Friday, September 7, 2007

Thoughts on how this would change the format?

"Comic Books Headed to Cellphones": http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/09/07/comic_books_headed_to_cellphones/
I think the one frame at a time viewing method would destroy the cohesion of "the page." But do you see comics authors working around that to take advantage of the new way to reach readers?

2 comments:

Benjamin said...

I kind of like the idea of making comics available on cellphones, as it should open up avenues for aspiring comic writers, but I see too much lost if you have to present a story without multiple panels, gutters, and the benefit of layout. For example, think of the times when you have, over a two-page spread, one big page-size panel followed by a normal four-panel layout on the second page, and the concurrent emphasis that can give a particular scene in a story. Another example is the "haha" subtext in Gene Yang's American Born Chinese. I just think cellphones will forever be too small to really capture these kinds of things effectively.

Mike said...

Fundamentally I agree that to change the format of presentation is going to change the reading experience, and if any cartoonists are creating work specifically for viewing on cellphones they would be wise to revise their methods both to accommodate the advantages and to overcome the disadvantages of small-scale, single-panel presentation. Because there are potential advantages to be had, and an interesting rhetoric can be built up out of the seemingly metronomic pace of equally-sized panels. For a compelling example of the latter, I highly recommend Chester Brown's _Louis Riel_, a fascinating biography of a Canadian who led a rebellion by the Métis out west against the government of Canada.