ABOUT TIME!!! for those out of the loop homeowners’ associations in the US 1. suck horrendously in every way 2. were the beginning of the end of urban biodiversity

"Soltys decided to push back. She tidied up her plantings, but she also partnered with regional environmental nonprofits to help introduce a bill in the Virginia legislature to protect the right to grow native plants in HOA communities. Soltys was inspired by first-in-the-nation legislation passed in nearby  Maryland in 2021—born of a like-minded couple’s years-long and costly legal battle with their own HOA—that now serves as a template for other states. Last year, Maine enacted a similar bill, and Minnesota went a step further, requiring not just HOAs but all municipalities to allow natural landscaping."

Taylor touched on it, but yeah webcomics are EXTREMELY not the scene they were when a lot of people our age got into it (people our age now being in the position of having enough work behind them to 'abandon' it meaningfully).

Almost everyone I know who used to run a webcomic back then still cares a lot about those stories. Some people have moved into different mediums, some have rebooted their work and repackaged it for places like patreon or aggregators, a lot of them still produce free work for their audiences in one form or another even if it's not a continuation of their original 'one big story'. And some of them ARE still plugging away at the same projects, the same way they always did. But the skills that got people into webcomics 10-15 years ago are not the skills you need to get any kind of attention in today's market.

I complain a lot about 'hustle culture' taking over artistic spaces online, and that grievance really roots from what happened to webcomics more than anything else. There is no reason that you should need to be a marketing guru to publish an free indie comic online. There is no reason that you should be expected to update daily, or three times a week, or even once a week if you don't want to. There was genuinely a time when some of the best examples of the genre (and best known among Webcomic Likers) were uncategorisable experiments published one page at a time every other phase of the moon on wordpress blogs or static html sites.

If you were excited by webcomics as a medium in 2010, you were probably excited by qualities of the scene that simply don't exist any more - or at least certainly don't exist in the same form, or to nearly the same extent. Project Wonderful and webrings meant tiny comics still had shared readerships, and an avenue for connecting with new audiences through peers with similar interests. Micro-forums and comment sections meant each comic had its own little mini community, often full of other artists who were excited to talk process. Maybe the defining artistic relationship of my whole career, which has opened up more job opportunities than my actual degree, was forged in a webcomic forum with about 8 regular users.

The biggest loss I felt, personally, was the disappearance of spaces for talking about art with amateurs who really cared about experimentation and expression. A lot of it was super goofy, but bouncing off other teenagers with messy over-ambitious ideas about infinite canvas and found-object comics and branching storylines really ignited my passion for trying things. There were always parallel conversations about how to find an audience, whether merch was worth it, which conventions made money, but they were just as questing and experimental. Today, creative spaces are (somewhat necessarily, by nature of the way the internet has changed around us) dominated by marketing talk. The question hanging over every creative question for webcomic artists today seems to be 'but will it drive engagement'. And that's fucking miserable.

Anyone who got into webcomics before the shift to algorithmic feeds, omnipresent adtech and the premeditated murder death of Project Wonderful has probably looked around at some point and thought 'where the fuck am I?' Some artists have adapted comfortably, but a huge proportion of those who were most invested ten years ago were just never going to be interested in the skills that drive the current webcomic market. Because it is a market now, not an art scene. People have always needed to make money, and webcomics have never been especially profitable, but there was a time when they were an outlet - something you did after your shift at the bar, because it came with broad possibilities and a vibrant social scene. Now they are a second job.

Here's my point: when you notice the great proportion of long-running comics that just faded away or stopped altogether at some point, it is worth recognising that this wasn't just burnout. It was an extinction event.

JOIN. COMIC. FURY. https://comicfury.com/index.php There's still a thriving social scene full of crazy experimentation if you know where to look. It's true that a lot of the 'pop culture' view of webcomics has shifted to trying to 'make it big' on webtoon, but there are alternatives. If anyone's interested in making comics and feels overwhelmed, don't let social media expectations kill your love of the craft. I've been making comics and posting them online for 10 yrs with very little social media presence, and have a small group of readers who I love and value + have formed some incredible frienships through shared interest. It can be done! You dont have to turn something into a career for it to be worth doing

This got long, sorry, but I’ve been having this conversation a lot lately and I have a lot to say.

I was incredibly lucky to join that 2010s wave of comics… and it was just dumb luck. Right place, right time. Webcomics back then was a small but supportive community of scrappy DIY-ers. Putting out a comic every week (let alone 3x a week, or daily) was NO small feat on its own and success was never guaranteed. It was hard!! JUST making a comic is hard. We had to rely on each other to navigate setting up our own websites, learning how to make and sell merch, learning how to table at conventions. We had to take our own preorders and update a stupid little thermometer jpg on our website. We linked to each other and helped each other, and (some drama aside) we had each other’s backs.

the unexpected joy of the worst summer of our lives by christine mi for vox

It's always a little frustrating to watch a good canadian tv show & know that basically no one outside of a niche canadian audience is ever going to see it. such a disservice to storytelling the way everything is filmed here under an american facade but none of our stories get exported.

ok someone asked what my canadian tv recs are and if ur in canada crave or cbc gem has most of the good original stuff these days.

CURRENTLY WATCHING

I'm making my way through Late Bloomer. Which is one of those tv shows where it's like "comedian stars as a fictionalized version of themselves" but the star is a former viner. I'm generally really enjoying the writing tho I think the stuff about social media/internet fame could be more complex.

