am I a king? txo!?
Even though Scott McCloud's "reinventing comics" was published way back, the Spanish version has only recently been edited here under the title "la revolucion de los comics". In this, the second essay-book-comic by this multi-use writer, he researches and reflects on the world of comics. One of the things he writes about is what comics have to lose or gain by going on the internet and how comics, in their approach to using the net, have to return to their roots and overcome the limitations of paper. So far nobody has really worked on integral "internet comics". What's been done is the placing on the net of comics previously edited in comic book form. Well, we've come across one example of the former: I am a king.
Demian comes up with answers to many of the questions asked in McCloud's book in this strip designed comic that turns into a novel type story along the way; we see a day in the life of several different characters from the early morning and right through the day to the coming of night straight to the next morning. Colours let us know what time of day it is. Sunrise to sunset and then the mysterious night that follows. As we get deeper into the story we find a window with a scroll on our computer screens. The deeper we get the more agilely the window plays with both the scroll in vertical and horizontal forms as well as with frames. In the middle of all this we come across what, at first, sounds like a contradiction: animation integrated in a comic.
Although the characters speak a lot, there are no words. In order to do so Demian has used a universal language: icons. Everybody in the story uses icons in their conversations. In normal comics a narrator would be used to give more specific explanations. Animation does that job here. Animation works just like any other narrative element in each of the different vignettes.
The different characters take us through their dreams throughout long vignettes that would be impossible in normal comic books. The length of the vignette depends solely on the size of the characters dreams. At the end of the day, one of the differences between paper pages and HTML ones is space limitation. The story Demian wanted to tell dictates the width and height of each part of the tale. The pages have no set size.
What about the frames? In order to tell a story of this size Demian develops parallel stories and divides the screen in two. This gives another sense to the meaning of time as he relates the stories going on in the upper and lower halves of the screen. Different events take place at the same time but in different places.
Tender, porno, dreamy and for children. Drugs and paranoia, kids' games and nightmares, zoophilia and/or love on a solitary road, humour and nature. Sit back in front of the screen comfortably and enjoy... roll that scroll till you've reached the very last image. All of this from the author: I didn't see an editorial mentioned anywhere.
The editorial La Factoria de Ideas, masters at choosing great comics, have just released the second part of Akiko. As can be found in many comics published by La Factoria, there's a touch of underground to Akiko. The sensation of an author finding himself that we came across in the first issue gives way this time round to a definition of style and, if the success it has had in the States is anything to go by, a very bright looking future.
Après I'Incal. Moebius and Jorowdosky have returned with the follow up to the wonderful story they started in the 80's. Here we go again, literarily and aesthetically. John Defould has gone and lost his memory again and the events that follow are nothing to be sneezed at. Moebius has used the computer for colours (it's 2002, not the 80's) and has once again demonstrated that it's the user and not the tool that's important. It's easy to see that this Frenchman knew how to use analogical aerographs before crossing over to the digital format. We don't know how the story will end up but it's got off to a good start. Bet this first part will leave you begging for more.
Demian comes up with answers to many of the questions asked in McCloud's book in this strip designed comic that turns into a novel type story along the way; we see a day in the life of several different characters from the early morning and right through the day to the coming of night straight to the next morning. Colours let us know what time of day it is. Sunrise to sunset and then the mysterious night that follows. As we get deeper into the story we find a window with a scroll on our computer screens. The deeper we get the more agilely the window plays with both the scroll in vertical and horizontal forms as well as with frames. In the middle of all this we come across what, at first, sounds like a contradiction: animation integrated in a comic.
Although the characters speak a lot, there are no words. In order to do so Demian has used a universal language: icons. Everybody in the story uses icons in their conversations. In normal comics a narrator would be used to give more specific explanations. Animation does that job here. Animation works just like any other narrative element in each of the different vignettes.
The different characters take us through their dreams throughout long vignettes that would be impossible in normal comic books. The length of the vignette depends solely on the size of the characters dreams. At the end of the day, one of the differences between paper pages and HTML ones is space limitation. The story Demian wanted to tell dictates the width and height of each part of the tale. The pages have no set size.
What about the frames? In order to tell a story of this size Demian develops parallel stories and divides the screen in two. This gives another sense to the meaning of time as he relates the stories going on in the upper and lower halves of the screen. Different events take place at the same time but in different places.
Tender, porno, dreamy and for children. Drugs and paranoia, kids' games and nightmares, zoophilia and/or love on a solitary road, humour and nature. Sit back in front of the screen comfortably and enjoy... roll that scroll till you've reached the very last image. All of this from the author: I didn't see an editorial mentioned anywhere.
The editorial La Factoria de Ideas, masters at choosing great comics, have just released the second part of Akiko. As can be found in many comics published by La Factoria, there's a touch of underground to Akiko. The sensation of an author finding himself that we came across in the first issue gives way this time round to a definition of style and, if the success it has had in the States is anything to go by, a very bright looking future.
Après I'Incal. Moebius and Jorowdosky have returned with the follow up to the wonderful story they started in the 80's. Here we go again, literarily and aesthetically. John Defould has gone and lost his memory again and the events that follow are nothing to be sneezed at. Moebius has used the computer for colours (it's 2002, not the 80's) and has once again demonstrated that it's the user and not the tool that's important. It's easy to see that this Frenchman knew how to use analogical aerographs before crossing over to the digital format. We don't know how the story will end up but it's got off to a good start. Bet this first part will leave you begging for more.
