The Future of Gag Cartoons

Future

Mike Lynch was kind enough to point out a really interesting post from Scott Kurtz about possible future webcomic/traditional comic hybrids. (Just keep it away from the Cylons!)

It got me thinking about the future of my own often ignored little corner of the cartoon world.

Not so much about content per se; I’m not concerned with being topical or following the current humor flavor. But delivery, marketing, technology… That’s the stuff that fascinates me most.

Myself, a number of other cartoonists, and, of course, the 800 pound monocle, have found ways to earn a living online, or, at the very least, supplement traditional revenue streams. But I’m always wondering what’s next…

That iPhone looks promising. I think it’s probably the first device of its kind that would make reading comics and cartoons on your cell easy and enjoyable. Is there a market there? Will people pay for it? Is it more of a marketing tool to get people to your site?

There’s a lot of cartoon stock houses online, and I’ve considered expanding Andertoons similarly, but how can that system be improved? More cartoonist control? More user interaction? Do I even want to go there?

What about animation? I worked in Flash for a few months to varying degrees of artistic success, but do gag cartoons translate well? Would a static image with an audio track suffice? How much animation is enough?

Got me, but I can tell you one thing, if there’s a leading edge of gag cartooning, that’s where I’m most interested in being.

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