DC Comics announced today (July 9, 2007), the creation of Zudacomics.com, a new web comics imprint, where DC Comics will soon publish new, never before seen online content featuring new characters and concepts through Zudacomics.com.
Scheduled to launch this October, the site will feature multiple ongoing web comics. Following the site's launch, Zudacomics.com's visitors will select the majority of the web comics as they vote on new web comics presented to them in periodic competitions. Winners of the competitions will receive commissions to create a year's worth of their web comics for the site, and will also have their work published in print formats.
"There is an explosion of creativity in web comics," said Paul Levitz, DC Comics president/publisher. "We want to build a great stage for this new generation of creators to perform on, a solid system for their work to reach audiences online and in print, and for the creators to share in the profits their creations can generate. In this time of rapid technological and cultural change, DC wants to be a good publisher for the evolving and growing community of online comic creators, so that we can be their partner for showcasing new kinds of works to entertain future generations."
Creators may send submissions that run the full gamut of comic book genres -- from humor, romance, science fiction, fantasy and superheroes. Editorial for Zudacomics.com will be handled by Ron Perazza, DC Comics director of creative services and Kwanza Johnson, DC Comics online editor, and overseen by DC Comics svp/creative director. Bruning, Johnson and Perazza will be charged with selecting the submissions for the site's competitions; additionally, the editors can declare as many as six submissions as instant winners during the calendar year. All Zudacomics.com creators who are instant winners, competition winners and competition finalists will be paid by DC Comics.
Zudacomics.com's official tagline is "click here to continue." The site will have numerous variations of a site logo that reflect the scope and ambition of the imprint. "In designing the Zuda logo, it was important to echo back to the interactive nature of the Web, the creativity of our medium and the diversity of the comics community," said Bruning. "We soon realized that there shouldn't be just one logo. We wanted to reflect the different 'faces' of web comics that we are looking to publish. It's all about the diversity of the readership and the medium."
Unlike a traditional comcbook page (which traditionally measures 6 5/8" x 10 1/4"), a Zuda web comic will consist of a series of 4:3 aspect ratio screens, so that users will be able to read a web comic installment without opening an additional window in their browser or resort to excessive scrolling. Ongoing Zuda web comics will run for at least 52 total installments.
The Zudacomics.com teaser site will go live in July, timed to this year's San Diego ComicCon; the teaser site will allow pre-registration for the site and provide updates for the imprint throughout the summer. "Zuda Comics will be a transparent publishing operation," said Perazza, online director. "We're asking the community and the creators to participate in the growth of a new business. They need to have access to every bit of information we can provide, so we're going to roll out our submissions process, our contracts and agreements throughout the summer, well before our October content launch."
IBM Global Business Services to design and build the new Zudacomics.com site. The site will embrace leading Web 2.0 technologies, such as blogging, commenting, rating and tagging to encourage maximum community participation and feedback on artists' submissions. The DC Comics creative and technical teams are working with consultants, visual designers, information architects and developers from IBM's Media & Entertainment practice to design everything from the technology architecture to the look and feel and overall user experience for the site. The new site will enable collaboration and innovation, as well as flexibility to allow DC Comics to continue to enhance the site with industry leading functionality over time.
DC Comics (www.dccomics.com), and its various imprints, currently publishes more than 70 comicbook series, MAD MAGAZINE and MAD KIDS and more than 300 books a year, including manga titles from CMX and titles from the new MINX imprint aimed at teenage girl readers. DC Comics, a Warner Bros. Ent. Co., is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world and home to such iconic characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Sandman. These DC super heroes and others have starred in comic books, movies, television series (both animated and live-action) and cyberspace.
IBM (www.ibm.com) has a strong global focus on the media and entertainment industry across all of its services and products, serving all the major industry segments -- entertainment, publishing, information providers, media networks and advertising.
