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#36: Zuda Comics Says "No. More. Competitions."

Zuda Comics' Ron Perazza took a page from the playbook of some of our nation's savviest politicians, making a big announcement to changes at Zuda late Friday afternoon after most of us had checked out for the weekend. Unless you're a Twitterholic (like @tylerjamescomic apparently is) this might be the first you've hear of it. Definitely read Ron's statement, but the headline is this: Zuda is abandoning its competition format as a means of showcasing and signing new comic properties.

I'm quite familiar with Zuda, having submitted multiple comic proposals their way, and having participated twice in Zuda competitions. I've written about my Zuda experience in this column, talked about it on Podcasts, and shared my thoughts on Zuda on many blogs and forums in the past. So, I'm going to use the soapbox that is this column to share my thoughts on this news. Note, I have no insider information to break here. These are simply my thoughts and analysis on the news. I'd certainly love comments and feedback on your thoughts on the matter.

Now, In the wonderful world of searchable real-time reaction via Twitter to this "breaking" news, the public response generally fell into three main camps:

• The "Ra-Ra Zuda" Camp comprised largely of Zuda's current stable of creators, and their supporters.


• The "Good, It's About Time" Camp comprised mostly of independent webcomics creators, such as PVP's Scott Kurtz, who have been vocal critics in the past of Zuda's competition based system.


• The "Oh, Bloody Hell!" Camp comprised primarily of creators who had aspirations of a Zuda run. The loudest voices in this camp were those who currently have submissions pending, or projects in development.

As with most issues, where you stand is based on where you sit. Personally, I don't fit neatly into any one of those camps. But I do have some food for thought for each.

To my good friends in the "Ra-Ra Zudas"...

There are a number of Zuda creators I respect tremendously, and some I consider friends. I'm not surprised they're supportive of this decision. The Zuda crew has always come across as a tight-knit family. But, I'm a little nervous about what this decision portends for Zuda.

This is not a small move. Zuda is changing at its FOUNDATION. Go ahead, Google" Zuda Comics." What comes up? Well, as of May 2, 2010, the first link Google returns reads "Zuda Comics| Read. Vote. Create." That's how Zuda chose to brand themselves. The open competition model was at the very heart of what Zuda has been about since its inception. What are they to do now? I'm not sure that "Zuda Comics| Read. Vote. Create." is gonna cut it.

What is Zuda Comics without the competition element? Well, it's High Moon, and Night Owls, and Bayou, and Azure, and all its other properties. In this regard, Zuda's doing okay. I'd go to war with their stable of comics. But how exactly is Zuda to differentiate themselves with any other comic book publisher now? Ron said, "the comic industry needs a steady influx of new creators and new ideas," and that Zuda will remain committed to that. But even before the change, it was hard to ignore that "instant wins" seemed to be going to established creators already tight with Zuda editorial. And the enthusiastic lobbying on behalf of a particular contestant by creators already on the Zuda payroll arguably gave some an unfair advantage. Zuda drew a lot of interest because it seemed like a company willing to give anybody with talent a fair shake. I hope they don't lose that.

Without the competition element, Zuda essentially becomes another webcomics collective. Clearly the quality of their comics puts Zuda in the upper-echelon of collectives, but a collective nonetheless. (Although, there isn't another webcomic collective that has the payroll of Zuda.) Collectives thrive by knowing who their readers are and tailoring their content to meet their readers interests. Another piece of the Zuda branding was that they were interested in all-kinds of comics. And to Zuda editorial's credit, they have published a wide range of comics over the past two and a half years. If Zuda comes to the realization that outside of the competition, 90% of its readership is looking for sci-fi and horror, the Zuda door may be shut on some otherwise viable genres of comics.

It's hard to ignore the fact that the big Zuda announcement came the same week Steve Jobs took Adobe Flash to task in an open letter explaining why he believe Flash is dead technology and will never be supported on Apple's mobile platforms. This follows on the heels of the successful launch of the iPad, and the HUGE marketing win for Marvel comics by having an excellent app available for the hottest device in the universe on Day 1. Where was DC comics? And more importantly, where was Zuda Comics, DC's online initiative? Not on the iPad, that's for sure, as Zuda's flash viewer doesn't work on the device.
There's also the question of whether this change is a signal that the Zuda experiment has failed. If the Zuda competition model was truly going to work, the core Zuda community needed to grow large enough that no creator could brute force a win thanks to their entourage. I don't think that's happened. Fanbases take time to build. That goes for comics, creators, and publishers.

