What's going on here?
The URD Collaborative Manga (UCM) is a project to bring together people to create comics on the internet. Manga is the Japanese word for comics, and its use in English generally connotes comics that are influenced by the unique Japanese comic genres. Japanese comic styles have become very popular around the world and many professional and amateur artists and writers alike have been inspired and influenced by them. The goal of the UCM is to allow people anywhere on the planet to find one another and combine their talents toward producing comics, particularly, but not limited to, this Japanese-influenced "manga".

How do I get involved?
If you're an artist, writer, colorist, storyboarder, or whatever, seeking others with whom to produce comics, the best place to start is on the UCM message board. We have several hundred members, and someone is bound to be a good match for your skills and ambitions. Check existing posts in the Recruitment board, see art in the Art Critique board, or put up a request of your own. Once you've got a number of people aboard, and some plans for what kind of thing you'd like to put together, have someone assemble the following items:

• Studio name
• Banner image (200x40 jpeg or we will be sad)
• Character portrait (100x100 jpeg, or we will be mildly miffed)
• Brief blurb describing your studio
• URL of your studio's site, if applicable

What if I've already got a project started? Can I be my own studio?
Existing projects are welcome to join the UCM. Also, one-person studios are not unheard of. Go ahead and join up!

We're a studio; now what?
Be serious and be committed. Far too many studios have started enthusiastically without ever going anywhere. Set deadlines, and then meet them. This is a hobby, but in order for it to be any fun you've really got to treat it like work sometimes. Find talented people. There are plenty of artists who, while not being bad, still aren't yet ready to take on the huge project that is regular manga publishing. The same goes for writers, editors, and storyboarders. Most of all, have a lot of fun, try things no one's ever done before, and keep at it.

Where did the UCM come from? What the heck is "URD"?
This is the short version of a very long story. Way back in, what, 1996 or 1997, one Bee Golding started a web site called "U aRe Drawing!" (URD). It was basically a directory of sites around the web that could help one toward drawing in Japanese manga style; it was the best resource of its kind. URD attracted a good number of people, and a core group of administrative staff (that is, a bunch of people who came to be good friends and ended up "in charge" of URD) who met on URD's newly-formed IRC channel (#urd on undernet).

In 1998, a couple of these URD "staff members", Rurouni and jetfuel, thought up the idea of URDlings coming together to create an original manga. Thus the concept of the URD Collaborative Manga was born. Jetfuel agreed to take up the project, and the UCM began as a humble little site for URD folks to assemble into "teams".

Since then, URD itself became explosively popular, attracted thousands of members, spawned a number of other sites and a mailing list, went through several message boards, survived huge flame wars and power struggles while the main site remained closed for months or years on end. URD's sub-sites remained relatively unscathed through this, and UCM in particular thrived. UCM underwent several site revamps and eventually became what you see now: a full-fledged comic creators' community with a healthy membership all its own. URD has since more or less died, with Bee having to deal with real-life stuff, the message board and IRC channel being sadly turned over to an antagonistic member after a bizarre e-mail showdown, and the remaining core members scattering to other boards and taking refuge in a semi-secret IRC channel on another server. Anyway, regardless of whether you've been here since the very beginning, or you just found us this week, we hope you find yourself feeling very welcome at the UCM.

What's this "UCM+" garbage?
While the UCM is a creatively-oriented community, it does have something of an informal atmosphere. The UCM+ boards were created to give creators a place to discuss things on a more serious level. The "+" boards are quite inactive compared to the regular ones, as it's only every once in a while that someone seriously needs to present some material for discussion. In the regular boards, it's fun to post "nice pic!" and chat it up a bit, but in UCM+, people are discouraged from posting unless they truly have something valuable to contribute. If you're interested in participating in UCM+, email jet (ucmanga at metal bat dot com) after you've been around the boards for a while and made a positive contribution.

How shall I link to the UCM?
With this banner, if you please:

Where'd you get them wacky fonts?
Divide by Zero makes the best free fonts in towne: