Rob Balder

Robert Balder
Born 1969
Detroit, Michigan [1]
Nationality American
Area(s) Webcomics. Filk Music
Notable works
 PartiallyClips. Erfworld
Awards Pegasus Award
http://www.robbalder.com/

Robert T. Balder is a professional cartoonist, singer/songwriter, game designer and web entrepreneur.[2] He graduated from Roanoke College with a major in English in 1993, and after a variety of jobs, entered a seven-year career in IT, starting as a Manager of Database Development, which he left for his current career.[3]

Comics

As a comic author, he was first published in Scene magazine in 1998.[4] In 2001, he started PartiallyClips, a social commentary clip art webcomic also featured in the Anchorage Press, Cleveland Free Times, Concord Mirror, East Bay Express, Houston Press, Manchester Mirror, Metroland, Nth Degree, Salem Observer, and the Other Paper.[4] He is also the writer for the Erfworld webcomic, which was listed as one of Time Magazine's "Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2007"[5]

Rob is known well within the webcomic creator community, as evidenced by his writing of guest comics for other webcomics: Fragile Gravity,[6] Goats,[7] Order of the Stick,[8] Sluggy Freelance,[9] and Wondermark.[10] In 2006 he partnered with Pete Abrams of Sluggy Freelance, to create a retail market card game themed around Sluggy Freelance called Get Nifty.[11]

In August 2010 he co-wrote a 24-page comic called "A Duel in the Somme", based on a story by science fiction author Ben Bova and illustrated by syndicated cartoonist Bill Holbrook. The comic was released on its own website under a Creative Commons license at a rate of one page per day, and used a reward-driven donation model for revenue.[12]

Music

Balder writes and sings comedy songs, and has recorded two CDs.[2] The title track from his first CD, "Rich Fantasy Lives" was co-written with Tom Smith, and won the 2007 Pegasus Award for Best Filk Song; they were nominated the previous year for the same award.[13] He was also one of the seven founders of the FuMP, or "Funny Music Project", along with Devo Spice, Luke Ski, Tom Smith, Possible Oscar, Raymond and Scum, Spaff, and Worm Quartet, in which they present new songs released under a Creative Commons license.[2]

His comedy music has received national airplay in the United States on the syndicated Dr. Demento show. His song "Gamer Funk" was the #1 most requested song on the Dr. Demento Show in both September[14] and October[15] 2009, and was the third most requested song for that entire year. In February 2009, Balder began a collaboration with ShoEboX of Worm Quartet called "Baldbox".[16] The duo released one CD ("The Dumb Album") and several follow-up songs, which have also been played frequently by Dr. Demento and other terrestrial radio shows.[17]

Professional and Public

Rob Balder is a frequent guest and program participant at science fiction, comic, gaming, and anime conventions, participating in as many as 20 events a year.[18] Several conventions have invited him as Guest of Honor, including Capclave,[19] CoastCon,[2] I-Con,[20] MidSouthCon,[21] and OASIS.[22]

References

  1. ↑ "Rob Balder dot com Biography". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "CoastCon XXXII Guests". Archived from the original on June 8, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  3. ↑ Schroeder, Al. "At A Fast Clip: Rob Balder Talks to Comixpedia". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  4. 1 2 Rall, Ted (2006). Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists. Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing. p. 127. ISBN 1-56163-465-4. Page 93 and on.
  5. ↑ Time Magazine "Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2007."
  6. ↑ "Fragile Gravity, with Rob Balder's Guest Comic". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  7. ↑ "Goats Erfworld Guest Comic". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  8. ↑ "Order of the Stick Guest Comics". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  9. ↑ "Sluggy Freelance - Comic for 11/16/03". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  10. ↑ "Wondermark » Archive » #197; Guest Comic by Rob Balder". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  11. ↑ "Get Nifty - The Sluggy Freelance Card Game". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  12. ↑ Liu, Jonathan H. (2010-08-19). "Wired: A Page a Day Keeps the Doldrums Away: Duel in the Somme". Retrieved 2010-09-20.
  13. ↑ "Pegasus Awards - Rob Balder". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  14. ↑ "The Dr. Demento Show #09-39 - September 27, 2009". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  15. ↑ "The Dr. Demento Show #09-44 - November 1, 2009". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  16. ↑ "The Official World Wide Dr. Demento Streaming Site". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  17. ↑ "Disc-overies: Baldbox, "The Dumb Album" - Canandaigua, NY - MPNnow". Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  18. ↑ "American Erfs: Rob Balder and Jamie Noguchi / COMIXTALK". Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  19. ↑ "Capclave 2009: Music Guest of Honor". Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  20. ↑ "I-Con 22". Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  21. ↑ "MidSouthCon". Archived from the original on 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  22. ↑ "OASIS 23". Retrieved 2009-11-10.
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