Disqus - Latest Comments for alexanderdanner

Re: I Sing the Webcomic Electric

alexanderdanner — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 14:45:23 -0000

I've never understood how it's possible to not get burnt out doing the same series forever. The Schulzian career is my own nightmare scenario. if I wanted to do the same thing every day, I'd get an office job, and at least get paid a real salary for it.

Of course, I'm the same way in my reading. It's a rare strip that I'm willing to read for more than five years, unless it's clearly going to be a finite narrative. Hell, I've been looking over my read list lately, and thinking about dropping some of my favorites just because I feel like I've been reading them too long and want to free up time for the newer series I've been picking up.

Re: Ben Bittner Alive and Comicking

alexanderdanner — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:37:48 -0000

It looks like the online version of Cooking with Anne is just the prologue, though. It's too bad, that's one I'd love to re-read.

Re: Long Form Comics, Short Attention Spans…

alexanderdanner — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:39:34 -0000

"Don’t dwell on depressing subjects overlong."

Hahahahaaaa!

I laugh because my current series is basically a two-year long exploration of the impact of attempted infanticide on the family unit during times of famine.

I don't have very many readers.

Re: 5 Questions: Are You Reading More Comics or Fewer?

alexanderdanner — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:49:19 -0000

My monthly pamphlet purchases are down to just three or four titles, several of which aren't even really monthly (how often does RASL come out?). I still buy trades/books, mostly at small press cons, but also whatever I can find at used bookstores. I still read a fair number of webcomics. I had slacked off for a while, due to the time issue, but going back to an earlier post of yours, the discovery of Google Reader trimmed down on the time commitment for reading webcomics considerably, making it possible for me to get those numbers back up again.

And my biggest source of comics lately has just been the library. I've been checking out ten books at a time, reading them over the course of a two or three weeks, then getting another ten. It saves me a lot of money while still letting me catch up on older series that I never quite felt like investing the money to read (finally about to read Cerebus, for instance).

Re: 5 Questions: How Do You Read Webcomics?

alexanderdanner — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:33:50 -0000

I used to rely on Piperka, and was very resistant to switching over to switching to RSS reader until a couple of years ago. It was Google Reader that finally converted me, and I've been reliant on it ever since. I actually wrote an article at the time about my experience in transitioning, and how my reservations were overcome, if your interested: http://www.twentysevenlette...

Re: Experimental Comics Roundup

alexanderdanner — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:44:33 -0000

Excellent, I'm glad you found them useful!

Re: Line and Color in Some Bandes Dessinees

alexanderdanner — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:32:32 -0000

Sfar will be making an appearance in one of my posts tomorrow as well--I've only just recently read him for the first time. For years, I've assumed I wouldn't enjoy his books--something about the art just turned me off when viewing it in passing. But that completely changed once I actually sat down with one of his books (The Rabbi's Cat) and really read it. Suddenly, I was completely charmed.

Re: Advice for Writers: Write Every Day. Or Don’t. Either Way, Really.

alexanderdanner — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:18:58 -0000

Max -- Good point on "kill your darlings." I don't tend to reject this one as wholly as some of the others I've mentioned, as I've seen the wisdom of killing a few darlings of my own. But you're right that this shouldn't be taken as a call to go on a darling-killing rampage. Every now and then a darling earns its keep.

Re: Advice for Writers: Write What You Know (Because Learning Something New Would be TERRIBLE.)

alexanderdanner — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:15:49 -0000

Pallas -- I think you're correct that this advice is usually directed at new writers--and there can be good reason for it! The problem is that it's never qualified as "write what you know--for now," but is instead left unqualified, as if it's an eternal truth for writers. And too often, young writers do internalize it as such.

Re: Seeking Solace at the Symmetry Shop (An Appreciation of Ben Katchor)

alexanderdanner — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:13:24 -0000

Hmm, another creator whose work I started reading years ago, loved, and yet haven't revisited. TJNY is one I'm going to need to hunt down.

Reading TBSD, I found it best not to read too many at a time. They have such a languid pace, in order to fully absorb them, I only allowed myself to read two or three each night. It took a while to get through the book, but it was worth it.

Re: Webcomics in Germany

alexanderdanner — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:00:35 -0000

Oh, demian5, I haven't thought about him in ages. Is he still producing? I just took a look at his site, and it seems he hasn't done anything new in a long time.

Re: How to Keep Up With Your Favorite Webcomics (And Find New Ones!)

alexanderdanner — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:03:38 -0000

I should check that out. So long as those cobbled RSS feeds are sending me notifications, and not actually scraping the site content, I could get behind that.

Re: How to Keep Up With Your Favorite Webcomics (And Find New Ones!)

alexanderdanner — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:14:29 -0000

I used Piperka for a long time, but then I tried Google Reader as an experiment for one of the tech articles I wrote for T (in the ComixTalk archive now), and never went back. It has the weakness of not tracking comics that don't offer RSS feeds, but those are a very small minority these days. Also, combining Reader with Archive Binge has been a great way to catch up on some long running series I've been curious about but didn't have the time to sit down and read in full. I currently have AB set to feed me two pages of Dr. McNinja each day, and it's been a great experience.

Re: A Post about Feeds

alexanderdanner — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:02:13 -0000

Okay, this is the most interesting bit of synchronicity I've seen in a while--on the same day you made your excellent post proposing a great idea for a new technology, David Morgan-Mar has just announced the release of a piece of technology pretty much exactly like what you just proposed: http://dmmaus.livejournal.c.... (Found via Fleen.)

Re: A Post about Feeds

alexanderdanner — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:13:21 -0000

I really love this idea. For me, archive intimidation is definitely an obstacle to picking up new series that have been running for a long time, especially since I tend to favor narrative comics over strips.

Two additional thoughts: It would be nice if this included a "jump to next post" button. So, if you read your daily post, and decided that you're feeling up to two or three posts that day, you have it within your control to move ahead. But still without the feeling of obligation to read huge chunks. The next day, it should pick up syndicating from the post you left off at.

I could be completely wrong about this, having no coding background, but this sounds like something that would be easier to solve at the application level rather than the individual feed level. Not least of all because then the problem only has to be solved once, leaving the use of the solution entirely in the readers hands, without relying on every blogger/cartoonist to have to implement the solution one at a time.