POW! ZAP! AARGH! WHACK! TATTARRATTAT!
In comics' very early days (at least since the Katzenjammer Kids), they threw slam-bang bim-bam-boom thrills, spills, and chills right at their readers' eyes. Today's online comics are not so visceral. They affect the heart and mind more than the guts. And many would call that progress. But the progress has had its price. Continue Reading
Before there were modems, and back when the function of the pound key was still a mystery to us, we started a simple but enticing service on a home phone line with a home phone machine that would inform and often eclipse the rest of our band’s output…Almost every track on this compilation started its life on Dial-A-Song. The biggest challenge to They Might Be Giants as a musical project was clear to us before we even started: This thing needed a lot of songs. …It helped us become less precious and a lot more prolific…"
-Liner Notes, Dial-A-Song (Twenty Years of They Might Be Giants), They Might Be Giants
I love that last line.
(I also love the way they use the word ‘inform’ because they sort of let slip that they know how to talk like rock critics, and perhaps rock critics inform TMBG’s own writing.) But the line that really grabs me — as a creator of ephemeral entertainment — is that part about the Dial-A-Song making their songs less precious. That’s it, exactly. If you’re going to have a thousand babies, you can’t treat each one like a crown jewel. Raise it right, give it what it needs, but don’t dwell on it, and don’t try to control the parts you can’t control.
Art for Art’s Sake rejects the idea that the success of an art object can be measured by its accuracy as a representation or the effectiveness with which it tells a story or suggests a moral. Instead, it implies that an art object is best understood as an autonomous creation to be valued only for the success with which it organizes color and line into a formally satisfying and therefore beautiful whole. Smithsonian – Freer Gallery Of Art
So what, then, is an online comic for online comics’ sake? Continue Reading
Feb.15/03: The Comixpedia editors get together for an impromptu chat to discuss plans for future issues. Since I had assigned mostly journal comics to my reviewers for the month of April, I suggest that we make Journal Comics the main theme of the issue. The other editors seem to like this idea, and in a fit of zeal, I foolishly offer to write up a feature on the subject. The editors warm up to the pitch, and I find myself committed to the feature – d’oh!
My heart was racing.
My eyes were glazed, my muscles tense. I took a slight, masochistic pleasure in the repetitive motion injury I was developing in my shoulder. I kept glancing over that shoulder, afraid of being caught, but the fear only added to my excitement.
I had been surfing a popular online comics site on company time.
HyungSun Kim caught up with himself recently, and sat himself down for an intimate chat with HyungSun Kim. Now, for the first time, Comixpedia is proud to present to you the surprising findings that came from this no-holds barred interview. Who is HyungSun Kim? Well, as HyungSun Kim found out, HyungSun Kim is not at all what HyungSun Kim would have expected.
Disclaimer: Due to editorial discretion, this interview uses the Smurf It™ brand software to filter out all naughty words.
If at First You Fail, Write a Column About It
If you’re reading closely you will probably have noticed that much of this month’s Comixpedia content is related to diary comics. It was an interesting choice, and one that appealed to me right away, being a regular reader of American Elf and The Journal Comic. At the same time, I didn’t know what to say about the current trend towards autobiography and introspection in webcomics – so I tried drawing one of my own.
Hollywood and Free Comics To The Rescue
In the sky, it’s a bird… it’s a plane!
No, it’s just Hollywood obsessing over another trend, mashing it into the ground with well intentioned overexposure all for the sake of the almighty dollar.In the sky, it’s a bird… it’s a plane!
No, it’s just Hollywood obsessing over another trend, mashing it into the ground with well intentioned overexposure all for the sake of the almighty dollar.
Continue Reading
Les McClaine proudly proclaims himself an incurable egotist. James Kochalka says he’s trying to delve into the mysteries of being human. Drew Weing draws them because he couldn’t keep track of his life otherwise – he has a pretty horrible memory. Whether you accept these answers, or ask any of the growing host of other journal comic artists out there why they draw their journal comics, you’ll find that, just like so many other things in life, or life itself, there is no easy cookie-cutter answer. Continue Reading
On April 12, 2002, BBCi ran a story on the works of Scott McCloud, discussing both his own works and the potential for online comics in general. The comments from readers at the end of the story were – on the whole – positive, but one, from a ‘DV’ in Ireland, derided McCloud for thinking above what he called "the essentially trashy nature of the medium."
He is, in a sense, exactly right.
Recent Comments