A Prediction.

Ok, time to flex my prognostication muscles again. I predicted at the beginning of the year that there would be some copycat style animations made with the release of the Ctrl+Alt+Del animated shorts and I was right (twice, actually). I also predicted that we'd see some people helping webcomickers better manage their content and really move webcomic sites into current technology, and now we've got RSSPECT helping in that regard.

Now I'm going to make another prediction, a much more specific one. And I hope this doesn't ruffle any feathers, but I just wanted this prediction to be on record, so that if it happens I'll have legitimate proof that I saw it coming. Of course, if it doesn't happen, I guess I'm not as in-tune as I thought.

My prediction: By the end of the year, On the Rocks will be a member of Blank Label Comics.

Now here's the evidence which has led me to this conclusion:
-First of all, On the Rocks is a fabulous new comic which has gained quite a bit of noteriety in it's short run. In my opinion, it's a shoe-in to win "Newcomer of the Year" in any webcomic awards contest. I can't speak for exactly how many readers it's got, but I'm sure the number is not insubstantial. His stuff is already appearing on two other sites (here and here), which means he's probably enjoying at least a reasonable amount of popularity, and they'll only help him grow faster.
-Secondly, I've seen a lot of ties between On the Rocks and Blank Label. Tyler Martin was/probably still is a consistent poster over at the Blank Label Comics forums, and he's known over there. He's done a guest strip for Ugly Hill (and, in fact, he was the only non-Blank Label artist to do a guest strip that week) and a guest strip for PvP (and although Scott Kurtz is not a member of Blank Label, he's made it clear that he is a sympathizer, at least).
-Thirdly, his artistic style is very similar to all the Blank Label Comics, and I know one thing that the folks over at Blank Label Comics value is the fact that there is some cohesion in their comic's art styles. The most striking similarity is the use of strong black outlines around the characters, which can also be seen in Starslip Crisis, Schlock Mercenary, and Real Life Comics, to name a few...


There are some other points, such as Tyler Martin proving himself to be a consistent updater (although Blank Label does tolerate Greg Dean) and has a very well-designed website with neat features like the current weather in Antarctica (although Blank Label does have some subpar site designs, which I'm not going to link for fear of incurring someone's wrath). But I think the three main points fairly concisely sum up my reasoning, beyond my general ability to tap into the ether of this here Internet of ours and recognize the patterns that emerge, not unlike the Oracle of Matrix fame.

Now we'll just have to wait and see if I've given you all a spoiler.