Zuda Comics


Zuda Comics was DC Comics' webcomics imprint from 2007 until 2010. Some of the imprints series won awards and nominations from comic industry's Glyph Comics Awards and Harvey Awards. Bayou, Volume 1 was also named one of the 2010 Great Graphic Novels for Teens by the American Library Association.

History

The site was announced via press release on July 9, 2007, the imprint was launched to publish new material featuring new characters online. The site's content would be chosen by the users through monthly competitions: "the majority of the web comics will be selected by Zudacomics.com's visitors, who will vote on new web comics presented to them in periodic competitions". The first commissioned ongoing strips and material competing for the public vote were published on October 30, 2007. Zuda removed the competition aspect in April 2010 and in July 2010, soon after the launch of DC's digital comics service, it was announced that Zuda would close and be folded into the new digital publishing arm.

Competition mechanics

Comic creators were invited to submit their own eight-page comics, and each month ten were selected to compete by editorial. Users could vote for their favorite and the winner received a contract to continue their comic on Zuda. When the contract was filled, if the comic was liked enough it could be renewed for an additional "season". Occasionally an "instant winner" was chosen to receive a contract without having to compete. In July 2008 an "invitational" was held in which losing comics were invited back to compete.

Staff

The Zuda staff consisted of:
Instant Winners
Competition Winners
The initial announced line-up of talent included no prominent webcomics creators, prompting Todd Allen at Comic Book Resources to opine, "he vast majority of the initial creators here have already done print comics. Multiple print comics for the most part, and the majority go back a few years.... This does not look like ushering in a new generation". He conceded, however, "that they’ve lined up some strips with professional pedigree for the first batch".