Sounds to me like DC is gunning for an entirely online version of the Comic Book Challenge. Inviting creators, letting people vote, offering them money to work on their comics.

My two cents at least.

D0m
And I quote…

"When you submit your Web Comics to Zuda, you could be chosen immediately for a publishing contract or be entered into a competition where the rest of the Zuda Community will pick a Web Comic to win a publishing contract. We'll post the full specs and all the details in plain English right here soon, long before we're ready to accept your material. So sign up and we'll let you know when it's live. "

I recall Pirates 3 - “the reason we don't have a king is because everytime there's a vote, each pirate votes for himself.”

Seriously? If it came up for that I'd vote for meself too. Granted, I'm happy with my studio so I wouldn't go over there in the first place. Any publishing company gets rights to edit and change and also own your comic. They also get rights to sell it off to someone better if they decide their employees came up with the idea first (see submissions of most publishing companies).

Let the big boys do what they want. Webcomics I don't think will change as a whole. I wouldn't lose sleep over that at least. This would bring more comics to the web though and quality may become a more easily found thing. So they may take the cult out of webcomics.

But they can never take our freedom…

^_-

junoblairb
But they can never take our freedom…

Like hell they can't!

When I read the PR about Zuda, it immediately sounded like Platinum's partial business model with Drunk Duck and Comic Book Challenge– as in, they want the community, they want a contest— but they're keeping it editorially controlled, which might be good or bad for them. Who's to say they might not find the BEST there is because of the taste of one or two editors? Interesting. I'm going to find out more at Comicon.

Also, here's something people haven't really focused on and it's in the shadows. DC is doing this to build their library of fresh new Intellectual Property rights. Something that Platinum already has– but DC says it straight out in the various articles I've seen now that they're looking to maybe have something like “V for Vendetta” happen. It was a graphic novel for ages and then BAM, it became a movie. Just like Men in Black was an almost forgotten independent book until that mothership landed— that's the real game with intellectual property rights, some call it a lottery mentality. And just like anything, some will make it, some won't.

Someone else brought up that fact that if Zuda is closed, this might actually help sites like Drunk Duck and the other freehosts, because talented creators who have been turned away by an editorial board there, can find a great oasis of freedom out here to do their thing, and JUST AS MUCH OPPORTUNITY, IF NOT MORE. I mean, if they totally kickass, Platinum will end up noticing.

It bugs me how they called current webcomics a “slushpile” – it smacks a little insulting to me. Comics are comics, no matter what level you might be at skill wise, I enjoy being mixed with a group of people, some better than me, others not but on their way up. It keeps me on my toes. ;)

djcoffman
It bugs me how they called current webcomics a “slushpile” – it smacks a little insulting to me. Comics are comics, no matter what level you might be at skill wise, I enjoy being mixed with a group of people, some better than me, others not but on their way up. It keeps me on my toes. ;)

Where in blaze of homicidal glory did they say THAT? I certainly can't find it. :/

The NY TIMES headline.

Phantom Penguin
I smell a internet-fight on our hands.

*rolls up sleeves*

For God's sake put a shirt on. This isn't San Fransisco.

heh
the ratio size is almost likr my page size :)

I laugh at the ratio and expectations of DC.
If they don't re roll their character, they will die while playing the harsh game of internet DnD.

Places like like DD are where they are because they grew nourished by a great community and because they don't limit their artists and users and hit a vein of awesome that helped them keep afloat and even rise above the common folk of the virtual world.

I love DD for the same reason pirates loved piracy, freedom, friendship an the expectations and dreams that come with them, the feeling you get when you amass a treasure of fans and companions and the possibility of becoming a legend among your own because of something you love doing (i bet others would agree).

If DC doesn't recreate that, they are very likely going to have a place full of elitist b's, desperate people screaming for attention or at the best case a handful of show offs.

DD is what it is because of the wide range it covers and the variety it has to offer, like a flea market, not because it's a stockpile of comics and artists.

I bet a lot of people are going to try it out and even stay there because of the trademark stamped on it.

Don't get me wrong, i like DC, and i think that major comic publisher+online comics is a good idea, but for the way this got started and other reasons already pointed out i will always see this with bad eyes.

Vindibudd
And you cannot tell me that any one of you would not jump at the chance to have a contract signed with DC.

I can. :P

Ah well, whatever, they're sort of just jumping on the bandwagon though aren't they? Ho-hum another one… Yeah, DC's a big name in comics, great, I hope they do fine on the web. Blah, it'll only become more and more crowded as time goes on. Personally the content they'll have won't appeal to me, I'm more interested in the less polished more unique stuff that enthusiasts come up with than the sameness of corporate comic styles that appeal to people like DC.

ozoneocean

Vindibudd
And you cannot tell me that any one of you would not jump at the chance to have a contract signed with DC.

