Jul 13
Comics’ Lost Audience
On Strange Love Live I made mention of a paper I had written in college on the decline of interest in American comic books, with a subsequent promise to post said essay online. I’m nothing if not a man of my word!
What follows is a somewhat younger Tyler’s passionate explanation of why fewer Americans buy (and to a certain degree, care) about comic books than ever before. Perhaps therein we may learn what to avoid as we drive forward the stories of tomorrow.
Comics’ Lost Audience:
An Analysis of the Decreased Popular Interest in American Comic Books
The superhero is an endangered species. Even with superhero movies at an all-time high in popularity (Spider-Man 2 was the second top-grossing movie of 2004, making over 370 million dollars, and its 2002 prequel is the sixth highest grossing film of all-time) (“All-Time USA Box Office”), comic book sales are at historical lows. In spite of America’s professed love in other media for the traditions and characters of comics, the top-selling comic book of 2004 barely broke 200,000 issues sold (Weiland), a number that, ten years ago, would have put the book up for cancellation. In stark contrast, Japan’s top selling comic books often sell upwards of one million copies every week! Japan’s comics sell incredibly well in all demographics, with more paper being used to produce comic books than toilet paper (Schodt 12). The decline in American comic book sales may have several contributing factors, but it becomes clear upon an examination of history that many (if not most) of the problems plaguing comic books’ accessibility are a result of the very industry that creates them.
Jul 12
Icons and Comics on Strange Love Live
If you missed viewing my Strange Love Live appearance when it was actually live, you can now view it on Blip.TV, in iTunes, or right here:
I had a blast being on the show! Thanks again to Cami Kaos and Dr. Normal for being such gracious hosts. I’ll be sure to post my comics essay (as promised) in the coming weeks.
Icon designers I should have mentioned (but didn’t for some reason) include Susan Kare, the Iconfactory, John Hicks and Adam Betts.
Some of the comics I talked about (not all of which are safe for youngsters) were Amulet, Sonic the Hedgehog, Bone, Groo, Usagi Yojimbo, Cerebus, Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns. For a larger list of keen comics to check out, see my WebVisions follow-up.
If you’re hungry for more comic book, indie rock and tech geekery and don’t mind the occasional expletive, older audiences can check out the less structured Afterhours episode (with appearances by Peter Wooley).
Jul 10
Join me on Strange Love Live this evening
I’ll be a guest of Cami Kaos and Dr Normal this evening on the wonderfully entertaining video podcast Strange Love Live, a show that spotlights “movers and shakers of the social web, live from Portland Oregon.”
I had a blast talking with Cami at this year’s WebVisions and I’m really looking forward to chatting again.
I hope you’ll join us live online at 10PM tonight or on the TV box if you happen to be in the Portland area. Dig it!
May 22
WebVisions Epilogue (Slides, comics and more!)
Thanks to everyone who attended the Graphic Storytelling in New Media session at this week’s WebVisions conference. I couldn’t have asked for a better audience, both in the presentation’s reception and the thought-provoking Q&A that followed.
Attendees requested that I post the session’s slides with links to the comics I talked about. You deserve no less!
The Presentation
My slides are very visual, with nary a bullet point in sight. I’ve been told the session was recorded and will be available as a podcast; until then, these might be confusing out of context. I’ll update this post with a link to the audio when it becomes available.
Linkage
Here are the best links I could find for the comics I mentioned, in order of appearance.
Warning: Many of these titles are not recommended for younger readers. Explore at your own risk!
- Krazy Kat by George Herriman
- Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
- Popeye by E.C. Segar
- Peanuts by Charles Schulz
- Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
- Bone by Jeff Smith
- Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
- Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley
- Blankets by Craig Thompson
- Kane by Paul Grist
- Maus by Art Spiegelman
- Cerebus by Dave Sim and Gerhard
- PVP by Scott Kurtz
- Penny Arcade by Gabe and Tycho
- Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson
- Garfield by Jim Davis (I recommend Garfield Minus Garfield or this video as much more entertaining alternatives)
- I Can’t Stop Thinking! by Scott McCloud
- The Right Number by Scott McCloud
- Magic Inkwell Comic Strip Theatre by Cat Garza, Jr.
- Pup by Drew Weing
- When I Am King by Demian 5
- Scott Pilgrim by Brian Lee O’Malley
- Tintin by Hergé
- Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
- Downtown Smells by Will Eisner
- Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
- Captain America by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Man, that’s a lot of comics! You can find my webcomics work in the extras section of this site. Stan the Cat Goes Nuts!, Blip, Plod and Future Tale explore some of the infinite canvas techniques we discussed.
If you’re looking for comics in Portland, I would highly recommend the stores Floating World and Excalibur.
Other Stuff
I had a blast being interviewed on Strange Love Live. Cami, Kelly and Dr. Normal were all incredibly nice, and the tone was very relaxed and conversational. Allegedly, my interview exists somewhere in one of the two videos featured here, but my scrubbing did not reveal it. If you manage to unearth it, please post the timestamp in the comments!
Portwiture did not win the Mashup or Peoples’ Choice WebVisionary Awards. Luckily, we lost to a very capable adversary: the wonderful Twitter emotionscape-mapping Twendz. Congratulations to Waggener Edstrom for the double win!
The evening was not without it’s victories. Mallory and I had the chance to hang with Bram Pitoyo, Jason Grigsby, Amber Case and Matt Allen, which is always a good time. But perhaps most geektastic for me was finally getting to meet Dave Allen!
Dave’s an undeniably cool guy. He’s responsible for the excellent music and MP3 site Pampelmoose and the Director of Insights & Media at the always-impressive Nemo Design. But most importantly to me, Dave helped craft some of my favorite rock albums as the bass player for the seminal post-punk band Gang of Four. His thumping, primal sound is mimicked constantly by contemporary bands; it was thrilling to meet the man behind it, as evidenced by my goofy grin in the photo!
Your turn!
Did you attend the presentation? Jill Bruhn said it was her favorite part of WebVisions. Julie Cabinaw thought I was passionate, but wasn’t sure what to take from it. What’d you think? Better yet, what comics, film, music, art or web sites have moved you? Sound off in the comments!