Gaming The Comic Book: Turning The Page on How Comics and Videogames Intersect as Interactive, Digital Experiences

Little attention has been given to how digital technologies have impacted the comic medium. Despite the astronomical impact this shift has had on all sorts of traditional media, it is common to believe that digital comics are simply electronic versions of print comics, but the implementation of audio, animation, three-dimensional effects, and interactivity with other kinds of digital comics reveal that they are hardly so simple. Analyzing and classifying them is essential for English studies, comics studies, and even game studies. Digital comics are a hybridized medium that challenge the essence and existing definitions of comics with disparate instances and inclusions of multimedia and interactivity. Digital comics also complicate how the comic medium is remediated with three remediation types (retro remediation, stylistic remediation, and adaptation) that favor or balance out desires for immediacy and hypermediacy between old and new media. Digital comics can also converge with the logic and design of videogames in the digital space, presenting opportunities to question the nature of interactivity between comics and videogames and how these two mediums can be combined with “interactive, digital comics.” This paper creates a refined genre list for digital comics by separating them in terms of how much multimedia and/or interactivity they contain with an extensive analysis of nine digital comics. Their individual incorporations (or lack thereof) of multimedia and/or interactivity unveil innovative possibilities that the digital space affords for the comic medium with new methods of spatial, sequential, and temporal storytelling. In addition, this paper explores how digital comics are socially constructed and viewed as a genre by audiences with nine interviewees that glean further insight into the current perception and future potential of not only digital comics, but also the promising genre of interactive, digital comics

Comics on Screen : Pages and Places in the Cloud

Comics has long been a form of sequential art that has evolved alongside the printed page. As the print industry has developed so too have comics. From the black and white strips of newspapers to the colourful serial print comics on high quality paper and longer, stand alone graphic novels produced as independent hardback books. Whilst printing increased in output quality and dissemination so too did comics. In more recent times a similar development can be seen in screen comics. With the wide-spread adoption of computers and the additional impact of the internet screens have moved from the large, low quality home desktop monitor to high definition, portable display devices and screen comics have developed from short black and white web comic strips to full colour digital comics. As the printed comic has developed along with the printed page so to have digital comics developed with the computer screen. But if print comics developed with the page and digital comics developed with the screen we must ask ourselves whether screen comics truly have “pages” at all. And if they do, should they? We can begin to answer this question by looking at a combination of interactive media and comics reading theory from a number of key academic figures (McCloud, Cohn, Groensteen, Manovich) and comparing how comics are presented to us in their various print and digital forms. In this paper I discuss the lack of page exclusive elements such as the ability to riffle through or physically flip from one page to the next and the inclusion of interactive screen exclusive navigation and reading methods such as guided views and infinite canvases (McCloud). This will serve to inform a discussion and understanding of the difference between comics on the printed page and in the digital “place” or cloud

Comment la bande dessinée nativement numérique influence le champ de la bande dessinée papier

En analysant le phénomène des blogs BD à la fin des années 2000, Sébastien Rouquette affirme que malgré leur succès institutionnel, médiatique et en termes d’audience, la transition numérique de la bande dessinée n’a eu qu’un impact limité sur l’industrie du livre (2009 : 119). Cet article propose de réfléchir au rapport entre bande dessinée numérique et imprimée sous un angle nouveau. Plutôt que de tabler sur une sujétion du numérique au papier ou à une concurrence entre les supports, il vise à étudier l’influence des usages numériques sur le champ de la bande dessinée papier, dans une perspective assez large, qui se concentre toutefois sur les pratiques professionnelles. Il s’agira ainsi de questionner l’impact de la bande dessinée nativement numérique — en particulier l’émergence des blogs puis leur évolution sur les réseaux sociaux — sur la composition du champ professionnel, les représentations qu’ont les auteurs et les autrices de bande dessinée et, in fine, les changements de pratiques éditoriales et auctoriales en vertu de ces représentations. Cette recherche, qui se base sur un nombre important d’entretiens et de témoignages montrera en particulier comment la pratique de la bande dessinée en ligne a contribué à la féminisation du champ socio-professionnel et à un renouvellement de ses productions.Analysing the phenomenon of comics blogs in the late 2000s, Sébastien Rouquette states that despite their institutional, media and audience success, the digital transition of comics has had only a limited impact on the book industry (2009: 119). This article proposes to reflect on the relationship between digital and print comics from a new angle. Rather than relying on the subjection of digital to paper or on competition between the media, it wishes to study the influence of digital uses on the field of paper comics, from a broad perspective, which nevertheless focuses on professional practices. It will thus question the impact of natively digital comics—in particular the emergence of blogs and their evolution on social networks—on the composition of the professional field, the representations that authors of comics have and, in fine, the changes in editorial and authorial practices by virtue of these representations. This research, which is based on a large number of interviews and testimonies, will show in particular how the practice of online comics has contributed to the feminization of the socio-professional field and to a renewal of its productions

Patih Bersidig Cartu Tingkatkan Kompetensi Guru Mata Pelajaran IPA di Era Revolusi Industri 4.0

