Girlamatic

Last updated

Girlamatic
Girlamatic logo 2003.gif
2003 logo
Owner Joey Manley
Editor Lea Hernandez, Lisa Jonté, Diana McQueen
URL Archived (April 2003)
LaunchedMarch 31, 2003 (2003-03-31)
Current statusDiscontinued

Girlamatic (sometimes stylized as GirlAMatic or Girl-A-Matic) was a webcomic subscription service launched by Joey Manley and Lea Hernandez in March 2003. It was the third online magazine Manley established as part of his Modern Tales family of websites. Girlamatic was created as a place where both female artists and readers could feel comfortable and featured a diverse mix of genres. When the site launched, the most recent webcomic pages and strips were free, and the website's archives were available by subscription. The editorial role was held by Hernandez from 2003 until 2006, when it was taken over by Arcana Jayne -creator Lisa Jonté, one of the site's original artists. In 2009, Girlamatic was relaunched as a free digital magazine, this time edited by Spades-creator Diana McQueen. The archives of the webcomics that ran on Girlamatic remained freely available until the website was discontinued in 2013.

Contents

Concept

Spike Trotman published her first major webcomics on Girlamatic. Charlie Spike Trotman Templar AZ 2008-06-08 detail2.png
Spike Trotman published her first major webcomics on Girlamatic.

Lea Hernandez's vision when creating Girlamatic was to create a website that she herself would like to read and where both female artists and readers could feel comfortable. [2] The website allowed readers and creators to avoid the male-dominated direct market of superhero comic books. Talking with Publishers Weekly in 2004, Hernandez said "an anthology of girl-friendly comics would sink like a stone in the direct market." [3] Hernandez said she had gathered artists of "the new mainstream" and she hoped they would find a wider audience for their work through Girlamatic. [4]

The name "Girlamatic" was chosen to signify the difference between it and other comic platforms. [2] Hernandez initially wanted to name the website "ModernGirls", but this name was already taken by a porn site. [4] Webcartoonist Shaenon K. Garrity noted that she liked the website's name for its "juxtaposition of squishy girliness with hard retro tech," saying that the website has always blended a large variety of themes, including "cuteness and horror, comedy and melodrama, gruesome darkness and giggly light, femininity and masculinity." [5] Lisa Jonté stated that Girlamatic's inclusion criteria were essentially "whatever appeals to the editor ... we want engaging stories with well-developed characters." Jonté did note that she mainly wanted to stay away from female sex-appeal and "frilly pink melodrama." [2]

Girlamatic was the third webcomic subscription service launched and managed by Joey Manley, following the success of Modern Tales and Serializer.net. [6] This subscription model was revolutionary at the time, and was one of the first profitable subscription models for webcomics. [7] [8]

History

Diana McQueen was editor of Girlamatic in 2009 The Cold, Cold Eyes of Diana McQueen.jpg
Diana McQueen was editor of Girlamatic in 2009

Girlamatic launched on March 31, 2003 with sixteen artists: Donna Barr, Vera Brosgol, Kris Dresen, Shaenon K. Garrity, Lisa Jonté, Layla Lawlor, Jenn Manley Lee, Dylan Meconis, Andre Richard, Harley Sparx, Spike Trotman, Jason Thompson, Carla Speed McNeil, Rachel Hartman, Jesse Hamm, and Tochi. Girlamatic archives could be accessed for $2.95 USD per month or $29.95 per year. [9] [4] The service had ten regular features in its first year. Hernandez posted an open call for new submissions in 2004, and eleven new features were added to Girlamatic in April 2004. [10]

Arcana Jayne creator Lisa Jonté took over Hernandez's role as editor in early 2006. At this point, Girlamatic sent out an open call to creators once or twice per year. [2] Brigid Alverson of Comic Book Resources noted that Girlamatic went "quiet" between 2007 and 2009. During this period, all of Joey Manley's websites merged into comics-oriented social media and publishing platform ComicSpace, which he developed in collaboration with OnlineComics.net creator Josh Robert. Girlamatic relaunched on July 31, 2009. This time, artist Diana McQueen (creator of Spades) took over as the editor, and subscription fees were dropped entirely. Despite this, McQueen said Girlamatic had not become a hosting website or artist community, but remained a magazine. McQueen also brought in two bloggers: Nick Popio of Hobotaku posted reviews of manga, anime, and western comics, while Elizabeth Shupe wrote blog posts about dolls. Girlamatic was the first of Manley's Modern Tales-family of subscription services to relaunch on ComicSpace. [11]

McQueen believed the subscription model of the Modern Tales-family had failed and too few readers were willing to pay for online media. Girlamatic went on to have limited online advertising handled by the ComicSpace ad network. McQueen aspired to have print editions of Girlamatic in the tradition of Shojo Beat , [11] but none were ever released. ComicSpace never achieved success, [12] and Girlamatic closed alongside Manley's other websites in April 2013. [6]

Webcomics

Raina Telgemeier stated that serializing a weekly webcomic on Girlamatic "[offered] just enough structure to finally tell a story" she had in mind for years. Raina Telgemeier - Lucca 2017.jpg
Raina Telgemeier stated that serializing a weekly webcomic on Girlamatic "[offered] just enough structure to finally tell a story" she had in mind for years.

