Happy January, everyone! I hope life is treating you well. After a holiday hiatus, it was time for me to get back to posting. I don’t know about you, but for me, this is the time of year when I look at what I accomplished the year before and look ahead to what I want to accomplish moving forward. What in my schedule will I keep? What will get more emphasis? What will I give up? I’m not a slave to my goals, but my procrastinating brain works best if I have recorded some reasonable objectives. I’ll talk about that next post.
But first, what follows is a list of what was posted this year. Have a look to see what you may have missed, especially if you are a new subscriber. Thank you to everyone who joined me on my first full year of substack adventure!
Most Popular
Jan 4, 2023: "Scrivener 00: Comic Template Preview" - Provides a preview of a comic book template for Scrivener. (Ironically, because this was posted first, this preview has more search engine success than the January 12th article below.)
Nov 10, 2022: "Comic NFTs - An Ethical Approach" - This is the hub page for my book that discusses the ethical aspects of comic NFTs.
Dec 13, 2022: "How to Deprive AI of Your Art" - OK, technically 2022, but it was still important to the community. This post addresses how to protect art from AI technology. The information here is a bit dated, and I’ll be updating this information in 2024.
Jan 12, 2023: "Scrivener 01: Installing a Comic Book Template" - A guide on installing a comic book template in Scrivener.
Aug 16, 2023: "Westcoast Comic Con Debrief" - My first ever tabling experience. Includes a profit/loss analysis.
Scrivener for Comics
Click the heading to be taken to this section.
Jan 12, 2023: "Scrivener 01: Installing a Comic Book Template" - An introduction to using templates in Scrivener for comic writing.
Mar 7, 2023: "Scrivener 07: On the Beach" - Discussing Scrivener for iOS.
Mar 21, 2023: "Scrivener 08: Customizing the Toolbar" - Tips on toolbar setup in Scrivener.
Mar 28, 2023: "A Scrivener Project for Your Kickstarter Page" - Using Scrivener for Kickstarter page preparation.
Apr 25, 2023: "More Comic Script Templates" - Exploring additional script templates in Scrivener.
Jun 7, 2023: "Setting Up Scrivener Nag Mode" - Setting up reminders in Scrivener.
Nov 1, 2023: "NaNoWriMo + Scrivener" - Combining National Novel Writing Month with Scrivener for comics.
Artificial Intelligence
Click the heading to be taken to this section.
Ironically, for a tech site, I didn’t talk about AI much in 2023. I’ll describe my plans regarding the topic in the next post.
Jul 20, 2023: "And the most prolific Marvel writer is..." - This post explores the capabilities of ChatGPT's code interpreter, particularly in relation to Marvel comics.
Dec 13, 2022: "How to Deprive AI of Your Art" - Discusses the pervasive nature of artificial intelligence in everyday life, focusing on its application in the arts and how to maintain control over artistic content in the AI era.
Digital Collectibles
Click the heading to be taken to this section.
This was a catch-all section for the few posts that didn’t fit the podcast or The Ramble.
Nov 10, 2022: "Comic NFTs - An Ethical Approach" - Discusses the ethical considerations of NFTs in comics, aiming to provide a nuanced understanding of the topic.
Dec 6, 2022: "Press Release: 'Comic NFTs - An Ethical Approach'" - Announcement of the new book focusing on creating ethical NFTs in the comic industry.
Jan 19, 2023: "Amazing Spider-Man #31 'Drop'" - Highlights an NFT sale example on the VeVe app.
Jun 8, 2023: "Unboxing: Pop! Digital DC Funkos" - Covers the physical Funko Pops derived from NFT collectible cards.
Podcast: Comic NFTs - An Ethical Approach
Click the heading to be taken to this section.
In the latter half of 2022, I wrote a book called “Comic NFTs - An Ethical Approach.” In 2023, I read that book aloud, chopping it into manageable chunks in podcast form.
Here's the list of the episodes for 2023 in chronological order:
Feb 2, 2023: "Why NFTs?" - Overview of NFTs in comics.
Feb 9, 2023: "What the Heck is a Comic NFT?" - Introduction to comic NFTs.
Feb 16, 2023: "If It Ain't Broke, Why Fix It?" - Exploring comic NFTs' value.
Feb 23, 2023: "If It Ain't Broke, Why Fix It? Part 2" - Unique value of comic NFTs.
Mar 2, 2023: "More Benefits for Independent Creators. Part 1" - Benefits for comic creators.
Mar 9, 2023: "More Benefits for Independent Creators. Part 2 of 3" - Continuing benefits discussion.