I can. :P

Somehow this shocks me not.

Vindibudd
Somehow this shocks me not.

As if I'd ever get that offer anyway lol!

No one should ever jump at contracts when it concerns your work…
Plus, the big comic company names don't have the lure for me that they might for some others. :)

No one should ever jump at contracts when it concerns your work…
Plus, the big comic company names don't have the lure for me that they might for some others.

I have to agree with you there, Oz. Working for DC or Marvel doesn't appeal to me at all. It seems a bit like wanting to be a rockstar, and then going on Pop Idol or X Factor to achieve that end. XD

I guess we're just not very commercial artists. Oh well. :3

A community built of screaming fan boys and show offs? I can't think of anything worse and I'm pretty sure the mere idea of venturing into Zuda will give me nightmares for weeks.

I don't think we need to worry about DC's latest venture; despite the fact it'll appeal to a more commercial audience I know of at least one other company who tried something like this. So when's the last time you heard about comic hosting at Tokyopop's site? It's difficult to use, seems to have no real community and is just a bit ugly.

If Zuda even gets off the ground I can't see it ever possing a threat to DD. They're just too different.

djcoffman
The NY TIMES headline.

To be COMPLETELY fair, DC only says “slushpile” in relation to the tons of unsolicited manuscripts they receive, its the NY Times that then calls webcomics a slushpile.

You better watch out NY Times. I'm the freaking night rider.

Someone
If you want to have a straight-on newspaper strip, like a Doonesbury or something like that, great. If you want to do something a little more abstract, like a Family Circus thatâ??s all in a circle, fantastic.

I wish I could do something as abstract as Family Circus. I just have trouble thinking outside the box.

Well, I think it's pretty awesome. haha! :D I might work up something for it, see how it goes.

Right– the “slushpile” thing was brought up in another interview I read yesterday I think too, in regards to what's out there now in webcomics being hit and miss with quality. I guess that's true, it's hard for people looking for polished quality to find it at a big list like Webcomic List, etc. Well, unless you know you're way around.

I kind of think that's the fun of webcomics too though, discovering something YOU like. That feeling of discovering something out there in the haystack, and sharing it with others.

Dogtopus! SQUEEE! :D

Well, I think it's pretty awesome. haha! :D I might work up something for it, see how it goes.

Traitor! TRAITOR! *tapes chikin to the Duck so he may not leave!*

I think ZooDoo will have a hard time creating a community.
I was on ComicSpace and I never got a comment on my comic. There was lots of fragments but not much storytelling. DrunkDuck has people who want to make stories and people who want to read and comment on them. ZooDoo may have trouble getting a community. Was anyone one else dissapointed by ComicSpace? I think ZuDa could go down the same bleak path.

Please people, No more posting image macros or youtube videos in response to the discussion, that's spam. It pollutes a thread, ruins the conversation and worst of all it encourages more of the same. Please, please don't do it ok? :)

djcoffman
Right– the “slushpile” thing was brought up in another interview I read yesterday

I think it's frankly wrong (the nicest way I can put it). -this is just a general rant and in no way directed at you DJ.

To apply that term to material that isn't submitted to you; wrong both in application and spirit. For one web comics out there are for you to find, they're not being sent to your place of work or home the way “slushpile” material is, and in the second; using that term in regards to material that's out there on the net makes it meaningless. By the same tone all the novels in a bookshop are a “slushpile” because they're just there and only some will be the ones I want to look at… In fact all the novels in the world are a “slushpile” lol! (Which they're not)

Whoever used that term in a published article in regards to webcomics is mentally deficient…
Ah but then journalism these days isn't what it was now we have bloggers doing it… Blogging seems to have diluted the quality. 50% of published articles I read now look like they were done for the letters page of a small circulation newspaper… Or even forum rants like this one! :)

be careful of signing contracts with marvel or DC. there's a good chance you may lose your creations if you do. many artists left the big companies because they didn't own anything they made while working there. getting paid to make your comics might be nice but is it worth losing your creations?

