......... 2005 Alpha-Rants


Our Rant for 11-18-05

Call of Duty 2 etc.

Call of Duty 2 review. Video Games. Webcomic News - three webcomics to be published. Job talk.


Our Rant for 11-08-05

Sticking it to the man

Joe's new iPod. Sticking it to the man. Webcomics are all four panel strips!? Gas WarZ Alpha Shade's 2006 con list. Ads on BuzzComix. The pitfalls of starting an adult comic site.

Biting the Chair

Biting the chair. Ad banners and you. Dealing with Ad Kits. Webcomic Nation. How to disguise your copied ideas as something original. Labeling pages. Blood isn't strawberry jam. Learn your Symbols.

 


Our Rant for 11-03-05

Cheerleaders! Pages 117-119

Cheerleaders! Developing main characters. Crappies = Crappy. Flash 8 disasters. Nicole and pink. Molly deals with embarrassment. What we are working towards. Storyboards!

Email and Anime

Vote! Creative common = lol! You'll hear more things. Here Kid, lick the plate. Cutting out an audience. Email Questions. Anime and Manga wrap up. How manga's popularity opens doors for webcomic artists. Iron man! The gateway superhero. Alpha Shade animation update.


Our Rant for 10-26-05

Jibber Jabber

Wikipedia and Alexa.com Joe's help desk. One big Happy. Kurtz a cartoonist with a plan. Emails! "Good for You..." Video games. Cats! Joe's peek-a-boo story.


Our Rant for 10-17-05

Page 113-116 rap up

Pages 113-116. The stone concepts. Visualizing space. Kayla's sword. Glowing eyes. Powers! Angels 2200 guest page.

FallCon, Bo knows action.

Alpha Shade at FallCon. Check out my portfolio! What's that word that starts with C? Oh Yeah, Clean... To sell something you have to sell it. Basing your work on copyrighted material.

The Way of the Samurai


Our Rant for 10-04-05

Serenity review + Raiders of the Lost Cart

Serenity review, Your comic isn't coming out fast enough. Megatokyo aftermath. What is the point of creativity? Super Heroes. Claims Adjuster and Abominable Snowman team up for adventure in Raiders of the Lost Cart.



Our Rant for 10-01-05

Heads over History

What's new, Angels 2200, I'm sick! Megatokyo talked about in The Webcomics Examiner article The Artistic History of Webcomics. Highlights include but are not limited to - Being lumped into the genera you created, stories need time to develop and Art takes time. Bonus topic, FallCon and tracing your favorite super hero.


Our Rant for 9-23-05

Corpse Bride DOA

Corpse Bride, stick a fork in me it's done! Do people like things simply based on a Name Brand. Some things we like! Dub vs Sub with Examples. Why you shouldn't quote Monty Python.

Reasonable Expectations

Email Questions Answered, Down with 800x600


Our Rant for 9-18-05

Don't Panic!

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy review, Star Wars radio serial, Future Times, Sleepy-time cheats and hints, ADD TV, Samurai Champloo, Best Try, Flawed Angel, Emails = New Topics, Oh Larry!

 


Our Rant for 9-11-05

General AS 111-112

Page 111, Editing Podcasts, Talk shows. My comic pitch. Is this comic okay for my child? P112!

Little Cloud

Redesigning the store. French Bread. Showers and Water Towers. Little Cloud : My life as a water droplet.

 


Our Rant for 9-01-05

General AS 109-110

Page 109-110. Characters pages? We compare the first and second chapters.

French Villains

Hate Mail! Animation updates. Why are theater movies loosing audiences? Serenity preview review. YAY Funny joke time! French villains = lol. Copyrights and you. The world after Napster.

Special guest star Chet!

Our Rant for 8-25-05

Otakon 2005

Joe goes to Baltimore. Joe eats out. Joe looks around. Joe talks a lot...
Aeon Flux comic book preview!

Danger! Nature!

Nature is dangerous? Moving next to airports?? Bicycle helmets... Joe ponders technology. Constantine!! Ad blockers.

The Secret Ingredient

Podcasts! Ways to build traffic to your webcomic. Word of mouth, Links and Ads.
Is the secret ingridient content?


Our Rant for 8-16-05

Pages 105-108

The current scene and new characters.