Mar 16, 2023: "More Benefits for Independent Creators. Part 3 of 3" - Advantages for creators.
Mar 23, 2023: "Navigating the Concerns - Energy Use - Pt. 1" - Environmental impact of NFTs.
Mar 30, 2023: "Navigating the Concerns - Energy Use - Pt. 2" - Ethereum's role in blockchain.
Apr 6, 2023: "Navigating the Concerns - Ownership & Persistence" - Ownership issues in digital era.
Apr 13, 2023: "Navigating the Concerns - Honor Intellectual Property Rights" - IP rights in digital comics.
Apr 20, 2023: "Navigating the Concerns - Acknowledge Privacy Concerns; Avoid Elitism" - Ethical considerations in comics.
Apr 28, 2023: "Why is Selling an Independent Comic NFT So Hard?" - Challenges in the NFT space.
Jul 13, 2023: "A Politics Quick Sheet (Part 1)" - Insights on billionaires and capitalism.
Aug 10, 2023: "A Politics Quick Sheet (Part 2)" - Crypto, Bitcoin, and collectibles.
Aug 17, 2023: "Moving Forward - Honor Your Collaborators" - Collaborative efforts in tech.
Aug 24, 2023: "Moving Forward (Part 2) - Honor Your Customers" - Customer treatment in the digital age.
Aug 31, 2023: "Part Five - Looking to the Future (Part 1)" - Future of NFTs.
Sep 7, 2023: "Part Five - Looking to the Future (Part 2)" - Fractionalized ownership and the Superman problem.
Sep 14, 2023: "Glossary with Analogies - A through D" - Beginning of WEB3 term explanations.
Sep 21, 2023: "Glossary with Analogies - E through M" - More WEB3 term analogies.
Sep 28, 2023: "Glossary with Analogies - N through P" - Continuing the WEB3 terms guide.
Oct 5, 2023: "Glossary with Analogies - Q through W; Acknowledgements" - A beginner's guide to WEB3 terms, the finale.
Tech for Comics Ramble
Click the heading to be taken to this section.
Last but not least, I posted weekly updates from the Tech for Comics space as a digest of news links from around the web.
Mar 4, 2023: Weekly smorgasbord of comics and technology.
Mar 11, 2023: AI and NFT updates.
Mar 18, 2023: Dominated by AI news.
Mar 25, 2023: NVidia AI, content disasters, and Red Hulk.
Apr 1, 2023: Scrivener updates for Mac.
Apr 8, 2023: TikTok ban and social media strategies.
Apr 15, 2023: Digital Comics, Wonder Woman, and Substack notes.
Apr 22, 2023: NFC chip for comics.
Apr 29, 2023: End of season one.
Jun 3, 2023: May hiatus report.
Jun 24, 2023: Superman, Warhol, and digital collectibles.
Jul 1, 2023: Canada Day celebration.
Jul 15, 2023: San Diego Comic-Con coverage.
Jul 22, 2023: Comic-Con and technology.
Jul 29, 2023: Research paper invitation.
Aug 5, 2023: Kickstarter's AI policy.
Aug 12, 2023: ChatGPT web crawler, Marvel Cards.
Aug 19, 2023: AI translation in comics.
Aug 26, 2023: Digital Comics Popverse.
Sep 2, 2023: VeVe drops the hammer.
Sep 9, 2023: GlobalComix App beta.
Sep 16, 2023: GlobalComix & dReader app releases.
Sep 23, 2023: Paying for social media.
Sep 30, 2023: dPublisher's no-code Comic NFTs.
Oct 7, 2023: BackerKit AI policy.
Oct 14, 2023: Uncanny X-Men (1963) #1 release.
Oct 21, 2023: X-men breaking the system.
Oct 28, 2023: Lump Dog, Poisoning AI.
Nov 4, 2023: Rare CGC 9.8 slabbed variant.
Nov 18, 2023: Double-sized Ramble.
Nov 25, 2023: DC NFT moving to Candy.com.
Dec 2, 2023: CGC 9.8 slabbed Jeffrey Veregge variant cover.
Dec 9, 2023: DC NFT migration completion.
Dec 16, 2023: Discord comic signing feature.
As an update, my contest winner has yet to reach out with an address!
So that was 2023! Somewhere in there, I finished the script for “Lump Dog” and opened a merchandise store on Shopify (http://wwwtlsscomics.com). Did I meet all of my 2023 goals? No. But overall, it was a very productive year!
In the next post, I’ll talk about how I’ve decided to approach 2024. There are changes afoot! Thanks again for following me on my Tech for Comics journey!