T Campbell's Blog
Writer of Penny and Aggie, Fans (also called Faans), Rip & Teri, Search Engine Funnies and A History of Webcomics. Experienced webcomics editor, currently seeking full-time work and working on strange and interesting new things...Friday, December 16, 2005
Making A Marvel Out Of A Molehill.
Marvel has announced its bold plan to conquer webcomics for the third time, and amazingly, people are wondering if This Will Change Everything.
If I needed an argument that the world needs a history of webcomics, I'd have none better than this bald retcon. This is not a "launch." It is at best a relaunch, if not just a renaming. The timeline, in brief:
Marvel joins the Web in late 1996, first with a secret investors-only site, but soon enough with onslaught.com and then with Marvelonline.com. Its early site hawks "cool animation" (check the "alt" tags) and its "Marvel CyberComics" achieve a certain degree of distinction, at least theoretically, by using limited animation and sound. This is enough to attract a license from another website you've probably never even heard of [scroll to fifth item], which gets bought out less than a year later.
Webcomics readers completely ignore Cybercomics. Despite attractive bells and whistles, the stories read like "Marvel Generica #1-12." Marvel doesn't see fit to pay much to produce the work, nor does it offer much creative latitude, so... Guess what? Spidey's life is tough, and the Hulk is misunderstood!
After the dot-com crash, Marvel starts putting out an all-new "dot-comics" lineup of repurposed comic books. This is hardly the bold new frontier that Cybercomics represented, but it certainly could work if done in crushing volume. Marvel has a huge back-issue archive and presenting comics online, done right, can actually encourage people to buy them offline. (We knew this long before Girl Genius.)
Yet in a surprising reversal of traditional online publishing, Marvel's offerings actually seem to get *fewer* as time goes on. A 2002 review mentions 21 comics available for a single series. But in 2004, the dotcomics section offers "just a few" comics, in fact just exactly a dozen.
And today it has four.
This week, Marvel "launched" its Digital Comics section (though its homepage announces it as a "rebirth," so apparently even MARVEL doesn't believe that Digital Comics differ from Dotcomics. Also, Marvel still has a "dotcomics" link at the bottom of the site, which redirects to the new section).
Marvel promises that the paucity of material on the new site is a temporary situation. If so, it's a temporary situation three years in the making. They say they're going to get production up till there's a new comic almost every day. I'll believe it when I see it.
Okay, so we've gone down from 21+ to 12 to 4. But what about the quality?
The selection is... not bad. Not the best items Marvel's published, and only one that even resembles a completed story, but if you like superheroes and their universes they're pretty decent offerings...
...wrapped in an interface that simulates the experience of reading comic books, assuming you read comic books by either holding them at fully extended arm's length, or repeatedly slapping yourself in the face with them. And assuming that the comics' art is highly pixelated while the text is clear.
This interface, scarcely altered from the Dotcomics interface, is Marvel's concession to The Future. As before, it's a few bells and whistles, artlessly slapped onto what they could get for cheap.
Marvel has the intellectual property and the talent base to well and truly change the face of webcomics. And print comics for that matter. What it doesn't have is the culture.
Infinite canvas could give Spider-Man more room to swing, leap, and kick. The team behind Runaways could pen a magnificent strip in the Questionable Content vein (with beguiling ties to their Runaways characters). In a crossover along the lines of what Marvel usually does with DC, Helen Narbon could show the Fantastic Four's other mad-scientist foes how the game is PLAYED. Marvel could open up a vast database of characters a la its old Marvel Universe and use hyperlinks to clarify its labrynthine continuity. The new genres and styles and ideas of webcomics and the well-established, much-loved creations of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (and their acolytes) could interact in ways that tickled the brain and stirred the heart.
But none of that will happen until Marvel, Inc. sees money in it. And Marvel has a 45-year-old tradition of celebrating its past. It's not so good with the future.
Its own online past is proof of that.
If I needed an argument that the world needs a history of webcomics, I'd have none better than this bald retcon. This is not a "launch." It is at best a relaunch, if not just a renaming. The timeline, in brief:
Marvel joins the Web in late 1996, first with a secret investors-only site, but soon enough with onslaught.com and then with Marvelonline.com. Its early site hawks "cool animation" (check the "alt" tags) and its "Marvel CyberComics" achieve a certain degree of distinction, at least theoretically, by using limited animation and sound. This is enough to attract a license from another website you've probably never even heard of [scroll to fifth item], which gets bought out less than a year later.
