Evan Torres | Paper Vs. Web Comics

My capstone project will have a focus on webcomics, in particular, webcomics versus traditional comics. Potential topics would include some comparing and contrasting of the two, a brief history of both, views and opinions on what the general public thinks of them, and maybe even the different styles of the two.

Web and traditional comics might have totally different mediums, but the styles they have are often quite similar to one another, by which I mean they can be roughly sorted into two categories: Strips and stories. My project would go into detail about what these two coined styles mean, as well as provide external links to various comic publishers’ websites.

Comic strips are what you might expect: A series of three to four panels usually telling a joke. There are more than enough examples of these in traditional format (Peanuts, Garfield), but there are a few examples of this in digital form as well (Penny Arcade, PvP). Likewise, stories are more elaborate and detailed, taking form in traditional mediums as comic books, and in webcomics as whole pages posted over a set time.

Additionally, I could very easily go into detail on whether or not multimedia comics and flash animations count as “webcomics.” Since this is somewhat subjective, I would probably do my comparing and contrasting here using an infographic, displaying the differences between these types of media and standstill images. Of course, I still need to use remixed media, so I could probably use it to help make this point by creating a short video detailing how this type of comic looks and feels.

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