McCloud Part II: More on Web Commics

I was very impressed by the web comic found by Michele. Like me, She also used a Scott McCloud web comic, yet hers was very different from mine. The very format of Mimi's Last Coffee was indeed very different despite having the same author. The format of Mimi's last coffee was actually numerous comics in one, utilizing the nearly endless space of the computer by making a choose your own story type of format. A format which McCloud writes about in his book Understanding Comics The Invisible Art, in which he states "The Idea that the reader might choose a direction is still considered exotic" (105). While this may be true in a print source it seems to blend well in the electronic format where movement up and down apart of the technology.

Another distinguishing difference from Mimi's Last Coffee in comparison to the web comic I used "The right number" is the use of color. Where the right number seems to be trying more realistic colors images, Mimi's Last Coffee uses only basic line drawings and one color, red, to emphasize certain aspects, such as the woman's hair. Color is something that can be utilized more readily in electronic media then in other simply due to the cost. In print media the cost of ink is very expensive, in electronic media colors are no more expensive then black and white pictures. So while McCloud is able to use red to accent certain features on his web comic he may not have had the opportunity had it been a print source. McCloud makes the claim that there are two issues with color and comics one is commerce which we already discussed the other is technology. McCloud states, "Color in Comics has always been unually sensitive to shifting tides of technology" (186). The electronic world is only going to allow comics to improve and change more frequently since it takes out the first issue, and allows for such variety.