Websnark: The Revolution will be Pixilated

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Eric: The Revolution will be Pixilated

Diesel Sweeties, like pretty much all of Dumbrella, does everything essentially right. I always feel badly that I don't bring up Overcompensating, Goats, Scary go Round and the rest more often than I do, because they're all so freaking brilliant that I want to point at them and scream "see? THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE!" to people who do webcomics.

I include myself in that assessment. On my best day, I never came close to any of Dumbrella's cheerful people. And a couple of years back, before Blank Label came out and got lots of people talking about their bold new movement and revolutionary attitudes, Dumbrella was doing... well, all the same stuff, and quietly doing well. At this stage, at least four of the Dumbrella webcartoonists do this as their job, Dumbrella does merchandising fulfillment for other webcomics, and Dumbrella has moved into a full on hosting service for webcomics and stuff. All this sort of thing happens when people do things right and well.

It was a Dumbrella webcartoonist who was invited to a Hollywood premiere. It's a Dumbrella webcartoonist who had Samuel L. Jackson wear one of their tee shirts in a music video and doing significant press for his movie.

But for some reason, Dumbrella tends to fly below the radar these days. Other folks seem to get more press. Individual webcomics on Dumbrella spike to the top of peoples' attention, but the Dumbrella collective doesn't get the love it deserves.

Well, a Dumbrella webcartoonist just made history. At least in Webcomics terms. And if you think this is an invitation to argue some more about the definition of Webcomics History, think again Scooter Dan.

That person is R Stevens, the author of Diesel Sweeties.

Diesel Sweeties is a seminal webcomic. The artwork isn't just pixel based, it's aggressively pixel based, looking for all the world like it came out of a 1984 paint program. (Though anyone who thinks the art is therefore simple doesn't understand the difference between simple in appearance and simple in execution.) With the art mostly static (most strips approach "talking heads," the writing makes or breaks the strip, and R Stevens is a damned good comic strip writer. His executions flow nicely. The pacing between strips works. His strips have just enough continuity to keep you coming back, but a day's strip doesn't need footnotes to be funny. Like I said at the top of the essay, this is how it's done.

But that's not the incredible thing. The incredible thing is, starting in January, Diesel Sweeties is going to be syndicated by United Feature Syndicate for newspaper publication. Six days a week there will be Diesel Sweeties in newspapers, and then on Sunday there will be a full sized color Sunday strip in the Sunday funnies. Diesel Sweeties is now being handled and published by the same folks who do Peanuts and Dilbert.

This is big news for Diesel Sweeties. But, and I hate to say this, this alone wouldn't be big news. I mean, new strips have been added to syndicates since... well, since there have been syndicates. This is what they do, and to be honest Diesel Sweeties is a good strip and a good catch.

No, the big news is the terms of the deal that Stevens has announced. To quote:

Starting on January 8, 2007 Diesel Sweeties is going to be running in newspapers through United Feature Syndicate. These syndicated strips will also be showing up on comics.com, A.K.A. the best URL ever. Web-only and archived strips will still be here, same as always. We signed the papers a couple weeks ago and I'm still kind of shell-shocked. I'm working hard to finish the sample strips. The newspaper comics are going to be all-new strips with the same characters, seven days a week.

It's a pretty cool deal: I get to do newspaper comics, while still maintaining my own copyright, website and t-shirts. The best part for me is that there will still continue to be new comics here on the DS site!

Stop and consider this, just for a minute.

United Feature Syndicate is going to publish Diesel Sweeties. At the same time, they're also letting Stevens have his merchandising and web publishing rights. He gets to continue Diesel Sweeties the webcomic and Diesel Sweeties the extended advertisement for tee shirt sales. He gets to continue to sell advertising on dieselsweeties.com.

He gets to stay in Dumbrella.

R Stevens is now a nationally syndicated cartoonist. And yet, he is staying as a webcartoonist.

This is a major shift of previous attitudes. In the past, when someone got syndicated, they signed significant rights away. The syndicates got to merchandise the strip (or at least keep the cartoonist from merchandising himself). It took someone with the clout and popularity of Bill Watterson to resist the merchandising opportunities, and Watterson's work is still selling books that makes money for Universal Press Syndicate. (And if you look at today's strip on calvinandhobbes.com, you'll see a copyright notice for Universal Press Syndicate.) If you got into syndication, the syndicates became the owners and the bosses. Period.

A while back, Scott Kurtz mentioned that one of the syndicates was interested in PvP. However, they would have wanted Kurtz's merchandising rights and would restrict his ability to make other deals. So Kurtz passed. Now, the world has turned, things have changed, and a major webcomic now gets both to cut a deal with a syndicate and retain its independent identity.

