Digital Comics General Discussion

[Dexamalion]

Someone posted an interesting comment about the Watchmen motion comic, and how that was the way that comics were "meant to be". I'm not sure that all comics are meant to be that way, but some comics are definitely going down some interesting paths. So far we have seen Iron Man "Extremis" (download from Zune or iTunes) become animated, and the Watchmen and Spider-woman comics have also had this treatment. My questions to the group would be:

1) Do you like comics enhanced with this animation style? If you had a choice between the current style of comic and the animated one telling the same story, would you prefer one over the other?

2) Would you be interested in comics designed for the form factor of the PSP? There are several comics that have trouble getting laid out due to being adapted from a page format, resulting in weird pans and slides when the publishers use the camera tool.

3) Can the PSP comic reader as it stands handle animation within the panel?Could it be upgraded to do so?

4) We've seen animation using the camera tool (camera shakes and so on) and we've seen VO over panels like the Wormwood comics, is there any other special effects that people would like to see?

Dex

[Concrete3000]

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Dexamalion wrote:

Someone posted an interesting comment about the Watchmen motion comic, and how that was the way that comics were "meant to be". I'm not sure that all comics are meant to be that way, but some comics are definitely going down some interesting paths...

Dex

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That was me!

Motion comics is one area that DC hasn't held back on.

I think both Marvel and DC are going down the motion comics road with Marvel's Spider-Woman Agent of S.W.O.R.D. and Daredevil and DC's Watchmen, Batman Mad Love, Batman Black and White, Batgirl Year One, Superman Red Son.

1) I love motion comics, I cannot get enough of them.  I think it breaths new life into comic stories that you may have read a few times before. What I like about these motion comics is the way the animation takes you seamlessly from one "panel" to the next together with the voice acting.   If you get the Watchmen Motion Comic DVD and then convert it for PSP you'll see how good it actually works on PSP too... but I think they should redo Watchmen's audio with a full cast or at least have 1 female voice actress and call it the Watchmen Motion Comic The Ultimate Cut! There's something scary about listening to a male actor putting on a female voice  

If I was given the choice between static digital comics or motion comics I would go for the motion comic.

2) Depends what the title is.  If it's DC then quite possibly.

3) I think motion comics would have to be played as videos rather than being loaded through the digital comic reader if it was upgraded to do so.

4) I want to see characters climb out of one panel and jump into the next during a fight scene like from Comix Zone.  How about the small bits of animation that we used to see in the Marvel dot comics all those years ago?

[Dexamalion]

Thanks for kicking off my thoughts here Concrete! I'm definitely going to look out for some of those DC animated comics, I had no idea they had done so many.

And you also get extra brownie points for mentioning Comix Zone! One of the most underrated games for the Mega Drive (or Genesis, depending on your country of origin).

Dex