Fast Cash and AvP review

Rival Comics!!1! Where's my Fast cash? Being an artist without knowing what art is about. Alien VS Predator review... At Last! Video game preorder boxes?? The thing that's been up on the site that no one noticed... Attack of the show! POSTERS!


 

Our Rant for 8-06-05

General Yap

Posters! Dealing with fellow co-workers. Baltimore equals Tax-U-More... Movies we like and how bad movies are made.Why do pay movie channels suck? The exposition crutch.
Special Guest star Steven King!!

Webcomic Reviews

Little Orphan Annie and Rich Cream Ovaltine. Special guest star Mr. AM!
Webcomic reviews Reman Mythology Fantasy Realms.
Reman Mythology,
Fantasy Realms


 

Our Rant for 7-26-05

Cheese and Moccasins

Merchandising, why isn't your store filled with crap? Old Mother West Wind, Flash Category relabeled Media Enhanced Comic. Joe's animation project. Special guest start Cricket!!

Webcomic Chat

Gun nut forum shoot out, Best Buy stories, 1980 to 2000 Space Exploration's dry years, Webcomic chat:
Apple Geeks,
9th Elsewhere,
Red String,
and

Pointless


Our Rant for 7-20-05

It's a webcomic life for me

webcomic news and interpretation. Who is qualified to be on a Webcomic Panel??
Living the Artist life- webcomic lifestyles. Forums! Joe's cool page 101 frame tutorial.

The Soundtrack Special

The Sound Track Special-Joe unveils the New Alpha Shade Rant CD Box sets. Soundtracks to work by - Raiders - Ghost in the Darkness CD Re-release Outland?? Stargate symbols... Lemony Snickets Unfortunate Review


Our Rant for 7-17-05

P.104 Repairs, Awards and Railroads

Page 104. Joe Rants about Flash awards. Repairman Troubles. I don't want to deadhead.... Ever. 80 -20 loan equals ripoff. Railroad Chat.


 

Our Rant for 7-11-05

WCCA awards, This, That and Deleted Scenes

Alpha Shade wins 3 WCCA awards, the bug voice isn't the Homestar voice with demos, Think for yourself, Voting, Audio Ads, Reactionary Punishments, Art Assignments, One Shot Submissions, Art, Proper tools, AMAZING products, Why Cats? AND Ch1 Deleted scenes.

103, MT, Crazy Cat Week, Jittery Squirrel and MORE!

Page 103, Megatokyo omake, Crazy Cat Week, Jittery Squirrel, West Wing, different opinions= GOOD, Turkish Delight! Young Sherlock Holmes... special guest star - Tinky Winky!


Our Rant for 7-05-05

General A-S pp. 101-102

Light bulb demons. Page 101-102 Page and Story concepts. Someone insults the Wasp's Yellow cars.
Storyboards - special guest star - Monkey!

The Great Fireworks Shipment of '86

Dangerous Sparklers will burn your fingers.
"SpaiXico" Joe gets health tips.
I can't buy your T-shirt, I wear sweaters.
You can't talk to crazy people.
The great Firework shipment of 86



Our Rant for 6-30-05

Money allows you to do what you like??

Joe talks about why striving to do well is a good thing. Sometimes you make money to do what you want to do in life. Why the "Art" life style appeals to people. What motivates us to do a webcomic. Old guys and video games. RTS equals Real Time Spaz?

Alien Loves Basement!

Our War of the Worlds review. How did they trick anime girls to eat raw fish?

 


Our Rant for 6-26-05

The Infinite Conundrum

  • What motivates webcomic creators a ttitudes towards Penny Arcade?
  • Scott McCloud's Infinite conundrum.
  • Joe discusses the possibilities of the Internet, uses the term "Webcomic Industry"
  • Pay VS Free. why free wins.
  • 50 good comics?!!?
  • Joe explains what a meme is.
  • Chris talks about context and the origins of the phrase "read between the lines".
  • Joe's worst side project.
  • Sports are to Webcomics as Fans are to Spectators. A fans role in webcomics.
  • Tools and tips for creating podcasts.

Our Rant for 6-23-05

Review, Criticism and Pineapple Salad

Intros cut Chris's momentum. Chris talks about Reman Mythology, We discuss the validity of criticism, "Where's YOUR movie?" Infomercial podcasts, telemarketer +3. Joe's Vacuum cancer story. A-Kon revisited, Professionals vs. The NotSos. "Pineapple - S-s-alad"

General A-S Pages 99-100

Discussion of Page 99 and page 100, Send in your 88 Buick LeSabre Wagon pictures! Voting, and we discover that we really don't miss being on a toplist. Batman Begins soundtrack.