In part, this is almost certainly because United Feature Syndicate recognizes that Stevens already leverages an independent audience. In a world where the syndicates are facing declining newspaper circulations and a general slowdown in penetration and cultural recognition, it's long been crazy that they haven't been reaching out to a broader web audience (on something other than "thirty days of archives" on Comics.com). This is advertising, and name recognition, and brand management.

And, and this is key, it doesn't cost them anything. Stevens does this on his own. It's like advertising a UFS strip to tens of thousands of fans every day for no money whatsoever.

What syndicate, whose bread and butter comes entirely from brand recognition, wouldn't want a deal like that?

Up until now, we haven't seen deals like this. But I suspect it's a deal that'll be good for business all ways. (And might -- just might -- mean Diesel Sweeties collections in bookstores in the actual "Humor" section, not "Graphic Novels.") That's amazingly cool.That's amazingly exciting. This is absolutely a first, and Stevens deserves a ton of praise and credit for it.

And I'll bet this won't be the last deal we see like this.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: things are about to get interesting.

Posted by Eric Burns-White at September 5, 2006 10:15 AM

Comments

Comment from: miyaa posted at September 5, 2006 11:24 AM

Hmm...not sure if mainstream public is ready for a strip that deals with less than savory characters and the main character being a former porn starlet.

But then again, the internet has pretty much made almost all of newspaper business obsolete. Heck, it's difficult to think that the television will survive as it is at the present time. I would not be surprised if in ten to twenty years from now, United Features Syndicate will be what Dumbrella is now. Assuming it survives the change, of course.

Comment from: Christopher B. Wright posted at September 5, 2006 12:03 PM

That's a pretty sweet deal. I wonder if Stevens is going to have to scale back some of his humor for the newspaper strips. I recall that Peter Zale encountered that problem when Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet was finally syndicated, and his comic was pretty tame by comparison.

Still, they're letting him keep the DS website, so even if he does have to scale back for the funny papers he can always overcompensate and ramp up the twistedness online... :)

Comment from: Scarybug posted at September 5, 2006 12:44 PM

Yes, that is how it's done, but it's hard for most of us to be as much of a genius as any of those guys.

Comment from: Paul Gadzikowski posted at September 5, 2006 12:48 PM

But then again, the internet has pretty much made almost all of newspaper business obsolete. Heck, it's difficult to think that the television will survive as it is at the present time.

One day your tv, your newspaper, your phone, your web browser, your radio, your thermostat, your public library, your car keys and your PDA will all be the same device.

Comment from: quiller posted at September 5, 2006 12:53 PM

It's a pretty nice situation, though it isn't that different from the deal that Van Von Hunter got. They have their webcomic same as before. They have their graphic novels published by Tokyopop, and they have their Sunday newspaper comics as part of (or maybe the only thing in) the program for providing manga content for newspapers. The funny thing is, that they are each separate storylines for the three mediums, but I don't know if that is from customizing the comics for the mediums, or due to rights issues.

Of course, Van Von Hunter's success came from winning the Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga contest, so it is not quite the same thing as a negotiated settlement from scratch. I certainly don't want to downplay R. Stevens accomplishment here, and I think it could be a sign of things to come, it just doesn't seem as much of a quantum leap to me as it would if there hadn't been other breakthroughs before.

And certainly the fact that I can go down to my local Borders and browse through Chugworth Academy, Inverloch, Megatokyo and Van Von Hunter shows that some doors are opening.

Comment from: richard stevens posted at September 5, 2006 1:22 PM

Thanks for the kind words, Dr. Burns. Where I come from, you don't give up Mr. Jon Rosenberg for Bil Keane. You give up Mr. Jon Rosenberg for a harem of wealthy women with trust funds.

Comment from: Dave Van Domelen posted at September 5, 2006 1:54 PM

Paul: And then when you lose one, you lose them ALL. :)

Comment from: 32_footsteps posted at September 5, 2006 2:22 PM

Heh, the pixels are way too small... we're talking 1987 at the earliest.

For the comic itself, I dunno... Diesel Sweeties always underwhelms me. It almost feels like it's more funny to take lines from it out of context and read them. I'm always left feeling like the elements are there, but the execution is off enough that I can't get into it.

But really, that's neither here nor there.

The deal is quite an interesting one, and good for Stevens to get it. This actually has me wondering if we'll see similar deals in the future.

Let's take PvP for instance. Would the syndies give Scott this kind of deal now that Stevens has taken one (or in the near future, presuming the deal is good for all sides)? Now, they might not due to some ill-placed animosity over his offer for a free year of PvP to run in papers (irrational, but nobody's calling the syndies of late rational). But if they did, I could see, depending on the particulars, Scott taking them up.

