Reuben award nominee for Best Strip, Mark Tatulli, joins me for a rambling discussion of the Reuben Awards, convincing Stephan Pastis of the reality of being nominated himself, the creation and writing of the most excellent “Heart of the City” and “Lio,” and the big “print vs. web” controversy that litters the forum boards out there! Mark put up with several internet outages on my part, and we have a great time talking about a wide-range of subjects, and, dare I say it…get controversial. 
Great interview, Tom!
Wow, this is really an amazing series of interviews you guys are collecting. What a great resource for the community. Thanks!
Thanks, boys…Mark is great. I hope he wins the Reuben…but like I said i the show, what a category! Pearls, Cul de Sac and Lio. Sheesh! Not often you can look at a category in an awards show and not have a weak link.
There is a great collection of Civil War cartoons called the Lines of Contention.
I believe this is the political cartoon that Mark was talking about during the interview:
http://imaginethiscomic.com/volck.jpg
Okay, I finally had a chance to listen. Great interview. I really appreciate the breadth of subjects you guys covered.
I was a little disappointed about how dismissive you were about the fact that there are successful webcomics that are NOT gamer related. Just check out the following list off the top of my head:
Sheldon – Could totally see this in a newspaper
Wondermark
Girls with Slingshots
Anders Loves Maria
Octopus Pie
Cat and Girl
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Achewood
Daisy Owl
Overcompensating
White Ninja
In fact, many of these comics fill some of the niches you were saying webcomics should look into.
You, sir, are absolutely correct. I hope I didn’t come off too arrogant about it…my point was mostly that the ones everyone points out as big, big successes are PVP, Penny Arcade, Schlock Mercenary, etc. They seem to be the ones that would appeal to an internet/gaming/nerd core group. I love those strips…I’m not dissing them. I’m more wondering if the sort of “normal” syndicated fare would do well out there…and your list proves that there’s indeed life for those types of things. I’ve seen most of ‘em…and should definitely contact them. I certainly don’t want to “dismiss” anything, ’cause who am I to talk? If they’re out there making a decent income, I bow before their superior kung fu.
Part of the discussion is always about audience. Syndicated comics are in hundreds of papers, and theoretically millions of people are “reading” them. But if you ask anyone, I’d say 99% of people don’t read most of the comics…they just read the ones they like. So, does “Hagar” REALLY have that big an audience, or is it just in that many papers because it’s always been? Berke Breathed said something to the effect of he’d rather have 10,000 loyal “Salon.com” fans than be seen and not read by millions of people. I think that some people dismiss some webcomics because they’re looking at the wrong numbers…the readership. But it’s not that simple, is it?
This will be an ongoing subject…I’m sure.
The comics world is undergoing a paradigm shift like no one has ever seen, so it’s really interesting. And scary. Thanks for the list, amigo.
I am Lio’s fan. Actually Lio is my favorite comic strip. About print vrs web… I think that artist can print art books and fans, of course, buy it. But for day to day, I prefer read strip comic in on-line site, I join gocomic only for Lio strip. I read it first, here in a newspaper in Costa Rica, central america, my country.
Ty very much for this interview.
Que bueno! Thanks for coming, Caucel! I’ve always wanted to go to Costa Rica…I’ve had many friends who have who LOVE it there. Spread the word about the show and the great artists of Tall Tale Features! And keep writing!
Great interview, Tom!
Thanks, brutha! I’ve got a great one with Brock Heasley next, and after that, there’s going to be one that will shock the delicate sensibilities of many people. Whooo!
I do it Tom
Great show. Fans claim for years a show like this. 
Ty very much!