Scott Kurtz

The title of How to Make Webcomics pretty much sums up what the book is about. It is not so much about cartooning per se, it assumes the reader is already familiar with the basics, and focuses on preparing work for digital distribution, and on the business side of webcomics.

Personally, I have no plans or desires for making webcomics, certainly not for commercial gain. I bought this book for the same reason that I listen to the Webcomics Weekly podcast by the same group - the creators are show more extremely funny people. The book, predictably, is more down-to-business in tone and has fewer of the hilarious tangents they tend to go off on when in verbal discussion, but I still found it entertaining.

Coming to it from that perspective, much of the first half of the book is not really all that interesting, being about drawing and image preparation and such things, but if you are interested in attempting to make a webcomic yourself, I think the information found here would be invaluable help for a beginner. Later chapters, about things such as web design, branding and monetising your work, a are more easily adapted to other endeavours, and so are of more interest to me. There is plenty of good advise crammed into this book, I was actually a bit surprised at how much ground it covered.

Each chapter is written by one of the four authors, but the other three will occasionally chime in with words of support or dissenting views via speech bubbles. This is my favourite aspect of the book, it is where it gets the most interesting, and most funny, as the authors debate, argue and joke about the topics at hand. In addition, regardless of chapter author, they have all written smaller sidebars on topics related to the chapter topics, which are scattered throughout the book. These are often quite interesting and funny as well, I particularly enjoyed Straub’s four points on embedding sound in websites.

I also quite enjoyed the “hot seat” feature, in which each of the authors present a couple of their strips for critique by the others. It is interesting to see professionals talk about things like these.

Speaking of strips, the book is littered with them. Series by all four authors are present, usually strips which relate in some way to the subject being discussed. As mentioned, these are extremely funny people, who all make very funny strips, and there are plenty of them in each chapter.

If you are interested in making webcomics, this book is probably a godsend. If you’re like me, without any ambitions of cartooning whatsoever, you will probably still find it an entertaining read. show less

Val is the new girl in school...again. When her teacher introduces her to the class, Val explains that her name Valeria comes from the Valkyrie. A couple of kids from the Dungeons and Dragons club notice her knowledge and invite her to join the club. She loves the game so much, that when the faculty advisor announces he will step down, Val approaches the wrestling coach to be the advisor. They make a deal; she joins the team as an alternate and he'll be the club advisor. But popular girl show more Kate is a thorn in Val's side; they end up suspended after a fight but eventually come to a meeting of the minds. A fun work for D&D nerds and those looking to find their place in a new space. show less

This is an enjoyable book, but it's a little flat. The art and script are fun, bu the characters are pretty two dimensional and the book wants to substitute pop culture references for actual jokes. Not bad, just not anything that really stands out.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was so fun! It really makes me wish I had broken out of my comfort zone and tried things like this in middle school (though I highly doubt we had a DND club) I really related to the main character being a bit rough around the edges, and just wanting to follow her interests where they led. Great little read!