In Ron Perazza's announcement, he acknowledged that there were great series that came up short in the competition format as one of the reasons for the change. Where was it ever said Zuda couldn't choose to award a bid to non-winning comics? They make the rules, after all.

Despite its many shortcomings, the Zuda competition was a monthly event, and that drew eyeballs. The money Zuda paid out to creators competing each month came back in the form of having 10 new marketing madmen sending as many eyeballs as they could their way each month. What are they going to do to replace that traffic? Or was even that traffic not enough to justify sustaining the current model?

Since Zuda is taking a step back to retool, I could go on with several things I feel they should address. Listing them all could be a whole other column. But here's one for you, Ron: Update schedules. Can anyone tell me when Bayou updates? What about Celedore? LaMorte Sisters? Maybe they have solid schedules and I'm not a regular enough reader to know, or maybe they don't. But I've been to Zuda enough times that I SHOULD know. My reading habit was to check in on the monthly competitions and then check to see what else was going on in some of the other titles. But webcomics live and die on frequent and consistent updating schedules. Zuda has done very little to train its readers about the update schedules of their existing titles, and I'm sure it has cost them readers.

And to my pals in the "Good, It's About Time" Camp...

I understand why Zuda irks some creators, and am familiar with all the crits:

• The monthly contest was a sideshow, and devalued creators work.
• The contests encouraged annoying "Vote for Me" campaigns, with some creators going WAY overboard in their desire to win.
• The terms of the Zuda contract seem attractive at first glance, but creators will be screwing themselves in the long run by giving up some rights to their creations.
• Webcomics = indycomics. Big corporate DC should stick to superheroes and get out of the indy sandbox.
• That damn Flash viewer!

And so on. For many in this camp, Zuda changing its ways has been taken as a sign that they were right about Zuda. I wouldn't jump to that conclusion, though.

While many Zuda outsiders hated the monthly contests, for those of us who had the chance to compete, it was a pretty sweet deal even if you did not end up a winner. I personally cashed $1000 in Zuda money, and those checks cleared. As an indy guy, I'd have to move a lot of books to pocket a grand. In fact, with so many shady publishers out there, Zuda offered a shot at decent money, and gave many, many creators (myself included) their first paid, published work credit.

You can't deny that Zuda has launched the careers of some creators. It's hard to picture Dave Gallaher and Steve Ellis having the success they've had over the past few years with High Moon, Box 13, and work for Marvel Comics, had they not won a Zuda competition. So far, Gallaher and Ellis have been the exception, rather than the rule in terms of success for Zuda creators, and both have been working professionally in comics for the past decade, but winning Zuda clearly gave their careers a shot in the arm.

Something great about the Zuda competition model was that it gave aspiring creators a focused, tangible, and attainable goal to strive for. 8 finished pages of sequential art, 200 character high concept and 2000 character synopsis, and you've got a submission. The "$500 if you get in a contest lure" was motivation enough to galvanize many teams around a project. Who knows how many of these projects would have never come into being were it not for the chance at Zuda? Certainly some of the ones I've worked on might never have seen the light of day.

One of the best things about the way Zuda ran things, and something I'd implore them to continue going forward, is the 90 day response time to submissions. Zuda was the rare publisher that reliably honored creators with timely responses yeah or nay. It's something more publishers should do, and I hope Zuda continues to do.

And finally, I caution those of you who see this as a sign of Zuda's impending doom, and are delighted. Zuda was (and hopefully will continue to be) a member of the webcomics community. A rising tide raises all ships. Zuda competitions no doubt alerted some people to the fact that there are comics (in many cases damn good comics) available to read on the web. For free. (You know, just like YOUR webcomic.) Anything, even a silly contest, that increases the pool of comics readers is good for all of us.

And last but not least, for my compatriots in the "Oh, Bloody Hell!" Camp...

