This is the second of three reviews where we discuss and demonstrate comic strip generator websites.  The first was about StripGenerator.com.

Pixton.com

Pixton recently generated some buzz at the South-By-Southwest interactive festival in Austin last month.

What makes Pixton really interesting is the amazing control you have over the characters.  Using the expression editor, for example, you can make your character smile, show fear, or express other emotions.  For people like me who can’t draw, this functionality is liberating.  I have made many stick figures in my life but have always fallen short of truly showing angst, hatred, or bliss.  With Pixton, I can do much more and all I have to do is select the words of the expression.  It’s very neat.

Similarly, there are editors for colors, clothing style, skin tone, girth, posture, and many more.  With Pixton, I don’t have to move lines or have any of the technical skills to make my character look fat.  I just do a few clicks and voila, my character is fat.

Although possibilities are limitless it comes at a significant cost of usability: there are so many controls, it was often hard to figure out how to use it.   The learning curve is much steeper than StripGenerator.com. Plan to spend some time with the interface to get used to it.

Another drawback to Pixton is that you are confined to create strips within their design parameters.  In other words, while you can make lots of changes to your characters and your strips, you cannot import your own designs.  Not only does it give all Pixton strips a very similar look and feel, it limits artists that want to push the envelope on the look and feel of their strips.

From a community perspective, however, Pixton excels. You can comment, vote, and share each strip.  This functionality seems pretty robust and up to par with other community systems (read: YouTube).

Overall, Pixton, is a great way for beginners to explore the comic strip creation world.  True artists might hit a wall with their creativity but for the rest of the stick figure drawing world, it gives us new levels of power and control.

Next Up: Toon Doo!

To say we live in uncertain times is an understatement:

• The U.S. economy is in a deep recession and the pillars of our economy, banks, are failing left and right.
• We’re in two wars and peace in the Middle East seems even further away than before.
• Global warming is making our weather wackier.

Even though we just inaugurated a new President who is calm, cool, and collected, it’s hard to chill out.  I think it’s human nature to worry, to see all the potential pitfalls when things are looking a little glum.  It doesn’t seem to matter that we’ve been through things like this before.  It always feels different and it’s human nature to expect the worst.

Comic strips, especially funny ones, have always been a great daily escape.  I got through the early 1990s  reading the daily funnies.   My enthusiasm of graduating from college was being severely tempered by a recession, a war in Iraq, and a Bush in the White House (sounds familiar, huh).  My daily read of the paper started with the funny pages: Far Side, Calvin & Hobbes, and the newly started Dilbert got my day going right.

But what about today?  Newspapers are shedding comic strips left and right. Most strips online are difficult to read en masse: you have to go to their individual websites to see them.  Where can we get the same experience as a daily strip read online?   Fortunately, there are a few options but they have some limitations:

• Comics Curmudgeon – This blog compiles many of the popular comic strips today into one easily scannable read.  Even better, Josh Fruhlinger, the author, provides great color commentary on the comics.  While it’s a great compilation, it isn’t necessarily your compilation.  What Josh likes may not be what you like (and vice versa).  Still, if you need a way to get your fix, this might be it.
• iGoogle – Google’s do-it-yourself portal has a way to add any gadget under the sun, including comic strip ones.  Many popular comic strips are available to be added as an iGoogle gadget.  While this is definitely cool, you tend to be very limited with what strips can be added.  Most of the major syndicates have iGoogle gadgets so those are covered, but independent strips tend to not be there.  So, while you can get your fix, you still may be craving the strip you want.
• Zingerding (coming soon) -  Our goal is provide fans with some of the best tools to consume their comics online.  Also, all of our content will be completely independent and unique.  It’s comics the way you want them.   Sign up now to learn more.

Wired Magazine’s blog recently posted a great post about cool tech comic strips for 2008.   Some of the subjects covered included:

1. Proposed Yahoo! purchase by Microsoft
2. Google’s dominance
3. Cell Phone bans in cars

It always amazes me how a simple picture can speak volumes.   In this world where snapping a photo (and sharing it) is as easy as answering the phone, a comic strip provides a perfect prism to see the world a little less than perfectly.

You know something has gone mainstream when it is featured on NPR!

Penny Arcade, the geeked out comic strip, was featured in a story earlier this week.

They comment on how it represents a resurgence in comic strips.  We at ZIngerding think so too.

Let us know what you think.

I just read a great article about how comedians are having a tough time making jokes about President Elect Obama. Craig Ferguson of the “Late Late Show” said of Senator Obama, “A dignified, thoughtful, charismatic, smart man who doesn’t run at the mouth. Is it a challenge to our creative juices to find something funny about Obama? God, yes!”

What is true about spoken words will also be true about comics?

A brief survey of some Senator Obama cartoons, the vast majority are extremely favorable: images of him giving knuckles to Martin Luther King, Jr. , cleaning of the “mess” of the Bush GOP as represented by an elephant. All seem to echo the tenor of the country: Obama is well liked and needs to be given some latitude to get our country back on track.

