Theory of webcomics
A brief primer on the “graphic novel” from Jessica Abel. A light-hearted look at what makes a comic a comic. Not specifically about webcomics but certainly raising some good points about the medium generally. (She even includes the McCloudian “container” metaphor!) Continue Reading
Don’t be put off by the academic sounding language, The Phenomenon of Multiple Dialectics in Comics Layout by John Barber, is an excellent paper on the use page layout in relation to comics storytelling.
When we’re reading comics, we don’t see one panel at a time, we see two pages (or an entire screen). Most comics artists ignore or fight this, but it presents great possibilities for storytelling–not just flashy effects. What possibilities? How does this external system relate to the internal system of panel transitions? What about “closure”? Glad you asked…
Read the first section first, the second only after you’ve had a chance to chew on the first one. (You need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to read pdf files. It’s available for free download here.)
Daniel “Merlin” Goodbrey, known for his obsession with webcomics innovation, is pummeling the limits of the medium with his creative fists once again through his latest project, The Mr. Nile Experiment.
This time around, Merlin plays with the reader-writer-artwork relationship through intensely trippy metadialogue. The Mr. Nile Experiment touches on webcomics theory and perception philosophy, neatly packaged in a nice simple infinite canvas-style, vertical scroll layout. Oh, and it’s interesting, to boot.
If you like webcomics that push the boundaries of the medium, or you just like a good mind-screw, then this project is NOT to be missed.
Goodbrey’s latest cyberlab creation is slated to run in daily installments throughout February, and can be found at his website, E-Merl.com.
Many webcomics don’t push the boundaries of the web but simply take advantage of the efficient, low-cost publishing platform the internet provides. Still there are others who read Scott McCloud’s Reinventing Comics and wanted to continue the conversation. Naturally, by drawing comics about it. Continue Reading
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