Innovation

Innovation is something that I think haunts lots of different forms of media. All these different industries are constantly trying to reinvent themselves in order to feel current and valid. You can now stream movies instantly with different services, nearly anywhere. You can buy books to read on your phone. And while being a bit dated, you can purchase nearly any song in the world for only $0.99. So what kind of innovations exist in the comic book industry?

(“What an exciting time to be alive”)

Well the most commonly found innovation is the ability to have quick access to whatever form of media you like. This became abundant with the use of smartphones and tablets. Like other industries, comic books have a couple of apps that can get you digital issues whenever you’d like. Yet here is where the innovation of comic books shines. Say you were to buy a physical copy of a Marvel comic book, well in that copy there is a code that you can use in the Marvel Comics App, which gives you a digital version of that issue as well (Note that this is a relatively new feature, so older issues don’t have these codes in them). This way you can access these comics at any time as long as you have a smartphone/tablet ready. Now, we already see this kind of innovation with music and sometimes movies, but comic books go even further than this. Inside this Marvel Comics App, exists something called Marvel AR (augmented reality). So what does AR do? Well, for example when you’re reading a digital comic book a new character makes an appearance from another series, and you don’t know who they are, you can touch the AR button and get that character’s bios instantly. Pretty nifty feature, especially if you’re new to comics.

(The Marvel AR App in use)

Another innovation in the comic book industry is Kickstarter. Now, Kickstarter is a heavily relied on source for independent film makers who may have been turned down by big movie studios for not having enough experience.  This gives them a chance to have a real budget in order to make a film and show producers what they can really do. The same thing goes for comics. Artists and writers who get turned down by publishers will try to get their project funded on Kickstarter. This gives them a chance to show people their true talents, and gives those who chose to invest, something to look forward to. Kickstarter also lets artists/writers create something that may not be a traditional form of comic book. An example of this is Mike Del Mundo’s “Daily Commute”. It was a project that got successfully funded and was, in turn, published. Yet the whole thing is just depictions of people seen by him on public transportation. There’s no story, no way to turn it into a series, so publishers would tend to stay away. Yet, all in all, it’s a cool concept, and enough people agreed, which made it a reality.

(Promotional example for “Daily Commute”)

And while we’re on this topic of non-conventional comic books, let’s go even deeper. Changing the layout of what makes a comic a comic, is another form of innovation. It changes what people’s perceptions of comic books, and opens the door for ‘what’s next?’ to be asked. So let’s take a look at super new series: Marvel Knights: Spider-Man (this just got released like two weeks ago). Now, being a five-part series, done completely by people who are relatively unknown in the comic book industry, they did something truly innovated here. The entire book has no panels. All the artwork flows together, the text flows into the art, and heck, totally different genres of art flow together. Now (to my knowledge), this is the first use of this technique throughout an entire issue, let alone a series. I think that they have a little bit of fine tuning to be done, but ultimately, I think more comics will start to follow this style, at least to an extent. It makes for a more stimulating experience, with no awkward breaks or transitions.

(Page from Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #1)

No one can really say where innovation will go next, or what changes will be made to an industry. However, I feel that comic books are heading in the right direction. The ability to have access to comic books at any given time, and at any given place via your phone/tablet is amazing. As well as questioning what even makes up a comic book altogether, will ultimately lead to some interesting changes in the industry. Who can say what will be next?