About Newspaper Comics
An ask cross-posted from Cohost, which is not long for this world.
Anonymous User asked:
I would like to know your opinions about newspaper comics
This is a very choose your own adventure kind of question. Am I meant to speak about the art or the business of newspaper strips? The current state of newspaper comics or their century-spanning history? Stream of consciousness it is.
Newspaper comics were the original dream for me before all other dreams. I fell in love with Garfield and the story of its success, and wanted to make a syndicated strip at an early age. Later, I fell in love with Calvin and Hobbes - itself a lesson in craft, history and business - and abandoned the syndication dream for “art by any means necessary”, and dove into webcomics. (There were a few more steps along the way, but that’s the basic trajectory and not uncommon for my age.)
In the 80s and 90s when I was dreaming Garfield dreams, syndicated newspaper strips were already dying. They’d been jam packed so tightly into rectangles in the comics section that no room for great cartooning remained. The schedules were brutal, the audience was broad and apt to complain, and the aging comics legends were phoning in or delegating their work, so even the full-page Sunday strips were gridded and lifeless. Even fresh new artists (rare as they were) were hammered creatively into the shape of the paper. The death of most major newspapers from the late 00s onward spelled the end of Garfield Meredith’s dream.
The thing is, Garfield Meredith would be very pleased with the present day. Comics are bountiful, they’re free to read online, and they’re all accessible from a single app. Even better, the creators interact with their audiences day and night. In comics we have safely returned to the late-stage newspaper syndication model, after a brief “art by any means” era, with 24/7 access to the creators as a bonus. It goes without saying that most of the money these comics generate goes to the platform. As more people discover online comics, the memory of any other model has faded. Comics is a pushover industry, easily steamrolled by detached parties with money.
So what do we do? I’m afraid that’s not what this post is about. Mom’s tired. My heads is not really in the comics game anymore, and big tech & our rotting internet is a problem everywhere. But I think discussions about our history as cartoonists and comics appreciators - and an acknowledgment of what is disappearing - is important. It’s no surprise that Bill Watterson’s stubborn refusal to license, adapt, or needlessly continue his creation past its prime shocked me and many others onto a different path. I think it is useful to be a high-functioning crank in your own age: to fully accept the now without forgetting past possibilities or drawing a border around the future.
And of course, we mustn’t let current trends tame our wild imaginations or our command of the craft. We have been given the tools to create beauty and make sense of life, and these creations - not the platforms that indiscriminately corral them - are worth sharing.
Adventure Game Fan Fair This Weekend
Time flies, and this event is now upon us! If you’re in the Seattle/Tacoma area from July 26-28 and love adventure games, this festival is not to be missed.
I will be exhibiting in-person with demos of Perfect Tides: Station to Station and the original Perfect Tides, alongside some very talented game developers. The show will also be attended by some of the most celebrated figures of the genre, so it is quite an honor to be participating. You can find me at my demo table from Friday to Sunday, hanging at the post-show events, and speaking during a panel about Pixel Art on Sunday at 12:30 (full schedule here).
It’s been a long time since I posted, so how about a brief update while I’m here? Perfect Tides: Station to Station is in a heavy editing stage, where it is necessary (and desirable!) to make each chapter of the game fully playable for people other than myself. There is much to do at this stage, but it is coming along swiftly, and it’s what we’re all here for, yes? I am optimistic that I’ll have something truly ugly-playable and rigorously edited by the fall — tentatively ready for a playtesting pool1 by the end of the year.
So there’s a not-so-fuzzy timeline. There is still so much to do, but holes are starting to look like gaps, and gaps are starting to be filled, and that’s an unbelievable place to be with a game that quite recently felt insurmountable. On we go!
I will be participating in one of LudoNarraCon’s Fireside Chats from May 9-13. I’m speaking with Tony Howard-Arias, co-developer of Slay the Princess, about the pleasures and pitfalls of game development. Come see us as well as many other speakers during the event!
The 25% sale of Perfect Tides continues until 4/30. You can grab a copy here.