Webcomics Study Group

Ok, that headline may be slightly sensationalist, but what is completely accurate is the fact that a particular group of webcomic artists and authors have pissed FOX News golden boy Glen Beck right the hell off. And if that doesn’t make you positively giddy inside, it should.

Disclaimer: Personal opinions included below. Please handle any personal disagreements as an adult.

What has our small world of webcomics done to garner the ire of the one person in America who has singlehandedly dominated the entirety of the 18-120, right wing, undereducated, demographic? (See, I told you there were going to be opinions.) Naturally, they wrote a book. Yep. A book. Of the dead tree variety. Which if you really know the webcomic industry shouldn’t come as much of a shock, as most successful artists have books as their largest income source, but still worth that 1.6 seconds of irony.

Clearly, this has to be a work of Democratic propoganda, waxing on about the state of the environment and manipulating the media into talking against conservative values if Faux News blowhard Glen Beck (opinions!) takes notice. Wait, it’s a non-political short story anthology? That spent $0.00 dollars on advertising?

The book is called Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die (http://machineofdeath NULL.net/). The idea behind it came from, of all places, Dinosaur Comics (http://www NULL.qwantz NULL.com/index NULL.php). And that idea is,

What if there was a machine that could tell you, cryptically but with 100% accuracy, how you were going to die?

Long story short, 700 submissions later and Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics (http://www NULL.qwantz NULL.com/)), Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki ! (Wondermark (http://wondermark NULL.com/)) had whittled down the pack to 34 short stories. And if that wasn’t enough, it includes illustrations from some of our favorite artists such as John Allison (Scary Go Round/Bad Machinery (http://www NULL.scarygoround NULL.com/)), Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant (http://www NULL.harkavagrant NULL.com/)), and KC Green (Gun Show / Horribleville (http://kcgreendotcom NULL.com/)). Also included is illustrations from Randall Munroe of XKCD (http://xkcd NULL.com/), who may not technically fit the category of ‘celebrated webcomic artist’ but has still been proven to have a visual sense of humor none the less.

But the big question has yet to be answered. What has this collection of talent done to cause this part-time TV personality, part-time salesman, full-time fear-monger Glen Beck to publicly call out this book on his radio show? (I think it’s clear by now I can’t state his name without some sort of qualifier.) Ryan North and David Malki ! created an internet campaign to get the book to #1 on Amazon on it’s release date, October 26. And wouldn’t you know it, they did just that! It held the #1 spot for over 24 hours. Huzzahs for all! You know what else came out October 26th that they didn’t realize until later? “Broke“. Written by none other than GB the DB. (Zing!)

Yep, he was pissed that his book got beat out by an indie sci-fi anthology written by self proclaimed ‘internet people’. In fact, he only took the #3 spot, #2 going to Keith Richards’ Life. He responded on his radio show by equating the book and it’s message of death to “the left” and how it’s a sign of how our country is sinking into the crapper; a move that confounded everyone and surprised no one. I’ll refrain from repeating his exact words here since I can sleep a little sounder at night knowing that gold-hawking ass hasn’t contaminated my web server, but if you wish to read it you can find it from this article by The Atlantic Wire (http://www NULL.theatlanticwire NULL.com/features/view/feature/Indie-Sci-Fi-Anthology-Steals-Glenn-Becks-Thunder-2413), quoted by actual journalists who sport things like english degrees. And objective writing. And paychecks.

As much as, to quote an internet commenter, “anything that drives up GB’s blood pressure makes my day a little brighter”, as I wrap up this little piece of internet fake journalism I do have one regret in writing it. This story shouldn’t be anything about Glen Beck. It should be all about how a bunch of indie authors came together with a lofty goal and met it. It should be the fact that our little corner of the world moved just ever so slightly more into the public eye. It should be about how you don’t need to have 15 different media broadcast outlets to be able to market yourself effectively. Had I known about this campaign and this book earlier I’d have already written all about these aspects, and this bit about knocking the biggest blowhard in America down a peg would have just been some tasty icing on the cake. But alas, I am but human, and sometimes we humans can’t help but to get sucked into these sort of things.

So I hope you all take a look at Machine of Death (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.com/gp/product/0982167121?ie=UTF8&tag=wondermark-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0982167121), not because of who it rubs the wrong way, but because it’s a damn good book made possible by people we in webcomics love and respect.

[ MachineidDeath.net (http://machineofdeath NULL.net/) ]
[ Indie Sci-Fi Anthology Steals Glen Beck's Thunder (http://www NULL.theatlanticwire NULL.com/features/view/feature/Indie-Sci-Fi-Anthology-Steals-Glenn-Becks-Thunder-2413) - The Atlantic Wire ]
[ Machine of Death Amazon campaign infuriates Glenn Beck (http://www NULL.boingboing NULL.net/2010/10/29/machine-of-death-ama NULL.html) - Boing Boing ]