grigs

October 29, 2009 11:52 am It is also in Eugene, Oregon, not Portland. About two hours south of Portland.

October 3, 2009 1:45 pm

@drakedangerz It's not simply every caption, it is every panel, panel layout, and even the perspective and distance in each panel. It's really quite a feat. I greatly enjoy flipping between the front and back to see the contrasts on a panel by panel basis.

October 1, 2009 3:33 pm

@josh cool. thanks.

The more I think about this book, the more impressed I am with the craft of it. at the surface level, the character development and story is exceptional. You pretty much get wrapped up in that on the first reading.

But the second reading has all of the craft of the story being a mirror, the same panels from different views. What a great book.

October 1, 2009 12:28 pm

Josh,

From your review, you make it sound like the whole issue was Xamot talking. I don't have the issue in front of me so I can't verify it, but I thought it was first half Tomax, second half Xamot.

The way that I read it was that the narrator changed half way through. The color of the narrator box changed during the double page spread that showed both characters.

It was one of the reasons why I appreciated this issue so much. Tomax and Xamot are identical twins, but with names that are opposites. I found myself thinking about the issue being about their ying yang nature. How from the outside they are identical like the two parts of the ying yang, but in fact are opposites--competing and complimentary forces.

The entire story echoed their lives and their personalities. You see moments from Tomax's perspective that he thinks are awesome that Xamot is bored with. And while the pivotal moment is Chuckle's cutting Xamot, the contrasting views have been there beneath the surface the whole time.

September 30, 2009 6:10 pm Can't wait for Apple's tablet to come out, for real digital comics to appear, and for motion comics to go the way of the dodo.

August 20, 2009 12:05 am

Upon further reflection, I think motion comics is an attempt to capture an audience that doesn't currently read comics. An attempt to expand the audience.

I'm primarily interested in digital delivery of the traditional comic book form. That traditional comic book form is read, not watched, but otherwise the aspect ratio, flow, etc. can all be played with. That's the experimentation I'm hoping for.

Longbox and Comixology are the two most promising developments in this space.

August 19, 2009 1:40 pm Bought it and watched 5 minutes then couldn't continue. So frustrating.

August 19, 2009 1:26 pm

When I heard Bendis talk about this project, I had very high hopes. They talked about Maleev and him designing the book with the contraints in mind.

I thought what they meant was understanding the aspect ratio of the conversion from print to digital and using that in the layout design. It's more constraining than not worrying about it, but the Watchmen used a 9-panel grid with great success so we know that imposing a layout constraint doesn't have to damn a book and its art.

The way I think about it is that there are people who can write books that work just as well in issues as in trade. Twenty years ago people didn't have to write with both in mind, but now it can be done successfully. The same will be true at some point of print and digital.

Instead of getting something that shows how designing for both mediums at the same time can be done, we get a motion comic. Sigh...

August 18, 2009 10:33 am

So disappointed that you throw something up at http://ifanboy.com/mayhem

June 28, 2009 11:03 pm FYI: I'm listening to Rucka on Word Balloon. He refuses to say whether or not Batman that shows up is Bruce or Dick. He says they are doing  everything they can to remove Detective from the continuity so that it can't be dated.