Online Comics, the next new thing in comics?

Online comics, like the ones depicted in Scott McCloud's The Right Number One and Two and The Superfogeys by Heasely and Lapierre do fall into the genre of comics. I think that as the progression of other media such as newspaper and books have started to integrate into the internet, I think that is a natural progression comics to do the same.

The Superfogeys 

Most online comics such as The Superfogeys are just publications of comics only online. I think just because it is up a digital screen doesn't make it not a comic. In the Superfogeys, we read the online comic just as we would any other comic in any other format. Our conceptualization of the idea comic does not change, just as our digital graphic novels are read any differently than a printed version.

from The Right Number

However, Scott McCloud's The Right Number One and Two are different from the Superfogeys in the fact that it is not a static webpage upon which a comic is presented. These comics are interactive and engage the reader physically in the presentation of the comic. We get to choose when and how the story is displayed to us. The juxtaposition and movement of the frames is very active in the comic, and though I thought that it was very distracting at first, as I continued to read there was a flow that formed and became very natural. And the presentation include frames of its own, like style frames within frames. The idea of frames was not lost, only presented differently. If anything, it allows the viewer more artistic freedom in how they want to interpret the work and maybe they will get a whole new meaning from the work. I think it is important for comics, just like any other form of media, to remain intriguing and exciting has to take chances. The Right Number doesn't lose it's comic integrity, rather it doesn't limit to what comics can be, rather what they can't be.
I think like everything else, there is room for experimentation in every genre and media whether it be comics or television or video.

Internship Blog #6

Just another update on my internship and looking back on everything that I've done so far. Working on this novel has really given me a better appreciation of what authors go through when writing and trying to get a novel published. The writing and editing process can actually be long and intensive, especially when you have other look over your work. However, that review is so super beneficial because I think it fosters writers to be better and present the best possible work.

I also received and signed my author's contract this past week and I cannot relay how excited I am about it. I never thought that something like this could come from an internship, but I think it also shows that if you are dedicated and work hard enough on a project, that you reap what you sow.  It also shows that employers or in my case (internship supervisors) recognize your contributions and are willing to work with you as long as you are willing to put forth the effort.

With my novel's impending publication, I can only say that this has not been a class for me, this internship has literally (though cheesy) changed my life, in ways I never expected. I can now say after this semester that I am a published author, which means more to me than I ever knew.

I have seen so many different aspects of the publishing company, and from the super positive to the super negative, including what bad editing is and how important proper editing and proper presentation really mean to an author and a company's validation.

Reflection on the completion of Essex County

As some of you who have been keeping up with our Graphic Novel class this semester know that we have been reading Jeff Lemire's Essex County. I recently finished the entire three-story collection, and as a class, we were asked to discuss how we felt each story was tied together. What were the overall main themes, characters, or sequences that brought the collection together as whole?

For those of you who have not read Essex County either at all, or in it's entirety, I strongly recommend it, because it for me, Jeff Lemire is an excellent storyteller! For Lemire, the story isn't complex in the way that it makes it hard to understand, but complex in the way of subtlety. It is the responsibility of the audience to piece together and gather the information to complete the overall "big picture."

For Lemire, the themes of family, redemption and loss weave the three stories together just as much as the characters' connections do. All of Lemire's characters strike at our hearts, because just like his characters, often in our own lives we are faced with complicated and heart wrenching situations, often with circumstances that we cannot control.Often times as a family, people talk about the threads that hold them together. Lemire examines these threads and then stretches them, pushing them to their limits and really showing us that there can be redemption through forgiveness, and the chance to rebuild.

 In the first book, Tales from the Farm, we experience Lester coping with the loss of his mother living with his grief stricken uncle, to the second book Ghost Stories where Lou copes with losing his dream of hockey glory and the estrangement of his brother Vince. Which left book three, The Country Nurse to try and pick up the shattered pieces of lives and reconcile them.

I think one of the most important lessons that Essex County tells the reader is that life goes on, and that it is never too late to forgive the ones we love, even if it the damage seems too deep, even if we have to forgive ourselves first.

Internship Journal #5

These past two weeks have also been some of the most difficult for me, as now I am half way in and nearly halfway done, the stretch is becoming harder and harder mostly for time, but also the semester is starting to sap my energy.

Though now I have a completely finished cover for my book, which is pretty amazing and provide a little bit of fuel to keep me going, but everything seem a little weighing.
However, I also got the opportunity to start reading and provide comments on another Cressen Books's author, which was really great. It actually put me in the mindset of an actual editor, and I cannot wait to see what I can learn this week from Ed and Wendy about editing. I've helped edit their writings, but I have never edited anything else by a legitimate author.

I have some ideas, but I really think I need Ed and Wendy's direction. I know that it is one thing to have advice and revisions to give someone, but it is another thing entirely to explain it to the author. I know that I can be a little tactless and a bit too colloquial in my editing, and that really needs to be fine-tuned or rather I need to stop being lazy.

I've also started so many rewrites and revisions on my own novel, something that I really despise, but it is a necessary evil. I am finding it to already be a long and difficult process, and one of the most challenging things that I have ever done. I am proud of the time and effort that I have spent so far and I hope that the milestones that I reach will help me when I feel like there is no end in sight.