By Becky Hurwitz
The artist, Pete Abrams, creates Sluggy Freelance as a web-comic.
He draws the strips by hand, and then scans them in, using computer
programs to add coloring to Sunday strips. He employs the left to
right sequencing of frames to represent movement through time. Unlike
Scott McCloud, Abrams seems to view the internet as a forum for displaying
comics as they would be displayed in a newspaper or other forms of
print media.
When looking at comics online, I find that I look for comics that
vary significantly from the comics I might see in a newspaper or magazine.
I often look for the video game-like quality to the images, and, perhaps,
have come to expect these types of images. Usually, online comics
express that they are online through the digitally created images
or through some other aspect such as layouts not found in print (ie.
Scott McCloud).
I found that Sluggy Freelance did not acknowledge the differences
between print media and the web as forums for comics. It did not express
the differences, but rather, treated itself as a printed comic would.
I found that this did not detract from the comic content, nonetheless,
one might be less attracted to this site upon first inspection. This
seems to imply that comics can exist on the web just as they traditionally
have in print, and, that perhaps, the online comics that do acknowledge
and/or take advantage of the technology of the web represent a different
subdivision of comics.
Although the artist did not use the web technologies to create his
comics differently from printed comics, he did utilize web technologies
to create a community based around his comic. This is an integral
part of web technology, as this almost real-time communication within
a community has not previously been available. The web is an ideal
forum for building such a community and for gaining a dedicated fan
base for Abrams' work.
Abrams also utilizes the micro-payment. This service, as Scott McCloud
presents it, allows the reader to pay the artist in a more direct
manner than payment for comic books. The artist is trying to generate
some revenue through technologies that are available only on the web.
In addition to the micro-payment, a Sluggy Store is accessible through
the website. This is another commonly used method of generating revenue
through the web.
The Sluggy Freelance website shows that there may be a strong argument
to be made about more traditional comics on the web. Sluggy has a
strong fan base, possibly strengthened by web forums and discussion
boards. If this fan base is dedicated enough to the comic, perhaps
Abrams will generate revenue through his web-based comic. However,
we should be careful not to measure the success of this comic only
on the revenue it generates online.