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March 2003 Issue

For March we focus on webcomic communities and have, among others, reviews ofDemonology 101, Return To Sender, Cat and Girl and Apocoman as well as a plethora of interviews and the usual cast of columnists.

Whence Webcartoonist Subcommunity?

By: T Campbell
Department: Features
Issue: March 2003 Issue

Torg Meets AJ

The modern history of art has been largely the history of artist subcommunities, bound by common interest and usually but not always by geography. Michelangelo fraternized with colleagues, burned with rivalry for Leonardo, and clucked his tongue at Titian. To be in Paris in the 1920s was to glimpse Pablo Picasso in conversation with Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway.

Cat Garza Chats With Scott "PvP" Kurtz (Part 2)

By: cat garza
Department: Interviews
Issue: March 2003 Issue

Scott and Angela Kurtz

Scott Kurtz is the creative force behind PVP, and Wedlock, his brief stint with an autobiographical comic on Modern Tales. Kurtz, known for being one of the few webcomics creators able to actually live off his comic, recently started a print run of PVP with Image Comics.

Heads that Shine by Vicho Friedli, Reviewed by Justin Pierce

By: Justin Pierce
Department: Reviews
Issue: March 2003 Issue

If there's any doubt whether art and humor are global concepts, Vicho Freidl's webcomic is a topical solution that gets to the root of the dilemma. But perhaps we're getting a-head of ourselves...

Cabezas Que Brillian (literally "Heads That Shine" in English) features Chilean roommates Cesar and Oscar, whose adventures are the centerpiece of the comic. The vertically, follically-challenged boys are nearly identical, except Cesar has thicker eyebrows and facial hair. They star in two types of comics: one is a gag strip format, and the other, newer addition is an ongoing storyline.

Demonology 101 by Faith Erin Hicks, Reviewed by Kelly J. Cooper

By: Kelly J. Cooper
Department: Reviews
Issue: March 2003 Issue

Demonology 101 by Faith Erin Hicks

Story-telling is cyclic. The good guys are up, the bad guys are down. The bad guys are up, the good guys are down. It's a distillation of the rhythmic nature of the human experience. But this pattern becomes a problem when it's circular and repetitive, instead of progressive. Like people, some characters do the same thing over and over, repeat the same shtick or fail to grow despite the wealth of experience heaped upon them by the authors of their webcomic plotlines.

Gutterwallowing by Michael McKay-Fleming


I love comics. I love comic books, comic strips, web comics. I love superheroes, indies, underground, naughty, sci fi, fantasy, auto biography, funny, furry; hell, I even chuckle at Family Circus once in awhile.

"So what," I hear you saying, "we all do (except that Family Circus thing. That’s just freaky)."An Introduction

E-books Unbound: An interview with Aaron Thacker


The two brothers from Indiana who sell downloadable comic books in PDF through Unbound Comics are feeling positive over future prospects for their site – which they run together from a considerable distance from one another. But this physical distance between Aaron (who lives in San Francisco) and Matt Thacker (in Chicago) hasn’t limited their success with Unbound Comics, a site that offers new and out-of-print comic books in e-book format for nearly half the price of their print counterparts.

Cat and Girl by Dorothy Gambrell, Reviewed by Chris Daily

By: Chris Daily
Department: Reviews
Issue: March 2003 Issue

Cat and Girl by Dorothy Gambrell

A cat and a girl. It's really that simple.A cat and a girl. It's really that simple.

Return to Sender by Vera Brosgol, Reviewed by Justin Pierce

By: Justin Pierce
Department: Reviews
Issue: March 2003 Issue

Return to Sender by Vera Brosgol

Feeling a little blue? If so, you're in luck, because Vera Brosgol's Return to Sender makes a little blue go a long way.

Return to Sender is essentially a realistic webcomic with one small, yet deliberate plot twist that sends it into many fantastical tangents – a bit like the old television show Early Edition, but with the fantasy knob cranked up a few notches.

Webcomic Communities (Part Three) -- Flies in the Forum Ointment? by Kelly J. Cooper

By: Kelly J. Cooper
Department: Features
Issue: March 2003 Issue

Webcomic Community - Illustration by Bill Duncan

This is part three of a series -- be sure to read part one and part two!

There's something about comics that make people want to talk. And sometimes, just talking causes more chaos and consternation than you can imagine. Between technical failures, heated discussions on controversial topics, and the occasional troll, creators who wish to maintain a community presence may be called on to do much more than just write and draw their comics.