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Dave Kellett Leaves United Media for Self-Publishing

(PRWEB) November 15, 2006

Parting ways with a major newspaper syndicate hardly seems like the path to a life as a full-time professional cartoonist. But, according to Dave Kellett, creator of the popular daily comic strip, “Sheldon,” it may be the best way to get there.

Dave Kellett is moving his popular daily comic strip, “Sheldon,” from United Media’s Comics.com to its new home at www.sheldoncomics.com. The new site will feature free access to more than six years of Sheldon strips, free e-mail delivery, a daily blog and much more.

“I haven't heard of a single cartoonist, newly syndicated since 2000, who is able to make their sole living off their strip. Not one,” says Kellett. “As a lover of the art form, I don’t want that statistic to be true, but all the information I’ve gathered makes it clear.”

However in that same span of time, dozens of cartoonists have achieved that very goal — without a newspaper syndicate — by self-publishing on the Web.

You may not see comics like “PvP” or “Penny Arcade” in your daily newspaper, but they have generated enough of a readership on the Web to allow their creators to quit their day jobs. Surprisingly, that’s something that many syndicated cartoonists are unable to say.

If Kellett’s first week publishing independently on the Web is any indication — 3.4 million pageviews in his first six days — quitting his day job may now be closer than ever.

Kellett’s “Sheldon” is a sarcastic, nerdy, family strip filled with pop-culture references and farcical storylines. At its center is a weird, wonderful little family: a software-billionaire boy, his duck, and the grandfather that raises them both. It's a strip of geeks, for geeks, drawn by a geek. A “Sheldon” original even hangs in the lobby of Google.

Kellett is passionate about cartooning. He holds two Masters degrees in the art and history of cartooning — one from UCSD and the other from England’s University of Kent. He was a Rhodes Scholarship finalist for the state of Indiana in1996.

Kellett has been a member of Blank Label Comics, LLC, a co-op of independent cartoonists, since June 2005. “Sheldon” books are available online and in comic shop, bookstores, and college stores. “Sheldon” will continue to appear on Comics.com until Dec. 2nd, to accommodate paid subscribers.

You can find print-ready sample strips, logos, and photos at http://www.sheldoncomics.com/mediakit.html.

Blank Label Comics can be found at http://www.blanklabelcomics.com.

Media Contact:

Brad J. Guigar, Blank Label Comics

867 N. Beechwood Street

Philadelphia, PA 19130

Phone: 215-769-4223

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