Chris Pirillo » comics

How Long Have You Been Reading Comics or Graphic Novels?

Chris — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:43:45 +0000

How Long Have You Been Reading Comics or Graphic Novels? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Some of my fondest memories as a child happened to be reading comic books at my grandparents’ house. I’ve graduated to reading graphic novels. Ok, ok… I still enjoy comics, as well. They’re just very visual. I would much rather read a book that has pictures or illustrations than without! I received an email from Ed recently, asking me to check out his website. He is a graphic artist, and creates comics!

Ed is a hardworking illustrator based out of Pittsburgh Pa. He’s happy he gained some traction developing a cartooning career quickly after his tenure at The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic art. His best known work right now is his collaborations with Harvey Pekar on American Splendor. He and Mr. Pekar are currently wrapping up a graphic novel called “MACEDONIA” for Random House.

The comic itself has cool little labels on it. I am definitely looking forward to reading both Wizzywig Vol 1: PHREAK, and Vol 2: Hacker. These are seriously geeky! I love supporting independent artists in their ventures, and these are something I can totally get behind! They’re well done, and look to be fantastic!

If you’re looking to add to or start your own comic collection, be sure to check out all of Ed’s work!

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Site Advice: BitStrips

Chris — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:35:14 +0000

Site Advice: BitStrips is a post from Chris Pirillo

I believe BitStrips.com will be acquired quickly, if another site doesn’t come along and provide a better (cleaner) user experience first. Out of the gate, they grabbed my attention – it’s easy enough to use, but it could do more.

I understand the social experience, but it’d be nice to easily export my creations to Flickr, Picasa, etc.
Once you create a character, and a person claims it – that character’s identity should be transfered to the new owner, not remain in your control. As it stands, I now have two Ponzi’s – and a few abandoned characters.
I need a random character generator. There are times when I need to choose “someone” for a gag, but don’t want it to be tied (necessarily) to someone’s social profile on-site.
If you didn’t already realize it, usability is somewhat of a mess. Controls are a bit clunky, and not always accurate. This is acceptable for now, since you’re one of the first sites to do something so… amazing. Watch out if a design-centric team comes along and trumps your toolset!
If you don’t want me to export images, and since you’re already based in Flash, why not animate through the gags and export video to YouTube? Let the artist define stop / focus points, then output the sequence to an MP4 that looks as though one created an entire Flash animation.
Send much more descriptive emails – why do I have to come to the site to see where I’ve been featured? Embed the strip within the email itself – you’re sending HTML email for other things. It’s a small pet peeve, especially when most of the comics my avatar is featured in aren’t all that creative or funny.
Have you considered private labeling your comic generating platform? I’m guessing quite a few big names would be interested in what you’ve got – but only for their own marketing needs.

The toughest part of using BitStrips is… being witty enough (the onus is most certainly on the writer, not the software). I’ve been waiting for what seems like 34 years for a tool like this.

Addicted to Comics

Chris — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:57:07 +0000

Addicted to Comics is a post from Chris Pirillo

I couldn’t find proper sponsorship for bLaugh – and because of that, I haven’t been able to do a lot of things I had wanted to do with it. Brad is such an amazing artist, and without financial support – the comic’s publishing schedule relies largely on Brad’s time. We have close to 10,000 subscribers for it, so… we’re just trying to figure out where to go from here.

What attracts people to comics – on the Web, or otherwise? Is it the writing? Is it the artistry? Is it a perceived value? Is it a combination of all these things, or something else entirely? Is it timeliness, is it relevancy, is it… what?

Maybe it’s different for everyone.

One thing’s for sure – comic strips aren’t going away. I’m gonna continue to love ‘em, I’m gonna continue to embed ‘em, I’m gonna continue to write ‘em, I’m gonna continue to do something with ‘em.

Now, that’s funny. :) I’m not so sure about these others…

Comic Viewer or Reader?

Chris — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:25:10 +0000

Comic Viewer or Reader? is a post from Chris Pirillo

If you can look past our quirky sense of humor, bLaugh isn’t that difficult to understand. We’ve been trying to pump out a single comic every day for you to embed just about anywhere you darn well please. Our initial model was predicated on sponsorship, and that worked out exceedingly well – and we’re currently searching for a new sponsor who might be interested in tens of thousands of daily, distributed comic views.

Brad and I were on the phone last week talking about where we might take the site, and that includes opening the door to other great indie comic artists who are looking to get exposed to a much larger audience. What say you? As a comic reader – or as a comic artist – would that interest you?

