CHRIS CROSBY
Chief Executive Officer
Chris Crosby created and published his first professional comic book, SNAP THE PUNK TURTLE, at the age of 16 in 1993. In 1996, he co-created/co-wrote the best-selling independent superheroine comic series SCORN, and co-founded the parody label Blatant Comics. In January 1998, AnotherUniverse.com commissioned his first regularly-published online comic, the weekly SNAP THE PUNK TURTLE, and in March 1999, he launched his first daily webcomic, SUPEROSITY. In early 2000, Chris created and co-founded the online comic network Keenspot. In March 2004 he launched SORE THUMBS with artistic collaborator Owen Gieni, and later went on to produce WICKEDPOWERED, LAST BLOOD, and CROW SCARE with Gieni.

TERI CROSBY
Chief Financial Officer
Teri Crosby, an ex-court reporter, joined her son Chris in the comic book publishing business in the early '90's. She originally handled only the business and administrative duties, but eventually moved into writing, lettering and coloring many of their published comic books. When Chris asked her to be the colorist of his online, daily comic strip SUPEROSITY in early 1999, she was more than happy to do so. And when he asked her to be co-owner and operator of Keenspot, she was very excited to be involved in such a wonderful new adventure.

CROSBY COMICS ACQUIRES COMPLETE OWNERSHIP OF KEENSPOT

Darren "Gav" Bleuel and Nate Stone of Orthnormal Systems have sold their 50% stake in pioneering webcomics publisher Keenspot Entertainment to Crosby Comics for an undisclosed sum. The agreement gives Chris Crosby and Teri Crosby full ownership and control of the company. Orthonormal and Crosby founded Keenspot together in 2000 and previously shared equal ownership.

In a lengthy statement to Keenspot members, Orthonormal's Bleuel said "Thank you all for your support over the years, your inspiration, your good ideas, and for sticking with us, especially those that risked us in the very beginning and stuck with me until the end. I will miss this sickly shade of green terribly."

Said Keenspot CEO Chris Crosby, "I want to thank Darren and Nate for everything that they've done over the eight years since we founded Keenspot together. It couldn't have happened without their hard work, and we'll always appreciate that."

Bleuel and Stone have agreed to maintain Keenspot's technical aspects until July as they train others to handle their duties. El Goonish Shive creator Dan Shive has been named Keenspot's new Chief Technical Officer.

With the buy-out in place, Crosby has begun implementing major changes to Keenspot's structure and business model. "We're completely rethinking everything that we do," said Crosby. "Keenspot may be turning eight in March, but in many ways, this is only the beginning. Watch this 'spot."

ABOUT KEENSPOT ENTERTAINMENT
Keenspot Entertainment's stable of web properties includes a network of more than fifty Keenspot-exclusive webcomic sites, in addition to #1 user-generated comics site ComicGenesis.com, which features over 10,000 independent webcomics. Keenspot also publishes books and other merchandise and produces animated shorts under the "Keentoons" label which are distributed internationally by ThunderSquid to mobile phone carriers worldwide including Verizon V-CAST (U.S.) and O2 (U.K.).

OLD SCHOOL KEENSPOT F.A.Q.
(last updated a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away)

How did Keenspot get started and what are some notable events in its history?

Keenspot was founded by cartoonists Chris Crosby (SUPEROSITY) and Darren Bleuel (NUKEES) in February 2000. After finding themselves extremely unsatisfied with their webhost, Chris and Darren banded together in an attempt to not only provide a better service, but to revolutionize the world of online comics. How? Two major ways: 1.) By providing one steady place for readers to find what we believe are some of the finest webcomics available. 2.) To attract large advertisers and get them to sponsor Keenspot (and therefore each cartoonist under the Keenspot umbrella), with the goal of every Keenspot cartoonist eventually making a living through such sponsorship.

After a lot of hard work (which continues to this day), the Keenspot.com website launched in March 2000. Dozens of the web's best cartoonists were very happy to join the 'Spot, thankfully! For many, their readership numbers rose by hundreds and even thousands of percent after joining and taking advantage of our promotional capabilities. As of January 2004, about 55 cartoonists are members of Keenspot. We have exclusive web publishing rights (including full archives) to the features we sign up. The individual creators retain all other rights. Side projects like merchandising deals (comic books, toys, etc) are worked out seperately.

Because Keenspot is an invitation-only group and the four Keenspot executives (lovingly referred to as "The Fab Four" by some) tend to be crazily picky about who gets in, we launched Keenspace in June 2000. Keenspace is an all-inclusive, non-exclusive webhost providing unlimited space and bandwidth to all of the web's cartoonists free of change. Many current Keenspot cartoonists started their strips on Keenspace, including Michael Poe (EXPLOITATION NOW), Howard Tayler (SCHLOCK MERCENARY), Ian J. (RPG WORLD), and others.

