Most of us working here on ULYSSES “SEEN” are based in Philadelphia, just a short ride into the Super-City. Wish I could be on-hand for this presentation there tonight though, and I encourage any friends and fellow cartoonists in the city to check it out;
The New York Center for Independent Publishing is hosting a roundtable discussion tonight “on how comics culture has promoted potent and memorable images of New York to readers worldwide.” The talk will be moderated by Peter Gutiérrez and includes Danny Fingeroth, Gene Kannenberg Jr. (who’s reviews will now be a regular feature on our ULYSSES “SEEN” blog), Frank Tieri and Billy Tucci. Here’s a longer description of the event from Gene’s own blog with the “where, when and how much.” Stop by and remind the guys that NYC isn’t the only exciting spot in America for making comix. I would myself, but I’m stuck here in Philadelphia drawing Mr. Bloom!
-Rob
I was beginning to despair that no one quite understood or wanted to understand my last post on the myriad problems with comics (web or otherwise) – that is until one commentator (and collaborator on this site) put his finger on the problem in regard a review of Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli. Well not just a finger – to my mind he hammered home another nail in the coffin of the comicbook medium. 
Last time in “Seen” in Context I pondered the love and the money behind what we currently think of as webcomics. I’ve argued before and elsewhere the merits or lack thereof of even calling them webcomics because of the negative associations that word has, so I won’t go into that too much here. Though you might have noticed we occasionally use an alternative spelling (webcomix) to imply I suppose a more independently minded and mature audience. I accept that, even if it still draws more associations with The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers than it might with Asterios Polyp.
If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, what is writing about a comic about an architect? A damned difficult business, if that book is David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp. A bravura piece of formalist comics storytelling, Asterios Polyp is nevertheless a story rich in heart. Its eponymous “hero” is buffeted about by fate, taken for a turn on Fortune’s wheel, tested like Job, and ultimately found – ah, but that would be telling. Suffice it to say that Mazzucchelli takes a character who is, at first glance, a smug, self-absorbed ass, and slowly reveals depths to his character which make you at least pause to reconsider your initial impressions.
Yes, a miracle. And it doesn’t happen often. If you want to make a lot of money, comix isn’t probably the best place to go looking for it.
So, last week I waffled a bit about monetization. I didn’t really mean to but it kinda came up while I was thinking about the bigger picture of motivation and as we all know money is the prime motivator for a lot of people – especially those who haven’t got it! I didn’t see many (any) answers – which is worrying – if only for the reason that there may be no easy answers for anyone to give on that question. What I’m asking today though is: why would anyone want to make webcomics, or print comics for that matter, if not for monetary reward? 
As promised – here I am again with some webcomic wonderment. Ulysses “Seen” is a stand-alone comic affiliated with no-one but a few friends we like to link to. That’s a conscious choice – one that might be made for a number of reasons. There are alternatives though and the question I want to pose today is why would you choose this route over any of those alternatives? By standing alone, as this site does, the obvious and main benefit would be one of control. There’s nobody here to tell you what to do or how to do it. The reason this site looks the way it does is because of the time and effort put in by those who have created it. The limits are only made up of time, money and knowledge. Money is always tight but if you have the time and the knowledge then most everything is possible. If the creators behind Ulysses “Seen” want to change something and it is technically possible then there’s no one can stop them. Were this comic to be hosted anywhere else then the requirements of that host would have to be taken into account and those changes might not even be possible. 