Okay, I think I need to address some of these comments and clarify my position on this whole DC thing. I read the article and the interview and I got this distinct vibe that they are not looking to screw people, they even say it in several places. That being said, when I talked about jumping at the chance to be signed with DC, I am not talking at blindly signing anything they throw in front of you. You have to have some personal responsibility and go over that contract and have a lawyer look at it. They are not going to throw some boilerplate thing to you because each cartoon is going to be different. Yeah, it is pretty neophytic when you read “abstract” and “Family Circus” in the same line, but give him a break, clearly webcomics are new to him. The complaints about raving fanboys are pretty rich in light of some of the raving webcartoonists' comments here towards DC. DC is not The Man unless you make them The Man. I have an idea, rather than posing about how avante garde you are and how your specific comic “just can't be restricted” why don't you chill out and realize that some people draw exactly what DC is looking for. They are offering people a really great chance for those who are wise and can cover all their bases on this sort of thing. I know it wouldn't break my heart to see a movie with my characters in it if I was ever so lucky there, so I think it is worth a shot. Again, you don't have to sign it if you don't like it. But don't knock it because you can't get past how awesome you know you are.

M'kay gotta start this by saying
I LOVE U GUYS
and I've always hated DC..why? I duuno, just have

I just hate the idea of how exclusive it is, and that they totally overlook the contribution to the comics world that sites like Drunk Duck make. Kinda like we're DC we'll come in and PAY people like that's ALL it takes to be “legit”

no no not at all, there are a lot of comics here I closely follow, and DEARLY LOVE that I know aren't up to “DC standards”. Does that mean those people aren't real comic artists?

Sorry, sorry I have wanted to work in/draw comics since I was about 7 or 8 and when I was in high school I had to watch a video called “how to draw the Marvel way” which was basically Stan Lee saying here's how I draw stuff, if you don't do it this way you're wrong and will never have a career in comics. Well I was only 17 and I have no desire and am not capable of drawing the marvel way, and I actually gave up my comic dream until I was 22 and discovered manga. (whoa these comics are awesome and look nothing like marvel or DC)

Anyways that's the vibe I'm getting from this zuda thing. if you're not with us, you're not anyone…

just take a look at my comics I publish 7 of them, all different story telling and art styles, and different “skill” levels as well.

My “mission” is for any web comic artist who's willing to put an honest effort into their work an opportunity to be recognized as a meaningful part of the comics world. (uh, duh becuase they are!) That's why we do the Wizard World events…to get people out from behind their computers and teach them to network in the industry. meh I'm just ranting now, I should shut up, and I will!

carly_mizzou
M'kay gotta start this by saying
I LOVE U GUYS
and I've always hated DC..why? I duuno, just have

I know why. You hate Mister Terrific.

http://www.mykey3000.com/cosmicteams/tommorrow/M/img/mrterrific1.jpg

Fair Play be damned!

;)

well, i checked out the site and found that you must make your comic in a specific manner, IE horrizontal. my comic is vertical so i'm out of the running.

http://tcj.com/journalista/?p=395

This whole Zuda thing is insanly interesting. i been looking around the web for more info and found the above link. for those people who dont click links i have copied the text below. I have bolded certain areas that anyone wanting to submit material should read.

Digital Comics


DC Comics’ new online initiative is being unveiled, and so far it looks pretty damned underwhelming. The New York Times‘ George Gene Gustines has the story:


The imprint, called Zudacomics.com, will permit aspiring cartoonists to register at its Web site and submit an eight-panel sample of their work. Starting in October and each month thereafter, editors at DC Comics will select 10 entries, post them for public view and invite people to vote for their favorite. Editors may also declare as many as six submissions to be instant winners during the calendar year.

“We’ve always found interesting stuff in submissions,” said Paul Levitz, president and publisher of DC Comics. “One of the problems that comics have today, I think, is that open door is much more closed. This creates a more open door.”

Most people who produce online comics do so as labors of love. Some post their work online free, hoping to catch a publisher’s eye or gain a following, but Zuda will offer a rare chance to become a paid professional.

Each winner will be awarded a one-year contract to produce their online series, DC Comics executives said. The company, a division of the Warner Brothers Entertainment, part of Time Warner, views the initiative as a chance to increase its library of intellectual properties, which can be lucrative as films, television shows and toys. DC Comics will also have the right to print the comics in collected editions.

Savor that last paragraph carefully: According to a report from ICv2, the company will “share” ownership of the “intellectual properties” with the creators, which on a practical level really means that DC will own it lock, stock and barrel:

DC Director of Creative Services Ron Perazza, in an interview with ICv2, described the business model for the site as “a long game for DC.” Although the site will carry advertising, its primary purpose will be to develop new intellectual property which DC can then use in its publishing, licensing, and other operations. Publishing could be in either single title collections, for which it would take a considerable amount of time to accumulate enough material, or in anthologies of multiple Zuda titles into a single volume. “It may take years for one of these IPs to develop into something more than a Webcomic,” Perazza said, “but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t invest the time and effort to grow that IP.”

