Author: Glenn Hauman

Yes, it’s that time of year again, the time where bracketology reigns supreme and the cry around the nation is “Win or Go Home!” Last year’s Mix March Madness Webcomics Tournament was incredibly popular, and so we’re doing it all over again– and raising money for the Hero Initiative in the process! Find out how…

We’re giving you a list of almost 300 webcomics, and we want your votes . We’re taking the top 128 and putting them in a single elimination tournament where we whittle down the contestants down to one. The top 128 vote getters make it into the tournament, with the biggest getting top seeds. The voting ends Wednesday at 11:59 PM, and brackets go up on Thursday!

Take a look at the comics for yourself. You’ll see some old favorites, but I’m sure there are going to be strips here that you’ve never encountered before…

And we’re giving you the option to put your money where your mouth is and buy additional votes for your favorite strips.

Last year, things got very overheated in a number of ways, with our servers melting from the load from people trying to vote multiple times, and comments getting very intense at the end of the tournament– so much so that Then our finalists, Tom Siddell of Gunnerkrigg Court and Tarol Hunt from Goblins , decided to donate all their winnings to the Child’s Play charity . Semi-finalists Andrew Hussie from Homestuck and Rich Burlew from Order Of The Stick followed suit, and we kicked in the unclaimed winnings from nobody picking the Final Four. We were so moved by the gesture, we adopted it for our own purposes and are now letting you cheat support your favorite strips by paying for additional votes, with your money going to charity. Simply click on the Donate button below, and during checkout, click on “Which comic are you donating for?” and tell us who you’re voting for. It’s 10¢ a vote for this round with a minimum of ten votes purchased at a time, and all proceeds from paid votes will go to the Hero Initiative , an organization that helps comic book creators in need. At the close of the round, we’ll add the paid votes to the totals and announce the winners who move on to the brackets. (And yes, your donations are tax deductible.)

What are you waiting for? Vote now! And remember: The voting ends Wednesday at 11:59 PM, and brackets go up on Thursday!

• 2013 Mix March Madness Webcomics Tournament Nominations Are Now Open! (comicmix.com)

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/drm-lawsuit-independent-bookstores-amazon_n_2727519.html

Three independent bookstores are taking Amazon and the so-called Big Six publishers (Random House, Penguin, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan) to court in an attempt to level the playing field for book retailers. If they’re successful, the lawsuit could completely change how ebooks are sold– and could have big implications for Comixology.

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Here’s a compositional secret. It’s so obvious and simple, you’ll say to yourself, “This man is bullshitting me.” I am not. This is one of the most fundamental things in all theatrical movie composition and yet magicians know nothing of it. Ready?

Surprise me.

That’s it. Place 2 and 2 right in front of my nose, but make me think I’m seeing 5. Then reveal the truth, 4!, and surprise me.

Now, don’t underestimate me, like the rest of the magicians of the world. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that I’ve never seen a set of linking rings before and I’ll be oh-so-stunned because you can “link” them. Bullshit.

Here’s how surprise works. While holding my attention, you withold basic plot information. Feed it to me little by little. Make me try and figure out what’s going on. Tease me in one direction. Throw in a false ending. Then turn it around and flip me over.

via Brian Brushwood – Bizarre Magic: America’s #1 College Magic Show – News (Updated Daily) – 14 years ago: the day Teller gave me the secret to my career in magic..

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/appoint-randall-munroe-xkcd-be-new-secretary-energy-less-straw-men-more-stick-figures/DKGRQ0qh?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl

The White House has a petition to appoint Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd, to be the new Secretary of Energy. The petition explains that Randall Munroe has displayed the ability to explain complex topics in a wry, easily digestible fashion to millions of people 3 days/week in his web comic. As Secretary of Energy, he will be able to have an even larger platform for this purpose, and probably more importantly, the ear of the President of the United States.

Better hurry, though– the petition ends March 3 and he needs 99,000 more signatures.

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http://badassdigest.com/2013/02/26/marvel-comics-writer-explains-whos-to-blame-for-lack-of-female-superheroes/

Spoiler: it’s you. And the publishers, because they don’t make it easy for new readers.

Seen originally on

Yes, it’s that time of year again, where we take the best webcomics and put them head to head to highlight the incredible diversity of work out in the comics world, to raise money for various comics charities, and to have fun while doing it– time for the Mix March Madness Webcomics Tournament!

As usual, we always think we’ve gotten a good list together of webcomics– our directory lists three hundred webcomics right now which are going to the seeding round– but we always seem to miss a few newcomers, or strips that have just fallen under our radar for whatever reason. So we’re asking you: what strips have we missed? Just add them in comments below with links to the site.

Our criteria for including them in the contest are pretty simple and broad:

• They have to be currently in production, by which we mean “has come out with at least one new installment since the new year”. Surprisingly, this knocks out a lot of comics.
• No paywalls. You gotta be able to read it to compare and contrast.
• No adult webcomics. We do May Mayhem for the R and X rated comics, this is for family safe material.

Get your nominations in quick, we’re closing the window at midnight Pacific Time on Thursday night and starting the seeding voting on Friday. And please, share this post far and wide so we don’t miss anyone!

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http://www.tcj.com/campbells-rules-of-comprehension/

Reading comprehension for comics, using Bryan Talbot and Bernard Krigstein as examples. From The Comics Journal.

Originally published on ComicMix as Eddie Campbell’s Rules of Comics Comprehension

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http://techland.time.com/2013/02/11/dick-tracys-watch-the-most-indestructible-meme-in-tech-journalism/

The newspaper-comics cop got his smartwatch in 1946. We’re still waiting for ours. Joe Staton, get right on this!

Originally published on ComicMix as Dick Tracy’s Watch: The Most Indestructible Meme in Tech Journalism

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Ball State University offers “Gender Through Comics: A Super MOOC”, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in Spring that examines how comic books can be used to explore questions of gender identity, stereotypes, and roles.:

Originally published on ComicMix as Gender Through Comic Books | Canvas Network

Seen originally on