Category: News

UPDATE 4/9: Round 6 has ended. Vote in the championship now!

UPDATE 4/5: After conversing with some of the contestants, we decided to extend voting til Tuesday, to give a fairer chance rather than run the thing on a quiet weekend. So you may still have time! Tell your friends!

It’s getting down to the wire! Round 5 is over, and we’ve raised another $42 for the Hero Initiative. Now we’re down to the Final Four! This round Mix March Madness 2014 Webcomics Tournament starts now, and lasts until Tuesday!

We’re down from over 300 nominees to four final contenders— Ava’s Demon, Paranatural, Grrl Power, and Monsterkind! Congratulations to the division winners! And now… the brackets.

[iframe_loader width=”474″ height=”550″ frameborder = “0” scrolling=’auto’ src=”http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?edit=1&tid=452430&tclass=”]

(To see the previous brackets, go back to Round 4.)

[socialpoll id=”2195427″]

As usual, we’re letting you 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. We’re getting down to the wire, so we’re raising the price a bit to 25¢ a vote, with a minimum of four votes purchased at a time, split any way you want. 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 to Hero are tax deductible.)

Again, voting ends at midnight Eastern Time on Tuesday night! Good luck to everyone!

As a writer and a long-time nerd, I’m used to spending a lot of time alone.  Especially after the winter we’ve had, I can go for days not only not leaving my apartment, but not even wearing anything my mother would recognize as pants (sweatpants didn’t count).

And then, this weekend, just as the snow finally melts and the sun comes out, is the MoCCA Festival .  All of a sudden, instead of talking only to my cat (who doesn’t require much sophisticated banter), a lot of people I enjoy will be conveniently assembled in one place.

MoCCA is certainly a lot bigger than it was the first time I went, back in the days when the museum was separate from the Society of Illustrators.  Still, compared to the behemoths in San Diego, Chicago, and even across town at the Javitz Center.  Instead of Hollywood previews and video game demonstrations, MoCCA’s non-comics exhibitors tend to display hand-made crochet monsters or cal figurines.

I’ve seen people I admire on the floor of this show, just as I’ve seen people I admire on the subway and on the sidewalk. But celebrities?  In San Diego and New York, I’ve seen people like Robert Downey, Jr. and Whoopi Goldberg on the floor.  They are easy to spot because they are surrounded by bodyguards.  And they need to be.  Fans have to be kept away or the celebrity will be mobbed, even physically hurt.  This year’s MoCCA celebrity spotting?  Probably the most high-profile will be Macy’s Charlie Brown parade balloon.  Fans aren’t tall enough to maul him.

That’s cool.  At MoCCA, the books are the celebrities.  And this year’s assortment of new books looks especially wonderful.

MoCCA has books for kids and books for grown-ups without either feeling forced, because, for the most part, the people creating the books are creating what they want to read, not (necessarily) what they think the market wants.  MoCCA is fan-friendly in a way that doesn’t require special events for cos-players. Nor do they need security guards to protect women and/or children and/or queer people and/or other minorities from assault.

Sometimes the aisles get too crowded, and sometimes it’s too hot, but it’s a very friendly show, with plenty of good will.  I wish all comic book shows could be this pleasant.

In case that isn’t enough people for me, I’m also going to one of the two big benefits my family enjoys attending every year.  A cancer charity throws a big party that is attended by huge celebrities, like these from last year.

Come by, if you find yourself with nothing to do in the middle of MoCCA.

The Sweet 16 Round 4 is over, and we’ve raised another $125 for the Hero Initiative. Now we’re down to the Elite 8! Round 5 of the Mix March Madness 2014 Webcomics Tournament starts now, and lasts until Wednesday!

It’s getting rough and tough out there! Here are the latest standings.

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UPDATE 3/31: Round 4 is over. Vote in the Elite 8 round now!

UPDATE 3/28 Midnight: We swear, we don’t know how it happened. But we screwed up the totals from Round 3 on a few of the contests, and reported the wrong winners in some contests.

First, our apologies to Grrl Power and Awkward Zombie for misreporting their results, and our apologies to Order Of The Stick and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal for getting their hopes up. Sorry, folks.

Now, how we’re going to solve the problem: we’re going to replace the strips in the contests, and ComicMix is buying votes to match the current votes for Widdershins (72) and Monsterkind (143), effectively setting the contests at dead even. This allows us to start a new poll right now, which makes the contest even again.

[socialpoll id=”2194504″]

Because of the late start, we’ll extend the voting time for this contest to Sunday at midnight.

Again, our apologies to all concerned.

Round 3 is over, and we’ve raised another $153 for the Hero Initiative. Now we’re down to the webcomics Sweet 16! Round 4 of the Mix March Madness 2014 Webcomics Tournament starts now!

People are now beginning to buy the winning votes, making the difference for Dick Ruby and Widdershins— so get your votes in early and get your friends in too.

In deference to the folks at Emerald City Comic Con voting lasts until Midnight Pacific Time on Saturday, March 29! Here are the latest standings…

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