Zuda Comics Finale

Ten contestants entered. Two months of voting. One final winner. After two months of voting, 28,306 views and 206 registered users saying that it was their favorite, High Moon has been declared as the first winner from voting, and the second overall winner from Zuda Comics. Armed with only an eight page comic introduction, the contestants had to pull out all the stops to get people to vote for them, but in the end, only one comic could win.

Congratulations to writer David Gallaher, artist Steve Ellis, and letterer Scott O Brown.
I don’t want to toot my own horn here, but I just wanted to say that I called it. Before the comics were even seen, I thought that High Moon was the best premise out of all the comic books. After seeing the comics, I still thought it was the best comic, with high quality art and a opening sequence that set the groundwork for the story very well and left me wanting to see more. Now I guess I get my chance.

The Winner Rejoices

After seeing my initial thoughts on the Zuda lineup, writer David Gallaher got in touch with me and we did an interview together. I emailed him just after the winner was announced and here are some follow-up questions with David.
Aaron Albert: So what's next with High Moon? Do you know of any publishing plans? (Besides the web).
David Gallaher: We are in the process of talking with DC right now about the schedule. As far as additional publishing plans outside of the web, I'm not sure what is in store quite yet.

AA: Was the Zuda competition what you expected? How so?
DG: In most regards, it was better than I expected. All the pros we were pitted against were really incredible. The fans were supportive and had great feedback, and Team Zuda was just really awesome.

AA: What would you have done differently?
DG: I think if I had the foresight, I might have YouTubed Steve drawing some HIGH MOON pages and posted those on our production blog… and there are one or two words I might have added to our script, but for the most part I'm thrilled with how this project has gone. It has been one of the most successful and enjoyable projects I have had the chance to be a part of.

AA: Will you seek other web publishing enterprises, or print?
Maybe. HIGH MOON is my number one priority right now, but I'm certainly not opposed to more editors dropping me a line.

AA: How did you celebrate?
DG: I haven't actually celebrated yet, because it hasn't sunk in quite yet.

All the best,
David

Thanks David!

The Future of Zuda

With the first initial voting over and a winner declared, it will be very interesting to see how the contract, property rights, and success for the winners unfold. If something takes off in popularity and other deals are struck, such as movie deals and other licensing, who knows what might happen. I know I could easily see as a movie on the big screen. I just hope that the creators are taken care of in the long run.
In the end, it is a cool experiment, with some cool new comics having been created. Without this competition to spur them on, would some of these comics have ever come to light? I think it would be great for many of these creators to continue pursuing their comics, either in a webcomic or print format.

Anyways, congratulations to David, Steve, and Scott. Now get cranking out those pages!