Several cartoonists made their professional debut through Girlamatic, while other artists serialized their existing work on the service.

Two new webcomics were added to the Girlamatic roster during its 2009 relaunch: The Continentals by Darryl Hughes and Monique McNaughton, and Godseeker by Lisa Gilbert and Terry Blauer. [11]

Reception

Some critics were unsure what to make of the website when it launched in 2003. American editorial cartoonist Ted Rall initially proclaimed the website a "ghetto for women cartoonists". [5] In 2005, blogger Eric Burns said he felt uncomfortable entering a space that was mainly set up for women. He also voiced concern that initiatives like Girlamatic might section off and divide the webcomic community, making it less likely for male readers to come across the works of female webcartoonists. [21]

In 2006, comic book author Gail Simone called Girlamatic "one of the most important venues for female-friendly comics created to date." [22] Girlamatic has received various Lulu awards and nominations for being among the "most women-friendly and reader-friendly work in comics." [23]

Related Research Articles

Webcomics are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern Tales</span> Webcomic subscription service

Modern Tales was a webcomics publisher active from 2002 to 2012, best known for being one of the first profitable subscription models for digital content. Joey Manley was the website's publisher and original editor. The site featured a roster of approximately 30 professional webcomic artists. Shaenon Garrity, one of the site's original artists, took over as the publication's editor in 2006. Other Modern Tales artists included Gene Luen Yang, James Kochalka, Dorothy Gambrell, Harvey Pekar and Will Eisner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joey Manley</span> Webcomic publisher

Joey Manley was an American LGBT fiction author, web designer, and webcomics publisher. Manley wrote the successful LGBT novel The Death of Donna-May Dean in 1992. He moved to San Francisco in 2000 in order to work in web design. Manley was the founder and publisher of the Modern Tales family of webcomics websites, which included Modern Tales, Serializer, Girlamatic, Webcomics Nation, and others. Manley is considered one of the "founding pioneers" of the webcomic movement for creating a then-revolutionary subscription model.

Serializer.net was a webcomic subscription service and artist collective published by Joey Manley and edited by Tom Hart and Eric Millikin that existed from 2002 to 2013. Designed to showcase artistic alternative webcomics using the unique nature of the medium, the works on Serializer.net were described by critics as "high art" and "avant-garde". The project became mostly inactive in 2007 and closed alongside Manley's other websites in 2013.

<i>Narbonic</i>

Narbonic is a webcomic written and drawn by Shaenon K. Garrity. The storylines center on the misadventures of the staff of the fictional Narbonic Labs, which is the domain of mad scientist Helen Narbon. The strip started on July 31, 2000, and finished on December 31, 2006. On January 1, 2007, Garrity launched the "Director's Cut", an "annotated replay" of Narbonic. Narbonic was part of the subscription-based Modern Tales website for several years but moved to Webcomics Nation in July 2006, where it resumed being free-to-read. The comic is also a member of The Nice comics collective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaenon K. Garrity</span> American writer and critic

Shaenon K. Garrity is an American webcomic creator and science-fiction author best known for her webcomics Narbonic and Skin Horse. She collaborated with various artists to write webcomics for the Modern Tales-family of webcomic subscription services in the early 2000s, and write columns for various comics journals. Since 2003, Garrity has done freelance editing for Viz Media on various manga translations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Webcomics Nation</span> Website

Webcomics Nation was a webcomic hosting and automation service launched on July 29, 2005 by Joey Manley. Unlike Manley's previous webcomic sites, Webcomics Nation was based on user-generated content and relied on online advertisement revenue, which increased in viability in the second half of the 2000s. Webcomics Nation quickly became Manley's most financially successful website, and encouraged him to turn his Modern Tales sites partially free as well. Manley began merging Webcomics Nation into Josh Roberts' ComicSpace in 2007, but this process took longer than hoped and Webcomics Nation eventually closed down in 2013.

Lea Hernandez is an American comic book and webcomic creator, known primarily for working in a manga-influenced style, and for doing lettering and touch-ups on manga imports. She is the co-creator of Killer Princesses, written by Gail Simone and published by Oni Press; and the creator of Rumble Girls from NBM Publishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erika Moen</span> American comic book artist (born 1983)

Erika Moen is an American comic book artist, known for her autobiographical comic DAR, and the sex educational Oh Joy, Sex Toy.

Project Wonderful was an advertising service created by programmer and webcomic author Ryan North in late 2006. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the service supported up thousands of webcomics and blogs with auctioned online advertisements, until it was shut down in 2018.