Still, undoubtedly, over time, President Obama will need to make tough, unpopular decisions. When that happens, comedians and comics will undoubtedly change too.

Congrats, Obama. Enjoy the ride!

Yo Zingerfans! A while back I featured a Pepsi and Pete comic strip advertisement for Pepsi Cola from 1941. Here is a modern comic form ad for Alaskan Summer Ale. They similarly end with drawings of the bottled beverages. Not much has changed there.

– Click to enlarge.

I’d like to point out a few interesting zings about this strip. If you look at the five panels in the center, they are connected with arrows to guide the order with which you’re supposed to read them. Now this has been done in comics before, especially in more experimental comic books where artists have the entire for unusual layouts. Now why are they in this comic? The natural order of reading panels is right to left, top to bottom. The arrows here point us in a circular order as if we are to read those five panels over and over, watching the killer whale do flips.

I’ll argue these arrows unnecessary. They certainly are not needed in the top panels as those already follow the natural order, especially with the whale literally going from one panel into the other. And quite frankly, would this read any different if you read the bottom two panels in the opposite order of the arrows? Not much as you still get the effect of a crazy whale-riding rodeo. And then why didn’t the artist just flop those two panels anyway? It’s not that big of a deal and it’s not like it ruins the comic, rather it’s just my job to point these things out.

Also, I’m not that much a fan of puns but I like the zinger in this. “Killer Ale”, it’s not funny but it works!

One other zing. The sound effect lettering says SPLASH and… uh… ? FRASH? TRASH? Probably CRASH but that blocky C threw me off since the S is not blocky.

Zing out!

Yo Zingerfans! On Monday I pointed out the need for more bird comic strips. I mean, we all agree that there aren’t enough birds in comics, right? It’s a universal understanding I am sure. So today I bring you The Boids comic strip by cartoonists Campbell and Merrill, first names Larry and Steve (though I couldn’t find who goes with which last name).

It’s a pretty zing new strip about a robotic bird named ‘Flock Unit 2A-6′ built to study real birds, and who accidentally gets separated from the robot flock only to end up in the company of feathered friends. The initial batch of strips are still focusing on the setup of this premise. Like other robotic animal strips, the humor somewhat lacks because of this situational approach. This is very natural for new strips so give it a chance already. It’s a bird strip after all. Once the characters are more developed, this strip will really zing! That doesn’t mean there aren’t good ones in there already. This one really tickled my feathers!

– Click to enlarge

I also dig the art. At first I was a little put off by the execution of 2A-6 himself. He looks more like origami than mechanics but then it grew on me. I zing his simple, iconic visual style next to the more realistic birds. Two wings up from me! What do you think?

Yo Zingerfans! This one reminded me of a dog I had years ago. (Actually, he was my roommate but it was like having a dog. A bird with a dog? Ha ha!) This Dog Eat Doug comic strip by cartoonist Brian Anderson made me laugh. Dogs love the smell of all kinds of things I would never put my beak to.

– Click to enlarge

There are soooo many zinging dog strips out there! How do they compete? Well, I guess I could say the same thing about those human people comics. There are tons of those. We need more bird comics, I say!

Yo zingerfans! Marilla and I are back from our little jaunt to the Pacific Northwest. Boy, moss grows on everything up there – trees, brickwork, signposts, cats. Now back at Zingerding HQ, we’re refreshed and ready to bring you some more comic strips!

We’ll start out with the syndicated strip, Prickly City, about a girl named Carmen and her friend Winslow, a coyote pup. Created by conservative editorial cartoonist, Scott Stantis, Prickly City most often has a deep political zing. Carmen is a young Republican kid and Winslow represents a more liberal point of view.

The humor focuses on their conversations, usually as they stroll throughout their American southwestern town and landscape. The cartoonist uses this device first associated with Calvin and Hobbes whereas the characters discuss deeper issues in a whimsical setting. In reading the strip, I actually found the political commentary pretty bland, as if it was trying not to be too offensive or one-sided. An approach like this probably helps sell comics but if you ask this bird, it waters down the power of the medium. The strips I liked best were the ones that commented more on popular culture.

But here is a good political one that zings a funny chord no matter your political affiliation. Click to enlarge it. You can read more Prickly City here.

Yo! Here’s a comic strip called Squinkers by cartoonist Sandra Lamb. This one features a couple of flirtatious pigs but that’s not what the strip is really about. Squinkers centers on a young girl, her mother and grandpa who live and work on a farm/bed & breakfast. It’s a well-drawn strip with engaging characters and storylines. The zingers are sometimes too pun-based for my taste but the humor is generally good. Check it out and read more!

I chose this one from the current storyline. It’s not that often that you come across strips about horny pigs zinging up some love. Does this one make you laugh or kinda creep you out? Both for me!’

– Click to enlarge.