Goats (webcomic)

Last updated

Goats
Goats050314.png
Good Hitler vs Space Hitler (1 of 19)
Author(s) Jonathan Rosenberg
Website www.goats.com
Current status/scheduleOn hiatus since April 30, 2010
Launch dateApril 1, 1997 [1]
Genre(s)Comedy, drama, action

Goats is a popular webcomic written and illustrated by Jonathan Rosenberg. [2] [3] The webcomic started on April 1, 1997. On April 3, 2006, after nine years drawing the strip, Rosenberg became a full-time cartoonist making his living drawing Goats. In 2010, because of work on Scenes from a Multiverse, Goats was put on hiatus. [4] In 2012 Rosenberg raised more than $55,000 via Kickstarter to print Goats Book IV, relaunch the website and finish the story with Goats Book V. [5] [6] On August 19, 2014, 71 comics and all e-books were republished.

Contents

History and premise

Goats follows a (loose) plot surrounding the adventures of Rosenberg's cartoon alter ego, along with his friend/drinking buddy Phillip, and many characters including animals, celebrities, aliens and villains. Most of the strips are separated into story arcs, which have very different, though still coherent, plots. Except for the time that the world was destroyed, all of the strips fit into one continuous timeline.

The strip originally took place entirely in Manhattan, New York, and mostly within either Jon and Phillip's apartment or their favorite bar (the Peculier Pub, mirroring a genuine Manhattan pub). After several years, the strip has expanded significantly in plot expansion, character development and scene location.

Diversification began after what Rosenberg has referred to as "the soft reset" [7] of the Goats multiverse when the Earth was destroyed. [8]

Goats and Rosenberg are part of the Dumbrella collective. Goats was hosted by Phillip Karlsson's Dumbrella Hosting service. [9]

Reception

Whitney Reynolds, producer of PC Magazine , said that, though Goats started out as a "poorly drawn" strip, the comic has morphed into a "sci-fi epic spanning dimensions." [8]

Books

Early comics were collected in paperbacks. As of November 2013, the following are available:

All of the above are available in e-book format, in addition to:

Random House published three volumes through their Del Rey imprint: [10]

Finally one book was funded after a successful Kickstarter campaign but is unavailable: [11]

See also

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.

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.

<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">Ryan North</span> Canadian writer

Ryan North is a Canadian writer and computer programmer.

<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. Webcomics Nation began merging into Josh Roberts' ComicSpace in 2007, but this process took longer than hoped and Webcomics Nation eventually closed down in 2013.

Girlamatic 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.

Double Fine Comics is a webcomics collective supported by Double Fine Productions. Each comic varies in style and tone, but they all reflect the eclectic humor found in the Double-Fine produced game Psychonauts. The webcomics were published in Adobe Flash format on the company website under the heading 'Comics'.

Svetlana Chmakova is a Russian-Canadian comic book artist. She is best known for Dramacon, an original English-language (OEL) manga spanning three volumes and published in North America by Tokyopop. Her other original work includes Nightschool and Awkward for Yen Press. She has been nominated for an Eisner Award twice. Previously, she created The Adventures of CG for CosmoGIRL! magazine and the webcomic Chasing Rainbows for Girlamatic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Rosenberg (artist)</span> Webcomic artist (born 1973)

Jonathan Rosenberg is the webcomic artist responsible for Goats, Scenes from a Multiverse and megaGAMERZ 3133T. Rosenberg has been producing webcomics since 1997, making him one of the original webcomic artists. When the National Cartoonists Society added a new category, Online Comic Strips, in 2011, Rosenberg was the first winner.

<i>Cyanide & Happiness</i> Webcomic series by Explosm Entertainment

Cyanide & Happiness (C&H) is a webcomic created by Kris Wilson, Rob DenBleyker, Matt Melvin, and Dave McElfatrick. The comic has been running since 2005 and is published on the website explosm.net along with animated shorts in the same style. Matt Melvin left C&H in 2014, and several other people have contributed to the comic and to the animated shorts.

<i>Ctrl+Alt+Del</i> (webcomic) Webcomic and animated series

Ctrl+Alt+Del (CAD) is a gaming-related webcomic and animated series written by Tim Buckley. The name of the comic refers to the Windows command Control-Alt-Delete. Premiering on October 23, 2002, the comic's focus has gradually shifted away from single strip gags towards longer story arcs and greater continuity through the use of video game references. Ctrl+Alt+Del currently is updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Sandra and Woo is a comedy webcomic written by a German author, Oliver "Novil" Knörzer, and drawn by an Indonesian artist, Puri "Powree" Andini. It is published in English and German. The first strip was put online on 19 October 2008 and the black-and-white comic strip was updated twice a week after. The last regular strip before the current hiatus was posted on 26 November 2022. A new strip, reusing existing art, was posted on 12 August 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ace Kilroy</span> Serialized webcomic

Ace Kilroy is a serialized adventure webcomic that launched on October 31, 2011. In its first season, it ran in daily black-and-white installments, culminating every week with an extra-long "Color Sunday" that also served as a teaser to the events of the upcoming week.

<i>SpongeBob Comics</i>

SpongeBob Comics was a comic book series based on the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants, published by United Plankton Pictures and distributed by Bongo Comics. It was initially published every two months in the United States beginning in February 2011 and was published monthly from June 2012 to October 2018.

<i>Brawl in the Family</i> (webcomic) Webcomic

Brawl in the Family was a gag-a-day webcomic written and drawn by Matthew Taranto. The webcomic was inspired by the Super Smash Bros. series and features characters from various video game franchises, predominantly Nintendo series such as Kirby, Super Mario, Pokémon, F-Zero, and Metroid. The webcomic concluded on October 3, 2014, having produced a total of 600 comics.

Notable events of 2012 in webcomics.

Notable events of 2006 in webcomics.

Notable events of 2010 in webcomics.

Notable events of 2015 in webcomics.

JL8 is a webcomic by Yale Stewart based on the characters of DC Comics' Justice League. Having started in 2011 under the title Little League, the webcomic presents the members of the Justice League as 8-year-old children. Stewart has used JL8 to raise funds for charities, and the webcomic has been positively received by critics.

References

  1. Rosenberg, Jonathan (April 1, 1997). "genesis". Goats. Archived from the original on May 11, 2013. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  2. Walker, Leslie (June 16, 2005). "Comics Looking to Spread A Little Laughter on the Web". The Washington Post. Washington DC. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  3. Maury, Laurel (August 6, 2009). "Zany, Random Yet Fuzzy 'Goats'". NPR. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  4. Alverson, Brigid (May 5, 2010). "Goats goes on hiatus". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  5. Rosenberg, Jonathan (February 21, 2012). "Goats Book IV: Inhuman Resources". Kickstarter. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  6. Alverson, Brigid (March 30, 2012). "Goats is back – by popular demand". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  7. Rosenberg, Jonathan (July 29, 2002). "chain gang (1 of 12)". Goats. Archived from the original on May 24, 2013. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  8. 1 2 Reynolds, Whitney (June 4, 2007). "10 Wicked Awesome Webcomics". PC Magazine . p. 7.
  9. Tyrrell, Gary (July 1, 2013). "With Wishes for the Canadianest Day". Fleen. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  10. Warmoth, Brian (January 20, 2009). "Webcomics To Watch: Jon Rosenberg on "Goats"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  11. Rosenberg, Jonathan (May 31, 2014). "Comment" . Retrieved June 4, 2014.