The condition of most science teachers in the Grobogan District has not been optimal in utilizing digital technology in the learning process. Training is a form of activity chosen by the school superintendent to guide science teachers in Grobogan in collaboration with subject-teacher deliberations (MGMP). The purpose of this best practice is to describe the implementation, results, and impact of digital-based training are a surefire way "Patih Bersidig Cartu" to improve the competence of natural science teachers in the era of the industrial revolution 4.0. The delivery of training materials is carried out using the blended learning method, namely face-to-face and online. In addition to receiving material, participants also work on assignments through google classroom. The results of Patih Bersidig Cartu to improve the competence of natural science teachers in the era of the industrial revolution 4.0 including teachers can make presentation media in the form of videos; teachers can create interactive learning media with classpoints; teachers can create online learner worksheets (LKPD), learning poster media, learning infographic media, learning comics, presentation media, and digital books, learning videos by utilizing canva for education in natural science materials in grades 7, 8, and 9

Playing with the dead:transmedia narratives and the Walking Dead games

This chapter discusses the theory and practice of transmedia narratives within the storyworld created by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard’s comics series The Walking Dead. It examines key aspects from the comics series and AMC’s adaptive television franchise to consider how both have been utilized and adapted for games. Particular focus will be paid to Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, Gamagio’s The Walking Dead Assault and Terminal Reality’s The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. The chapter explains the core concepts of transmedia narratives as they relate to The Walking Dead, places the games in the context of both the comics and television franchise, examines the significance of commercial and grassroot extensions and considers the role gaming and interactive narratives have within rich storyworlds. In examining The Walking Dead as a transmedia property, the authors demonstrate how vast narratives are adopted, modified and transformed in contemporary popular culture

A survey of comics research in computer science

Graphical novels such as comics and mangas are well known all over the world. The digital transition started to change the way people are reading comics, more and more on smartphones and tablets and less and less on paper. In the recent years, a wide variety of research about comics has been proposed and might change the way comics are created, distributed and read in future years. Early work focuses on low level document image analysis: indeed comic books are complex, they contains text, drawings, balloon, panels, onomatopoeia, etc. Different fields of computer science covered research about user interaction and content generation such as multimedia, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, etc. with different sets of values. We propose in this paper to review the previous research about comics in computer science, to state what have been done and to give some insights about the main outlooks

Writing About Comics and Copyright

Academics who research and write about the visual world often complain about the way in which copyright law can hinder their scholarly endeavours, and with good reason. Writing about visual work without reproducing that work is an impoverished exercise, for both writer and reader. But, reproducing visual material can trigger concerns on the part of the conscientious author or – more often – demands on the part of the publisher about the need to secure copyright permission. In this respect, comics scholarship is no different from any other field of visual or cultural studies. Clearing rights for publication can be frustrating and time-consuming, and academic publishers often manage the business of copyright clearance by making their authors responsible for securing permissions. European Comic Art provides a good example. When an article is accepted for publication, authors are ‘required to submit copyright agreements and all necessary permission letters for reprinting or modifying copyrighted materials, both textual and graphic’, and are ‘responsible for obtaining all permissions and clearing any associated fees.’ Not all publishers, however, adhere to such a black and white position. The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics is published by Taylor & Francis. In the ‘Authors Services’ section of their website, the publisher acknowledges that reproducing short extracts of text and other types of material ‘for the purposes of criticism may be possible without formal permission’. To better understand when permission is needed, the publisher directs its authors to the Publishers Association’s Permissions Guidelines. To better understand what rights need to be cleared, authors are directed to the publisher’s own FAQs about using third-party material in an academic article. Thirteen of the publisher’s FAQs expressly relate to the reproduction of visual material, and of those only two concede the possibility of reproducing work without permission (they relate to, respectively, the use of ‘screenshots or grabs of film or video’ and the use of ‘very old paintings’). What is not clear from the FAQs document is whether the publisher is purporting to accurately represent the law in this area. If so – as we shall see – the FAQs document is clearly deficient. If, however, Taylor & Francis is simply using the FAQs document to set out the parameters of its own editorial policy on the reproduction of copyright-protected third-party material, then so be it: the publisher is perfectly entitled to adopt such editorial guidelines as it sees fit. I would suggest, though, that in cleaving to an editorial policy that fails to take full advantage of the scope which the copyright regime allows for the lawful reproduction of copyright-protected material without need for permission, the publisher is missing an opportunity to enable and encourage its contributors to augment and enrich comics scholarship as a discipline. It is in this respect that The Comics Grid is more ambitious and forward-thinking: it actively promotes the lawful use of copyright-protected content for the purposes of academic scholarship. The journal’s copyright policy sets out that third-party images are reproduced on the basis of ‘educational fair use’, with readers and contributors directed to Columbia University Libraries’ Fair Use Checklist for further information. This is a checklist that has been developed to help academics and other scholars make a reasonable and balanced determination about whether their use of copyright-protected work is permissible under s.107 of the US Copyright Act 1976: the fair use provision. Obviously, The Comics Grid locates its copyright advice within the context of US copyright law. But, as a Glasgow-based academic, with an interest in both the history and the current state of the UK copyright regime, my particular focus within this comic concerns the extent to which academics – or indeed anyone interested in writing about comics – can rely upon UK copyright law to reproduce extracts and excerpts from published comics and graphic novels without having to ask the copyright owner for permission. To address that issue we must consider three key questions. What constitutes ‘a work’ protected by copyright within the context of comics publishing? What does it mean to speak of ‘insubstantial copying’ from a copyright-protected comic? And what can be copied lawfully from a comic for the purpose of criticism and review

