Stephan Pastis interviewed on Comics Coast to Coast

Comments ³

1. Danny Burleson

   I listened to the Pastis interview twice. I’m not sure if I agree with his ideas about animation, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye while we go through this comics transition.

2. Mike S

   I agree with Danny that I don’t think animation is really the answer. I’d hate to think that the comic strip would have to evolve into an animated short in order to stay relevant.

3. Norm Feuti

   Wow, I was thinking the exact same thing. I think there’s definitely a market for the kind of thing he was describing – sort of an animated GIF version of a comic strip with audio downloaded to your mobile device – but I don’t think comic strips in general need to become that to survive.

   I think there will always be an audience for traditional sequential art. It’s not the format of newspaper comics that younger audiences generally don’t relate to … just the subject matter and delivery system.

   Sort of on the same subject:

   I don’t know why more newspapers aren’t doing what the Seattle Post Intelligencer & Houston Chronicle do with their websites. They must get a huge draw from all over the country just for their comic sections alone.

   Seems to me like a no brainer for all newspapers to use comic strips on their websites in this way to attract visitors. Online it’s even possible to track exactly how many visitors any specific comic strip is being read by and subsequently determine it’s value to the newspaper … taking the guesswork out of a feature’s overall popularity and doing away with the “need” for reader polls.

   Maybe there’s a good reason newspapers don’t do this, but wouldn’t this be the perfect way to replicate the comic strip’s traditional role online AND preserve the way cartoonists make their money – through an accumulation of individual sales to newspapers.