WTF is Comics Lifestyle?

[John Weeks]

This is a tricky one.

I read stuff and spot something and say, 'that should go on the blog'. My Melbs friends would say 'comics lifestyle' when something particularly appropriate happened. Usually someone going the extra distance for their art and the medium.

And this mindset/attitude/affliction/aspiration exists outside of labels, email addresses, exhibition titles, and websites. Nobody's got a trademark on it.

Originally, Comics Lifestyle Dot Com was intended to be a groupblog like BugPowder.com or boingboing.net, with value added features like galleries and other goodies.

At its best, CLS 1.0 had diverse coverage of comics niftiness via a network of contributors (via the email or blog interface). A lot of the time though, it was just me googling and emailing to get the goss.

Cambodian comics are starting to take off. And that's Job One with me right now. So it looks like I may be needing some help if things are to continue in some form.

From the 1.0 About page:
==========================================
Comics Lifestyle? Well, like the title says.
It's by comics people for comics people. It's about the stuff that's barely getting a mention, and should. It's about the people and stuff we like.
Tell us where your head is at. Tell us what you're working on. Tell us what you're reading, what you're listening to, about shows and sites and submissions. There's a lot of cool stuff that's below the radar. Share. It needs to get out there.
Contributors can post to this site directly via email or blog interface. We like pictures.
There are thirty people so far. If you send a note once a month, that will add up to a daily smorgasboard of comics diversity.

=============================================

So before I take a leap to create site version 2.0, I should at least try to list the ideas I see as essential to running it.

Comics Lifestyle (the site) is not:
*exclusively concerned with handmade comics.
*hypnotized by Hollywood.
*into superheroes although we recognize their historic and archetypal
significance. Lots of us have read 'em.
*interested in comics/creators that pander/underestimate to the audience
*exclusionary, unless you're getting up in our grill.

Comics Lifestyle (the site) is
*irreverent
*managed by comics creators
*pop
*pro DIY, encouraging the cultivation of original voices
*historically conscious
*a news / content resource
*a loose network of creators
*sincerely international
*Seeks out new comics and creators
*Treats its subject matter as the stars they should be, if the
world was smart enough to realize it.

Frankly, I think the artists and art that tends to get featured on CLS shouldn't be on a tiny webzine.
They should be seen in magazines like People and Australian Women's Day, stalked by paparazzi, showered in development deals.

Hey, Art Spiegelman went from obscure formalist to cover artist for the mainstream magazine of record, The New Yorker. Anything is possible.