Sometimes space = space, dammit

Don't strain your eyes too much on this. It basically amounts to a thumbnail for an infinite canvas comic I'll draw some day (maybe). It's a sketch comic that just got out of hand - needs some refinement...
Not all that bad, really. I figured It might give you a little more something to chew on as I'll be out of town, after tomorrow, for the Thanksgiving holiday and won't be posting anything elsefor a little while.

I hope you enjoy these tiny pictures.

Now, I'm not a big fan of the space=time equation that some use as shorthand for "comics," but I see where these people are coming from. Linear narrative defined through spatial relationship (panel to panel) is the primary focus of so much comics storytelling. This comic uses the linear-narrative, space/time relation quite a bit (though there are some "cheats" to that rule) but the thing I find more interesting, here, is the straight-on spatial relationships the narrative uses. This is one thing that I believe the infinite canvas concept could excel at - using relative spatial relationships to tell a story as much as panel to panel narration. Not to say this kind of thing isn't possible in fixed-ratio, page-through storytelling (some do it very well - Chris Ware, Tom Gauld... you know, the design-y, artsy types. Some of the old newspapermen, too; Herriman, McCay, King... but I digress ). I just think the expanded space give more opportunity to explore that relationship. I'm not saying that it's always been put to good use - PoCom UK, once you get past the novelty and all the pretty pictures (some by Ware and Gauld, actually), is a pretty boring way to use the space - it just brings up some interesting possibilities. Sometimes space can be used as just space, and an infinite canvas has plenty to spare.

But, oh wait... nobody even cares about infinite canvas anymore.

oh crap...


If you want something else to chew on, go check out the newly ressurrected Webcomics Examiner. Nobody does webcomics review like the Examiner, and it's return has been a long time coming.
Go welcome it back.