You get an 30 seconds to wine and piss and moan about this change and how it may affect you and the future of your comic. Okay. Times up.

Soon after the announcement, Twitter was abuzz with shocked creators with Zuda projects in various stages of development vocalizing their reaction. Some were clearly bummed, some relieved, and more than a few angry that they've invested time and money into projects for the company.

Well, guys, take it easy. Anything you do that involves creating comics is only going to be good for you in the long run. Your time and money has not been wasted. And Perazza tweeted that they are still combing the Zuda submissions pile for instant winners.

Now, I SHOULD be in the "Oh, Bloody Hell!" camp. For the past six months, I've been working with Matt Zolman on a new superteen comic titled EPIC, with Zuda as our first choice in publisher. Two months ago, we added color artist Ty Tyner to Team EPIC, and we've been busting our tails to get this thing submitted and shared with the world. Ron Perazza's news came not 24 hours before we were ready to submit.

I should be disappointed. But I'm not.

Why? Because I love EPIC. And I believe in EPIC. And so do my collaborators. I'm only 8 pages into this story and it's already the most fun I've had in comics. My goal is not, was not, and never will be to win a Zuda competition. My goal is to tell a damn good story that will entertain a heck of a lot of people. Partnering with a publisher like Zuda is just one of a myriad means to that end.

I refuse to pin my hopes, dreams and aspirations on anything that's outside of my control. And most assuredly, Zuda's submissions policy is out of my control. So, if I have to build interest in EPIC one reader at a time, so be it. I know how to do that (and am doing it currently with Over and Tears of the Dragon.) As long as my collaborators are on-board (and they definitely are) EPIC is going to be okay regardless.

And truth be told, I'd rather spend the next three months working on making my story the best it can possibly be than figuring out how the hell I'm gonna get 1,500 votes to win a comics popularity contest.

Again, as someone who's done the Zuda dance before and has spent a lot of time discussing my experience there, I felt it was worth addressing these changes. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the matter. And I wish Zuda editorial and creators all the success in the world going forward.

NEXT: Whatever Is On My Mind

Apologies...I've become awful at sticking to the articles planned as of late, so teasing them seems pointless. I WILL be doing a write up on Google Wave, but the time for this Zuda article made it make sense.

Tyler James is a comics creator residing in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He writes and draws Over, a romantic comedy online graphic novel updating every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He also writes Tears of the Dragon, an epic fantasy webcomic. His work has been featured at Zuda Comics, and includes Interrogation Control Element, a political action thriller, and Super Seed, the story of the world's first super powered fertility clinic. When not making comics, Tyler works as a game designer and content producer for a software company.

Contact Tyler directly at tylerjamescomics@gmail.com, keep up with him at his blog, or follow him on Twitter.

Attention Readers: If you enjoy this column, you might be interested in checking out The ComixStreet Recap. It's a new series I've begun where I share and comment on interesting topics, resources, and events relevant to comic creators. The column is bi-weekly, and posts on Thursdays.

Previous Columns

1: Big Goals
2: Resolutions
3: The Great Idea
4: Research Part I
5: Research Part II
6: The Killer Pitch Part I - The High Concept
7: The Killer Pitch Part II - The Synopsis
8: Pay Your Artists
9: Zuda Comics- A Tale of Five Submissions
10: Creating Great Characters Part I (Or Why Wolverine is Everywhere)
11: Creating Great Characters Part II (Or Why Wolverine is Everywhere)
12: Structurally Sound- The Beginning
13: Your Reputation
14: Structurally Sound- The Middle
15: Structurally Sound - The End
16: Your First Con
17: Beat It
18: Memorable Scenes
19: Mailbag
20: Comics Dialogue - Part I
21: Comics Dialogue - Part II
22: Baltimore Comic Con - Part I
23: Baltimore Comic Con - Part II
24: Is It Worth It?
25: The Re-Write Part I
26: The Re-Write Part II
27: The Re-Write Part III
28: Taking Initiative
29: Setting the Table for a New Year of Creating Comics
30: Ready to Script
31: An Artist Ready Script
32: Going All In
33: The Dip and Being the Best in the World
34: Patience Pep Talk
35: Tools You Should Be Using: Viddler