Chapter One: “Is this a book?” DC Vertigo and the redefinition of comics in the 1990s

Not only comics publishing but also perceptions of it have changed radically during this century and the comic book has become a graphic novel; invoking notions of permanence, literariness and artistry. This chapter will examine the changes that brought about this redefinition in the 1990s, specifically with regard to the role of DC Vertigo and the rise of the trade paperback. Building on the popularity of British creators in the 1980s and the success of titles such as Hellblazer and Animal Man, DC launched their Vertigo imprint in 1993, with Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman as their flagship title. Having the somewhat paradoxical aim of uniting unique creative voices under one imprint, the majority of Vertigo titles (which feature original characters) are creator-owned and the Vertigo stable is comprised mainly of British authors, many of whom were recruited while writing for 2000AD in the 1980s. Vertigo puts out more trade paperbacks than any other imprint and their great success in marketing the trade paperback form in many senses paved the way for other publishers to repackage their material in similar form. After summarising the position of comics at the close of the 1980s (British invasion, emergent star writers, direct distribution) this chapter proceeds to discuss the emergence of the trade paperback in the 1990s and its role in redefining comics. Relevant industry factors will include: • technical advances – digitising and reproduction has led to higher production values; but also perhaps a homogeneity of style; • employment changes – everything has been brought in-house; • marketing changes (star writer) – uses romantic ideology to assign an author function; • maxi-series versus ongoing serialisation – new permanence of product; writing for a multi-issue story-arc. Outside factors will also be discussed, including: • emergent IP law – this has given more control to the creator; but freezes shared symbols and limits development; • mechanical reproduction – comic book as product; multiple forms; • fan culture – mid 1990s speculators market crash; neglect of child market; • social context/cultural expectations – celebrity culture responsible for the emergence of star writers; youth culture and resisting definition as children’s literature; • new media – trade paperbacks mirror DVD releases (including extras); • bookstore distribution – challenge to direct marketing of 1980s; brings comics closer to ‘proper’ books; reliant upon author function. These changes in comics’ production and consumption, together with the critical attention now afforded them, have brought the contemporary comic book closer to the notion of the literary text

Media panic : the duo media - youth as problem for didactic and teaching plan

Relacja: młodzież i nowe media jest przedmiotem sprzecznych interpretacji, pełnych utopii lub wypełnionych niepokojami i lękami. Debaty o nowych mediach powodują rozgrzanie reakcji emocjonalnych. W tym przypadku mamy do czynienia z tym, co może być określane jako panika medialna. Panika przechodzi i jest zapominana, z wyjątkiem pamięci zbiorowej, innym razem powoduje zmiany o charakterze prawnym i społecznym. Moda na nowe media odsyła starsze media na drugi plan. K. Drotner twierdzi, że nowe media służą jako mentalne metafory do dyskutowania i debatowania o szeroko pojętych zagadnieniach społecznych. Autor podziela poglądy, że poprzez tworzenie sloganów określających konkretne pokolenie zwalniamy od odpowiedzialności wychowawców, nauczycieli i rodziców za dzieci i uczniów, w kwestii ich korzystania z nowych mediów. Jednocześnie firmy informatyczne bronią swoich pozycji w debacie publicznej.The relation between the modern media technologies and youth is extremely problematic because their debates are polarized. There is a view which emphasises benefits provided by new technologies and the genius of young digital natives; on the other hand, there is a point on the downside which is destructive and crumbles potentials. Therefore, youth and new media are subjects of contradictory representations full of utopia or full of anxieties and fears. In some cases, a debate of a new medium brings about heated, emotional reactions. In that case we have what may be defined as a media panic. The panic passes over and is forgotten, except in collective memory; at other times it has repercussions and might produce such change as those in legal and social policy. Like this the intense preoccupation with the latest media fad immediately relegates older media to the shadows of acceptance. K. Drotner argues that new media serve as mental metaphors for discussing and debating wider social concerns. We argue, with an approach close to S. Hall et al., that through the creation of slogans to indicate a specific generation, we give alibis to educators, teachers and parents not to feel their responsibilities for their children and students when they approach new media. At the same time, publishing and information technology companies are able to feed public debate about concerns or idealization inherent to new media, in order to defend their advantageous position

Access Magazine, May 2016

https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/accessmagazine/1016/thumbnail.jp