In July 2001 we started our own print comic book line, launching our first two titles (BLACK PLAGUE and SUPEROSITY) at Comic-Con International: San Diego. We had moderate success with our first few comics and sales rise with each new title we publish. By 2002, the industry started to move toward larger graphic novel collections, and Keenspot followed suit, premiering 100+ page collections of CUTEWENDY and WANDERING ONES at San Diego 2002, and then one year later our first "pocket-sized" collection, the wildly successful EXPLOITATION NOW: SELLING OUT FOR FUN AND PROFIT at San Diego 2003.

In the summer of 2001 we also launched Keenspot PREMIUM, a subscription service for fans who want to read Keenspot comics in a more cozy manner (i.e. no ads, all on one page, etc). Hundreds of readers have signed onto PREMIUM since its debut, most opting for the $44.95 one-year subscription.

There have been more than a few bumps in the road since Keenspot launched almost two years ago. The internet economy collapsed, ad revenue (our main source of income) dropped to an all-time low in every single form of media, and we've been no stranger to horrible technical problems. Still, two lovably insane cartoonists with an intense love of funny ink lines on paper, along with hundreds of supportive fellow cartoonists and friends, have kept the 'Spot going for nearly two years. And it shall continue on, annoying the naysayers long after they all die of old age and the living exist in a fantastic, far-flung future world.

Is there a way I can read through all the Keenspot comics faster and easier?

Keenspot PREMIUM's WarpKeen service is the fastest and bestest way to read Keenspot comics. If you don't want to spring for PREMIUM membership, try QUICKKEEN. Or the dropdown menu at the top right corner of every page.

How can my comic be listed on Keenspot.com?

Only comic strips that are hosted by Keenspot and are members of our network can be listed on Keenspot.com's frontpage. We are not a listing service for all webcomics. However, Keenspace offers free webhosting and technical services for all webcomics.

How can I become a member of Keenspot.com?

To apply for membership, send an URL where your comic strip is located to along with the TITLE OF FEATURE, DESCRIPTION, CREATOR(S), and ESTIMATED NUMBER OF CURRENT READERS. Keenspot is not very interested in working with cartoonists that have not yet published their work consistently on the web. However, if you can't put your comics on the web yourself for some reason but you still feel you have what it takes to become a member of Keenspot, send photocopies (no originals!) of your work to Feature Submissions, c/o Keenspot Entertainment, P.O. Box 110, Cresbard, SD 57435. Submissions will not be returned unless you enclose a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope.

Would you be interested in hosting Macromedia Flash-format animated shorts?

Yes, we would! Keentoons.com is now up and running, and we would be interested in flash cartoons that would update on a weekly basis.

How long will it take you to reply to my comic strip submission?

Because of the volume of submissions that we receive, and the fact that we consider every strip very carefully, it may take weeks or longer (possibly forever) to receive a response from us if we decide to invite you to join our group. Please be patient, and know that we're considering it as much as we did our current members. We do not send out rejection notices, because any strip may eventually prove it's got the goods to join Keenspot. We don't ever rule anyone out for good.
Also, we just don't have time to send out rejections to everybody, because we get thousands of submissions and it takes all of our time just keeping things running. There's also that little detail.

What is Keenspot.com looking for in a feature?

This is a really hard thing to answer. Basically, if we're gonna pick up a comic, either we'll personally like it a lot for whatever crazy reason people like things, or we'll be fairly certain that a ton of other crazy people like it even if it doesn't appeal to us. If we don't pick up a comic, neither of those things happen. It's all incredibly subjective. That said, here's some stuff we like...

• Consistency, proven by daily (Mon-Fri is best) publication on the web for 3-6 months without missing a deadline.
• Appealing characters and situations are always nice. Us having to read your comic should not feel like we're being anally murderered by you, preferably.
• ORIGINALITY! Strips about wacky college kids can be great, but too many of them and the premise gets a little unexciting. Same goes for a strip about a boy or girl and his imaginary friend, or a gag panel that focuses on the strange side of life and features cows a lot. If we think your strip is hilarious or engaging, though, having an unoriginal concept doesn't matter a whole lot. Unless it dips into plagiarism, of course!
• Comics with responsible, professional creators who are enthusiastic about working with Keenspot to help us to make our uncensored, risk-taking comics one of the most popular entertainment atrractions on the web and beyond. Big dreamers apply here, baby!
• Reader appeal. If you've been producing a strip on the web for months, but your readership still numbers in the double digits, we might have doubts that your strip has what it takes to gain a large audience. Does that mean we won't consider your comic if it's not popular? Definitely not! If we think your comic is great, it doesn't matter how unpopular it is. If we love it and think it's Keenspot material, you're in, even if your readership numbers in the single digits. So forget what this whole paragraph just said.
• We're always interested in strips that focus on niches like gaming, computers, sports, movies, TV, and other hobbies and lifestyles. Comics that focus on a popular topic tend to grow in readership faster than normal, and are easier to categorize for the purpose of attracting advertisers, which we like. I know it sounds very commercial and evil, but we are a business. Kinda.