Today, the editors over at Zuda completely changed its four year format of user-voted webcomics.
This raises many, many questions, as it is no secret that Zuda is thought of as the step-brother-locked-in-the-attic of the DC family, from both within DC itself and a large part of the webcomic community. With the new change in management earlier this year, one is left with little room to doubt that this is a reaction to Zuda's budget and publishing structure.
The very first idea that comes to mind for Zuda's new format would be a much more focused Instant Winner every few months or so. Now, I have absolutely no problems whatsoever with Zuda ditching the current format of a competition. This would mean that Zuda most likely would stop having to give out gigantic monetary prizes to utter crap, and work on a few new titles a year that are actually quality. But what of the current on-goings? What about them? High Moon and Bayou are definitely safe, they're Zuda's David Willis and Steve Troop. But what about the new generation? How will they be affected, and how will they stay or go? Will it still be based on views? Or will Zuda pump out books at a much faster and more efficient pace?
Of course, DC won't really recover from their monetary fever with Zuda until the current winner for this month ends his or her (or his) contract. It may even leave Zuda behind. Hey, it would not be the first time something like this has happened. Despite all the talk of the change being for the benefit of the user base's sanity, Zuda may be very well fighting for its life.
No news on when to expect any sort of announcement yet concerning Zuda's future. I'm expecting something on Monday.
2 comments:
By taking away the competition, Zuda is losing two good things: audience input and urgency. These things have been great for generating fans for unknown creators and Zuda comics.
There may be another way to get those things but we'll see what they do.
-Delos
haha
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