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Eric: With my luck, Greg Holkan will get it. And I won't even be able to blame him.

Aside from the obligatory mention in the anniversary post, I haven't mentioned Narbonic's own Shaenon Garrity for a while. That if nothing else should tell you just how busy I've been, since mentioning Garrity, Narbonic and her other projects is one of those things I've become famous for.

And the thing is, Garrity is doing something astounding. And I should have mentioned it at the time, and it just hit me that I didn't, so I'm taking the precious seconds of my lunch hour to mention it now.

One of Garrity's projects is More Fun, which is a story of super heroes, the occult, and general fun and weirdness. Garrity writes More Fun alongside action artist Robert Stevenson, whose Treasure Island remains one of the great adventure novels of the 19th century. (Roger Langridge is a pinch hitter guest artist in residence as well).

Here's the thing: Stevenson -- who, when I'm not making tired jokes about his famous literary namesake, writes, draws and reviews over at one of my favorite internet stops has to hand the artistic reins over. He just doesn't have the time to maintain his day job and all his projects, so something had to give, and that something is "More Fun." Langridge will continue to pitch relief, but Shaenon Garrity needs a new starting pitcher to continue the work.

To that end -- and as part of her intention to migrate More Fun from Graphic Smash to Webcomics nation -- Garrity has opened her entire More Fun archive for free reading and posted an open call for a replacement artist.

Let me give this the appropriate level of decorum:

Shaenon Garrity has an open call for artists to work with her on an established comic series.

Guys, Garrity is teh hot shit, both because she's absolutely kickass in writing and drawing, and because the industry as a whole has begun to recognize her kickassness. The Friends of Lulu named her Lulu of the Year (in a tie with the entirety of the Flight anthology, which is rarified company indeed). She's working for DC Comics. She's quoted almost as often (and in many of the same places) as Scott McCloud himself. And one of her comic strips -- the oft-snarked Narbonic -- is simply put the best four panel comic strip in any medium currently being produced, period. I'm not exaggerating -- Garrity is single handedly honoring the story-heavy-yet-still-humorous traditions of McKay, Segar and Capp while remembering the lessons that Schulz and even Jim Davis taught us (most tellingly, that every four panel strip has to stand alone, no matter how grandly it ties into the others).

More Fun moving out of the Modern Tales/Graphic Smash arena into the wilds of Webcomicsnation all by itself is huge news -- especially if it catches a larger audience on its own than it picked up over with the other adventure strips. But the fact that Shaenon Fucking Garrity is looking for an artist should have every illustrator with any interest whatsoever in the cartoon arts chomping at the bit to get samples over to Frau Garrity. If I didn't totally suck as an artist, I'd be working on a portfolio myself.

So, either way go and steep yourself in the joys of Free Archives. Remember what a sheer joy Free Narbonic was? Here's your chance to feel that kind of joy again. And if you're an artist, you should be going to that link where Garrity explains the submissions process. And you should be following it. You should be doing it because Garrity is brilliant and working with her would be an incredible chance. You should be doing it because Garrity's work is getting noticed in a big way, and this is an excellent time to be hopping on those coattails.

And most of all, you should be doing it because More Fun is good stuff, and this is a chance to be a part of it.

So go! Go! Read! Submit! SUBMIT!!!!

Posted by Eric Burns-White at August 30, 2005 12:19 PM

Comments

Comment from: Tangent posted at August 30, 2005 1:04 PM

Unfortunately, my art sucks as well. No doubt a dozen fine artists will see this and go send her stuff. No need for me to send my substandard work and be turned down. *chuckle*

Rob

Comment from: J.(Channing)Wells posted at August 30, 2005 1:27 PM

Go on, tell us how you really feel, Eric. :)

(Like I'm in any position to talk. When it comes to Narbonic, I put the "fan" back in "fanboy".)

Comment from: Eric Burns posted at August 30, 2005 1:57 PM

I am utterly unabashed when it comes to Shaenon Garrity, Channing. I think she's the best cartoonist putting pen to paper right now.

