Webcomics created using GA artwork?

[Count Otto Black]

This concept interests me because I'm thinking of putting together such a thing, and thanks to the astonishing number of PD images available, mostly on this site, and a clever little app called Photoshop, it sounds as though it ought to be fairly easy. Yet I haven't seen that many attempts to do it, and nearly all of them do what Seanbaby over on Cracked does - use the original comic totally unaltered apart from rewriting the speech bubbles, usually to make a not very original point, such as: Aquaman's a waste of space, Robin looks a bit gay, and fighting crime by dressing up as an old lady isn't really all that plausible.

In fact, I've only seen one serious attempt to write a totally new ongoing tale by collaging elements from multiple GA comics in a new and interesting way, and that was a dismal failure due to a horribly ill-advised storyline. Which is odd, because 80 years ago Max Ernst arguably invented the graphic novel by cutting up and recombining artwork from sensational 19th-century literature in his groundbreaking and still influential trilogy of "collage novels", so it's not exactly a new idea.

So, two questions. Firstly, has such a thing been done successfully already, and I've missed it because if I tried to check out every webcomic in existence, I'd spend the next few centuries looking at a zillion pages of 99.99% dreck?

And secondly, are there any comics in your database which would particularly lend themselves to this kind of treatment? Bonus points would include especially good artwork and high-quality printing with vivid colour, unusually detailed and/or bizarre imagery, clearly defined people, objects, creatures, etc. that can easily be snipped out, an artist who really knows how to draw people with interestingly varied poses and expressions, and ideally a few long-running series either about obscure non-costumed heroes whom nobody will recognise, or featuring such people in the supporting cast, so that I can rename them and use them as my major characters. If a good artist habitually draws very similar-looking people in unconnected stories, that would work just as well.

Suggestions, anybody...?

[Roygbiv666]

Wish I could help, but it does sound interesting - sort of the visual equivalent of the kind of recombination of elements that characterize Alan Moore's stuff.

Or something.

Fletcher Hank's Stardust, Fantomah, and  .... SpaceHawk(?) is pretty weird visually.

[Yoc]

There is an excellent example of what you are talking about - the creator talks about it and shares his link in this topic -

http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/index.php/topic,3633.0.html

There's a lot to enjoy!

[Count Otto Black]

Er... actually, Yoc, the example you give is the one I meant when I said I'd only seen this kind of thing seriously attempted once, and it flopped due to being very poorly conceived. That comic is a master-class in how NOT to do this kind of thing! The fact that they included a list of chapter-headings for the projected epic, but gave up maybe a tenth of the way in because it wasn't attracting enough interest for it to be worth bothering to carry on says it all.

I'll be keeping my political opinions, whatever they may be, strictly to myself instead of shoving them down the readers' throats when all they want is to be entertained or amused - two things tub-thumping political rants seldom manage to do. And I have no intention of spending 20 HOURS PER PANEL!!! applying visual gimmicks, even if this would allow the characters to jiggle about as if the entire comic has epilepsy. Which, as ideas go, is almost as good as fighting crime by dressing up as an old lady.

[Yoc]

Now Otto, you might not have enjoyed Zoink's work but I would disagree.  I think he did a pretty good job.  He's certainly put a massive amount of work into the project.  You might not have enjoyed the politics of his story but some of his readers, myself included, thought he was doing some very nice work.  I like how he explained each panel so we got a solid idea of just how much he had to do to make it happen.  In fact he's even produced a DCM banner for us to use in the near future.  I hope if you decide to try it you can manage something as well made and hopefully in a less time consuming manner.

Good luck with your own project.

-Yoc
Founder of the Madam Fatal Fan Club.

[bchat]

The fact that they included a list of chapter-headings for the projected epic, but gave up maybe a tenth of the way in because it wasn't attracting enough interest for it to be worth bothering to carry on says it all.

Actually, "The American Rabbit" got about as far as most webcomics I've seen, which in most cases says nothing about the number readers being attracted to the work, but rather it says everything about the level of interest the creator is able to maintain in work that is paying them nothing for all the effort & time they put into it.  I've seen popular webcomics stop dead because the creators just went "this isn't worth my time anymore ... I've got bills to pay!"

Back to your original question, "are there any comics in your database which would particularly lend themselves to this kind of treatment?", I'd imagine that there are tons of images to work with, but I doubt anyone can really point you in the right direction when only you know exactly what story you're interested in telling.  Why not just draw the story yourself?

[narfstar]

The 3D effects were optional to the user. I think it was a pretty well done work. He could have saved a lot of time by only putting the 3D on panels, and the parts of a panel, where it would be most effective. I agree some just looked frenetic but other panels it worked well.