I'll grant that only the folks going daily (and reliably daily) would be able to secure deals like this. I'm actually curious who out there would be able to secure something on these lines (Shaenon Garrity could, and Bill Holbrook easily could).

Though that makes me think of something interesting... what if comics pages started alternating such that they ran two sets of thrice-weekly comics in the same space? Some space still devoted to daily comics, and some that has comic A MWF and comic B TTS. If the webcomics could convince the syndies and newspapers to try this, it could open the floodgates.

Comment from: Eric Burns posted at September 5, 2006 2:40 PM

It could be a new competition. What would you give Mr. Jon Rosenberg up for?

Comment from: Abby L. posted at September 5, 2006 3:15 PM

Um, 32 Footsteps, Bill Holbrook already HAS a syndicated comic.

This is great news. Hoopefully it stands the test of timke, because if handled well, it might be great news for the newspapers.

Comment from: Rich Burlew posted at September 5, 2006 3:37 PM

There's another hidden tidbit in R Stevens' announcement, if no one noticed: He's working hard to finish the sample strips now, weeks after the deal was signed. That means UFS likely approached HIM, possibly with no indication whether or not he was interested in being in newspapers before they did so, since submitting a strip for syndication usually involves producing that month's worth of sample strips in advance. So the syndicate went fishing in the big pond of webcomics for their next feature, rather than waiting for people to submit something to them. That bodes very well for people with successful daily webcomics--and very poorly for people trying to break into the newspapers directly.

Comment from: J.(Channing)Wells posted at September 5, 2006 4:40 PM

Eric, I would give up Mr. Jon Rosenberg for a lifetime supply of multivitamins and a really good barbecue dinner.

Comment from: Plaid Phantom posted at September 5, 2006 4:46 PM

Wow. This is incredibly awesome. Now I really have to push through the Diesel Sweeties archives.

This really is a suprise for me, though. No offense to R Stevens, but I always expected the first webcomic to get into syndication would be by Shaenon Garrity or Howard Tayler. Of course, it's just like Dumbrella to fly just under my radar like this.

Comment from: 32_footsteps posted at September 5, 2006 4:58 PM

If you want to get anal, Abby, he has two - On The Fasttrack and Safe Havens. That's why I said he easily could.

My point in mentioning Holbrook is that he could possibly swing a deal like this for Kevin & Kell as well, although there could be attendant problems with his deals with Fasttrack and SH. The syndication part isn't the story, it's the contract Stevens (and hopefully others in the future) managed to get out of it.

Comment from: eviljim posted at September 5, 2006 5:15 PM

I want to first say I like Diesel Sweeties a lot. It's a great comic.

That said, I'm quite surprised that a syndicate would pick up this comic rather than some of the great webcomics that would more closely match the audience that reads newspapers. DS's humor is quite odd, often not overtly funny (subtle humor is great - but is it mainstream?)

I'm surprised to not see this being handed over to PvP or Sluggy (though sluggy has a lot of history, could see that being a problem) or Goats.

Of course they should have just picked up achewood. That'd get me to buy a paper. Though then he could not meet reader demand for rock-hard cat cock.

Comment from: Paul Gadzikowski posted at September 5, 2006 6:12 PM

If the syndicates are going to the web, perhaps it's because Kurtz made such a big stink in 2005.

If they're going to the below-radar webcartoonists instead of to Kurtz, perhaps it's because Kurtz made such a big stink in 2005.

Comment from: Eric Burns posted at September 5, 2006 6:32 PM

One correction (of my own essay, not your comment).

I think Dumbrella's somewhat below-the-radar these days. I'm not sure why, mind, because they do everything right. But they don't get the press as a collective that, say, Blank Label does.

Diesel Sweeties is not below the radar. Nor are most of the Dumbrella comics. Diesel Sweeties, Goats, Overcompensating and Scary-go-Round at the least are in the very top tier of webcomics, with massive readerships and hugely loyal fans. explodingdog, Boy on a Stick and Slither and The Creatures in my Head may or may not be as pervasive (I'm really not sure), but they're certainly extremely well made and lauded comic strips.

However, the group to a degree backburners their affiliation compared to the individual strips. Which is almost certainly by design.

Comment from: Shaenon posted at September 5, 2006 6:34 PM

Congratulations to Richard!

I'm actually not surprised that the newspaper syndicates are offering better copyright deals nowadays. There was a time when syndicates made most of their money by licensing the strips in other media, but that hasn't been the case for years. It doesn't make sense for them to demand the rights to Diesel Sweeties T-shirts if they no longer have the infrastructure in place to actually make and market said T-shirts...and Richard Stevens does.

Incidentally, some of the non-daily comics that people have mentioned as things they'd like to see in newspapers are already self-syndicated in weekly newspapers. So petition your local free weekly to pick up Achewood or Perry Bible Fellowship!

