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joeychips · Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:41 pm Post subject: Is this the Future of Webcomics?

Web cartoonists with a nose for business and publishing should take a look at this article about how the magazine industry plans to ramp up their online presence. It involves a lot of coordination and could leave static images (including most webcomics) in the dust of yesterday's news.
http://gizmodo.com/5370252/apple-tablet-aiming-to-redefine-newspapers-textbooks-and-magazines. The revenue possibilities for iTunes are also very noteworthy.

Se also the Sports Illustrated revamp for tablet pc format (the rumored Apple Tablet). This could be a game changer.
http://gizmodo.com/5417407/video-what-sports-illustrated-might-feel-like-on-a-tablet

I recently did a new video for Silly Daddy and was blown away by how many more people were interested in the multimedia aspect of the content even before I released it--especially non-comics people. The vid is still not out yet but people who know of its existance are like, "When will this be live? Can't wait to see it."

Should more webcomics creators be researching interactive media like those being touted in upcoming online magazine formats?

And so... what do you think this means for the future of webcomics?

Please don't reply unless you've actually read the above article and viewed the video. You'll thank me for it.
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MiloTheCloud · Joined: 25 Jun 2009 Posts: 95 Location: Chicago

Read it, and, really I don't think it does much to webcomics. Yes, there is definite interest in multimedia stuff, and I intend to add such things to the site when I am able to. But I've been planning to do that since I started, because that's what a website is for. I think it's fun to imagine all the things that are possible, and implement where you can. But I think there will always be a place for the static image. Just because TV came along didn't mean that painters stopped painting.

The thing I didn't like about the SI revamp was that it was basically just a website. It wasn't doing anything new. The only real difference was that it was on a new platform. The only semi-innovation I really saw was the fact that you could switch the content around to view it in the order you chose. That was kinda neat. But they're saying, "What if the swimsuit issue came to life?" *yawn*. I saw it on YouTube, and I can see it for free there too.

Not to say that there won't be coolness to see on such a platform. But I don't think it's going to revolutionize anything. Maybe in a couple generations it will. Not yet, I'd say.

Just my two cents of course.
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plughead · Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 11:41 pm Post subject:

Whether we're looking at JPEGs, videos, HTML, PDFs or whatever, the revolution here lies not in WHAT we are looking at, but HOW it is being delivered to us and HOW we are interacting with it.

At the end of the day, it's all still graphic design, typography, images, sound, video, ads, page layout and revenue stream.

With a few bells and whistles.
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henspacecwb · Joined: 19 Sep 2009 Posts: 106

I'm sure that these things will lead to more interactive comics but I hope that it would just become another format and that static images would still hold their own. After all there are still black and white strips (he now gratuitously plugs his own) amongst all the colour, and we still have radio despite TV.

Variety is what we want so the more options for people the better. Mind you, spending time drawing static images risks my marriage enough already -- what would animating them do Confused

I was left a bit cold by the SI video even with the swimsuits. I didn't really see anything particularly new except that it was on a tablet and using lots of gestures.

On the Apple Tablet, well I'm sure a paper killer going to come along someday. I doubt if that one's going to be it. It was interesting that they talked about DRM'd books for the revenue stream. I thought DRM had pretty much died now for music so I'm surprised that they don't think the same fate might await DRM'd books.

The biggest problem I see with these things though is money. On Amazon you can get a Kindle for $259 and a Kindle copy of Hostage by Don Brown for $13.33. Or I could get a paper back version for $10.19. I know which one I'd rather leave on train, or spill coffee on -- and which one I might get mugged for. Actually I don't know anything about Hostage -- just a random selection -- so I might not want either.
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haikucomics · Joined: 17 Feb 2009 Posts: 107 Location: Long Beach, CA

Animation has been around for a long time and it hasn't replace comics. And animation has historically had a wider appeal than comics, but that hasn't deterred creators from making comics.

I think the future of comics isn't really about comics, but about artists. What will artists want to make in the future? I think some artists will never have an interest in making moving images and I think that they will be good enough and make compelling enough work that people will view and support it. I think some artists will take advantage of the fact that animation is cheaper and easier to make and do hybrid static/moving images. And I think some artists will be drawn to motion exclusively.

