The TfC Ramble is a weekly digest of content from the intersection of technology and comics.
One of the hazards of having a last name that is nearly impossible for mere mortals to spell is that it makes it hard for readers to share sites, like this substack, that include your name. One solution? Domain redirects.
๐ You can now reach this substack via techforcomics.com and tech4comics.com. ๐
NFT Drop Update
Veve.me
Sept. 19 Captain America (2004) #1 The first appearance of the Winter Soldier. Published: 2004 Price: $10 (Still Available) Total Editions: 10,000
Sept. 20 Star Wars: Yoda #1 Published: 2022 Price: $6.99 Total Editions: 6,000 (Sold Out)
Sept. 21 X-Factor (1986) #1 The first appearance of X-Factor. Published: 1986 Price: $6.99 Total Editions: 6,000 (Still available)
nft.dcuniverse.com
Sept. 18 Detective Comics (1937โ2011) #58 The first appearance of the Penguin. Price: $9.99 (Max purchase: 1 per account) Total Editions: 5,000 (Still available)
Indie: Dissonance, written by Transitory Mask
Sept. 18 Dissonance Mint size: 1000 (Still available) Price: 1 Sol. Currently available; minting at https://studio.metaplex.com/project/dissonance. To read your minted comic, visit dissonancecomic.com. Perk: Printed comic book raffle.
This project takes the concept of an anthology to another level with every panel in this comic created by a different artist.
I love the fact that I can separate my substack reading from the avalanche of e-mails in my inboxes. If you havenโt already tried the app, it is magic.
Social Media
I have to admit to feeling a tad smug when Elon Musk stated this week that โItโs a longer discussion, but in my opinion, this [small fees] is the only defense against vast armies of bots.โ This is precisely one of the points I made in an article I wrote last November, and this has only become more important now that AI has mastered CAPTCHAs. The move is not going to be popular with cashstrapped comic creators and will most likely hurt Twitter financially as well (at least in the short term), but it is either do this or have armies of bots interfere with democratic elections, set up bank account scams, etc. Identity mapping is one of the most difficult and yet important technical challenges of our time, and โone-credit-card = one-accountโ is about the closest a business can get to proof of personhood without being excessively bank-account-level-show-me-your-passport intrusive.
If you missed my original post, it is here:
Just Charts
Source: DappRadar.com โHro bridges the gap between the physical and digital worlds with hybrid NFT trading cards.โ
An example of how blockchain tech allows for near real-time reporting of transactions, in this case Hro DC digital collectible cards. If only the real world comic industry was this transparent about sales and resales.
Writer Accountability
Iโve started work in earnest on a short horror comic that Iโll be submitting to anthologies. Ironically, I suspect this 6-page comic is the thing Iโve written that is most likely to be โoptionedโ one day. Related to this, I spent half a day selecting a nom de plume for a horror writer. Ha!
I sat in on the โConstructing an Effective Superhero Comicโ masterclass with Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins. (If you are a creator who has not already signed up for Scottโs substack, you are missing out!) I always come out of these Zoom classes with another arrow in my creative quiver and, more often than not, an idea for a scene in an existing project. This session was no exception.
I am a clarifying phone call away from launching production for the next issue in The Lump Sum Saga. This will likely be decision week for Lump Dog!
What I am reading
I enjoyed Daredevil #1 (2023) so much that I had my comic shop create a pull box for me to collect the series! Iโll talk about why one day, likely in one of my articles on world-building using โcultural universals,โ but suffice it to say it hit the spot for me.
More
Wednesday was โInternational NFT Day.โ This annual event is a great day for companies to make important announcements, hold IRL events, etc.
so itโs basically a techno-nerdโs dream. I wonโt bore you with all the gory details here, but suffice it to say my X/Twitter & Discord notifications were on blast all day.