I was hanging out at the Motor City Comicon in 2013 and my friend Scott Wegener passed me his tablet and told me to check out a digital native comic the Atomic Robo team had put together. I was apprehensive. I've always seriously dug the fun intelligence of the Robo franchise but not so much the digital native comics. Sound effects and panels jiggling beyond any sense of common decency are fine, just not my thing. I was more than pleasantly surprised, then, to see that Team Tesladyne had not only gotten the hang of the new tools, but had seemingly mastered them as well. I wanted to talk about the parts I really, really liked (I'm a Chatty Cathy), but quickly realized that I didn't have the terminology to do so.
You have to understand, I bought my copy of Understanding Comics from Scott McCloud in 1993-ish at a con in Philly. I completely absorbed his analytical tools. They structured my thoughts and discussions on what I felt worked or didn't work in comics. Suddenly, these weren't enough. One of the greatest strengths of Understanding Comics is McCloud's far reaching reading of existing comics, and the depth of his reading. He then distilled his observations into useful terminology so that others could discuss the functional attributes of comics they encountered. Clearly this was something new.
Tearing through the Internet , I watched a Mark Waid talk and checked out his Thrillbent.com. One of Waid's blog posts led me to Yves “Balak” Bigerel's essential about DIGITAL COMICS. Waid's camp seems to be doing the heavy lifting right now, marching into the unknown with purpose and style.
Talking Comics
You really can't start talking about comics (outside of academia) without addressing McCloud in some way. He's become the non-academic go-to guy for the mainstream media. If a cartoonist of significant standing has indigestion, at least one reporter is going to ask McCloud to comment on what she ate before said gastro-intestinal distress, and perhaps to speculate on her dietary regimen in general. I'm not trying to snipe at the guy or start out on a snarky foot here, I'm just stating that the man is an institution. Don't get me wrong, he earned his spot by producing the work of criticism and analysis for a general audience. I like Understanding Comics and I always have. I don't agree with all of his theories and ideas and that's okay. That's great, actually. I think polite discussion (including polite disagreement) is important to the advancement of knowledge in any field.
On the topic of advancement in the field of comics, a lot has changed since 1993. Of course, computers and the Internet have played a huge role in this. I'm starting this blog to discuss some of the patterns I've seen emerging in digital comics. Enough time has passed that certain trends have clearly emerged. I want to talk through these and try to clarify the major concepts and mechanisms for myself and, hopefully, for others as well.
One of the reasons that I think McCloud has been more successful than other comics theorists is that he targets a general audience and so has actually been read by practitioners of the art. I'm sure some working in the field today have read Thierry Groensteen's The System of Comics, I'm equally sure that this number is a tiny fraction of those who have read McCloud. Following on this, I'll touch on academic topics from time to time (my geekery acknowledges no bounds) but mostly I want to participate in the discussion going on amongst practitioners and street-level enthusiasts.
So, I'm starting this blog as my own bookmark page with commentary for future reference. Hopefully I'll stir up some commentary as well. I'm going to try to do this on Thursdays.
Talking Comics
You really can't start talking about comics (outside of academia) without addressing McCloud in some way. He's become the non-academic go-to guy for the mainstream media. If a cartoonist of significant standing has indigestion, at least one reporter is going to ask McCloud to comment on what she ate before said gastro-intestinal distress, and perhaps to speculate on her dietary regimen in general. I'm not trying to snipe at the guy or start out on a snarky foot here, I'm just stating that the man is an institution. Don't get me wrong, he earned his spot by producing the work of criticism and analysis for a general audience. I like Understanding Comics and I always have. I don't agree with all of his theories and ideas and that's okay. That's great, actually. I think polite discussion (including polite disagreement) is important to the advancement of knowledge in any field.
On the topic of advancement in the field of comics, a lot has changed since 1993. Of course, computers and the Internet have played a huge role in this. I'm starting this blog to discuss some of the patterns I've seen emerging in digital comics. Enough time has passed that certain trends have clearly emerged. I want to talk through these and try to clarify the major concepts and mechanisms for myself and, hopefully, for others as well.
One of the reasons that I think McCloud has been more successful than other comics theorists is that he targets a general audience and so has actually been read by practitioners of the art. I'm sure some working in the field today have read Thierry Groensteen's The System of Comics, I'm equally sure that this number is a tiny fraction of those who have read McCloud. Following on this, I'll touch on academic topics from time to time (my geekery acknowledges no bounds) but mostly I want to participate in the discussion going on amongst practitioners and street-level enthusiasts.
So, I'm starting this blog as my own bookmark page with commentary for future reference. Hopefully I'll stir up some commentary as well. I'm going to try to do this on Thursdays.
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