Rouquette, Sébastien

Comic Blogs: Between Blogs and Comic Strips - 2009.


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Are comic blogs primarily of interest as a new experiment in graphics (the comic strip aspect) or because of the specific type of relationship with readers (the blog aspect) they allow? Blogs are obviously one way for authors to self-publish their work without any constraints, whether editorial, economic or in page lay-out. But comic blogs are first and foremost a graphic blogging practice. When questioned, their authors emphasise the possibilities for testing their stories live (thanks to blogging interactiveness), for building up a network of initially virtual and subsequently real links with other cartoonists working through blogs (blogosphere networks), for reaching new readers thanks to free access to their stories (free-access culture), anywhere and at any time (including in the workplace), but also the fact that these comic blogs meet new reading expectations. Comic blogs are interactive, wide open to the world, accessible to a wide audience and focused on daily life, and as such they reflect above all a closer relationship with the public, rather than new trends in graphics.