It's been reported that Platinum Studios has bought Drunk Duck. So - comic book publisher plus webcomics host equals ???
What does everyone think? I'll probably post more tonight when I've had a chance to sit down and sort through the news on it.Â
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I don't doubt it. However, due to not having read very many European comics, I do not know much about them, and therefore cannot provide informed opinions regarding them.
Also, there is a lot more to North American comics than superheroes.Â
One-liners - New strips on Fridays.
One-liners - New strips on Fridays.
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In keeping with the tradition of the self-important webcomic creator/blogger, I have thoughts on this too!
An excerpt from the post that will appear on my site tomorrow:
In regards to the news that Platinum Studios has bought Drunk Duck, (On that note, while I agree with DJ Coffman's "wait and see" attitude, I can't help but find this Penny Arcade strip hilarious.) I would like to say I told you so. I know the article I linked to (The one I wrote.) mostly discusses Japanese comics, (Because at the time the article was written, they were the best thing the industry has seen in a long time.) and barely touches on webcomics, (Because while webcomics are great, and will, I believe, be one of the things that revolutionizes the industry, they are not yet as important to the North American comics print industry as Japanese comics.) the point is that I said while the industry is in a slump, it will get better, and the fact that a media company sees the potential of webcomics only reinforces my opinion.
I believe Japanese and webcomics will usher in a new golden age for the North American comics industry. With all the experimentation that's going on, and the emergence of more and more young creators, it's like the sixties all over again. Let the good times roll.
One-liners - New strips on Fridays.
One-liners - New strips on Fridays.
To Shishio
I believe Japanese and webcomics will usher in a new golden age for the North American comics industry. With all the experimentation that's going on, and the emergence of more and more young creators, it's like the sixties all over again. Let the good times roll.
One-liners - New strips on Fridays.
Don't forget European comics. There're all kinds of stuff going on there, and there's a variety of titles, & genre, just like manga & webcomics.
Also, American comics should've vary their genres beyond superheroes as well as made efforts to reach out to more diverse set of readers beyond the current young males or those hardcore types.
European influence
I don't see European comics having a huge influence on the US market. In most cases where there is a strong comic book sector (France or Italy, for example) there is the obvious language barrier to overcome and - beyond the hardy perennials like Asterix and Tin Tin - I haven't seen any real sign that the publishers are interested in making translated versions widely available. It would need a Tokyo Pop type operation by someone with very deep pockets.
UK comics obviously don't have a language issue but, here, the industry is very weak - largely I suspect because the language issue (or lack of one) means that we're as swamped by the super hero output of DC and Marvel as the US itself. The UK really only has one mass market publisher (2000 AD) and I believe they've already made one unsuccessful attempt at launching in the US.
Ironically, I suspect it may well be that comics on the web will have a far greater effect on the US comic market than anything produced by European print publishers.
Interesting times ...
Broken Voice Comics
Because comics are not just for kids
Will the buyout by Platinum
I'm not sure it will
I'm not sure it will effect the mature content much at all. Right now with the new site design up your not prompted to verify age or etc... that may change.
I'm also curious what happens to the sprite comics now that DD is owned by a company that has money worth suing for.
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The Gigcast
I thought the PA guys were
Penny Arcade Comic + Rant Today
Everyone's talking about this I guess. (Regardless of other issues as to this deal, I still think PR and buzz is a skill-set that Platinum seems to have some ability at)
Penny Arcade comic here. Tycho's essay on the front page - here's part of it:
This definitely has a "gold rush" feeling to it, and it's far from over. There is so much excellent work being done online and then being parceled out for practically nothing that it was only a matter of time before the city slickers caught wind of our potent local sauce. When they - and Platinum may prove more benevolent than the shadow lords in their wake - when they come for your life's work, at least try to negotiate visiting rights.
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.
Not really a rant
Just to clarify, Tycho's bit on this story is hardly a rant really. In PA terms, they actually are going really easy on Platinum...
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.
Everybody settle down, take
No DD member loses their
No DD member loses their rights to their comics in any way shape or form when they create an account and post them.
