Serializer.net
 2004 logo | |
| Owner | Joey Manley |
|---|---|
| Editor | Tom Hart |
| URL | Serializer.net (archived) |
Serializer.net was a webcomic subscription service and artist collective founded by Joey Manley and edited by Tom Hart the existed from 2002 to 2013. Designed to showcase artistic alternative webcomics using the unique nature of the medium, the works on Serializer.net were described as "high art" and "avant-garde". The project became inactive in 2007 and closed alongside Manley's other websites in 2013.
Concept
The concept of Serializer.net was developed by Joey Manley in order to showcase alternative webcomics designed to provoke thought, to challenge assumptions and to "exercise the aesthetic sense." Manley stated in an interview with Wired that he wanted the artists on Serializer to "do everything and anything that the best novelists, the best filmmakers, the best poets and painters are able to do and, because of the unique nature of the form, to do some things that those artists, working in those other forms, can't do." Readers could gain access to the Serializer.net archives by paying $2.95 USD per month.[1]
In 2004, Hart noted that Serializer.net excited him specifically as an online venture, and that he was not interested in whether any of the works on it would wind up in print.[2]
History
Joey Manley and Tom Hart launched Serializer.net on October 1, 2002. It was the first expansion of the Modern Tales family of webcomic subscription services. Serializer.net launched with a webcomic collaboration between Hart and Shaenon K. Garrity titled Trunktown, as well as The Salon by Nick Bertozzi, Half Empty by Derek Kirk, and the long-running Few and Far Between by Joda Thayer.[1] In 2003, The Detroit News reported Serializer.net as hosting work by 25 independent cartoonists, including Cynicalman, America's Laid-Off Superhero by Matt Feazell.[3]
Serializer.net went down due to a server crash in 2006, but relaunched later that year with a new set of around twenty artists.[4] Activity on Serializer mostly died down in 2007.[5] The collective Modern Tales family closed down in April 2013, and Manley died of pneumonia later that year.[6]
Reception
The Sunday Times described Serializer as "high-art,"[7] and The Sydney Morning Herald considered Serializer to be avant-garde.[8] Publishers Weekly described Serializer's artists such as Brian Sendelbach, Glenn Dakin, Greg Stump, and Nick Bertozzi as "art comics favorites."[9]
References
- ^ a b Rose, M.J. (2002-09-17). "Book, Website Spur Iraq Discourse". Wired.com.
- ^ Spurgeon, Tom (2004-12-19). "Still Working Hard: Catching Up With Cartoonist Tom Hart". Comics Reporter.
- ^ Jiompkowski, Michelle O. (2003-03-05). "Cartoonist creates dizzy adventures for the young". The Detroit News.
Strips can be seen on www.serializer.net, a subscription service that showcases work by 25 independent cartoonists. He posts a color strip weekly, and the latest one can be seen for free at the Web site.
- ^ MacDonald, Heidi (2006-10-12). "Serializer.net returns". Comics Beat.
- ^ Garrity, Shaenon (2011-05-05). "Diving In". The Comics Journal.
- ^ Melrose, Kevin (2013-11-08). "Modern Tales founder Joey Manley passes away". Comic Book Resources.
- ^ O'Brien, Danny (2006-02-26). "The tooniverse explodes". The Sunday Times. p. 27[S].
- ^ Sharwood, Simon (2003-08-30). "The rebirth of comics: Comics online". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 5.
- ^ MacDonald, Heidi (2005-12-16). "Webcomics: Page Clickers to Page Turners". Publishers Weekly.
External links
- Official website, archived using the Wayback Machine