Theory

Theory of webcomics

Tuesday Morning News Round-up

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Fleen interviews Dave Kellett (syndicated creator of Sheldon).  Fleen also wrote recently about Kellett’s latest print collection of Sheldon comics.

Eric Burns is commenting on the kissing and the hair at Shortpacked.  Creator David Willis apparently has included Eric and Wednesday White in the current story arc.

The Outer Circle celebrates it one year anniversary with a week of guest strips from Ali Graham (HOUSD), David Buist (Taking the Bi-pass), Tyson Smith (Pirate and Alien), Frank Page (Bob the Squirrel), Joe Dunn (Joe Loves Crappy Movies) and d!o (John & John) among others.

Joe Zabel has a new article up at the Webcomics Examiner exploring a theory of introverted and extroverted webcomics.

The Comics Worth Reading blog recommends checking out Spark-Tower Wilson’s Silent Song by Jeff Coleman and Stephen Greenwood-Hyde.  CWR notes that "it’s cool that they’ve captured the texture of paper underneath the art" and points to this interview with the creators as well.

Digital Strips notes that Keven Volo (creator of PixelSrips) has taken on the daunting task of putting together an eBook on how to market a webcomic dubbed "Marketing Your Comic"”. Many artists and creators are using the web to get their work out there. They create something, they build a site and upload all of it, and wait. Just because you post your work, doesn’t mean they will come. Part one of "“Marketing Your Comic"” is out now as a free download at his website.

Webcomics collective, Hyena Comics which includes Taking the Bi-Pass, Bob the Squirrel, and Bored and Evil is currently looking for additional webcomic(s) to join. If you are interested, visit and submit your webcomic for consideration.

Boot_Error released it’s first book which collects the first 102 webcomics and includes a 12 part exclusive storyline entitled "The Case Of The Missing Panda".  For more details, visit this page.

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Post President’s Day News Update

Xaviar Xerexes 1 Comment

We should have a couple more articles for the magazine posted tonight. Comixpedia is important to me, but I take my President’s Day holiday weekend seriously…

Phil Kahn has an interesting breakdown of an unconventional “panel” layout in a recent Gossamer Commons.

Fleen takes a look at Penny Arcade’s latest print venture, Attack of the Bacon Robots and focuses on the Afterword in which Tycho writes about “webcomics” and from the excerpt, it sounds very much like what Tycho has previously written online. Which is neither here nor there really. Maybe next Fleen will get around to reviewing the, ya know, actual cartoons in AOTBR…?
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Draggable Canvas

Xaviar Xerexes 2 Comments

This is a cool innovation. The newly renamed More Fun (now called Smithson) has a new episode up that has a “drag” navigation, somewhat like you can do with a PDF in Adobe Reader. Now do I want to have to read all of my webcomics this way? No but it’s a great idea and it certainly gave me a feeling of holding the webcomic in my hands which, when you think about it, is a neat trick. Continue Reading →

Comic Theory 101: In Place of Another

Neil Cohn 3 Comments

One of the most famous theories that Scott McCloud set forth in Understanding Comics was that of "closure." He stated that this was the phenomenon by which people's minds "fill in" what occurs between two comic panels. Now, in other writings of mine, I've argued that any linear panel-to-panel explanation of how people understand sequences of images has multiple problems. However, in this piece, I'd like to take aim at one particular example of McCloud's and use it to illuminate a broader phenomenon that occurs in both visual and verbal expression. Continue Reading →

New Essay on Writing systems and Graphic symbols

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A new essay on the relationship of writing systems to graphic signs and symbols is posted online at the Emaki Productions website.

This essay challenges the common classifcation between “sound” and “idea” based writing systems. I argue that all graphic signs lie on a continuum, which begs for reconsidering the conception of their invention, the nature of their relationship to other visual signs, and the universality of the category of “writing” in the first place. Continue Reading →