By Francisco Delatorre
The primary strength of Scott McCloud's web site isn't his references
to his books, his theories on how comics can change (in print or in
digital form), his past forays into print comics, or the trinkets
he sells. It's what he's done to make his theories manifest. It's
the effect he's had on the changing even of print culture. I'm someone
who responds well to his ideas about where comics as an art have come
from and where they're going, and in general I lend a fair degree
of credence to theories about the future of media. However, central
to the validity of these arguments is evidence that supports them.
Many theorists like to wave their hands and predict the future of
information, but here McCloud actually goes out and does something
about it.
He describes the way the infinite digital canvas can house entirely
new forms of comics in his book, and then proceeds to write the very
comics of which he speaks, such as My Obsession With Chess and
Zot! How better to teach than by example? It's fun to read about
the infinite canvas in Reinventing Comics, simply because the
potential he describes is so intriguing, but it's even more exciting
to actually read it. He also points to other, similar works
online, showing that these are not simply the rantings of a megalomaniacal
comics nerd (though maybe they are!), his ideas actually translate
into the business. He is a respected member of the comic book artists'
society (as his contributions to the Creators' Bill of Rights shows),
and his work has some influence on the way the industry changes.
For example, his comic Choose Your own Carl draws upon the
ideas not only of the infinite canvas and freedom of layout, but also
the idea of community experience. He didn't draw the comic in a day
or two, he allowed everyday people to write in and suggest the next
panel. This points to another freedom that digital authorship brings:
community authorship. In print comics, it's largely impossible for
the viewer to directly affect the outcome of the story. Perhaps he
can write the author and make suggestions, but in no way does he have
quite as much influence as what we see with the Carl series.
One can actually click on the panels themselves to see other suggestions
for what it might have been. It does lend some support to McCloud's
artistic abilities, because most of the suggestions are crap, but
it still represents the overwhelmingly positive responses to his theories.
However, his influence expands beyond that of the digital realm. He
lists, in his Inventions section, the 24-hour comic, something
he and a colleague of his came up with. It originated as a competition,
to see who could draw a full 24-page comic in one full day, or 24
hours. They both produced something delightful and demented, but this
phenomenon quickly spread. Many more artists and writers have now
experimented with the 24-hour comic, including comic book artist Dave
Sim and writer Neil Gaiman. See? He's not just full of theoretical
hot air! People listen!
Also in his Inventions section are more theoretically based
activities, such as "The Story Engine" and "5 Card
Nancy". These are both based on constructing a story from a randomly
ordered set of images, forming at the basic level a comic. It's easy
to see that he can't stop thinking about how to *ahem* understand
comics, but what's more refreshing is how he translates these into
a product and removes them from the stuffy world of pure theory.
In the end, it's these experiments in rethinking comics in all
forms (a refreshing break; it's myopic to look only at the way digital
media changes art) that prove most interesting. I find less interesting
the theory he declaims on the site; for that I have his books!