It's not that she's the best of all writers. It's not that she's the best technical artisan. It's not that her art is the finest in the land or her jokes are the funniest ever written, because they're not. It's that the synthesis of the whole into Narbonic is bar none the complete package. She doesn't hit a home run every time she goes to bat, I'll admit. But at the same time, most "power hitters" try to hit a home run every time they go to bat, when honest strategic ball play means hitting the right hit for the situation. (A home run can sometimes kill momentum, meaning you might get an RBI or two in, but then the batters that follow you get retired.)

Shaenon hits for the cycle, in other words. Consistently. She knows when to push past the bleachers and she knows when to bounce a grounder between Left and Center Field. Her story pacing is incredible. Her moments of poignancy hit you perfectly. Her setup is subtle over weeks and months and years, but the executions never feel like you need a Ph.D. in Narbonic to understand what's going on.

And -- and bearing in mind I am a huge fan of the well executed Cerebus Syndrome -- she has never felt that character development needs to equal "unfunny." I daresay Narbonic's evolution has been as rich and detailed as Sluggy Freelance's, with every single strip (excepting only one out of a couple thousand in my memory) still containing Funny. It's not that serious storylines are bad -- it's that doing all this without falling back on seriousness is vastly harder, and she pulled it off. Well.

So yeah, I'm unabashed in my praise of Shaenon Garrity, because I want the people who end up reading these things to realize all the things she does so right, and I want them to be influenced by them, so they aspire to do them right too.

Because, you see, I'm selfish. I want well paced, written, funny comic strips by the bushel. So if I see someone do it all right, I'm going to push aspirants in that direction, without shame.

Which is what's so astounding about this. Here's a chance to directly work with her. I promise you, after a year of collaboration with Shaenon Garrity, that artist will be a stronger storyteller than they currently are. And we will all reap the benefits of that.

Comment from: J.(Channing)Wells posted at August 30, 2005 2:05 PM

Well said, Eric. Not for the first time in my life, I find myself wishing for stronger visual art skills here. I mean, come on!

Comment from: Alexander Danner posted at August 30, 2005 2:43 PM

Yeah, my immediate thought on seeing this was "goddamn but I wish I could draw!"

Comment from: William_G posted at August 30, 2005 2:52 PM

To the big Shaenon love-in I will add the following:

Word

Comment from: Paul Gadzikowski posted at August 30, 2005 3:20 PM

I've promised my wife she and no one else besides me gets to write my cartoons. But because you asked, Eric, I'll at least go look.

Comment from: John Fiala posted at August 30, 2005 4:54 PM

Um... wow.

I'm no artist. But this shoot is good.

Comment from: 32_footsteps posted at August 30, 2005 6:28 PM

Hey, is it just for me, using Opera, or is it a real pain to find the nav links on the comics with horizontal scrolling? I've found them through the tried and true "highlight all text" method, but I shouldn't have to do that.

Comment from: Spatulus posted at August 30, 2005 6:29 PM

Oooh, good comic. Really good comic. Just-read-the-archives-and-now-desperately-wanting-more good comic.

I just hope they put up a proper website when they move to Webcomics Nation.

The second to latest comic mentions a character named O'Doyle, which rang a bell (possibly a false alarm). So I look for a cast page. There isn't one. I look around to see when it updates (ignoring the fact that it's lacking a cartoonist at the moment). Nothing. It doesn't even give dates for when the strips were published—if it weren't for an offhanded mention that the former artist wasn't able to upload a strip one week, I'd have no idea it was weekly.

There's nothing there to help a new reader get into the strip.

Sorry for the griping, but it just kinda hit me over the head after finishing the archive.

*bows*

Comment from: Kate Sith posted at August 30, 2005 6:32 PM

SHE QUOTES 'SUMMERBABY'.

::luffs::

I do not have the chops to draw this. Wish I did. But it is totally rad and I shall read it all the time.