Andrew Farago is the curator of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, author, chairman of the Northern California chapter of the National Cartoonists Society, and husband of webcomics author and illustrator Shaenon K. Garrity.

The history of webcomics follows the advances of technology, art, and business of comics on the Internet. The first comics were shared through the Internet in the mid-1980s. Some early webcomics were derivatives from print comics, but when the World Wide Web became widely popular in the mid-1990s, more people started creating comics exclusively for this medium. By the year 2000, various webcomic creators were financially successful and webcomics became more artistically recognized.

Notable events of 2003 in webcomics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gender and webcomics</span> Webcomics are primarily created by women and gender-variant people

In contrast with mainstream American comics, webcomics are primarily written and drawn by women and gender variant people. Because of the self-published nature of webcomics, the internet has become a successful platform for social commentary, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) expression.

The business of webcomics involves creators earning a living through their webcomic, often using a variety of revenue channels. Those channels may include selling merchandise such as t-shirts, jackets, sweatpants, hats, pins, stickers, and toys, based on their work. Some also choose to sell print versions or compilations of their webcomics. Many webcomic creators make use of online advertisements on their websites, and possibly even product placement deals with larger companies. Crowdfunding through websites such as Kickstarter and Patreon are also popular choices for sources of potential income.

Notable events of the late 1990s in webcomics.

<i>Oglaf</i> Sexually-explicit comedy webcomic

Oglaf is a sexually explicit comedy webcomic produced by Australians Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne.

ComicSpace was an online social network and webcomic hosting service created and managed by Josh Roberts and Joey Manley between 2006 and 2012. The website was inspired by MySpace and was intended as a place where writers, artists, publishers, and fans could interact and share their work. Though ComicSpace was highly successful upon launch, it never fully took off. Roberts and Manley expanded the scope of the project with the help of investment firm E-Line Ventures in 2007, and Manley began merging his existing websites into ComicSpace, starting with Webcomics Nation. By 2012, interest in ComicSpace had waned, and Roberts and Manley abandoned the project.

References

  1. 1 2 Asselin, Janelle (2014-10-22). "Hire this Woman: Cartoonist and Publisher Spike Trotman". ComicsAlliance .
  2. 1 2 3 4 Braddock, Paige (2006-04-01). "The Girl Behind GirlAMatic". Sequential Tart.
  3. ↑ Wolk, Douglas (2004-11-01). "Web Comics Send Readers Looking for Books". Publishers Weekly .
  4. 1 2 3 Contino, Jennifer M. (March 2003). "Rumble Girlamatic". Sequential Tart.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Garrity, Shaenon (2011-08-12). "The Bossest Comics on Girlamatic". The Comics Journal .
  6. 1 2 Melrose, Kevin (2013-11-08). "Modern Tales founder Joey Manley passes away". Comic Book Resources .
  7. ↑ MacDonald, Heidi (2013-11-08). "Syndicated Comics". The Beat. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
  8. ↑ "Modern Tales founder Joey Manley passes away | CBR". www.cbr.com. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
  9. ↑ Xerexes, Xaviar (2003-03-31). "Girlamatic Launches Today (3/31)". Comix Talk.
  10. 1 2 3 "GirlAMatic.com relaunches". Comic Book Resources . 2004-04-19.
  11. 1 2 3 Alverson, Brigid (2009-07-28). "Unbound: Rethinking Girlamatic". Comic Book Resources .
  12. ↑ Garrity, Shaenon (2013-11-15). "Joey Manley, 1965–2013". The Comics Journal .
  13. 1 2 Rudulph, Heather Wood (2016-09-12). "Get That Life: How I Became a Best-Selling Graphic Novelist". Cosmopolitan .
  14. ↑ "Von Allan joins Girlamatic". Comics Beat . 2007-11-20.
  15. ↑ Alverson, Brigid (2017-07-13). "Svetlana Chmakova's Journey from Webcomics to Graphic Novels". Publishers Weekly .
  16. ↑ Slayter, Mary Ellen (2004-12-12). "A Shrinking Drawing Board for Cartoonists". The Washington Post .
  17. 1 2 3 "First Midwest Sequential Art Exhibition opens Sunday". The News-Gazette . Champaign. 2003-10-03.
  18. ↑ "Sequential Tart: Lisa Jonté - Arcana Jonté (vol V/iss 6/June 2002)". www.sequentialtart.com. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  19. 1 2 "LISA JONTE'S ARCANA JAYNE". Archived from the original on 2006-04-26. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  20. ↑ "Sequential Tart: A Comics Industry Web Zine - The Report Card". www.sequentialtart.com. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  21. ↑ Burns, Eric (2005-04-17). "Feeding Snarky". Comixpedia. Archived from the original on 2005-04-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  22. ↑ "Lea Hernandez's House Burned: Simone Rallies Help". Comic Book Resources . 2006-09-06.
  23. ↑ "Lulu Awards". Friends of Lulu . 2009-03-08. Archived from the original on 2014-03-26.
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