Friday, October 2, 2009

"Ambient" comics??

My good friend, Kevin Mutch, argues that abstract comics are best read as "ambient comics." I disagree. Read his post and my comments here to see why.

1 comment:

  1. Not that anybody, at this late date, would bother reading this comment--but the discussion over at "The Next Issue" got pretty heated, and Kevin closed off comments. I would still like to address a couple of points in his last comment, though, so I will do so here--imagine this as being the next post on that comment thread.


    Kevin--

    I notice, in your final post, you ignore my simple point that this is a very young field; there simply hasn't been the time, yet, to make a much longer comic; and also there isn't, so far, the commercial support. How long did it take comics in general to create longer forms? This seems to me a much better explanation than that "natural limiting tendency." As a matter of fact, this entire discussion has prompted me to think how one could do an abstract comic at greater length, and I can see some very artistically rewarding ways. Don't know if I'll do it anytime soon though, simply not currently having the energy for it, but we'll see. It's also a matter of who would print it--it's much easier to get an 8-page piece in print than a 200-page one.

    As for my (supposedly failed) rhetorical trap--I've already asked you to tell me what longer abstract comics you base your judgment on, and I still would like an actual answer. But fine, we can easily extend the question to any abstract comics in print over 4-5 pages (and therefore to your own definition of "long-form" comics). I really am curious, I busted my ass for the anthology and I know how hard it is to get your hands on, basically, anything in the genre.

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