by Chris Arrant

Launching today, September 10th, the third wave of the webcomics collaborative features six able and inspired cartoonists: Anne Barnetson, Paul Maybury, Pedro Camargo, Jennifer Tong, and Jason Little. With the burgeoning Act-I-vate collective now boasting eighteen members, it has become symbolic of the increased awareness of the webcomics realm to traditionally print-medium cartoonists.

"Act-i-vate wanted to add a couple of veterans we've been wooing for awhile who finally found time in their schedule to commit," said founding member Dean Haspiel. "That, plus, we wanted more female blood and some of the new talent we've been eye-balling that knocked us out."

In the eight months since Act-I-vate launched, this free webcomics collective has added both fans and members, with four members joining the original eight in April as Wave 2. Featuring notable cartoonists from traditional comics such as Nick Bertozzi (Rubbernecker, The Salon) and Dean Haspiel (The Quitter, Billy Dogma), along with a bevy of up & coming comics talent, Act-i-vate has been come a hub of new and original ideas proffered up for free online to readers worldwide.

"Since its inception this past February, Act-i-vate has gained incredible momentum, exploiting our collective wares and building a community within the blogosphere and comix culture," said Haspiel. "One of our firm rules was to not spend out-of-pocket monies. Our overhead cost is passion, sweat, and new ideas given away free for optimum online comix reading. 99% of our marketing is generated guerilla style from home in the wee small hours and/or borrowed resources from our part-time gigs. That, and our relationships with journalists who spread the gospel."

"We couldn't hire a publicist when we're not generating extra-curricular funds during this beta phase. However, as fate would have it, the initial success and pulse of Act-i-vate has brought fans and friends to the forefront wanting to help perpetuate and cross-pollinate our cause, giving their skills and talents to us pro bono," explained Haspiel.

"For example, Samsung's Jeff Newelt [aka "Jah Furry"], who is allied with proactive online institutions HappyCorp and Smith Magazine [the publishers of Anthony Lappe and AiV member Dan Goldman's Shooting War], has afforded us with all kinds of marketing insight, parties, connections, maintaining our MySpace personae, etc., and has become Act-i-vate's official Ambassador of Hype. Photographer Jodi Shapiro has lent her talents to take posse pictures at various comix events as will photographer/cartoonist, Ryan Roman."

The help of outside forces into the Act-i-vate collaborative has been further stoked with the input of media theorist and author of Testament, Douglas Rushkoff.

"Douglas has invigorated forward-thinking discussions [including the inklings of starting a physical studio to accompany our virtual one] that's made him an honorary member of our group. Act-i-vate lifts the veil between creation and creator, allowing 24-hour, world wide access to the homes of cartoonists and their inspired works."

We spoke with five of the six Wave 3 inductees into Act-I-vate, missing only Anne Barnetson, who was unavailable for comment.

A lauded webcartoonist in his own right, Shutterbug Follies creator Jason Little will be serializing the second of his "Bee" books, Motel Art Improvement Service, under the banner of Act-I-vate.

"In this one, Bee's summer bike trip across the country is derailed in New Jersey, where she hooks up with Cyrus, an itinerant hotel housekeeper and outsider artist," explained Little. "Cyrus paints new, strange details into the tacky prints that adorn the walls of hotel rooms." Motel Art Improvement Service began online serialization earlier this year on Little's own website, and is already announced to be published by Little, Brown & Co. in 2008 after online serialization.

Wave 3 Act-i-vator Mike Dawson is familiar to readers of AdHouse books, with works in both the Project: Superior anthology and Superior Showcase #1. Based in the New York City area like many of his fellow Act-i-vators, his next major print work is the tribute to the rock band Queen called Freddie and Me.

"I plan on working on a series of short stories with lots of different characters and situations. I see being a member of Act-i-vate as a great platform for trying out new things," explained Dawson. "The first story that I'm going to run is one that I wrote with a friend of mine, Chris Radtke, using some characters from a comic book series that we were self-publishing a few years ago called Gabagool!"

His first Act-i-vate comic is entitled The Thecret of the Thword, and features the three twenty-something guys from Gabagool! in a flashback to their younger days.

Paul Maybury, who was recently featured in Newsarama's Up & Coming column, is also a member of Act-i-vate by way of Wave 3. Fresh off contributions to 24seven and Put the Book Back on the Shelf, Maybury is delving into some interesting territory for his Act-i-vate contribution Party Bear.

"It's about a drinking smoking bear with a party hat that's sleeping and living with this kid Milsap's mom," said Maybury. "Milsap looks to him as a father figure and hopes that Party Bear will get Esteban (local dealer) to stop hitting his mom and take back the hood. There's also a tie-in with local Hip Hop pioneers Beanstockrecords, who are collaborating with me to do the "soundtrack" for Party Bear. Look for the first track, and theme song to go up the same day as the premiere of the pages."

"I'm working on a comic called GLAM," said Act-i-vate Wave 3 member Pedro Camarjo. "It's about a rabbit trying to rescue his friend from kidnappers."

A native of Brazil, Camarjo moved to New York to attend the School of Visual Arts, where he received a degree in cartooning. He began circulating a comic called Space Sucks through the online community DE-ACT-I-VATE, which Camarjo describes as "the bastard child of Act-i-vate".

Artist Jennifer Tong is also a newly minted graduate from the NY-based School of Visual Arts, and is working on a story entitled Orifice. "It's about a guy who, upon meeting a girl, developed a certain obsession, leading to a chain of events that are seemingly beyond his control," said Tong.

Although she was unaware of Act-i-vate before being invited to join, she was quick to sing its praises. "After thoroughly examining the site I realize that Act-i-vate is this whole movement, made up of a group of talented people that came together to feed free comics to the eager audience--a movement that I'm absolutely thrilled to be involved with," gushed Tong. "More, more free comics, I say!"



In recent months webcomics have experienced a heavy influence of traditionally-print cartoonists, with Act-I-vate being amongst the first. Others include Nextwave artist Stuart Immonen's webcomics and the upcoming debut of the webcomics group Rocket Pirates, helmed by Warren Ellis and Joe Manley. With the invigorating and exciting developments into the realm of the web, does Act-i-vate have plans to make these Wave inductions of new members a regular occurrence?

"For now, Act-i-vate is keeping the roster sealed with the launch of Wave 3. We may add more talent in 2007 but, for now, we're extremely happy and excited by our current posse. Besides, with excellent free web comix gangs like The Chemistry Set emerging, and Joe Manley and Warren Ellis heralding the upcoming Rocket Pirates site, we're not the only game in town. Anyone can launch a free web comic. And, they are, every day. It's those who maintain a regular schedule providing solid content that are the one's to watch out for. Ultimately, the readers are the winners."

Act-I-Vate can be found at Act-i-vate.livejournal.com.