Steven Grant Writes On Fell Format

The comics writer and industry columnist Steven Grant takes on a chatboard thread at The Engine on the "Fell format" embodied by the Image comics Fell and Casanova, a format that Grant describes better than I could: "A self-contained, low price 24 page comic with 16 pages of compacted story that reads denser than the book physically is."

Both Grant's mini-essay and the discussion to which it links prove pretty wonky. The discussion part also wanders into some odd areas, mostly I think because it's hard for a creator-driven discussion of industry reform to imagine reform in which everyone participating may not have the chops to take a part. But they do provide the opportunity to note a new format, particularly one that comes on the serial pamphlet (comic book, comics magazine) side of things as opposed to the book (trade paperback collection, original graphic novel) end of the medium. It may be that the specific strengths of the Fell format -- low price point, attention to stand-alone narratives, etc. -- are less important than the fact that more attention is being paid to getting more non-mainstream work published in a recurring, more manageable fashion. In art comics, for instance, you have the Ignatz line, the re-release of seminal series like Ed The Happy Clown in comics format, and a slight resurgence in single-creator single-title books for developing cartoonists.

I'm encouraged by the thought that the bulk of the American comics industry may actually pursue multiple avenues of expression and ways of reaching audiences instead of hopscotching to the most immediately profitable model and focusing on that one thing like a jilted lover in a bad slasher movie.
 
posted 10:02 pm PST | Permalink
 

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