Rob Balder
{{short description|American cartoonist}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| name = Robert Balder
| image = RobBalder_Capcon2009.png
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1969
| birth_place = Detroit, Michigan {{cite web|url=http://www.partiallyclips.com/robbalder/?page_id=3 |title=Biography |website=Rob Balder dot com |access-date=9 November 2009}}
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = American
| area = Webcomics, filk music
| alias =
| signature =
| notable works = PartiallyClips
Erfworld
| awards = Pegasus Award
| website = http://www.robbalder.com/
}}
Robert T. Balder is a professional cartoonist and singer-songwriter.{{cite web|url=http://www.coastcon.org/cc32guests.html |title=CoastCon XXXII Guests |access-date=9 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090608083239/http://www.coastcon.org/cc32guests.html |archive-date=8 June 2009 }} 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.{{cite web |url=http://comixtalk.com/at_a_fast_clip_rob_balder_talks_to_comixpedia |title=At A Fast Clip: Rob Balder Talks to Comixpedia |access-date=9 November 2009 |last=Schroeder |first=Al |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215181354/http://comixtalk.com/at_a_fast_clip_rob_balder_talks_to_comixpedia |archive-date=2009-02-15 }}
Comics
As a comic author, he was first published in Scene magazine in 1998.{{cite book |author=Rall, Ted |title=Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists |publisher=Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing |year=2006 |pages=127 |isbn=1-56163-465-4 }} Page 93 and on. 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. He is also the writer for the Erfworld webcomic, which was listed as one of Time magazine's "Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2007".[https://web.archive.org/web/20071212161244/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686244_1692143,00.html "Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2007"], Time As of October 13, 2019, Erfworld has been discontinued for personal reasons.
Balder is well-known within the webcomic creator community, as evidenced by his writing of guest comics for other webcomics: Fragile Gravity,{{cite web|url=http://unseenllc.com/core.php?archive=20040521 |title=Fragile Gravity, with Rob Balder's Guest Comic | access-date=9 November 2009 }} Goats,{{cite web |url=http://www.goats.com/archive/070530.html |title=Goats Erfworld Guest Comic |access-date=9 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301013817/http://goats.com/archive/070530.html |archive-date=1 March 2009 }} Order of the Stick,{{cite web|url=http://www.giantitp.com/comics/GuestStrips.html |title=Order of the Stick Guest Comics |access-date=9 November 2009 }} Sluggy Freelance,{{cite web|url=http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=031116 |title=Comic for 11/16/03|work=Sluggy Freelance |access-date=9 November 2009 }} and Wondermark.{{cite web|url=http://wondermark.com/197/ |title= Guest Comic by Rob Balder |website=Wondermark |access-date=9 November 2009 }} In 2006, he partnered with Pete Abrams of Sluggy Freelance, to create a retail market card game themed around Sluggy Freelance called Get Nifty.{{cite web |url=http://www.getnifty.com/ |title=Get Nifty - The Sluggy Freelance Card Game |access-date=9 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412144434/http://www.getnifty.com/ |archive-date=12 April 2010 }}
In August 2010, he co-wrote a 24-page comic called A Duel in the Somme, based on a story by the science fiction author Ben Bova and illustrated by the 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.{{cite news| url=https://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/08/a-page-a-day-keeps-the-doldrums-away-duel-in-the-somme/ | title=A Page a Day Keeps the Doldrums Away: Duel in the Somme |magazine=Wired | access-date=20 September 2010 | first=Jonathan H. | last=Liu | date=19 August 2010}}
Music
Balder writes and sings comedy songs, and has recorded two CDs. 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 had been nominated the previous year for the same award.{{cite web|url=http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/people/rob-balder.html |title=Pegasus Awards - Rob Balder |access-date=9 November 2009 }} 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.
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{{cite web|url=http://dmdb.org/cgi-bin/plinfo.pl?drd09.0927.html |title=The Dr. Demento Show #09-39 - September 27, 2009 |access-date=9 November 2009 }} and October{{cite web|url=http://dmdb.org/cgi-bin/plinfo.pl?drd09.1101.html |title=The Dr. Demento Show #09-44 - November 1, 2009 |access-date=9 November 2009 }} 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".{{cite web|url=http://www.drdemento.com/online.html |title=The Official World Wide Dr. Demento Streaming Site |access-date=9 November 2009 }} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.mpnnow.com/entertainment/x931195170/Disc-overies-Baldbox-The-Dumb-Album |title=Disc-overies: Baldbox, "The Dumb Album" - Canandaigua, NY |website=MPNnow |access-date=10 November 2009 }}
Professional and public
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.{{cite web|url=http://comixtalk.com/american_erfs_rob_balder_and_jamie_noguchi |title=American Erfs: Rob Balder and Jamie Noguchi |website=Comixtalk |date=7 February 2009 |access-date=10 November 2009 }} Several conventions have invited him as Guest of Honor, including Capclave,{{cite web|url=http://www.capclave.org/capclave09/balder.php |title=Capclave 2009: Music Guest of Honor |access-date=10 November 2009}} CoastCon, I-Con,{{cite web|url=http://www.iconsf.org/archive/icon22/comic.htm |title=I-Con 22 |access-date=10 November 2009}} MidSouthCon,{{cite web|url=http://www.midsouthcon.org/ |title=MidSouthCon |access-date=10 November 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080720021604/http://www.midsouthcon.org/ |archive-date =20 July 2008}} and OASIS.{{cite web|url=http://oasfis.org/oasis/ |title=OASIS 23 |access-date=10 November 2009}}
References
External links
- [http://www.robbalder.com Official website]
- [http://www.erfworld.com Erfworld]
- [http://www.partiallyclips.com PartiallyClips]
- [http://www.duelinthesomme.com A Duel in the Somme] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100921000726/http://duelinthesomme.com/ |date=2010-09-21 }}
- [http://www.thefump.com/ The Funny Music Project]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Balder, Rob}}
Category:American webcomic creators
Category:American comic strip cartoonists
Category:American male singer-songwriters
Category:American comedy musicians
Category:American satirical musicians
Category:Roanoke College alumni