Cellphone Soap Operas
I read this yesterday. Interesting article about people using PSP's to view bootleg Manga as .jpg files. I read it and thought "Why doesn't anyone just create original comics for these things, instead of stealing existing manga?" The whole thing reminded me of cellphones and handheld computers. There are people dabbling in that already, I'd like to be one of 'em.Stan Lee's new company has a couple of projects in development on phones, but I've a feeling that his current work won't really strike a chord with the audience the way it once did. His most recent comics work and the animation he's been working on haven't really appealed to me. Nothin' against Stan, mind you. I love Stan, really.
Put down the broken beer bottle, please, True Believer. All I'm saying is that to really hook the audience, one would have to create something modern and mainstream, a comic for people who don't currently read comics.
Still, it's a great idea. I think Hold My Life would work as a subscription-based comic that you could view on a cellphone or pda. I just need to get more episodes done. It's a mainstream story, accessible to a non-comics fan, (my friends who aren't comic book readers seem to be getting it) and best of all, I'm told (hey Barry) that it can be done with Flash, which is a must. I'd have to modify the dimensions of the display to match that of a cellphone, and the text would have to be a lot bigger in proportion, but it's doable. I'll have to look into that as a possibility once I've got some more episodes under my belt. Right now, with only two episodes done, it'd be completely ridiculous.
I can't help but think that comics publishers are missing what could eventually be a very lucrative boat with cellphones and handheld computers. It's sailing off right beside the webcomics boat, which they're also missing. Marvel and DC both pretty much ignore the possibility of comics going digital. As near as I can tell, a majority of comics fans seem to dismiss that possibility too. They love having the actual paper comic book in their hands.
Then again, the folks reading comics seem to be, little by little, losing interest. There are books whose sales are going up, and trades seem to do well, but mostly the trend still seems to be that of a gentle decline. Thankfully, it's a more gentle decline than in the past. I think we're just losin' em to attrition and inflation.
If the old fans are slowly giving in to apathy, and there still don't seem to be enough new fans coming into the hobby to replace them, then maybe it's time to cultivate a new audience. Comics on cellphones and handhelds would be a perfect way to expose that new audience (or a bunch of lapsed comics fans) to comics.
Then again, maybe it's just another unrealistic pipe dream of mine.
posted by Dale Ingram @ 3:42 PM
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