Scott McCloud's Blog, page 30

Rivers and Brooks

First of all, you knew I would link to the new Scott Pilgrim Trailer, so here it is (link via everyone on Earth).

Also in the news [via The Beat in my case] is a teaser trailer by Dash Shaw and Frank Santoro for an animated feature-to-be called The Ruined Cast (co-produced by who, I discovered a few years back, looks a bit like Ron Regé when not in Hedwig make-up, but that's neither here nor there).

Funny thing is, when looking at the two trailers rubbing shoulders in...

Have a ______ Memorial Day

I'm taking a day off from blogging since it's a holiday here in the U.S. and I really need to re-arrange the studio this morning.

I should just say "Happy Memorial Day" and be done with it, but that sounds disrespectful considering the purpose of the holiday, so you'll have to substitute your own adjective.

See you tomorrow.

Friday Odds and Ends: Music!

Okay, it has nothing to do with comics, but wow, what a great performance. We're talking me watching on an iPhone at a Payless Shoe Store and getting a tear in my eye. Seriously. Janelle Monáe. Janelle Monáe. Janelle Monáe. Damn…

Anyway, I was talking to our friend Matt yesterday about death music (note change of subject, since the above video is 100% LIFE) and he volunteered Radiohead's "Pyramid Song" before I could, but that one is definitely on the list. Got me thinking again about my own s...

Oh, Somebody PLEASE Write these Stories

You just know that the comics underneath these covers will be the same old Iron Man stories.

But can you come up with stories that would actually deserve such adorable covers? (Short summaries of course, not a whole script.)

C'mon, The Internet. I know you can do it!

Happy Accidents

Simon Cottee's A Brief History of the Modern Pixel is the latest entry in an ongoing discussion in videogame circles about the power of the simplified aesthetic of early lo-res games. I get roped in as usual in connection to cartoon art and the points I make about universality in Chapter Two of UC, but it's a very game-native presentation with some interesting points.

Comics and games both have some sorting to do when it comes to old technologies. Some of the old technical limitations have...

The Last Airbender Boycott Explained

Gene Luen Yang sums it up in a short comic.

I signed the original petition and will skip the movie. Sadly. Because, like Gene, I deeply loved the animated series.

[link via Dirk]

Hey, They let you take Pictures!

Had a great time in London with Ivy last week. Thanks to all the great people at UXLondon (hosts, guests, and attendees all) and to the friends who came out on ridiculously short notice to see us.

Swung by the British Museum, among other sites, and was reminded that they allow picture-taking, so I went to town on the sculptures (mostly with my iPhone, but later with a semi-real camera).

I wish all museums allowed snapshots. There are times when a postcard just won't do, especially when looking ...

Racing the Volcano…

Ivy and I are in London for my talk Wednesday at UX London. We arrived a couple of days earlier to beat the ash cloud from our old pal Eyjafjallajokull (can you pronounce it? I'm working on it).

Taking the week off. Back to regular updates Monday the 24th assuming the volcano gods are merciful.

Friday Odds and Ends

Here's a cool idea: Rene Engström and Rasmus Gran have a long distance relationship and have decided to chronicle it in parallel diary comics (I would say it's a unique idea, but I've actually seen at least one other!).

From the site:

"Every Tuesday, since the 16th of March, Rasmus Gran and myself have documented our lives in the form of autobiographical comic strips. We have quite the buffer now so we feel pretty good about finally launching the comic. Our hopes are to give a little glimpse...

Can't… Stop… Watching…

One of the things I love about this cheerfully insane page is that but for the load times, this is something that could have been approximated with software dating back to the early nineties.

We sometimes neglect the fact that when we graduate from one generation of technologies to the next, that doesn't mean we've exhausted the creative possibilities of the previous ones. The advent of CSS or PHP didn't negate the inventiveness of something like this brain-scrambling oldie, for example, it j...