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Is This A Comic? Closure and Synthesis (Part 2)

April 13, 2008 - 22:27 | Patric Lewandowski

Last month, we began delving into my third of Four Criteria which I propose help to define comics, Closure and Synthesis.  We looked at what has been a widely (though not universally) accepted concept of closure, best defined by Scott McCloud as “the phenomenon of observing the parts but perceiving the whole.”  This time around we’re going to be further exploring the other half of the criteria, synthesis.

This Day in April Fools

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on April 1, 2008 - 15:22

April Fools hijnks continue this year...

at What Birds Know

Previous April foolery On ComixTalk:

2006: April Fools Day Roundup

2005: Keenspace Comic Still Hasn't Updated;

Panels & Pictures: Definition Redux

March 17, 2008 - 09:40 | Derik A. Badman

Last month, Derik Badman posited his thoughts on defining comics and essayist (and ComixTalk contributor) Neil Cohn wrote a response to it.  In this month's Panels & Pixels, Badman examines Cohn's response and follows a few articles to expand on definitions and methods for identifying works as "comics."

Is This A Comic? Closure and Synthesis (Part 1)

March 16, 2008 - 22:21 | Patric Lewandowski

So far on our quest to define comics, I have set out my four criteria that I believe best determines whether a given work is a comic or not.  The Four Criteria are: The Intent of the Creator,  Audience Experience, Closure and Synthesis, and The Use of Visual Language.  In previous months, we’ve delved further into The Intent of the Creator and Audience Experience.  This brings us to our third criteria, Closure and Synthesis.  

What is Closure and Synthesis?  Why does this criteria include two distinct concepts?  And just how are these two things related?

Panels & Pictures: Definition

February 20, 2008 - 01:00 | Derik A. Badman

This month, Derik A Badman offers some quotes and comments on the idea of defining "comics" and why we should stop bothering. A brief detour from looking at individual comics to the idea of "comics" as a whole.

Is This A Comic? Audience Experience

February 9, 2008 - 14:11 | Patric Lewandowski

In this installment of his series on exploring the definition of "comics", Patric Lewandowski looks at Audience Experience, the second of his four criteria for determing "What is a comic?"

Lewandowski explains how this criteria is unique as it has less to do with the creator and instead explores the idea that a comic must be experienced by the audience in a very particular way in the work’s original published iteration.

Interview Mit Scott McCloud

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 31, 2008 - 13:38

The German comics site Comcgate has an english-language interview with Scott McCloud that covers Understanding Comics to Making Comics to several points in between.  Long but very interesting review of McCloud's comics on comics.

VizThink 08

Submitted by Neil Cohn on January 29, 2008 - 15:38

I've spent the last several days out here in San Francisco at the VizThink Conference where I gave a talk about visual language. There have been a lot of interesting presentations, some more amenable to my thinking than others.

It's also been a great pleasure to hang out with Scott McCloud here, who seems to be the other "comics" guy. I don't think I've spend this much time with him since I kept

The ComixTalk End of 2007 Roundtable

December 17, 2007 - 17:33 | Xaviar Xerexes

Our third annual virtual round table on the year in webcomics features comments from Gary Tyrrell, Dirk Deppey, Tom Spurgeon, Heidi MacDonald, Brigid Alverson, Derik A Badman, Reinder Dijkhuis, and JT Shea and Scott Gallatin.

Looking Back Through 2007

December 2, 2007 - 18:53 | Xaviar Xerexes

In years past (2004, 2005) we undertook the monumental chore of picking out the biggest headlines of the year. This year, I took another swing at it. So without further adu, here's the biggest webcomic headlines of 2007.

If I missed a story you think was key to this year, please post it in the comments to this article.