance” (EpiCast opening and closing theme), “Not About You” (Recaps intro), “So Far, So Good” (Invitation to submit recaps), “Artificial Heart” (News intro), “The Big Boom” (News request), “Take Care of Me” (EpiCast sponsor theme), as always all written and performed by Jonathan Coulton, host Kira Lerner’s personal musical demigod.

These tracks are licensed Creative Commons by-nc.

Technical notes: We used Skype for the conversation and interviews, Replay Recorder for recording, Audacity and The Levelator for editing/post-recording fine-tuning, and Podbean for hosting. If you have any suggestions, questions, comments or brickbats you want to throw at us regarding this episode, please let us know!

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Webcomic Beacon #346: Comic News & Discussion for June 9th, 2013

Monty Rhode joins Terence, Ben Carver, and Fes Works for another week of comic news & discussion! This week: Joe Schuster Award Nominees, branding one’s comic, DC² and DC² Multiverse, Sean Delonas and Bill Day, and more!

We actually had quite a debate on the show about being politically correct and freedom of speech versus bigotry; and plagiarism and self-plagiarism…. Kinda heated really, so please weigh in on the conversation with your opinions on the subject!

A coming episode of The Webcomic Beacon will be our part 2 episode of our opinions on 2nd half, and the finalé, of Strip Search.

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2013 Joe Schuster Awards, Nominees Announced:
As reported by the Webcomics Overlook the nominees for the Canada-based award (webcartoonist category) have been announced:

Webcomic “Bug” is now “Bug Martini”
Popular Webcomic “Bug” (by Adam Huber) has changed names to “Bug Martini” – the reason cited being that the more generic name was creating a marketing problem (uniqueness).
This spurred a discussion on the show. Perhaps worth a discussion over the branding process for your comic, what needs to be thought of and whether simple generic names are more trouble than they’re worth? And at what point are you stuck with the name you gave yourself (if ever?)

DC² and DC² Multiverse
DC Comics tries its hand at digital comic offerings once again, but mainly as an interactive experience; plus a choose-your-own-adventure experience.
Reported on Comics Alliance, through Variety and Wired.

Sean Delonas Takes Buy Out
Editorial Cartoonist takes a buy out, and leaves the newspaper after 23 years. (Reported on The Daily Cartoonist)
Also known for re-using his previous artwork and jokes, Is a bit of a bigot, and was also the editorial cartoonist that drew President Obama as a chimp, getting shot by police, and didn’t understand why that might have been wrong… Suffice to say that some people welcome his departure.

Bill Day cartooning scandal
Old news, but on the subject of editorial cartooning… This dates back to January but the story never really broke.  Just kind of stayed in the world of editorial cartooning.
Here’s a really fascinating look over a years worth of recorded self plagiarized content; and other instances from various sources.

Interview with Steveson and Coresseto
Interesting article that touches on a wide number of topics (Comic Book Resources).

Remember Google Wallet? Eh…
We talked about how Google Wallet will allow people to “email funds” to each other, but no one really seemed to care… Square is still kicking ass a bit, with $8 Billion in transactions last year, compared to Google Wallet’s $500 Million (in the USA). Though Ben brings on some really good points to counter the negativity of this article from GiGaOM.

Mentioned on the show: Japan’s Softbank to buy Sprint?
As mentioned on the show, and relative to the previous discussion (All Things D)

Comics Alliance is Back…
… Ok… (Discovered through Webcomic Overlook)

Remember That Podcasting Patent Troll?
Here’s an update from Tech Dirt.

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Webcomic Beacon #345: Penny Arcade’s Strip Search 2013 (Part 1)

Mary Cagle (Kiwi Blitz, The Trenches, Table Titans) returns to the show with Ben Carver and Fes Works to discuss the first half of Penny Arcade’s Strip Search! We only are talking about the series up to the 5th Elimination episode, (Episode #16) if you are worried about spoilers in this episode.

RELATED:
Webcomic Beacon #349: Strip Search 2013 (part 2)
Webcomic Beacon #348: Interview with Abby Howard

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Notes: Mary Cagle was on The Webcomic Beacon to talk about Star Trek on episode 215, in January 2012. Erika Moen was on episode 125 of The Webcomic Beacon.

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