Our Rant for 6-19-05

Review Prep/Voting/ Mosquitoes

Preparing for reviews is a good thing. Voting and why you should. Mosquitoes and you, Bug spray = Yuck! Holy Cow Batman, It's My Forum...

Batman Begins Review

Batman! The Adventure begins with trying to get there... Batman review = Yay! Movies that scare Joe... Why we love soundtracks. Special guest star... Rodney McDowell!!

 


Our Rant for 6-13-05

General A-S pp94-98

We discuss pages 94-98. The ideas and themes behind the pages. German myths and tying past pages in with the current scenes.

Podcasting: editing = good. Good shows gone bad+Marketing

Podcasts sounding professional is a good thing. If good has gone bad, it's time to bail. Marketing crap to you.

Comic shops, Animerica, and Finding Video Games as an Adult

Going to the comic book store. The fall of Animerica. As an adult, why is it harder every year to find a video game that appeals to me. Why do I have to do everything in video games?

 


Our Rant for 6-07-05

Alpha Shade at A-Kon Part 1 (mp3)

Our audio wrap up of A-Kon 16 Part 1

Alpha Shade at A-Kon Part 2 (mp3)

Our audio wrap up of A-Kon 16 Part 2

Megatokyo vs. the Not-Sos (mp3)

The Not-Sos are at it again with Megatokyo, this time they are mad because Piro DARED not to translate some Japanese for them.

 


 

Our Rant for 6-01-05

Starwars Revisited(mp3)

When you bring 90% of the content with you, you're watching a different movie.

Air Conditioner(mp3)

Chirs's Air Con is broken, and Joe turns his on for the first time this year.

Blame Canada(mp3)

Do pop culture, video games and comic books encourage violence?

Anime Central wrap up(mp3)

The prep and the adventure, behind the scenes of our Anime Central trip.

Quote of the week(mp3)

Quote of the week


 

Our Rant for 5-25-05

Instant Feedback/Superheros(mp3)

After listening to the Meanwhile podcast #20 about comic creators caving in to instant feedback on their projects, we decided to discuss the subject from a creators point of view. Does instant feedback from emails and forums influence a comic? We try to figure out the appeal of capes and tights. Is it all just one big WWF wrestling match? Know the stats, Pick your favorite driver/character and see how he runs the course as writers ask you to forget everything you know about super hero X.

Starwars III Review (mp3)

What would it be like to see Star Wars Episode III without bringing 90% of the content with you, gleamed from 3rd party books or your imagination? Is a bad script better with the Star Wars logo stamped on it? Is repeating everything you’ve done in the past clever or lazy? Would an idiotic laughing Emperor turn you to the Dark Side? Do battles have to make sense? NOOOOOOOOOO……! It’s Episode III…

Appleseed review/Buffy tangent (mp3)

The Alpha Shade crew talks a bit about this summers upcoming movies, including War of the Worlds and Zoro. Appleseed did for combat robots what Lord of the rings did for Elves. We discuss the pros and cons of 3d animation. Finally a Masamune Shirow graphic novel movie that didn’t put us to sleep. This rant ends up in an odd place, Buffy the vampire slayer?? What was the downfall of a show that started off so well? Did it have anything to do with Joss and his best writers leaving for other projects inthe 4th season? Hmm…

 


Our Rant for 5-18-05

Last weekend we had a booth at Anime Central, while we were there
we took the oppertunity to interview some webcomic artists.

Alpha Rant Interview Series 1 Part 1

Our Guests are:
Caroline Curtis from 9th Elsewhere


Jerry K. from Secret of Mana Theater

Brion Foulke from Flipside (Arrives halfway through)

Questions include, but are not limited to:

Who are you? What’s the name of your comic?

  1. What is your creative process/ What materials are Involved?
  2. What was your first exposure to comics and anime?
  3. How many people are involved in your comic?
  4. How long does a typical page take?
  5. What is your ultimate goal for your comic?
  6. Do you have a story planned or are you just winging it?
  7. Realworld deadlines, how much pressure do your fans put on you?

