Re: Comics

[Millman_Harvey <millman -at- JMBCORP -dot- MHS -dot- COMPUSERVE -dot- COM>]

>From: "Delaney, Misti"
>To: MILLMAN; Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
>Subject: FW: Comics
>Date: Saturday, July 29, 1995 2:58AM
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ---
>From: Price, Becca
>Subject: RE: Comics
>Date: Thursday, July 27, 1995 1:26PM

>this is really late, but I'm just getting around to reviewing all the stuff
>I've been accumulating.

>nora asks the good question:
>>Since so many of us learn visually, why not try to teach some of these
>>topics through comics?

>my answer is simple, tho not a good one: I am a writer, not an artist.  I
>am, in fact, artistically blind. I wouldn't know how to use a cartoon if
>someone gave me one, much less how to design one that said what I want it
to
>say.

> -becca
> ----------
>I read comic books also, and I can't even justify them by calling them
>"graphic novels" (an attempt, in my mind, to justify a form that shouldn't
>need >justifying or legitimizing) . Mine are simply "adult comics." Some
examples?

>"RAW" (put out by "Maus" writer Art Spiegelman and his wife, Francoise
>Mouly)
>"HATE" (Peter Bagge) "WEIRDO" (now sort of defunct, since R. Crumb and
Aline
>Kominsky-Crumb moved to France--but they've put one out since, and will
>probably do more) "DIRTY PLOTTE" (Julie Doucet, from Quebec--sorry if this
>word offends any
>Canadians) and anything by Dori Seda, Mary Fleener, M.K. Brown, and a host
>of others.

>I'm surprised at technical writers' general resistance to using cartoons/
>pictures in our work. Not only do they help explain complex procedures, and
>provide examples, they also break up the text and give the user a bit of a
>rest. Since so many of us learn visually, why not try to teach some of
these
>topics through comics?

>Nora
>merhar -at- edsvcs -dot- switch -dot- rockwell -dot- com
 ------------------------------------------
Nora, Becca, Misti, and all,

We've mentioned it before, but take a look at Scott McCloud's book
"Understanding
Comics" (subtitled _The Invisible Art_) (Kitchen Sink Press, 2nd printing
1993,
ISBN 0-87816-243-7, about $10).  If you'd like a copy of Geoff Hart's review
of the
book (which he posted here back in April), let me know.  No sense in
cluttering the
list.  The book will significantly increase your visual literacy, and your
enjoyment
and appreciation of this mostly misunderstood art form.

On the use of cartoons in technical documentation, does anyone remember an
experiment from IBM when the first PC came out?  Some IBM documentors
created a "comic book" introductory users' guide.  It was presented at a
SHARE
meeting.  (SHARE is an IBM users' group for companies with large computers.)
The audience gave the creators a standing ovation.  I never saw it again, so
it's
safe to say that the IBM hierarchy didn't buy it.  I haven't looked through
my
memorabilia (read: "junk") to see if I saved a copy.  It was brilliant.

 -- Harv
millman -at- jmbcorp -dot- mhs -dot- compuserve -dot- com