Webcomics readers completely ignore Cybercomics. Despite attractive bells and whistles, the stories read like "Marvel Generica #1-12." Marvel doesn't see fit to pay much to produce the work, nor does it offer much creative latitude, so... Guess what? Spidey's life is tough, and the Hulk is misunderstood!
After the dot-com crash, Marvel starts putting out an all-new "dot-comics" lineup of repurposed comic books. This is hardly the bold new frontier that Cybercomics represented, but it certainly could work if done in crushing volume. Marvel has a huge back-issue archive and presenting comics online, done right, can actually encourage people to buy them offline. (We knew this long before Girl Genius.)
Yet in a surprising reversal of traditional online publishing, Marvel's offerings actually seem to get *fewer* as time goes on. A 2002 review mentions 21 comics available for a single series. But in 2004, the dotcomics section offers "just a few" comics, in fact just exactly a dozen.
And today it has four.
This week, Marvel "launched" its Digital Comics section (though its homepage announces it as a "rebirth," so apparently even MARVEL doesn't believe that Digital Comics differ from Dotcomics. Also, Marvel still has a "dotcomics" link at the bottom of the site, which redirects to the new section).
Marvel promises that the paucity of material on the new site is a temporary situation. If so, it's a temporary situation three years in the making. They say they're going to get production up till there's a new comic almost every day. I'll believe it when I see it.
Okay, so we've gone down from 21+ to 12 to 4. But what about the quality?
The selection is... not bad. Not the best items Marvel's published, and only one that even resembles a completed story, but if you like superheroes and their universes they're pretty decent offerings...
...wrapped in an interface that simulates the experience of reading comic books, assuming you read comic books by either holding them at fully extended arm's length, or repeatedly slapping yourself in the face with them. And assuming that the comics' art is highly pixelated while the text is clear.
This interface, scarcely altered from the Dotcomics interface, is Marvel's concession to The Future. As before, it's a few bells and whistles, artlessly slapped onto what they could get for cheap.
Marvel has the intellectual property and the talent base to well and truly change the face of webcomics. And print comics for that matter. What it doesn't have is the culture.
Infinite canvas could give Spider-Man more room to swing, leap, and kick. The team behind Runaways could pen a magnificent strip in the Questionable Content vein (with beguiling ties to their Runaways characters). In a crossover along the lines of what Marvel usually does with DC, Helen Narbon could show the Fantastic Four's other mad-scientist foes how the game is PLAYED. Marvel could open up a vast database of characters a la its old Marvel Universe and use hyperlinks to clarify its labrynthine continuity. The new genres and styles and ideas of webcomics and the well-established, much-loved creations of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (and their acolytes) could interact in ways that tickled the brain and stirred the heart.
But none of that will happen until Marvel, Inc. sees money in it. And Marvel has a 45-year-old tradition of celebrating its past. It's not so good with the future.
Its own online past is proof of that.
Comments:
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When you don't have a mouse -- like when you're sitting on your couch with your Powerbook -- those zooming, clicking infiniteractive (hey! I made up a new word!) comics aren't very easy to "read". I'd rather click *once* to read each "page" of something like Atland, than click a dozen times to make my way through a 2 page spread from a print comic. It just makes me want the printed comic in my hand instead -- but then, that's probably the point...
Your cynicism is addictive, T. *chuckle* My review of Marvel Online is considerably less enthusiastic than it would have been yesterday.
Though I do admit, part of it is being beaten to the punch. You did a far more elegant job of talking about this than I ever could. *laughter*
Still, I gave it a shot. And who knows... maybe they'll listen. Probably not... but maybe. *laughter*
Take care, and thank you again for your assistance in this, T.
Robert A. Howard
Though I do admit, part of it is being beaten to the punch. You did a far more elegant job of talking about this than I ever could. *laughter*
Still, I gave it a shot. And who knows... maybe they'll listen. Probably not... but maybe. *laughter*
Take care, and thank you again for your assistance in this, T.
Robert A. Howard
Maybe it’s sentiment that makes me want to believe they will eventually get it, but then there is their abysmal failure w/ Manga style too. The great thing about Manga isn’t the art style, but the stories and what does Marvel do? They copy the art style, making Reed Richards look like a twelve year old kid. Will they EVER get it? I agree with you, T, that Marvel won’t do much until they see some money in it. In that respect, I wonder if the problem isn’t so much with Marvel, but with the webcomics themselves. With only a handful of webcomic artists really “making it” why would Marvel dump tons of their own money into a medium that has yet to really prove itself? As a whole, webcomics have proven themselves artistically. Commercially, the jury is still out.
