Laugh Tracks

Garfield Minus Garfield on Your Bookshelf

Dan Walsh's webcomic, Garfield Minus Garfield, is about to be collected in print. And Garfield creator Jim Davis has not only given his blessing - he's allowing the book to contain the original Garfield strips side-by-side with the G-G strips they inspired.

The webcomic, which has only been around since February 2008, quickly developed a large Internet following and made a fan out of Davis himself:

“I think it’s an inspired thing to do,” Davis said in an April interview. “I want to thank Dan for enabling me to see another side of Garfield. Some of the strips he chose were slappers: ‘Oh, I could have left that out.’ It would have been funnier.”

Walsh, of Dublin, Ireland, creates G-G by taking the original Garfield strips and removing all of the characters except Jon. What's left are the daily exploits of a lonely, isolated bachelor whose absurd behavior hilariously reveals a desperate longing for human interaction.

The book will be published by Ballantine Books and will be released simultaneously with a Garfield 30th Anniversary book arriving in stores this fall.

To read the official press release, click here.

Garfield Minus Garfield - July 23rd, 2008:

The original Garfield strip - March 6th, 1989:

Post-SDCC Wrap

San Diego Comic-Con International 2008 has wrapped, and it was another fantastic convention for GoComics. We had all kinds of fun, whether it was demonstrating comics on mobile phones in our partner booths, giving away free kajeet phones from our own booth, or just walking the floor and meeting fans. To those who stopped by our booth, we enjoyed meeting you and we thank you for your support!

We hosted our 4th mobile comics panel, and once again we came away with a great feeling of excitement over the future of comics on mobile phones. Thanks to all of those who attended the panel and especially to those who contributed to the discussion.

SDCC was also an opportunity to hang out with our partners, folks whose work you've seen or will soon see on the GoComics mobile comic book reader. Among them, comics legend Stan Lee, whose all-new Stripperella comic book series is being developed exclusively for mobile release through GoComics. Below, Lee shares a photo-op with uclick/GoComics CEO Doug Edwards (left) and Vice President of Product Development Jeff Webber (right).

Just in case you weren't able to attend SDCC, here's a photo of the GoComics booth so you can feel like you were there. Pictured are GoComics Producer Shena Wolf and Creative Director Pete Maresca. You may recognize Pete's name from his gigantic, Eisner award-winning labor of love, Little Nemo in Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays. The just-released (and slightly more massive) follow-up, Little Nemo in Slumberland: Many More Splendid Sundays, is on display just behind Pete's elbow. Both tomes are available through Sunday Press Books.

Hey, check out this Flickr photo series from TMNT25. Plenty of Comic-Con action featuring the TMNT Street Team. The Turtles are, of course, big stars on the GoComics mobile comic book reader. And look! Who's that, riding around the Gaslamp in a TMNT-themed pedicab? Once again it's Pete Maresca, maker of giant Winsor McCay books. This time he's accompanied by GoComics' Mobile Product Development Manager Harold Sipe, author of the hit Image Comics series Screamland!

One last photo, this time from the Image Comics booth, where Screamland scribe Harold Sipe and artist Hector Casanova signed copies of everyone's favorite tale of washed-up Hollywood monster-flick stars who band together for one last hurrah on the silver screen. All right, I'll stop plugging Screamland now. Wait - did I mention Screamland will be available in a trade paperback collection on Oct. 29 at fine comic retailers near you? Okay, now I'm done.

From Doug, Jeff, Shena, Pete, Harold and the rest of the GoComics team, thanks again to all of the GoComics fans who made it out to this year's San Diego Comic-Con. We hope to see you all again next year!

Pibgorn Sketches are back!

As we announced a couple of weeks ago, Brooke McEldowney is now updating Pibgorn five times per week. Most fans rejoiced over the fact that they were now getting more new installments of their favorite strip, but many fans were dismayed - outraged even - that the Pibgorn sketches, which had been filling the gaps nicely between new strips, would now be going away. Fearing riots in the streets and large groups of strategically-"dappled" protestors, we had no choice but appeasement: Check out Pibgorn Sketches.

Presidential Material: The Comic-Biographies of John McCain and Barack Obama

In the tradition of great biography comics from years past (Pope John Paul II, St. Francis of Assisi), IDW presents the comic-biographies of Barack Obama and John McCain, the two candidates facing off in November’s historic Presidential contest!

