Scott McCloud's Blog, page 43
October 20, 2009
Take Two—With Legos
Yesterday's topic, cross-posted over at my Facebook page, prompted reader Håkan Storsaeter to remind us that Crumb isn't the only one to take on Genesis in comics form in recent years.
The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith, since 2001, has been chronicling the entire Old and New Testement using Lego blocks at The Brick Testement. Check it out for some funny and genuinely creative visualizations of countless Bible stories.
And if you know of other attempts to comics-cize the Bible that we can read...
October 19, 2009
Visualizing Religion
Today is the release date for R. Crumb's massive, fleshy, and strangely literal adaptation of the book of Genesis. It will make some people happy, other people mad, and still other people shrug, but from a purely comics perspective, all you really need to know is that it's 224 pages of new Crumb artwork (Hell, I'd buy it if it was the official R. Crumb adaptation of the Boise, Idaho Yellow Pages).
Coincidentally, on NPR this morning, I heard this depressing story about "feuding" Atheists...
October 16, 2009
Dr. Jacques' Six Year Check-Up
Jeph Jacques is offering some thoughts on how webcomics have changed in the last 6 years in his State of the Webcomics Union.
One particularly astute point:
"The idea of critical analysis of webcomics has largely died out. Sure, people still blog about webcomics and "review" them and stuff, but it's become a tiny, tiny niche sector. I think this is mainly because there's not a whole lot of point to reviewing something anybody can go look at for free and make up their own mind about! Is this a...
October 15, 2009
Random Thought
Forgive me if somebody has already said something like this, but is it possible that the Web has made it harder for others to lie to us and easier for us to lie to ourselves?
I'm thinking of how, on the one hand, governments and corporations are having trouble suppressing all kinds of unflattering info (yes, even in China), while fringe groups with extreme beliefs are able to erect comfy feedback-loop houses for others of their kind to dwell in and congratulate each other for being right.
In...
October 14, 2009
On Criticism
Lately, I've been thinking about the role of criticism, specifically negative reviews of comics and how they tend to be received by the creative individuals involved.
For myself, I always consider reviews useful—even the hatchet jobs. It makes my heart sink a little when I hear other artists dismiss all reviews as irrelevant to their process. A common claim is that reviews tell us "only about the reviewer" and tell us "nothing about the work," but I disagree. Yes, reviewers have biases. Yes...
October 13, 2009
Drawing with Light and Time
Warren Ellis points us to a real gem this morning. An elaborate new mutation of the old idea of "drawing with light."
From the Light Art Performance Photography site description: "LAPP originates on a real-time basis directly in front of the camera. Created between opening and closing the shutter. The pictures shown here are in each case one single photo, not a result of working on the computer…"
A very different kind of "temporal map" to explore.
October 12, 2009
Google Map Comics?
Reader Sylvain Poitras emailed recently to suggest that the new ways people are using Google Maps to create online portfolios and game maps could also be applied to expanded canvas comics. It's a cool idea. Anyone want to give it a try?
(And no, I have no idea why the last three blog post titles all ended in question marks.)
October 9, 2009
Comics Without Pictures?
Every once in a while someone gives it a try. Here's the latest, courtesy of Tim Hall and Jen Ferguson at act-i-vate.
Can there be comics without pictures? Does manipulated, positioned text like this qualify as pictures on some level? Fun questions to ask once in a while.
October 8, 2009
Landing on a Dime?
I honestly have no idea if this will fly or not, knee-deep as I am in the graphic novel, but iCents is at least offering a novel approach in some respects and if anyone out there wants to give it a closer look and offer your thoughts, I'd be curious to hear them.
Still having the tar and feathers from last time removed, so I'll stay on the sideline regarding the more general debate about micropayments that's been flairing up again recently (at least for now).
More importantly, we're all still s...
October 7, 2009
Fair is FAIR
I don't know why, but this one really made my blood boil.
I know that, all things considered, this is a relatively low rung in the great ladder of corporate abuses, but it hits close enough to home that I needed to give a cheer for Cory and Xeni and I hope you'll do the same.
Fair use has been under steady attack from legal weasels long enough. A flamboyant gesture or two may be what it takes to finally hit the nightly news and embarrass the hell out of these jerks. Shame is a powerful...