 They may be offered a separate deal - but that's a contractual deal between Platinum and the artist that has nothing really to do with their DD account.
Right, so there's no need
I dont get it
I'm missing some info.
Are they forcing the Drunk Duck members to sign over rights to them for the honour of free hosting?
Otherwise, I dont see the problem. Platinum has been upfront about their idea mining, and anyone who knowingly signs up for a pittiance gets what they deserve.
I'm leaning to this being a
I'm leaning to this being a great thing for Drunkduck and Platinum. Stepping back to look at it Platinum gets to "test market" books that it think may do well in print as well as a really active community that will speak up and call something trash when they see it.
Platinum gets Dylan (Volte6) who has proven himself as a more then qualified programmer and supporter of the little guy.
Drunkduck gets much needed stability and good press that it's needed. In addition drunkduck gets to highlight some books it wouldn't have had access to previously. As example Cowboys and Aliens starts up this week on Drunkduck and looks really well done and Hero by Night starts up sooner then later.
It's my hope that platinum uses the opportunity to take chances. With them on board and Dylan's fondness for community input the potential is there for something cool.
It's a little early to say anything other then the press release obviously rubbed some people wrong. That's going to happen every time someone steps up and says something is groundbreaking. I'm betting it could be ground breaking as long as they can hang on to and listen to the community that has grown up around Drunkduck.
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The Gigcast
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The Gigcast
Have A Question for Dylan?
The Gigcast is collecting questions for DrunkDuck creator Dylan Squires:
Here
I can't promise we'll use em, but if we do, we'll be sure to mention who asked it (including url of comic).
JT
Story on Platinum Equity Investment
Interesting story? Platinum's COO invested 1 million into the company today.
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.
It was actually news back on
It was actually news back on the 21st.
http://platinumstudios.com/news/article.php?article=137
DJ Coffman
yirmumah.net
I know that they contacted
I know that they contacted several comic sites looking to purchase them, I wonder what made them settle on drunkduck?
Were they interested in Comixpedia? I know I ended up saying no :)
I ran ads from them..
I ran ads from Platinum during the Comic Book Challenge but no - no offers to purchase Comixpedia.
Buying Drunk Duck is a bit different approach than WebcomicsList or even OnlineComics. It would be interesting to know more about the rationale for the deal - whether there's more to it at this point for Platinum other than "we need to be on the 'net now!"
I'm also curious about the deal itself - I doubt anyone will spill too much but what's a free hosting site worth? How much traffic does DD have anyhow (and did that matter that much to the purchase price?)Â
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.
Just taking a peek at alexa
Just taking a peek at alexa and just going off of traffic rankings. It's still tough to put a dollar on that but it should give you a ball part at the historical potential for ad revenue. I think at one point Dylan mentioned that it did well enough to pay for itself and a little. I get the feeling that may change for the better. Â
Traffic Rank for keenspot.com: Â 22,490Â
Traffic Rank for drunkduck.com: Â 74,262
Traffic Rank for comixpedia.com: Â 87,735
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The Gigcast
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The Gigcast
Hmm - How Much Will DD Grow
So here's something to mark - let's see how much DD's traffic grows over the next 3 months/6months/year, etc. Right now DD is a fairly distant alternative to Keenspot/Comic Genesis in terms of traffic - let's see if it gains on Keen at all.
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.
It's important to note that
It's important to note that Keenspot's sites don't share the same domain name like drunkduck.com's sites do, so Alexa ranks keenspot.com much lower than they would if each Keenspot site was counted collectively. Our current ranking basically only takes visitors to the keenspot.com homepage into account.
That's made clear by ComicGenesis.com's Alexa ranking: #8,801.
Comic Genesis is a much more apt comparison to Drunk Duck than Keenspot, at least when comparing Alexa rankings.
good point, we can all meet
good point, we can all meet back here in 3 months and have sandwiches.
not really joking I'm really hungry for a sandwich
Â
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The Gigcast
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The Gigcast
Obscure reference forthcoming...
