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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Andertoons on My PSP

I’m a mid-thirties male, so it kinda goes without saying that I’m into video games.

I wouldn’t say I’m a hardcore gamer; I’m not playing against or with anyone online in an MMORPG (I actually had to look that up, and to be honest, I’m still not sure I got it right), I’ve never played Halo, or Final Fantasy, and I let my X-Men game take care of leveling me up and all that because I have no idea what it’s talking about. But I do like games!

So recently I bought myself a Sony PSP. I know, I coulda/shoulda waited for the PS3 or the Wii, but in a house with two kids, I needed a game system I could tote around more easily.

For the past few weeks I’ve been happily playing Loco Roco and X-Men Legends II, but I’ve been noticing that this little gadget has a lot more to it.

With the wife at a craft fair and both kids napping, I took the opportunity to try out the browser on this and hook it up to my wireless router.

It’s slow. Really slow so far, but I did manage to bring up everyone’s favorite cartoon website!

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Neat huh?

OK, the layout’s kinda screwy here and there, and, again, it’s painfully slow, but it’s pretty damned cool all the same.

And it’s getting my head swirling with all sorts of possibilities! Between iPods and PSPs and whatever the Zune ends up turning out like, this sort of instant personal media bodes well for cartoonists.

OK, back to Loco Roco!

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I Love It When You Speak French!

Tom Richmond’s Batsuit blog got me thinking…

If you could dress up as one cartoon/comic character for Halloween, who would it be?

And don’t hold back – we don’t have to have the costume be practical or economical or, heck, even adhere to the laws of physics!

I’ll get things started.

I’d love to be Addams’ Gomez. Not the John Astin Gomez…

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…and certainly not the Raul Julia Gomez…

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but an honest to goodness Addams Gomez:

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OK, everyone, now it’s your turn. Who would you want to be?

(BTW, I simply MUST get one of these t-shirts!)

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