Alice Comics
By Zoe Agnew
Michael McKay-Fleming's Alice is a comic strip featuring two young
female characters featuring a combination of imagination and sarcasm.
Alice Comics is not a strip that is widely distributed in the traditional
sense. It is not featured on the front fold of the Sunday paper's
comics nor is it known in the same way that the characters of Garfield
or Calvin and Hobbes are known.
Based on the format at least, this comic definitely strives for that
kind of audience and recognition. I am not certain how the comics
are produced, but they look like the usual daily strip that has been
scanned in for digital distribution.
Not only are the strips to be read in the conventional way, but the
author also tries to reproduce the context that they are read in:
there is a new black and white posted every day; except on Sundays
when the strip is published in simple, bright colors. The advantages
to imitating this style are clear. Readers well versed in this style
of reading, and this comfort level can add to their enjoyment of Alice
and hopefully bring them back to the site regularly. Also, a potential
publisher or distributor can see the immediate translation of this
comic to a print format, theoretically making the print distribution
of Alice more appealing.
The author takes advantage of some of the possibilities of an online
format. Firstly, he is able to reach a much wider audience than if
he self-published in a print format. The cost of this style of distribution
is also much lower, at least monetarily, than if he tried to self-publish
in print as widely as he does online.
He also organizes his comic online in ways that of course are impossible
in print. You can search for comics from past days, so that you can
follow a particular story arc chronologically. More interestingly,
you can also search for story lines by theme. This could be a key
feature of initiating new readers into the Alice series; if the first
story line you happened upon did not appeal to you, you can pick a
theme that holds more interest for you.
Finally, McKay-Fleming makes an initial move toward creating a community
around Alice. He gives us links to some of his other works, as well
as links to works by other authors that fans of Alice might enjoy.
McKay-Fleming does not use his site to revolutionize the comic strip,
nor does he create a comic that is best distributed online. Still,
his site gives fans and potential fans of Alice a thorough way to
navigate through the comic series.