Zuda Comics

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Zuda Comics is DC Comics' webcomics division. The creation of this division was announced in press release on July 9 2007[1] and the first line-up went live October 30th.[2]

Contents

[edit] Content

Anyone can submit an eight screen sample and each month 10 of these are picked and put up for a vote. The monthly vote winners and up to six "instant winners" will each get a year's contract to produce webcomics for Zuda. [3]

[edit] Editorial Board

Jeremy Love and Kwanza Johnson
Jeremy Love and Kwanza Johnson

Sometimes called the 'zudaluminati'[4] because of their secret selection process of the submissions, the Zuda editorial board consists of:

  • Paul Levitz - Publisher
  • Richard Bruning - SVP-Creative Director
  • Ronald Perraza - Director of Creative Services
  • Kwanza Johnson - DC Comics Online Editor
  • Nika Denoyelle - DC Comics OnlineAssistant Editor
  • Dave McCullough - DC Comics Online Technology Editor

[edit] Titles

[edit] Instant Winners

There are currently three instant winners:

[edit] Contest Winners

There are currently five contest winners:

  • High Moon by David Gallaher and Steve Ellis, with lettering by Scott O. Brown[7]
  • Pray for Death by Nicholas Doan and Daniele Serra
  • Supertron by Sheldon Vella
  • Road by Eddie Sharam
  • The Black Cherry Bombshells by Johnny Zito, Tony Trov, Sacha Borisich & Alex Bruno

[edit] Reception

Although greeted with interest by the webcomics community, there was concern raised over the contracts and copyright situation. Once the initial line-up was announced it became clear that well-known webcomics creators hadn't been included, as Todd Allen at Comic Book Resources[8] pointed out that "the vast majority of the creators here have already done print comics. Multiple print comics for the most part, and the majority go back a few years. This does not look like ushering in a new generation." Although he does concede "if you’re a potential reader, it shouldn’t hurt your feelings too much that they’ve lined up some strips with professional pedigree for the first batch."

In fact, the first instant winner Jeremy Love,[9][10] who has worked for Dark Horse and Oni, has said his contribution was solicited by DC. Love stated "To be honest I didn’t even know about the contest portion of the site when the fine people at DC let me know they wanted to run Bayou on Zuda. I was approached by an editor months in advance to pitch something to Zuda."[11]

High Moon author, David Gallaher, in an interview with Comics Worth Reading[12] gave the following advice to future Zuda creators, "with only eight screens to tell your story, you need to be ready to be awesome right out of the gate. So, give it your all and make sure your submission is the best that you can make it. And whether you win or lose, you’ll already be in better shape than you were before you submitted, because you’ve cultivated an audience that you didn’t have before."

Although creators were solicited for the first round of the competition due to the desire to have content available on the day of the site's launch, the later competitors and Instant Winners were all chosen from user submitted comics.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Initial Press Release
  2. ^ First ten Zuda contestants named, Newsarama, October 24, 2007
  3. ^ An Escape From the Slush Pile: A Web Site Tries Out New Comics
  4. ^ [http://www.google.com/search?q=zudaluminati Google search for "zudaluminati"
  5. ^ Jeremy Love's Bayou Named Aa Zuda's First "Instant Winner", Newsarama, October 25, 2007
  6. ^ ZUDA COMICS NAMES THE NIGHT OWLS AS NEWEST INSTANT WINNER, Newsarama, December 14, 2007
  7. ^ David Gallaher's High Moon Wins Zuda, It Came Out on Wednesday, October 25, 2007
  8. ^ Zuda's established talent search, Comic Book Resources, October 25, 2007
  9. ^ Gettosake Productions
  10. ^ Jeremy Love - Fiercely Independent, Sequential Tart, May 2004
  11. ^ Born On The Bayou: Jeremy Love Talks Zuda. Bayou, Newsarama, October 24, 2007
  12. ^ Interview With David Gallaher » Comics Worth Reading

[edit] External links

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[edit] Background Material

[edit] Interviews

[edit] Podcasts