…this collaboration with writer Alexander Danner from 2005 is five kinds of wonderful if you’ve never read it. Reading it again yesterday, I was reminded of Neil Gaiman at his most dry (and most succinct—it’s a quick read). 

Neal Von Flue used the original “infinite canvas” application developed at Vienna’s University of Technology by Markus Müller under the supervision of Peter Purgathofer in 2003-2004 (not to be confused with Microsoft Live Lab’s recent experiment). The app isn’t being actively developed anymore, but a few artists gave it a try with some cool results. The implementation on Alexander and Neal’s story is simple, but I think it adds a lot to the reading experience.

Tymothi Godek offers a gargantuan sidescroller simply called “!” that I enjoyed— it’s just a “rough draft” but an entertaining and brain-bending read nonetheless.

Thanks to the Neal Von Flue (no slouch in this department himself) for pointing us to “!” in the comments section of the XKCD post from Friday. Tymothi’s experiment, like the much shorter XKCD strip is playing with parallel narratives, but ramping it up with more characters and some great intersections. Despite the crazed fantasy storyline, Tym is mapping the sort of intersecting, branching, and colliding paths that people in real life take all the time, but that only comics can make visible. Very cool.

Audio of the TCAF panels here. I sound really crazy.

Also:
“Note: Scott occasionally uses foul language, but very politely.”

(Politely or not, you might want to skip this one, Mom!)

XKCD goes parallel.

One of the byproducts of all those ancient infinite canvas debates (nestled in webcomics history right after the Clone Wars and shortly before the Norman Conquest) was the idea of the spatial nature of story structure.

So many of the terms we use for stories (rising action, turning points, parallel/intersecting plots, circular narratives, multiple layers…) have equivalents in space, it seems only natural to make them literal through comics.

It may sound academic to some, but I think the very fact that comics MAPS TIME is pretty frickin’ cool, and I’ll never get tired of seeing smart cartoonists screwing around with it.

Here’s a question for whoever is out there this morning:

I get a lot of emails and questions on the road from aspiring writers who want to write for comics, but don’t think they have any drawing ability and want to find someone to collaborate with. I could tell them to draw it themselves anyway (and suggest hunting down some Matt Feazell or John Porcellino comix as inspiration). I could be obnoxious and tell ’em to stick to prose. But I want to at least give them some useful answers in case they have their heart set on Plan A.

The problem is, I don’t really know how aspiring writers find aspiring artists to collaborate with these days. I know there have to be online resources, listings, message boards, etc. for “writer seeking artist.” Anybody know what those are?

Oh! And speaking of Matt Feazell:

Best shirt ever.

Just had the pleasure (via Bob Weil at Norton) of devouring an advance copy of illustrator David Small’s Stitches: A Memoir due out this fall. Get it and read it when the time comes, it’s strong stuff. Small comes to comics via children’s books, but he’s deadly serious about the form, and exploits it masterfully to paint an unforgettable picture of his harrowing childhood.

There are some amazing books on their way in the next several months. David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp is imminent (just assuming that one’s amazing like everyone else—poor David) and I recently got advance peeks at Hope Larson‘s Mercury and Vera Brosgol‘s in-progress GN for First Second, both of which are the best work to date from these two powerful cartoonists.

Comics is changing. Behind the drawing table, people who would have been content splashing about in other fields a decade ago are swimming to comics’ deep end without even taking a breath. And on the drawing table, there’s a growing understanding of comics’ power to relate emotion, POV, and the warp and weave of memory. The compact, literal, rat-a-tat of post-Kirby mainstream storytelling that I started out reading is finally giving away to something far deeper, stranger, and potentially more beautiful.

Comics may not have its Beethoven yet, but he/she might just be reading this stuff in a year or two, between Math and Social Studies, and realizing for the first time just what they want to do when they grow up.

Ivy just posted a gargantuan LJ entry about our Toronto/TCAF experience, so if you’d like a spouse-eye’s view of our whirlwind weekend, be sure to check it out.

Ivy and I just saw Star Trek. Good cast and fun character moments, big sloppy self-indulgent fanfic plot, typical action film directing (ADHD camera work). Whatever. We had fun.

And since I missed my chance Sunday, belated Mother’s Day wishes to my own Mom and to Ivy. Wouldn’t exist and/or wouldn’t want to without you.

Talked to…

…Ryan North about Music.
…Kate Beaton about Books.
…Bryan Lee O’Malley about Exhaustion.
…Seth about Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka.
…Derek Kirk Kim about Eternal Smile.
…Paul Pope about International Styles.
…Carla Speed McNeil about Hats.
…Faith Erin Hicks about Hair.
…Alec Longstreth about Beards.
…Chris Butcher about OMG we barely saw you!
…Mark Siegel about Mad Men.
…Mark Askwith about Everything Else.

Met…

…Emmanuel Guibert.
…Joey Comeau and Emily Horne.
…Jillian Tamaki (narrowly missed Mariko).
…Nate Powell.
…Miss Lasko Gross.
…Josh Cotter.

Failed…

…to meet the great Yoshihiro Tatsumi.
…to spend more than a minute with many other friends.

Learned that…

…Joey Comeau can be frighteningly loud.
…Rich Stevens should be on every panel.
…Chester Brown carries gigantic bags on his bike.

And much more, but that’s off the top of my head. Thanks to everyone at TCAF for a great weekend!

From the top of the CN Tower (click for big version).

I noticed how from high up and far away, crossing perspective lines resolve to almost parallel, giving an eerie Sims-like quality to the surroundings in photos when zoomed in and cropped. I especially like the people:

I mean, geez. Where are the little floating diamonds, Dude? And yet… as real as you and me.

Life imitates art, example #387,941,229 for your consideration.

…to everyone who disagreed with yesterday’s post (or with each other) for doing so with such energy, good-humor, wit and intelligence. It’s fun to rant once in a while, but it’s also healthy to have that rant thouroughly tested from every direction. You guys are the best.

Off to Toronto now with the whole family. More news after the weekend.