Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Message Board Topic: Webcomics

For over a century comics have been created for various reasons: 1) entertainment, 2) commentary, 3) satire, and 4) information. The media has influenced cartoons, movies, video games and other forms of media. And has traditionally been a “paper and pencil” media – being closely related to illustration and layout.

However, as newspapers and other print media are on the down turn in contemporary society, comics have also begun to suffer. Newspaper “funnies,” comic books and manga have made a transition from print to web (as is the trend with many medias today). The webcomic is replacing the traditional print. This has allowed for an exponential growth of comics available (moving away from the big news companies and big comic companies). What are the implications of this move?

Does moving comics to the web add or detract from the media? Look up a webcomic or two. Do you find them as successful as say traditional comics such as Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, Spiderman, Batman and Superman?

6 comments:

  1. the implications of this movement are going to result in smaller companies having a chance to grow as opposed to only the bigger comic companies having all the power. Moving comics to the web definitely adds to the media. A lot more people are on the web all the time, but not everyone always has a newspaper in their hand. There is another side to this, however. i think that the classic style of having them printed out is kind of losing its style, which i dont think is a good thing. They should stay true to what they were known for.

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  2. nooo, heck no
    comics need to be made out of real material, that is part of it, is like a book that is no longer printed, then it is not cool anymore...
    death to kinddle, long live printing

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  3. the implications of this move are frightening! it means that everything is moving to the computer, comics go first but it will soon be followed by our brains! in the future a human will be born already plugged into his or her computer and will be kept in some sort of life supporting tank! they will only interact with other people over live gameplay or blogs. we will all be computers.

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  4. i think that moving comics to the web adds to the media. You can find all sorts of comics on the internet, making them easier to view. Not alot of people get newspapers, but almost everyone has access to the internet. Although i think they are more successful than traditional comics, just because they are easier to view. I think the implication of this move is this generation, the world revolves around the internet. If someone has a question that noone knows, their answer is "google it".

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  5. I think for the most part people should keep comics to the traditional way of on a piece of paper instead on the internet. Although a lot of people us the internet it would be nice to have something’s excess able to the internet and not just on paper. Both ways are very good ways to get their name out there. And the examples that you have gave us are very successful with younger crowds. I remember when I was a kid everyone would read these kinds of comics no one would be able to get their hands on them because so many people where buying the books. All of these kinds of comics leave a impression on our lifes at some point and still today people are interested.

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  6. I think it would work out better for companies, and artists who create them to move comics to spread their work or series to different people. A lot of people don't have the stores to buy the comics so internet would be easier for them to enjoy.

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