- Each comic had it’s own art style, but there were also several different ways of moving temporally through the story, which I found very interesting, especially after watching Scott McCloud’s TED talk. The Worm World Saga definitely held McCloud’s view that the computer is a window, not a screen, and you moved through the comic by scrolling down through loosely defined panels. The Crimson Fly comic was interesting because it was between animation and a comic, but it still preserved the sequential nature of comics. Girls with Slingshots, the Norm Comics, and xkcd all simply showed panels in a certain order. I was not able to view the Better Call Saul comic unfortunately.
- I would imagine that a big question that they asked themselves was what medium they expected their comics to be consumed. They knew that it would be online, but the more self-contained comics of Girls with Slingshots and xkcd are easier to share with Facebook or other social media, as they are smaller and more static. The Crimson Fly and the Worm World Saga arguably utilize their presence on the internet better, but you have to go to their sites to view them.
- The intended audience differs slightly for each: xkcd seems geared towards short, witty comics suited for social media, while the Worm World Saga seems like it is trying to be a comic for new, young comic readers.
- Initially, I would have changed the comics, but after taking the intended audiences into consideration I would say not. The Norm Comics seems less visually appealing to me than some of the others, but this is the artist’s style and I think that the artists is trying to communicate a different message than the others.
- Aside from artistic and writing skills needed to create all comics, some basic website creation skills are needed for the ones hosted on independent websites. The Worm World Sage requires more in-depth website knowledge to be able to have such smooth scrolling and seamless panel layout. The Crimson Fly obviously requires both comic knowledge and animation skill, and putting them in tandem as the artist did seems very interesting and pretty difficult.
- Personally, I like to start at the first comic in the series, because I like to start at the beginning and work my way forward. It makes me feel better to not have missed things in the beginning. However, I can sympathize with sites that send you to the most recent comic, as that is most useful for people who stay up to date with the comic.
- I think that the Worm World Saga uses the medium extremely effectively, and that the Crimson Fly does a pretty effective job. The other three (once again not including the Better Call Saul comic) don’t quite utilize the internet browser to its full extent, but I believe that they accomplish their goal of a piece that’s more like a newspaper comic.
My reflections on our presence in the digital age and how it impacts our learning today
Daniel's EDU 185 Blog 