The Future of Comics

pisrael

Hi,

I'm an app developer and a Comics reader.
In the last years I have been observing how Comics are changing and how new technologies and software are providing new experiences, and changing how content is presented.
I was fascinated when DC launched the Watchmen Motion Comic. It was amazing to me seeing how print content could be transformed in something new, something between an animated movie and a comic book. I got hooked up! Now we have many other motion comics available. I would highlight the Ultimate Wolwerine vs Hulk - amazing title!

Now, with the tablet. There are even newer things arriving. And I'm anxious to see what could be done. The tablet not only allow a video experience like motion comics, but you can now actually interact with the content! That really brings new possibilities!!

Yesterday I saw this Superman app (Superman and Bizarro Save the Planet). I really recommend to who's looking for something new.

This makes me wonder: is the future of comics mixing comics, animations and gaming??? What do you think?. I found this Superman a fantastic and fresh experience, especially for younger audience... there is something here!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=bBDvU2mQE8M

Chuck_Melville

Your images aren't coming through -- you might want to check those links.

I think the future of comics is the same as the past: they're going to try anything and mix in whatever they think is popular, in order to attract readers. That will range from the ingenious to the faddish.

Me, I'm very much old school. I don't want a video experience when I read a comic (and I rarely read them on the tablet anyway) -- if I want a video, I'll put on a DVD. When I want to read a comic, I want a comic -- and I prefer it to be a book.

While I wouldn't want to discourage innovation or invention, I think the best way to further interest in comics is simply to improve the stories and art, and to keep hitting the mark on creativity and quality -- the rest falls in line behind that.

RickM

I don't want a video experience either. Because I'm 50, and have never played a videogame in my life. But I love comics (mostly graphic novels these days, rather than pricy monthlies) and I'm as apt to read an X-Men story as a Harvey Pekar book.

My teenage son, though, would probably greatly enjoy a comic that was intricately tied to a videogame as good as the Arkham games.

The "future" of comics is hard to say, because I plan to read them for the next 25 years in one way, and my son will read them in another way. He likes manga and gaming, which I don't, but both of us are willing to spend good money to get what we want.

EarthGBilly

I, too, am an old fogie, but I've embraced the digital format for comics. That said, I'm not a fan of "motion comics," because, at least for me, they take away from enjoying comics as a medium.

The problem with "motion comics" is that they attempt to blend animation with sequential art, creating what seems to me to be simply bad animation (anyone else remember the old Marvel cartoons, where they took images from the actual comics and did the zooms and shook the camera for the "special effects?").

They are gimmick, a new shiny thing to catch the attention of the public, but they seem to scream that sequential art isn't good enough to stand on its own and it needs "help."

Maybe kids need that. Maybe they need to hear voices for characters and see characters move, and a punch from the rearing back to the follow-through. I don't know. I managed to connect things with my imagination, but I didn't grow up with another option.

(And, no, that isn't a dig of the "these kids today" sort - I'm serious. I'm not certain that kids today have had to exercise their imaginations enough because they simply don't have to. Movies and video games let them live out what, as a child, I could only accomplish with hours of intense world-building in my head. Kids today are blessed by the modern technology, but I wonder how much of a detriment it is in the area of imagination.)

Torchsong

The world of comics is always in some kind of flux, be it content, format, or focus. I've learned over the years to stop railing against it and instead roll with the change and find things to like about it.