Comment from: Matt Sweeney posted at September 5, 2006 8:25 PM

Kurtz brings up some good questions in relation to all of this. (not sure how to link directly to the post, it is the post for 9/5/06 titled "Details! I need details!")

Congrats to Stevens, of course. I'm just really skeptical of corporations, especially when they act like they have a clue. It is usually a bad sign. Here's hoping it all works out, hopefully no one ends up regretting this.

Comment from: MagnoliaPearl posted at September 5, 2006 9:04 PM

It kind of gives hope to all of us, don't it? I'm so happy for R. Stevens and I can't wait to see it in the papers.

Comment from: miyaa posted at September 5, 2006 9:52 PM

If Burlew is right (and I wouldn't doubt that), then the newspaper syndicates are in worse trouble than I thought.

I've been told by a lot of different sources or hinted by what I've read that the future of media is in the cell phone, or whatever smaller and smaller device will make the cell phone obsolete. It's what is selling right now, even hotter than console games and far better than personal computers and laptops are at the present time.

I kind of wonder what does that mean for the media and the webcomics? Will we see comics written for the cellphone screen? (I see that some comics are fitted for the psp, which fails as a hand-held game but works as very portable movie player.) As many wonder if there will be a place for the printed text, I also wonder if there will be a place for the personal computer or laptop? Maybe even the console box is running on borrowed time.

I have always felt that artists in general tend to perform better when there's limitations to their work versus an anything goes venue. Which is why I will find how Diesel Sweeties will end up looking like under syndication mode.

Quiller: I think what also helped Van Von Hunter is that it is already illustrated in a standard newspaper comic style. It's really good that does not need any very little tesslation into syndication mode (e.g. Arianna ought to be a little older, she has been drunk).

Overall, just from my very outside perspective, I'm not sure if wanting to be picked up by any of the international syndication groups is the very best place to be at the moment.

Comment from: Nentuaby posted at September 6, 2006 12:54 AM

Miyaa:

I really don't think we need be afraid of cell phones taking over the world entirely. Their interface with human hands and eyes is simply too limited, intrinsically, by their size. There will always be a market for full size input devices and 13+ inch screens.

Comment from: Plaid Phantom posted at September 6, 2006 2:39 AM

miyaa: Hey, if the syndies start handing out more deals like this, I don't see that it would really hurt anyone (other than the potential contribution to burnout).

Also, comics on the iPod. Mentioned for the sake of thoroughness.

Nentuaby: That's a good point. technology may be getting smaller, but humans aren't. There's a threshold where smaller size begins to become an encumbrance more than a feature, and I think that point is nearing.

I don't think the webcomic world needs to worry about anything but the internet as far as primary distribution goes. New technologies so far being internet based, it will be a good common "centralized" (for lack of a better word) distribution method. Outside of that, it's basically just the syndicates, papers, and books, which seem to serve best as exposure and draw readers to the webcomic itself.

Just my two cents. At 1:30am. Take with a grain of salt. Rinse, repeat, all that.

Comment from: Sean Conner posted at September 6, 2006 3:50 AM

I'm surprised Chris Balwin's Little Dee isn't in newspapers. It's already appearing on comics.com and is (of the web-based strips that I read) one of the more (if not the most) newspaper friendly strips around.

Comment from: Matt Buchwald posted at September 6, 2006 7:03 AM

This makes me want to start buying newpapers again. I think that notion alone makes this a big thing.

(Er, that anyone would be made ro want to buy newspapers because of it. Not just solely me.)

Comment from: 32_footsteps posted at September 6, 2006 10:48 AM

I've heard about the idea that portable electronics is the wave of the future, but I also think it's pretty limited.

Let's for example take the Blackberry. As neat as it is conceptually, I've never seen anything induce carpal tunnel so easily. And I've played video games for 25 years.

Speaking of, look at the current wave of portable gaming devices. The PSP already can surf the net, but nobody's really using it for that. The comics produced for it don't come out well on its screen, and actually surfing on it is onerus at best.

The DS browser is only barely better. Having a second screen for use in scrolling or typing makes it a bit easier to use, but the resolution is still lacking and nothing is sized for it (partly because it's not commercially available in the States yet, thus people don't consider it when designing a page).

Nentuaby, if anything, is understating the situation. We can handle things only so small with our bare hands (I've actually been thinking I need a larger cell phone, to be honest). Portable devices are fun, but until they can expand to allow for easier use, the desk-based solution is the future.

Comment from: Rhandir posted at September 6, 2006 1:42 PM

offtopic:
Lea Hernandez's house burned down today. She's fine, her kids are fine, but she lost pets, artwork, most of her house, etc. See the divalea livejournal for more info.

Sorry for the offtopic.

-r.

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