By Christian Baekkelund
Megatonman.com is the website for news and information from the creator
of the comic book series of the same name, Don Simpson. Focusing mainly
on the Megaton Man comic series, the website hosts a number of features
that would be appealing to any fan of series, including weekly serialized
comics, background information on the characters, a "recap"
of the series to date, Megaton Man merchandise, and "reruns"
of previously published stories. A secondary large section of the
website is devoted to information about Don Simpson, including links
to interviews, recent news updates from him, and even lessons from
him on how to draw.
At first glance, a visitor to the Megaton Man website will be surprised
at the general crudeness of the graphical layout of the site. For
a comic book artist, the web layout is surprisingly technologically
and graphically simplistic, however, this simplicity readily alerts
a viewer to the fact that the site is personally maintained by Don
Simpson himself and not a company hired by Simpson. This personal
directness is quite appealing in that it provides fans with a clear
connection to the author which is a natural means to boost fan interest
and appeal. Also, given that Megaton Man is a small-run, independent,
and self-published comic book series, it is no surprise that Simpson
also chooses to maintain his own site in keeping with his low-budget
independent nature.
One of the most interesting points of the site is weekly serial episodes
published by Simpson on the site continuing plot threads from the
Megaton Man series. Simpson publishes these weekly serials on his
site not for a profit but merely to provide the Megaton Man fan-base
with new stories to read each week. Where as other comic book authors
may consider such foolish and a waste, Simpson instead is able to
use the site effectively to both strengthen his already existing fan-base
as well as self-advertise for new fans to become interested in his
work. However, other companies have more recently caught on to the
usefulness for distributing 'free' portions of their comics and begun
to mimic Simpson's internet distribution. Simpson's generosity is
shown even further in his detailed lessons on how to draw figures
and cartoons that he has written for the site.
While Megaton Man may not be as flashy as Spawn.com nor his online
comic strip viewer as fancy as Marvel's (http://www.marvel.com/dotcomics/menu_flash.html),
the self-published, independent nature of the Megaton Man comics comes
through as well on the website and helps support the fan community.