Art is driven by artists, not dollars or even audiences. Business is driven by dollars. And, as we all know, there hasn't been a lot of money in comics for a long, long time — so obviously that's not why we're doing this, right?
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henspacecwb · Joined: 19 Sep 2009 Posts: 106

haikucomics wrote:

as we all know, there hasn't been a lot of money in comics for a long, long time

What? Now you tell me.
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Luke · Joined: 15 Jul 2009 Posts: 753 Location: Ireland

There is nothing about that that I can't get on my iphone from any magazine style website. They've had multimedia content forever.

People will buy it, and it seems like a fun piece of kit, but it definitely isn't the next paradigm shift. (I'll just sit her politely until I'm humiliatingly proven wrong when this actually takes off.)
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joeychips · Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 1:56 am Post subject:

What intrigues me the most is the perception the rest of the reading population might have on internet magazines that customers pay for on iTunes. Yes, we all know the content is mostly stuff already available online in some manner. Nevertheless, in this particular "new" package, I am wondering if publishing might be economically revitalized specifically in these formats. And I wouldn't want webcomics to be left playing catch-up.
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Joe Chiappetta - Read Silly Daddy comics at http://sillydaddy.net

Traitorfish · Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:17 am Post subject:

So they're blending text, images, audio and video into a single multimedia format? Isn't that just called "the internet"?
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Casual Notice · Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:18 am Post subject:

I can not imagine a single instance ever when I would want to read a comic on a phone. Ever.
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Kail · Joined: 10 Feb 2007 Posts: 409

Traitorfish wrote:

So they're blending text, images, audio and video into a single multimedia format? Isn't that just called "the internet"?

That was basically my reaction. What does this have to do with webcomics? There are already animated webcasts and things, they're not really the same thing that we're doing. And even if they were, so what? For about 99.9% of the people here, this is a hobby. Making money from some deal with Apple is not going to change webcomicking at all for us. The idea that we'd be playing "catch up" or something implies that we're in a race. I don't see webcomics as a competition, they're just something I do for fun. The worst that can happen is that our webcomics can be unprofitable and unpopular, and hey, look, they already are.

On an unrelated note: "the winning presentation selected by executives was one focused on textbook distribution through iTunes. The logic here is that textbooks are sold new at a few hundred dollars, and resold by local stores without any kickbacks to publishers."

Ohhhh, fuck you guys to hell. "Some people are not paying $150 for a textbook on algebraic techniques developed a hundred years ago, oh no! Our children will starve! We better develop some way that we can bypass the bookstore, and get rid of the secondhand market. Also, it would be nice if we could make the book disappear after you use it."

wendyw · Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:27 am Post subject:

I can't see this really having any effect on webcomics at all.

Multimedia gadgetry has been available to us before most of us even thought about doing webcomics. The thing is there will always be people who prefer their images to be static and their interfaces to be limited to a simple previous and next button.

There are tons of web animations out there, but I very rarely watch them. Comics are quicker to produce for most people (so we don't have to wait for over a month between updates), allow me to view them at my own pace, listen to music at the same time and can be read with other people in the room without distracting them with annoying sounds. They also have quicker load times.

The only difference to anything that I can see this having is to print comics and that's a maybe. I'd love to see some of the print companies use this as an opportunity to re-release older titles that just don't make economical sense to reprint, not that I expect this will happen necessarily. It would just be nice.
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plughead · Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:45 am Post subject:

True, wendyw

The public tends to BALK at "motion comics", while still fully embracing film and traditional comics. Remember that Watchmen motion comic thing?

Most motion comics enter UNCANNY VALLEY territory that makes most people strangely uncomfortable: all the stiffness of comics and all the linearity of film while offering the strengths of neither.
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Zaron · Joined: 30 Apr 2006 Posts: 945

Those motion comic things are alright, but yeah, watching them I can't help but wish they were just full cartoons.

And am I missing something, or is that tablet device little more than a giant iPhone?
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Ferix · Joined: 03 Dec 2009 Posts: 6

Hmm, it's of course impossible to definatly say that one thing is the future over another, but yes, I would say that it's easily imaginable to use a device like the one shown to read comics, provided that it's clean and clear enough, I dislike the size on standard computers, often making the text mucht oo small.

Eitherway, i'd love to have some kind of pay service to get the latest issue of such and such delivered to that =D