Motion Comics Display New View for Watchmen
Popular Medium Available for Download on iTunes, Xbox Live
Dec 27, 2008
Somewhere between a cartoon and a regular paper comic book is a motion comic. This innovative way of experiencing comics provides the viewer/reader with a partially moving screen shots accompanied by voice-overs of dialogue and sound effects.
The pacing and feel of a motion comic is more like that of a movie but motion comics preserve most of the original artwork. Motion comics fully sidestep any ubiquitous “that’s just not how I pictured it” comments that often follow major motion picture adaptation of comics by including original artwork. Dave Gibbons, the original Watchmen graphic novel artist, even supervised the making of the popular Watchmen motion comics, further adding a genuine feel to these comic book adaptations.
Watchmen, Stephen King’s N and MTV’s Invincible Start Trend
The year of the motion comic is certainly 2008, which saw the release of Alan Moore’s Watchmen, Stephen King’s N and Robert Kirkman’s Invincible. These motion comics are each released in ‘issues’ available for download at places like iTunes and X-Box Live.
Each issue includes almost all the original comic book content with sound effects, voice overs and a small amount of motion added. The Watchmen stories run at about 25 minutes- not bad for $1.99 per download.
Warner Premiere Announces Batman, Superman Motion Comics
Following the success of its Watchmen digital comics and the success of Invincible and N, Warner Premiere announced in October that it would be producing more motion comics based on Superman and Batman graphic novels.
Batman: Black and White premiered on Dec 9, 2009 exclusively on iTunes and includes several 6 to11 minute issues for $0.99 each. Warner Premiere is owned by Warner Brothers, which also owns the rights for all DC comic book series (and is currently enmeshed in a bitter dispute with Fox Studios over who owns the Watchmen film rights). The two companies promise to continue to work together to transform more DC stories into motion comics.
For $1-2 per download, these stories are a great way to engage new fans who want to get more genuine take on their favorite super heroes without having to delve into the daunting world of print comics.
Motion Comics a New Way to Experience Graphic Novels
Some have criticized motion comics for this very reason—since there isn’t anything actually ‘new’ about motion comics, it just seems like way to cheaply reproduce the comic while making it seem like something new. Motion Comics=Bad cartoon one viewer went so far as to say. However others disagree, finding that they got more out of the motion comic adaptation than by simply reading the original.
While not everyone agrees that Motion Comics are the next cash crop for the ever-growing pop culture monster that comics have become, they are certainly a new experience that can be pleasing to both new and veteran readers of each respective series.
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