These comics tell the story of each candidate in a way they’ve never been depicted before. And when these books hit the retail shelves in October, they’ll be making history as the first comic books in the U.S. to be released simultaneously in print and on mobile phones! That’s right – on October 8th, you can purchase these special edition Presidential Material comic biographies in print and in full downloadable versions for your mobile phone powered by the GoComics mobile comic book reader.

Written and illustrated by a talented quartet of comic book veterans, each of these 2008 Presidential candidate comic-biographies features a special cover by superstar artist J. Scott Campbell!

Download the Presidential Materials comic-biographies on your mobile phone at m.gocomics.com, or visit www.gocomics.com/comicbooks and enter your phone number to get started. And don't forget to check out the other hit IDW titles available on the GoComics mobile comic book reader!

Presidential Material: Barack Obama—SPOTLIGHT Jeff Mariotte (w) • Tom Morgan (a) • J. Scott Campbell (c) This year’s presidential primary season was historic for many reasons, and Barack Obama’s rise from humble beginnings to his place on the November ballot makes for an extraordinary tale! FC • 32 pages	Presidential Material: John McCain—SPOTLIGHT Andy Helfer (w) • Stephen Thompson (a) • J. Scott Campbell (c) John McCain is a true American hero, and his tale, taking him from the hells of Viet Nam to becoming the Republican nominee for President is a story well worth telling. FC • 32 pages

R.C. Harvey on The Complete Peanuts

Comics guru R.C. Harvey offers his thoughts on The Complete Peanuts on his Rants & Raves blog, revisiting a 2004 interview with the book's designer, Seth:

"In taking the book design assignment, Seth (aka Gregory Gallant), a cartoonist himself (graphic novels like Clyde Fans: Book One and Wimbledon Green and It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken), wanted “a chance to do something beautiful for Sparky [as Schulz preferred to be called]. It is a daunting task in that sense,” he continued: “The only thing that makes it easier is that there have been many many horrible editions of Peanuts, and his work still goes on unharmed. At the very least, I can’t hurt Peanuts.” Click here to read more.

GoComics Hits Comic-Con 2008!

GoComics will be everywhere at this year’s San Diego International Comic-Con, offering the best comics everywhere, mobile and online:

• Thursday, July 24^th – Sunday, July 27^th: Catch presentations all weekend long at the GoComics booth, #1217.
• Thursday, July 24^th, 4:30pm (Room 30AB): GoComics will host a panel on the state of mobile comics, featuring creative and business leaders in the industry. There will be presentations of the new mobile comics reader, bringing a true comics experience to the hand-held screen, as well as demos of our online comics reader and a preview of the reader for the new iPhone. We'll also introduce new content from our partners: Stan Lee, TOKYOPOP, Virgin Comics, IDW, Devil’s Due, Papercutz, TMNT and more.
• And finally — get this— FREE KAJEET PHONES with $20 in credits will be awarded at the GoComics booth, the panel discussion and at two of our partner booth locations: Virgin Comics and IDW. Come see the coolest way to get your favorite manga and comics - plus, EVERY DAY you’ll have a chance to win your own FREE kajeet phone!

For more information on our mobile comic books, visit www.gocomics.com/comicbooks and enter your phone number to get started!

Pibgorn News

Starting today, Pibgorn will update five times a week, Monday through Friday.  On weekends, creator Brooke McEldowney will "fall over into a smoldering heap."

Add Descriptions to Your Collections

You can now write a brief description to post at the top of your collections. Just go into your collection and click "edit." (If you want your collection to be shared, don't forget to check the "Share this collection" box before saving.)

Shared Collections Page and RSS

Hope you all had a safe and fun 4th!

Just a couple of 'in case you missed it' announcements: A new Shared Collections page was launched right before the holiday, along with the RSS feed links on each comic page.

• The Shared Collections page highlights a Featured Collection as well as the top 10 Most Popular, Recently Updated and New Shared Collections. You can access the Shared Collections page by clicking on "Collections" in the main header, or by clicking "...more" in the Shared Collection section of the Explore page.
• Click the orange RSS icon in the main header or on any comic page to subscribe to your favorite comic's RSS feed.

More updates to come.

Announcement from Charles Boyce, creator of Computoon