European Graphic Novels+

Long overdue update, baby!

So... wow. Step-by-step, we’re on our way. And wouldn’t you know it, our one-year anniversary is coming up on August 1st. For a little background– we were founded directly in response to Reddit cracking down on 3rd-party app creators, which was the beginning (or possibly continuance) of Reddit essentially monetizing its volunteer labor. More on all that in the FAQ's comment section.

So what's new, matey?

• Matey, the Resources page has been updated with lots more info and links, specifically to help future posters.
• Some of the older posts had lost their lead-images due to server ("instance") glitch. They've now been fixed.
• Some of the older reviews still lack internal picture content. I (Johnny) work on that when I have time, such as by adding new content to the Hilda review (https://lemm.ee/post/2740095).
• The site's been added to the Wayback Machine tracking. Hopefully if something happens to me, Lemm.ee or the FV, the community can carry on somewhere else, preserving the best content.
• More clickable #tag searches have been added in the sidebar. The searches will by default search this specific community here on this instance, but you can adjust those factors as you like.
• The banner! Its resolution is higher now, noticeable perhaps if one zooms in.
• There was a linked-image issue the past few weeks that was frankly driving me up the wall, but fortunately, with the help of our instance-runner, the bug now seems squashed. A bunch of recent posts have now been fixed so that images will appear right in the body of the post, without needing to click a link, altho just to be cautious, I’m now adding the Imgur links underneath as a failsafe.
• One of these was a temporarily-deleted POST that’s now been fully restored, dedicated to the art of Alexander Petela, celebrating PRIDE month. I feel bad that more people didn’t see it, so check it out if you like. The art is pretty gorgeous and unique IMO.

I'm a newcomer. Any advice?

Welcome, welcome! ^^
Feel free to simply enjoy the new posts as they're published! But more than that, feel free to keep paging back through the archives or use the tags / search. As of the moment, there are over 360 postings to enjoy.

And of course, feel free to create your own topics, share your favorite stuff, discuss various comics, or just ask questions from the knowledge-base of our members.

Volunteer opening: News Reporter

I (Johnny) spend most of my 'BD time' reading, researching and writing, but what I'm not so good at is keeping up with the latest news. For this reason, we could use someone to keep an eye on the latest Euro comics news and post some interesting bits from time to time. If someone's willing to do that on a regular basis, it's worth a mod position.

There are many good sources with news (we have a ~dozen listed in Resources), most of which tend to get updated on a ~weekly basis. It's a job that probably only requires 30-40min per week. About one post per week of something interesting would be ideal.

Volunteer opening: Archivist

Proof-checking and fact-checking are needed on older posts that contain significant text content. There are no doubt some spelling, grammar and phrasing errors here and there, but probably even more needed is to: 1) properly organise and supplement our "master list," and 2) yell at Johnny for not including enough picture content in whatever posts that seem long and dry, with only text. If that makes sense.

Indeed, I'd say the "master index" greatly needs to be updated with new content, which should probably become a new, pinned post created and maintained by the future archivist. This is also worth a mod position.

Job opening: Publicist

I make a point of dropping semi-regular links to our content on Reddit, while not trying to go overboard. What's needed far more than that is posting our content around the web to appropriate communities in a non-aggressive, friendly way. I'm talking about Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and other major sites, as well as various BD communities and wherever else seems receptive. Not in a spamful way, but simply in a 'hey, here's some cool, recent content,' such as the reviews. Maybe 1-2 links per week to each type of site.

Since this strikes me as a pure service, I'm thinking it's probably appropriate to PayPal such a publicist per link generated, or something like that. Anyone interested, feel free to message me about this.

Final thoughts

Averaging over a post per day for an entire year is not something I thought would be *remotely* possible in the beginning, yet it somehow happened, with huge thanks to Nacktmull, and with proper thanks to a handful of others.

Still, to be clear-- ultimately, the goal here is to create a self-sustaining community in which the mods do not themselves need to create the lion's share of the content. TBH, I’m not a big fan of administration myself, and would prefer to be just a content-creator, at the end of the day.

Now, yes-- I realise those are goals for down the road, when the community is bigger, but I also happen to think they're good, healthy goals. So I want to let everyone reading know that we really *do* need more regular posters, even if it's only to post on an occasional basis, such as once per 1-2 mos. Every little bit helps, hey?

Thank you for reading

I hope it wasn't too hard to get through all that, and I also hope that you might consider my requests. They are sincerely intended for the good of the sub/community, not just me personally.

Now, if you liked the artwork (by Simon Stålenhag), here's a big, bonus gift:

https://imgur.com/gallery/collection-of-prehistoric-art-by-simon-st-lenhag-2015-rthOp