Also watching The Great Canadian Pottery Throwdown. Am I watching this because a former coworker is a contestant? YES. Is the show great? ALSO YES. This is the Canadian spin off of a British property. It's filmed in the former ECAUD campus (the university I attended 8 million years ago lol). It's hosted by the mayor's wife from Schitt's Creek. It's really, really fun & I feel like the commentary on the art has been nuanced & interesting. Seth Rogen guest judges on ep 1 & I was ready to be so annoyed by him (I'm sorry but I had to suffer through the year Visa sponsored him to record a bunch of mumbly incoherent transit announcements for translink) but he actually had really interesting insights into pottery!? I was shocked. Anyways. Great show. I'm loving the artistry of every contestant. Very cool!

ALL TIME FAVES

New Eden. Mockumentary about a cult. I! Love! Mockumentaries!!!!! This one is great. It does such a good job satirizing the true crime genre. And it features sooooooooo many fantastic canadian comedians. (this is on crave)

Série Noire. This one's in french. I think it was briefly on Netflix & now you can only watch it through a french CBC streaming app. It's a really odd comedy but I'm kind of obsessed with it. I haven't been able to see the whole thing because of the complicated streaming situation. BUT. One day I'll finish it. The gist of the plot is that two writers wrap the first season of their crime drama TV show & the reception to it is SO BAD. Like even their girlfriends/wives are like "Boys... this show was unwatchable...." But somehow the network renews it and now they're tasked with writing season two. They're both burnt out and disheartened. They decide the only way they can get into the proper headspace to write a good crime drama is to start doing crimes. There's a bunch of wacky subplots. They start being harassed by this guy who shares a name with the fictional villain of their TV show because he's convinced the villain-naming coincidence is a conspiracy to ruin his life. In season two the guys accidentally get initiated into an all gay quebec gang called "Le East Gay Gang" (EGG). Oh also there are some really cute bilingual touches like one of the character and his partner will swap to english when talking about the murder they did in front of their child. My friend's parents would do that (except switching from english to french and uhhhh also not talking about murder) when they didn't want their youngest to know what they were talking about (until he was old enough to join the rest of us in french immersion lol).

I Have Nothing. Documentary-ish? Comedian Carolyn Taylor becomes obsessed with the idea that she can create a pairs figure skating routine. Can she figure skate? NO. Does she know how to choreograph? ALSO NO. Will she manage to convince olympic figure skating champions to join her on her journey towards realizing this dream? UMMMM i don't want to spoil anything!!!! (this is on crave)

Baroness Von Sketch. Sketch comedy show. I find sketch comedy can be very hit or miss but this group is mostly hits for me. Also it's just like so nice to see women in their 40s be hilarious & also allowed to look like normal women in their 40s. (cbc gem)

Tall Boyz. Another sketch comedy show. I really liked season 1. Fell off in season 2 because it was filmed in the early pandemic & that was just TOO much for meeeee. (cbc gem)

The Great Canadian Baking Show. Obviously a Canadian spin off of a British property. I will argue that it's BETTER than the British one. This isn't some dumb nationalistic hubris. The Canadian one is better because the judges actually enjoy flavour. Like, you NEVER see the judges on GCBS go "ew [insert kind of derogatory description of a flavour not common to white ppl in england]." Instead they'll consistently be like "oh i see you're making [specific cultural dish] i'm so excited to taste this!" Also the contestants bring way more interesting flavours to the table (you won't see bake after bake of chocolate/orange or caramel/coffee combos here). (cbc gem)

Can vouch for Late Bloomer and Pottery Throwdown (so wholesome!)

My additions:

Sort Of - CBC gem, recently wrapped, 3 season series. Stars a nonbinary second generation person of Pakistani descent. Very emotionally complex series with a lot of diverse queer characters. A lot of themes of identity across gender, culture of origin, and even class. Really interesting, I wish more people would watch this one.

Shoresy - Crave - this is a Letterkenny spinoff but God it's so intense. It's very deep in hockey and deep in East Coast regionalism. It's not going to be for everyone, but I've never seen anything else quite like it in terms of Canadiana

2024 is already a year of just...

relearning the romance of making art?

I picked up traditional pencils (I usually use mech pencils) again and it feels SO GOOD. And kneaded erasers are superior?? I'm breaking my brain going back to old school tools and just to find a specific bliss with them. I've also been using 5.5"x8.5" sketchbook for YEARS and started messing around in a full sized book and I feel like I can just go wild.

Anyway, artists don't forget to explore, have fun, make some marks

MAKE BAD ART

ART ISN'T CONTENT

Hourly Comic (Or "The Way Life's Meant To Be")

no one asked but I’m telling you anyway

[Image description: A short comic/info-graphic drawing titled “Reviewing Spring Flowers I Like To Eat On Walks”. The drawing features three flowers being reviewed by a person with short green hair and glasses.

The first flower is the Eastern Redbud, a small pink-red budded flower growing on a thin branch. The reviewer is shown shoving a large handful of the buds into their mouth. Their review reads “Shoving a handful of pink flowers in your maw = immaculate goblin energy” and “sweet and cucumber-y”.

The second flower is the Saucer Magnolia, a pink flower with its petals forming an upright ovular shape sat atop a green stem. The reviewer is shown shoving the whole plant into their mouth as they make intense eye contact with a passerby that is staring at them. The review reads “Extreme power move to eat one of these”, “No one will mess with you” and “Gingery”.

The last flower is the Sweet Violet, a small purple flower with bunches of four petals sat atop a leafy stem. The reviewer is shown on all fours in the grass, eating the flowers like a grazing animal. The review reads “Grazing”, “Become ungulate” and “Sweet, violet”. End description.]