I’m applying a steep discount to the first person / company who signs on as the next comic sponsor. Inquire within. ;)

Comic Life for Windows Beta!

Chris — Tue, 01 May 2007 23:08:54 +0000

Comic Life for Windows Beta! is a post from Chris Pirillo

I’ve been waiting years for this moment! You can finally download the first beta of Comic Life for Windows.

Comic Life gives you a super-quick and easy way to create astounding comics, beautiful picture albums and enticing instruction booklets to name a few of the many possibilities.
Included are professional and fun templates, ready to drag and drop onto your page for instant attractive photo layouts. Or if you like to be in control, position your photos and panels how you like and save them for later use.

It’s one of those applications that you just… must… have.

My Favorite Portal: Protopage

Chris — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 01:44:59 +0000

My Favorite Portal: Protopage is a post from Chris Pirillo

I can’t think of the last time I set any site as my default “start page” (other than my own, or a local document of collected links and search fields). I was checking referral logs for bLaugh and noticed that Protopage and Netvibes kept popping up. I had visited each of them a while ago, but never really bothered to return to either – portal sites aren’t really my thing.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that our daily comic was toggled as a default widget on the primary Protopage tab! So, not only is Protopage the best designed AJAX portal, but it also has the best sense of humor. Okay, so maybe I’m a bit biased with the second claim – but it’s still incredibly thrilling to see just how many people have picked up on bLaugh since its launch a few months ago. blaugh.com“>Technorati reports that we’ve moved up to 831 (3,919 links from 1,353 blogs), though Hugh has been around substantially longer and has a insanely better numbers (and rightfully so).

Comic impressions are different than text impressions and/or video plays – just like most Web images (read: banners) have always been better played for branding purposes. For instance, there’s virtually no way of telling how many people read bLaugh on a daily basis through mass aggregation services like Protopage, Google Reader, Bloglines, etc. I can tell you one thing: I certainly welcome the use of our feed and/or API by any third-party. Brad and I have already been profitable with our madcapped adventure – without having to resort to venture ~~comical~~ capital. GoDaddy seems equally as happy! Move over, United Feature Syndicate and King Features Syndicate!

Comic Freeware

Chris — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 22:08:24 +0000

Comic Freeware is a post from Chris Pirillo

When we released the bLaugh API, I was hoping that some enterprising developer would use it to create something fun. Mike from Singer’s Creations just unleashed Comicazzi tonight. Essentially, it’s a desktop app that will let you drag and drop bLaugh comics onto your current wallpaper. If that doesn’t sound very exciting to you, I’ve suggested that the interactive comic viewer eventually include other Web comics – hence, the generic “Comicazzi” title. If you would like your comic to be included in the app, you’ll have to talk to Mike about it (and give him an easy way to access the images). I’ve also suggested that Comicazzi eventually call on the Flickr API to help people build dynamic wallpapers from Flickr iamges, too. Fun times! Download it!

Stop Emailing “Funny Stuff” to Me!

Chris — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 01:28:11 +0000

Stop Emailing “Funny Stuff” to Me! is a post from Chris Pirillo

In semi-related news, I’m on the front page of YouTube today (and have been since late yesterday evening). It’s for my Airplane Safety Instructional Video. Don’t ask me what took the TubeGods so long to feature it front-and-center.

A Void Has Been Filled

Chris — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 21:59:55 +0000

A Void Has Been Filled is a post from Chris Pirillo

We’ve been Hughtrained! Told you I love this guy…

I can’t imagine anybody wanting to put bLaugh on business cards or coffee mugs. Gaping Void, however, is teh shiz no matter where you view it. We’ve got a good lampoon coming up for you, Hugh.

bLaugh: The (un)Official Comic of the Blogosphere

Chris — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 16:30:15 +0000

bLaugh: The (un)Official Comic of the Blogosphere is a post from Chris Pirillo

I love to laugh – so now I’m preparing the world to bLaugh! Today, we’re launching the (un)Official comic of the blogosphere – colorful, satirical, and comical. Expect parodies of “A-List” bloggers all the way down to the meme of the day – no holds barred. Brad Fitzpatrick is bLaugh’s artist, and I’m the writer. The strip is exclusively sponsored by a single company, GoDaddy. We have a bLaugh feed for you to suck down – and we’ll rotate the daily comic image in a static URL to encourage deep-linking from anywhere (widgets, anyone?). Of course, all you ego-whores should be watching closely – because you’re likely the ones to be parodied on a regular basis. If you blog, or your name (brand) is getting tossed around in the blogosphere, you’re on our radar. That includes you, Hugh and Jacek (because we love everybody equally).

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.