Alpha Rant Interview Series 1 Part 1 (mp3)

Alpha Rant Interview Series 1 Part 2 (mp3)

Alpha Rant Interview Series 1 Part 3 (mp3)

Alpha Rant Interview Series 1 Part 4 (mp3)

 


 

Pre-Anime Central Bonus track! (mp3)

Schedule? That would make it less fun for everyone!

Our Rant for 5-7-05

General A-S pages 91-92-93

Alpha Shade Ch 1 Book

Comic PodCasts and some tangents

We give a general impression about Comic Podcasts,
and go off on a few tangents as we do.

Comicology by Neil Gorman
http://www.comicology.net/

Digital Strips by Zampzon and Daku
http://digitalstrips.blogspot.com/

Comic Rants by Matt Farr
http://comicrants.com/

Meanwhile by T. Campbell and Dave Bellmore
http://www.ironhorsecomics.com/meanwhilepod/

Collected Comics Library by Chris
http://collectedcomicslibrary.blogspot.com/

Comic Geek Speek by Geek bye and Peter
http://comicgeekspeak.blogspot.com/

Geek Foo Action Grip by Mur Lafferty
http://www.geekfuactiongrip.com/

How we got into Comics

 


Our Rant for 4-14-05

General A-S Book Printing, Extras, Etc.
Chapter one is now complete! Fixes in Progress.
Chapter 2 discussion


Sin City - Incredibles trailers
Sin City Review
Compare and contrast, American Incredibles Trailer
vs. Japanese Incredibles Trailer

Email Questions
- Extras/ will we be adding the cut scenes from Ch.1
Publishing questions

Audio Review of AS - Scripting

Sound Effects Secrets Reveled

Stealing images ok?

Comic Communities

Top ten conundrums

 


Our Rant for 3-25-05

General A-S Pages 89, 90
Chapter one is now complete! Fixes in Progress.
Chapter 2 discussion


Cons, MegaTokyo, GITS 2 Review
Anime Detour Panels wrapup
MegaTokyo gets reviewed, we talk about that
Ghost in the Shell 2 Review

Does Alpha Shade Have a Point?
We discuss a recent forum thread
Discussion on Chapter 1 Chapter 2 and the
Alpha Shade story in general


Our Rant for 3-7-05

General A-S Pages 87, 88
General discussion on page 87, 88
Incentive Comic discussion

BuzzComix - Reviewin' Scuffle
Only the first comic review counts?

Email Questions
What do we think about various anime
shows our Anime Influences

Alpha Shade Story Documentation

Test Comic questions Analysis of the Flyer/Biplane battle

Publishing advice


Our Rant for 2-25-05

General A-S Pages 86,Store,Incentives
General discussion on page 86
Our New Store / Shirts are in
The New Incentive Comic

Dramatic BuzzComix thread reading
Evolution = link my comic?

Constantine Review
good


Our Rant for 2-14-05

General A-S Pages 83-85
General discussion on pages 83-85
We talk about Rant frequency
Chris reminisces about Star Trek:TNG and Pudding Pops

Rant Archives Redone - Quality Rant
Rant Archives have been made easier to browse
Hackers /New IE updates vs. Firefox
Declining Quality of Food - What the hell?

2005 Conventions we will be Attending/T-shirts
T-Shirt Follies

Anime Detour- Bloomington, MN - March 11-13, 2005
Anime Central - Rosemont, IL - May 13-15, 2005
A-Kon - Dallas, TX - June 3-5, 2005

Email Questions Answered
1. Do the A-S people know about their ancient past?
2.
Do you take photos of locations as references?
3. What program do you use to
record your audio commentary?
4. Fan art Contest Wrap up - How well did it go?
5. Which is faster a biplane or a flyer?
6. What kind of publishing offers you have gotten?


Our Rant for 1-25-05

General A-S Pages 78-82
General discussion on pages 78-82
Our first contest is over

Conventions and T-shirts
Where are we going and what are we going to do?
Small break = T-Shirts ordered!


Our Rant for 1-1-05

General A-S Page 78
Working through Artists block, and other observations
of the day.

Comic Sans vs. Digital Haggis Pro
Why we use comic sans, why people can't tell that it IS comic
sans if you tell them it's NOT, Letterer folies, and all sorts of
Font selection fun!