It was a company.Īnyway, TCJ’s inaugural webcomics column, written by someone I think was Milo George using a girl name, struck a sort of perversely pro-McCloud stance, judging webcomics strictly by their use of McCloud’s online “infinite canvas.” I’m too lazy to dig out my back issues now, but the opening lineup of, including Trunktown, a strip I did for a while with Tom Hart, was weighed and found wanting. This was back in 2003, when everyone was into hating on Scott McCloud because he thought the Web was going to be the next big thing, and where did he get off telling us what the next big thing was going to be, him and his perky little cartoon face. Gary Groth had recently written a two-part dissection of Reinventing Comics wherein he predicted that webcomics would turn into thinly-veiled shills for telecom conglomerates because it would be the only way to get into those essential AOL-exclusive portals, which is roughly equivalent to arguing that telephones are a bad idea because people will be forced to use them to talk about AT&T all the time.įor those of you who got on the Internet after 1998 or so, AOL stood for America Online.

The ultimate challenges of the infinite digital canvasI remember The Comics Journal’s first webcomics column because I got reamed in it.Then in Part Two, McCloud paints a breathtaking picture of comics' digital revolutions, including: Sexual and ethnic representation on comics.The volatile and shifting public perceptions of comics.

The life of comics as an art form and as literature.

Part One of this fascinating and in-depth book includes: Now, McCloud takes comics to the next level, charting twelve different revolutions in how comics are created, read, and perceived today.

In 1993, Scott McCloud tore down the wall between high and low culture with the acclaimed international hit Understanding Comics, a massive comic book that explored the inner workings of the worlds most misunderstood art form. In Reinventing Comics-the new century manifesto on the many futures of comics art-t he renowned author of Understanding Comics takes a fascinating look at how imagination and technology are revolutionizing comics.

Reinventing comics