Zuda Comics competition

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Zuda Comics (DC Comics’ webcomics division) holds a competition monthly where anyone can submit an eight-screen sample. Every month, 10 of these Web comics are picked and put up for a community vote. The monthly vote winners and as many as six ‘instant winners’ each get a year’s contract to produce webcomics for Zuda. Pretty fantastic, yes?

Since its official launch last October, Zuda Comics has developed a strong and entertaining online community that provides both creators and comic book fans a place to be themselves and to judge others (welcome to the Internet). The best and also worst part about this competition is most of these strips feel like teasers-- I am dying to know more and while not all of these stories will thrive on, I can at least hope one will. This post is meant to do two things: Get some of you to sign up and be part of the Zuda community and to draw attention to my favorite submission this month, Shock Effect.

Shock Effect is about growing up during an alien invasion. We join Alice and her mom as they await a rescue that could lead to the truth behind the invasion itself. Each panel makes me want to make out with my monitor. That sounded strange, didn’t it? Yeah, well, I do, as strange and awkward as it may be. Competitor John Lang’s artwork is truly gorgeous. Beautiful, clean and all around solid. Alongside its beauty is its equally enchanting writer, competitor Ian Daffern, whose storytelling brings each panel to life flawlessly. I’m dying to know what happens next and yes, I hope it’s picked for truly selfish reasons.

It takes fewer than 60 seconds to sign up for Zuda and to be a part of monthly Web comics history. Do it for yourself or hey, do it for me. Vote for your favorite Web comic today (or you know, my favorite Web comic) and let’s see who wins this month’s online publishing contract worth more than $10,000.

I also recommend checking out all 10 brilliant Zuda submissions this month:

Harvest War --The survivors of a great nation seek the pieces of the Harvest Stone, which grants control over the natural elements. A source of their power, it cannot fall into the wrong hands of the Wildermen.

Vic Boone -- In a world where the science fiction of yesterday is today’s science fact, being a private eye can be dangerous. But being a former motorcycle daredevil? That can be handy. ** second fav. ;)

To The Red Country -- A stranger from the north walks the Great Divide, a trip that will certainly poison him to death, in order to enter the heart of the Red Country.

Furiku Buredu --In a new era of blood-soaked peace, warriors are left to their traumas and samurais to wander on roads too narrow for their purpose.

Gulch --We pray for a flame to spread across our city and purify the land. Nothing pure will come of it. There will be ash. We will wade knee deep in the mess and no one will dare call it victory. We fight.

Junk -- After a strange compulsion causes the residents of an isolated town to merge with the objects they treasure most, a handful of people unaffected must find a way to escape before they succumb to Junk.

Rhandom Escape -- Rhandom is the only human in a galaxy of aliens. He has been accused of destroying a moon and is on a desperate run from the law. The only way to clear his name is to learn of a secret power.

The Adventures of Rocki Gibraltar -- Rocki Gibraltar is a spunky girl who possesses one desire, to become a superhero on the same level as the other costumed heroes of Centennial City. Unfortunately, she has no special powers.

The Stuffed Animal Sagas -- A monster, a little girl in trouble and a teddy bear who shows it’s not the size of the hero in the fight but the size of the fight in the hero.

Shock Effect -- It’s tough growing up during an alien invasion. Alice and her mom have been waiting for a rescue. When it arrives, they embark on a journey that could expose the invasion’s truth.

-- Christie St. Martin of Funny Pages 2.0

Images courtesy of Zuda Comics