A Zuda post

May 6, 2008 on 6:44 pm | In Cartoonists, Web Comics

So, I’ll admit it, I’ve been a bit wary of posting a lot about Zuda Comics, DC’s voter-driven webcomics initiative. There are a few reasons for this, chief amongst them that I’m not sure anything created, released and publicized by one of the biggest publishers in the history of North American comics qualifies as either “indie” or “alternative.”

However, yesterday I got two e-mails from creators in the business who I know and whose work I generally enjoy, and their sensibilities fall squarely into the camp of stuff we normally cover here, so I thought I’d pass word of their running in the most recent competition. For those who don’t know, Zuda posts a whopping ten trial strips each month, two of which are chosen based on reader votes to continue on as regular web features. I received word of:

ACTION, OHIO

Written by Neil Kleid and drawn by Paul Salvi, this strip seems to be a reappropriation of comic tropes dating from the pulps through the Marvel heyday and set against a modern noir tale. The strip even has its own production blog, which was where I snagged this piece of promotional art:

HANNIBAL GOES TO ROME

This second entry I heard word of is a historical comedy strip that reminded me a lot of what Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey do with Comic Book Comics but with Roman war stuff instead of funny book stuff. It’s by Brendan McGinley and Mauro Vargas, and while I couldn’t pull an image of it so easily, you can access it and Action, Ohio both by going to the Zuda homepage. If you want to vote to keep a strip alive, you’ll have to register, and I should add that if you get in the voting spirit, please check out every strip competing. It’s only fair.