Comment from: Eric Burns posted at August 30, 2005 6:38 PM

Spatulus -- if I remember correctly, part of the evolution of Webcomicsnation's services were driven by gaps in the Modern Tales affiliates' service (such as cast pages and the like). I suspect that with their move to WCN you'll see some significant improvements.

(And yeah, the "White background moving to black with the side-scroll" obscured the navigational controls in a way best described as "teh Suck.")

Comment from: 32_footsteps posted at August 30, 2005 6:40 PM

Wait a minute, Kate... do you mean the song by Polaris?

Comment from: Bob Stevenson posted at August 30, 2005 7:24 PM

It really does pain me to leave the strip. Shaenon is a master story-teller, but, yes, the paying work has gotten in the way. And by paying I mean my job as a history teacher for 120 plus students. I managed to get through nearly two years of workin' and strippin' before it all caught up to me, but it really has.

I've been trying throughout the past two years to reduce the time it took to render the scripts without getting all slap-dash. Flash was, at first, a help, but as I became more interested in things like backgrounds and consistency, vectors seemed to make my work harder. Several pages took a full day's work. And for all the love and hate of infinite canvas that's out there, in the end it's lots more work than my four panel pencil work with HB.

More Fun really does deserve a good illustrator, a better one than me, I think. Well, at least one with the time to do some kick-ass scripts justice.

As for the update schedule, it was Thursdays. As for the cast pages, there were a few cast pages, drawn by Shaenon, thrown into the mix some time near the end of chapter one, I think. I still have two scripts left to render, but I'm not sure how I'll get them done with my school year (at a new school) just starting to heat up.

Thanks for a great ride Shaenon. I'll miss my weekly grappling with your mind. If there's any justice, one hundred artists will line up for the job I'm a fool to walk away from.

Sincerely,

Bob Stevenson

Comment from: Paul Gadzikowski posted at August 30, 2005 7:39 PM

(And yeah, the "White background moving to black with the side-scroll" obscured the navigational controls in a way best described as "teh Suck.")

I've found that this happens with Firefox but not with IE.

Comment from: Shaenon posted at August 30, 2005 7:40 PM

First, thanks very much to Eric for the embarrassingly kind words, and, more importantly, for advertising my search for an artist.

Second, yes, when More Fun moves to Webcomics Nation it will have radder navigation (Joey has tried to get the nav layouts to work, but there seems to be no layout that works for every comic on Graphic Smash) and a cast page. Webcomics Nation, unlike Graphic Smash, allows for cast pages and similar peripherals. I've already drawn most of the cast-page art, although I still need to color it and stuff.

Third, if you're tempted by Eric's honeyed words but don't want to commit to the long haul of More Fun, I also periodically need artists for Li'l Mell, my Girlamatic series. When the current Li'l Mell storyline, "Brain Wars" (capably drawn by the gifted and extremely hot Andrew Farago), ends later this year, I will put out a call for an artist for the next storyline, "Adjustment."

Comment from: Bob Stevenson posted at August 30, 2005 7:43 PM

Oh, and the scrolling thing became a problem on Firefox after a server migration. It was fixed at one point, but ended up screwing up all the other graphic smash strips so Joey undid the fix. The solution is to upload some white-with-black-outline back,next and current arrows. This will be fixed for the move over to WCN.

Comment from: Kate Sith posted at August 30, 2005 7:45 PM

Wait a minute, Kate... do you mean the song by Polaris?

Hai. The title may be 'Hey Sandy', tho. I think 'Summerbaby' is the name of the one from that one episode where Little Pete hears that song once and then strives to re-create it after it drives him nuts.

Hey smilin' strange
you're lookin' happily deranged
would you settle to shoot me
or have you picked your target yet?

Comment from: 32_footsteps posted at August 30, 2005 8:03 PM

Yeah, you got them mixed up. "Hey Sandy" is in there, and that was the main theme to "The Adventures of Pete & Pete." "Summerbaby" is from that episode you recall, "Hard Day's Pete."

