Is there really a big difference between a graphic novel and a comic book? Besides the spiffy cover I mean, and the price. Physical graphic novels, the kind made of paper and ink, can cost ten times what a comic cost. They use nicer paper stock and often sport richer colors and primo artwork, while comics try to keep the cost down by using inexpensive paper and are loaded up with advertising.
At the end of the day, however, it’s the story and artwork the fans of both mediums shell out the bucks for. Now that tablet devices are widespread the two mediums seem inconsequential. Both comics and graphic novels can look the same on these new devices. They offer new ways to present the images and stories.
With tablets, of course, there is less permanence. 50 years from now we won’t find a beat up copy of a digital graphic novel in an old attic trunk. If my iPad physically survives that long you can believe the battery won’t, so there will be no nostalgic flipping of musty, mite infested pages, no snickering at stupid and dated ads, and no marveling the cover art. All of the effort, all that art would be gone, to quote Roy Batty of Blade Runner fame, ” …like tears in rain.”
Damn! Now I’m depressed. To cheer myself up I need to be entertained, and one way I can do that is to see if my daughter has posted anything new on her Web-comic site, 25 to Life. It’s a funny comic, and new strips appear often.
When I’m not shamelessly plugging family member’s comic sites, I find Burn Notice to be highly entertaining. The problem is that Burn Notice is a seasonal show, and it’s hard to know what season it’ll appear in. I could get my fix by watching full episodes online on my iMac. (The USA Network website uses Flash, so iOS devices are out of luck. Haven’t they heard of HTML 5?)