The Zuda team, the crew behind DC’s webcomics initiative, sent out an email today announcing that the site would start posting webcomics on Oct. 30:
On that magical day, when fairies push back the clouds and allow the golden rays of the sun to shine through, flowers bloom to the sweet melodies of harps, a parade of majestic, rainbow-colored unicorns prance down Broadway and corruption is eliminated as the rule of law is reestablishing in the United States (ok, maybe that last one is a bit far fetched) you’ll be able to read our first ongoing series and read, rate, vote and more in the first Zuda Competition!
Also, on that blessed of blessed days, when we no longer have to crowd into a “war” room and collectively code against a deadline, the submission doors open and they don’t ever shut - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You’ll be able to send us your comic proposals any time, day or night, whenever YOU’RE ready. But wait…there’s more!
If you’re going to be in the New York City area (and are 21 years of age or older) on Launch Day (Tuesday, 10/30) then come on and join the Zuda staff for the Zuda Comics Launch Event and Live Submissions…um…Extravaganza! Face it, you can submit online any day of the week, but for this one night only, from 5:30 - 6:30 PM, Ron, Kwanza and Nika will be reviewing pitches live! Bring your best! And don’t worry, if you can’t make it at that time for the next couple of hours we’ll still have a drop box where you can leave your submission and we’ll have some laptops where you can submit “ye olde fashioned” way - digitally! Where will this magic happen? At one of the most magical places on Earth, of course.
Lansdowne Road
599 10th Avenue
(between 43rd and 44th Streets)
New York, NY 10036
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:20 pm
first post!
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:09 pm
My general impression so far is that nobody involved with Zuda cares about webcomics.
I went to their site and asked a couple of questions about why certain rules were in place. All the answers revolved around setting things up for moving the content from the web to print (or cell phones, or even putting the comics on TV (don’t ask me how they thought that was going to happen)). A lot of what they said contradicted things that had already been proven to be true by many webcomics, so they’re ignoring or just not bothering to research a lot of what webcomics have learned over the years.
The people looking to get comics on Zuda don’t seem to care about webcomics, either. Most of them seem to see it as a way to get DC to notice them. I’ve got a feeling that a lot of these people will burn out before fulfilling their contracts.
At this point, I don’t have a lot of faith in Zuda.
October 24th, 2007 at 2:39 am
What manner of name is Zuda anyway?
October 24th, 2007 at 3:42 am
It’s the type of name that hasn’t been trademarked by someone else yet. Like how Intel wouldn’t use names like “pentium” and “itanium” if they could think of something good that wasn’t already taken.
October 24th, 2007 at 7:36 am
CodeGuy, I’ve been on those same message boards and what you’ve written is plain untrue. Just because you have some self-appointed expertise on what webcomics are supposed to be doesn’t mean that Zuda is doing things wrong. It doesn’t mean that they are right either. Time will tell, but you eager to just be negative because it is DC.
October 24th, 2007 at 10:27 am
The thing I like about the Zuda venture is that it’s different. Time will tell if the whole thing works or not, but someone needs to experiment with the webcomic production/distribution scheme. I’m curious to see what it looks like on roll-out.
October 24th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Guy Smiley: “Time will tell, but you eager to just be negative because it is DC”
Actually, no. I like DC a lot, and the vast majority of the comics I’ve bought in the last 10 years is DC.
But you are right that time will tell. I don’t have a lot of faith in them, but it could happen.