Yes, I have the soundtrack and the first season DVD collection. That show was the greatest thing to ever come on Nickeloden, and I will argue that point until the day I die. This isn't to slight Doug or Invader Zim, but all I can say is that I'm a bonafide Sludgescicle man.

Comment from: Shaenon posted at August 30, 2005 8:33 PM

Oh, and as long as Bob's on this thread, I might as well take the opportunity to thank him once again for his fantastic run on More Fun. As you all can see, his art is lovely, it gave the comic a great distinctive look, and he was a joy to work with. I really hope he can devote more time to his own comics after this.

"Hey Sandy" is the "smilin' strange" song, but I promise that Little Pete's Favorite Song will make its way into More Fun at some point.

Comment from: Kneefers posted at August 30, 2005 9:26 PM

Holy cheese, Eric. Another to add to the already lengthy list of reasons that I read Websnark: because you tell me about stuff like this.
Narbonic was good, and dang if I'm not going to like this too. And, a tip of the hat to Ms. Garrity, too. Quality stuff, this.
Hope you find yourself another good artist.

Comment from: jurnelei posted at August 30, 2005 9:53 PM

Wait... wait...
Bob Stevenson, are you saying that immediately after Eric leads me to your work, you're leaving comics entirely?

Man... your art & composition is some of the best I've seen. Good job, man, and good luck.

Comment from: Bob Stevenson posted at August 30, 2005 11:16 PM

Thanks. I'm ashamed of some of it and proud of some of it. Thanks to Shaenon for putting up with the worst of it. I won't be staying away from comics for long (read weeks not months). I already have a few new pages of Journey Into History ready to go on WCN and plans for . . . something else.

Comment from: siwangmu posted at August 31, 2005 12:20 AM

Noooooooooo!
It ended! I just got one of those "damnit, why isn't the next link working, oh my god I caught up to now, noooooooo" whiplashes. Is there a term for that persistent webcomic problem? Narbonic and Crfh both did it to me really bad, and this one was pretty extreme for something I haven't put hours into reading.

But... college! BDSM orgies! An a cappella group that, plot developments aside, reminds me hilariously much of the Loreleis here at UNC-Chapel Hill (they're somewhat famous as a prominent women's a cappella group, the social creme de la creme here, and all wear black dresses as their iconic uniform... except on my more cynical days I'm pretty sure they wouldn't accept the short, squat girl).

It's WONDERFUL!

But all that is nothing. An astounding Alphonse Mucha homage followed, one page later, by a Dar Williams quote, and, if I'm not mistaken, another Dar reference later (I like the cafeteria)?

I am in love. For this, I will sidescroll.

Comment from: Bo Lindbergh posted at August 31, 2005 12:32 AM

I am in love. For this, I will sidescroll.

Blurb quote alert! Blurb quote alert!

Comment from: Plaid Phantom posted at August 31, 2005 1:22 AM

You know you're good when Eric Burns writes your name as "*first name* 'Fucking' *last name*".

Oh, and envy, jealousness, and all other such unsightly tidings to whoever gets the job.

Comment from: FortyTwo posted at August 31, 2005 12:15 PM

The only person over whom I've actually gone fangirl is Shaenon Garrity. The first (and second) times I met her, I froze up and was barely able to speak becuase I was in awe of her creative genius. She may have only been nice to me because she might have mistaken my speechlessness as a form of developmental retardation, but I prefer to attribute her kindness to the fact that she has an absolutely charming, kick-ass personality.

If I could draw even just a little, I would be submitting stuff to her. Best of luck in finding an artist, Ms. Garrity.

Comment from: Wednesday posted at August 31, 2005 1:51 PM

siwangmu: Fuck me rigid; the Loreleis are still at it?

Comment from: Paul Gadzikowski posted at September 3, 2005 12:01 AM

My favorite was the Sex in the City bit.

Websnark

Besides, the box comes with Ravage.