Ownership of the IP will be shared, with “a deal that’s consistent with the other types of deals we offer for new talent for new properties,” Perazza told us.

One of the Web’s strengths is its ability to offer endless real estate to cartoonists looking to develop audiences that may later support their works — and an increasing number of cartoonists have been able to make the model work by selling books and merchandise, as well as by soliciting donations (as was recently the case for Danielle Corsetto). Part and parcel to this plan is creator ownership. It works because there’s no third party sitting atop the creator and eating a portion of the earnings, which means that the threshold for success is attainable on a relaticely small scale. DC’s new initiative will invite aspiring cartoonists to receive a paycheck for one year’s time, at the end of which the company could well drop it from the site — yet still maintain effective control over it. Don’t even think about taking it elsewhere, or relaunching it on your own site.

And how big will this paycheck be? Will it be enough to take the place of a full-time salary, or would the cartoonists be able to give themselves a payraise by quitting and taking up shop as a McDonald’s fry cook? At this point, Zuda’s “facts” page is little more than a collection of catchphrases and hype, and with more and more online cartoonists either attaining self-sufficiency on their own or landing publishing contracts that allow them to retain full ownership, it seems likely that the ones more confident of their abilities are going to look at this deal with suspicion. And that leaves the journeymen and the amateurs. Hell, you pretty much have to question any marketing strategy that essentially has Platinum Studios as a business model. Read any DrunkDuck.com strips, lately? Me neither.

This raises a final question: How will the audience necessary to make this venture work be built? To hear the geniuses behind Zuda tell it, webcomics creators have been waiting for something like this with bated breath. Readers are another matter. Most cartoonists working online develop their audiences slowly over the course of several years. The success of online collectives like Dumbrella is cumulative, with reader loyalty based not on some nebulous brand name but on the longterm attraction of specific strips. If strips are going to be promoted and then dropped after twelve months should they not prove spectacularly successful right out of the gate, then the announced business model has a long climb to success — especially if it’s top-heavy with journeymen and amateurs. The more you think about it, the dodgier all of this sounds.

I love your enthusiasm! And it's great that you put the article here :)
It finishes on a really negative note though…

bongotezz
This raises a final question: How will the audience necessary to make this venture work be built? To hear the geniuses behind Zuda tell it, webcomics creators have been waiting for something like this with bated breath. Readers are another matter. Most cartoonists working online develop their audiences slowly over the course of several years. The success of online collectives like Dumbrella is cumulative, with reader loyalty based not on some nebulous brand name but on the longterm attraction of specific strips. If strips are going to be promoted and then dropped after twelve months should they not prove spectacularly successful right out of the gate, then the announced business model has a long climb to success- especially if it's top-heavy with journeymen and amateurs. The more you think about it, the dodgier all of this sounds.

Ooooo… AH well, I hope it works out for them anyway! ^_^

I hate articles like this, they're no better than forum posts, they make huge assumptions based on personal conjecture. Also that author's comments about Drunk Duck, lead me to belive that his attitude about webcomics is: if he hasn't already heard of it, it's not worth reading. In which case I'm already on the other side of the fence as him. Its very here's what I read, here's how I chose to interpret what I read, and here's what my interpretation leads me to believe. Until theres more information about this thing all anyone is making at the point is gross assumptions.

People on the internet are always totally paranoid that someone is going to try to trick them into giving up their intellectual property. It's ridiculous. Firstly you don't have to sign anything you dont want to. Secondly, anyone trying to take advantage of a population of people that are clearly so paranoid that they are going to be taken advantage of that they second guess absolutely everything they see are either idiots, or such evil freaking geniuses that we're not goint to know what's going on till we're already over a barrel.

I'll probably submit somethign to Zuba, but it won't be something I really care for, like Children at Play or Modern Day Witchdoctor. It'll be something new that I haven't invested alot of myself into yet. It'll be something that I won't really care if they shit-canned it and I couldn't work on it anymore. You don't have to try to sell ‘em your baby. In fact you’d be a fool to. I don't want anyone to have any say in the content I'm putting in C@P, it's mine. Whereas Ultimate Costumed Penguin Death Fights, well, they can censor that all they want, because at this point all I really have is a title anyway.

Keep in mind, that article is by Dirk Depppey, who pretty much has it out for anything Platinum has to do with, he'll likely never say ANYTHING nice about anything affiliated with Platinum, including Drunk Duck.