Bravo to a bunch of webcomics guys for pooling their resources and creating a newspaper supplement reminiscent of the Sunday funnies to promote strips that are on the internet. The Webcomics Section debuted at the San Diego con in 2009 and its return in 2010 was a welcome sight. I grabbed one the second I saw it and picked up a couple more to pass out to friends.

Contributing creators included Kazu Kibuishi (Copper), Bill Barnes and Paul Southworth (Not Invented Here), Bobby Crosby and Sarah Ellerton (Dreamless), Jonathan Rosenberg (Scenes From A Multiverse), Jorge Cham (Piled Higher And Deeper), Barnes and Gene Ambaum (Unshelved), Zach Weiner (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal), Katie Shanahan (Shrub Monkeys), Benny Powell and Twinkle Planet Studios (Wayward Sons), Spike (Templar, Arizona), Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary), Christopher Baldwin (Spacetrawler), Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics), David Malki (Wondermark) and David Willis (Shortpacked!).

The 4-page newsprint publication, in full color, promotes the individual webcomics and their respective websites, lists the booth # so you can find the creators at the con, and also let prospective advertisers and deal-making partners know that they have a combined audience of 3 million readers with “over 27 million pageviews each month.”

The lead strip, Kibuishi’s Copper, makes excellent use of the opportunity and its coloring reminds me a lot of Calvin & Hobbes Sundays. Other strips made me laugh out loud and all of them made me want to rush to the internets and start bookmarking. Kudos to the group for thinking this up and making a unique con giveaway. I saw the papers at nearly every booth promoting webcomics.

I hope they do it again next year. I’ll be waiting for my copy!

[If you missed your copy this year, you can always check it out online.]

[Artwork: Copper © Kazu Kibuishi. Not from The Webcomics Section, because that’s how I roll]