Then there are some of the industry’s own artists and writers “defecting” to the web. I know Graphic Smash or Modern Tales has a couple of people who have been in the “biz”. Right? You mentioned some big names a few weeks ago to Jeff and me, Warren Ellis being one of them, who are eyeing the Internet. For the life of me, I can’t remember the others you told us. Sorry.
All in all this is an interesting development, a sign that Marvel is either willing to come to terms with the web or that they are worried about the web. Whatever the reason, the Internet and the fusion of all media into the Internet is the future even if major players like Marvel do have to be dragged kicking and screaming into it, it is the future.
I still liked the smart panels, even if the resolution did suck. ;)
Then there are some of the industry’s own artists and writers “defecting” to the web. I know Graphic Smash or Modern Tales has a couple of people who have been in the “biz”. Right? You mentioned some big names a few weeks ago to Jeff and me, Warren Ellis being one of them, who are eyeing the Internet. For the life of me, I can’t remember the others you told us. Sorry.
All in all this is an interesting development, a sign that Marvel is either willing to come to terms with the web or that they are worried about the web. Whatever the reason, the Internet and the fusion of all media into the Internet is the future even if major players like Marvel do have to be dragged kicking and screaming into it, it is the future.
I still liked the smart panels, even if the resolution did suck. ;)
One more comment, if I may.
Yes, the interface may suck, to some. It may all be rehash, but for the moment all that is irrelevant. The mere fact that Marvel is testing the Webcomic waters again is what is so intriguing.
Yes, the interface may suck, to some. It may all be rehash, but for the moment all that is irrelevant. The mere fact that Marvel is testing the Webcomic waters again is what is so intriguing.
Patience, T.
I totally agree with you and I too remember dotcomics well when the launched it along with the Ultimate line.
I think they're just feeling things out, and if does well, quality original material may follow.
Some day.
It may take until a major leaguer like Ellis gets in the ring, but that may not happen until this generation of comicers nears retirement and they find themselves financially sound, but with a story or two left over they want to tell, but are sick of dealing with editors and publishers and decide, 'what the hell, I don;t need a major check for this, I'll put it on the web and do it the way I feel like.' At that point it could turn into a major check anyway, but it needs to happen once first.
Maybe.
I totally agree with you and I too remember dotcomics well when the launched it along with the Ultimate line.
I think they're just feeling things out, and if does well, quality original material may follow.
Some day.
It may take until a major leaguer like Ellis gets in the ring, but that may not happen until this generation of comicers nears retirement and they find themselves financially sound, but with a story or two left over they want to tell, but are sick of dealing with editors and publishers and decide, 'what the hell, I don;t need a major check for this, I'll put it on the web and do it the way I feel like.' At that point it could turn into a major check anyway, but it needs to happen once first.
Maybe.
Ellis does have a simple template webcomic called "Edison Hate Future," but it's not like he's billing it as his magnum opus.
I really wanted to read Spiderman online. But they screwed to pooch before they even launched it with a crummy interface from 2001, and a registration demand.
Now I have to get my Spiderman from Scans Daily.
Now I have to get my Spiderman from Scans Daily.
I was cautiously optimistic about this when I heard about it. They do have one staffer who is somewhat familiar with webcomics: John Barber (whose Apocamon was just about the only effective use of limited animation I've ever seen) is an editor there.
But having seen what they're offering (free samples of already-printed series with an awkward interface, rather than original content made with screen and browser in mind), it looks like they're still just putzing around. I mean, you can get a better comic book reading experience on the web using CDisplay, and it's a bare-bones kludge.
But having seen what they're offering (free samples of already-printed series with an awkward interface, rather than original content made with screen and browser in mind), it looks like they're still just putzing around. I mean, you can get a better comic book reading experience on the web using CDisplay, and it's a bare-bones kludge.
Apocamon is Patrick Farley, not John Barber. Barber (who's done some great pieces, including VICIOUS SOUVENIRS on Modern Tales and "Take Two" with me for FANS) has zero input on the webcomics at present-- it's not his department.
What are you talking about, T? John Barber has plenty to do with webcomics!
He does this great one called PartiallyClips. You should check it out.
He does this great one called PartiallyClips. You should check it out.
I = retard. I can't believe I got those two mixed up. Especially since I've met both of them (briefly, but still).
Barber's done Flash stuff, but his use of animation was all navigation. Which is actually what Marvel needs the most help with.
Barber's done Flash stuff, but his use of animation was all navigation. Which is actually what Marvel needs the most help with.
Well done!
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