Wednesday may give a clearer picture
The DD thread mentions this but DrunkDuck 2.0 is set to launch on Wednesday. This might provide a clearer picture as to what further impact Platinum Studios buying DrunkDuck might have. I say further impact because the immediate impact has already been happening for the past month: a makeover with the layout, a dedicated server, and new/improved features.
Considering the history of DrunkDuck, I think this warrents some attention. DrunkDuck has went through a lot of server issues and data losses over the years. I've been with it for a very long time and I've seen most of them. So a dedicated server that gets backed up once a day and an admin that now has both the time and resources to develop DrunkDuck is good news to me.
I hope the news keeps on being good. DrunkDuck 2.0 could be some indication but even then it wouldn't be the final word quite yet. When Volte6 launched the redesigned layout a month ago, he took in user feedbacks and changed it about a week later. Unknown to a lot of people at the time, Platinum Studios had already bought DrunkDuck then.
Volte6 is a great guy and DD has been around for almost 5 years because of him. He's not the kind of guy out to screw everyone and I know I'm not the only one happy about the fact that he's still on board. (I don't know Platinum Studios though so I can't say the same thing.)
As a side note, The Gigcast is going to interview Volte6 next week and they got a forum thread for anybody who wants to ask him a question.
http://www.acrylicmoon.com
http://www.drunkduck.com
http://www.nightgig.com
http://www.acrylicmoon.com
With all due respect to the
With all due respect to the creators involved, many of whom are undeniably talented, I think it'll be about as impactful as Platinum's print publishing: which is to say not at all. They're deep pockets and big talk, crossing their fingers for someone to give them a winning lottery ticket.
PvP Crowd Shares Your View
Mostly the PvP crowd doesn't think there's much there "there" to this deal either.
I still don't have much to say about it other than I think it could be a good thing for DrunkDuck making it a more stable operation and attractive alternative to Keenspace, etc and that despite the dismissing of Platinum's PR as PR I think that a serious and effective approach to PR is something webcomics is only so-so at right now. Platinum just got it's deal covered in the NY Times (and other papers might have picked up on it) - how many other webcomic operations have pulled that off recently? (No doubt this year a few creators have gotten good press - Keenspot & Owen Dunne, R. Stevens, DJ Coffman come to mind - but I think I can count them on one hand.)Â
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.
Slipcast is Somewhat Suspicious
Kris did a Slipcast on it in addition to this month's Chex.Â
I don't know - I mean I completely agree with the attitude that artists need to look out for themselves and I like that webcomics is still almost totally uncorporatized but...
I just don't see Platinum as that scary. They represent a skill set that many artists could acquire (at least PR, networking, packaging) for themselves but not all want to or just can't do as well. I suppose the advice always has to come down to keep your eyes open and know what you're getting into. Know what something like Platinum can do for (and what it can't) and what you're trading away for that. Is the fear that with this combination with Drunk Duck that Platinum is going to con lots of artists into bad deals?
I still think this is an interesting story and am chewing over the opinions I'm hearing.
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.
Yirmumad!
Heh - this thread has just turned into me talking to myself! That's what I get for banishing drama from Comixpedia :)
Anyhow there's a bit of drama on the comment thread at Yirmumah on this topic...
A 90/10 split on revenues (what kind of revenues though?) keeps coming up as what people seem to have heard and object to. I honestly don't know much about the deal and what it means for Drunk Duck - both for webcomics already on it and those yet to apply for hosting. So in my mind there's a lot more details to flesh out..
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.
Unless I'm reading the
Unless I'm reading the article incorrectly, the 90/10 deal is for the merchandising of the comic. And the 10% is from the gross sales -- which is better than you can get from POD companies like Lulu and such (which is a great service, IMO).
Also, individual webcomicers probably don't have access to toy manufacturing like Platinum does - or seems to say they have.
I say it's worth watching. Nothing can really be determined until these things start appearing.
Drunk Duck Forums Talk
This seems to be the main thread on the subject over there.
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.
The Beat Piles On
The Beat posts on it and there's a lot of back and forth in the comments. This is more from the angle of the comic book biz then webcomics.Â
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.