In my last post I lamented the increasingly common shrinking of the comics to an unreadable size.
It is important to note hear that "readable" applies not just to the type.
Art must be "readable" as well in a cartoon. A cartoon relies on the visual gag as well as the printed words. Some of my favorite comics by highly accomplished artists are no longer "readable" in the less-than 5" width afforded them by some newspapers.
In a recent Zits cartoon, Pierce is ridding himself of everything he took into his brain during the school year by holding his nose and blowing out his ears. Then he plugs in his ear buds, turns on the tunes, fills up his head, and says "let the vacation begin".
Except, without really close inspection, I couldn't tell that this was what was happening. In my paper, the strip runs at a width of 4 7/8.
In the comments from the previous post, a reader asked about this strip:
There's quite a bit going on in the background. It helps set the scene for the gag, and makes the drawing more fun to look at.
But as we shrink it...
... all that becomes a muddle. What to do? Well, backgrounds become one of the first casualties in a shrinking comic.
I just wanted to let you know that for more than a week now, Stone Soup in the Boston Globe has appeared very blurry. You might want to look into that.
Rich Feinberg, Boston
Posted by: rich feinberg | July 06, 2009 at 09:04 AM
Rich, THANKS! I wouldn't have known. I contacted my syndicate, and it's being fixed.
Sheesh.
The cartoonist is always the last to know! Thank goodness for readers...
Posted by: Jan Eliot | July 06, 2009 at 04:04 PM
The comic is still blurry today (Thursday) - printed as a double image.
Rich
Posted by: rich feinberg | July 09, 2009 at 08:40 AM
I'm a long time Boston Globe reader, and thus a long time Stone Soup reader as well. The comic's been blurry for a few weeks now. I think the problem is that black lines, which should just be printed in black ink, are also getting printed in cyan, magenta and yellow as well.
I think.
Looking forward to crisp Stone Soup, and keep up the good work!
Posted by: Daniel Griscom | July 11, 2009 at 07:07 AM
Mr Griscom's 7/11 comment is correct. The Globe (or whoever provides the material to the Globe) is doing the text in 4 colors. That would be acceptable if it were not for the fact the "G" section - which includes the diminutive comic strips - were not so sloppily produced. You are being done in by the Globe's ongoing inabilty to hold reasonable register quality. Black-only text will only partially cure the problem. Graphic details cannot be both shrunk and printed out of register.
Posted by: Ed Lyons | July 11, 2009 at 12:27 PM
Dear Kind Readers,
I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of you taking the time to bring this to my attention. I have alerted my syndicate's tech folks and they are working to solve the problem. You are right that the black text should be only black.
Hopefully, it will be fixed this coming week, but please let me know if it continues to be blurry!
all my best,
Jan
Posted by: Jan Eliot | July 12, 2009 at 06:52 PM
Hello jan,
It's been a while since we've talked and I was hoping to show you a project that I've been working on lately. Please send me an e-mail as I don't have yours anymore and I can't seem to find any on the internet.
Dustin (dustinreese07@gmail.com)
Posted by: Dustin | July 19, 2009 at 08:50 PM
Hi Jan!
Sorry to be off topic, but I lost your business card :o( and am putting together the Homer Davenport Days Cartoon Contest Judge's Packets. I will be in Eugene Monday morning and againg Thursday afternoon for work, and could drop them by. Or I could FedEx them. At anyrate, please drop me an email for arrangements, and thanks again for your help!
Posted by: Gus Frederick | July 25, 2009 at 12:29 PM
Personally, I haven't read your comic in a newspaper in years - I began reading it in the Atlanta Journal forever ago, but for the past 5 (?) years or so, I've followed online. I'm sure it's mainly an age thing (I'm 25), but very few of my friends have newspapaer subscriptions, and we all read comics religiously - on the internet, where they can be as big and as detailed as the artist wants to make them.
Posted by: Erin | August 21, 2009 at 05:42 AM
Hi Erin,
Well, of course you are right. The joy of online distribution is not only the size, but the color, and the fact that the artwork is backlit. I read all my favorite comics online and what's in the newspaper, by comparison, is pretty boring.
So, what's the problem? Well, for now, it's the revenue. So far, most of us can't make a living from online distribution. But someday? Well, of course, it's the future.
Thanks for reading Stone Soup online!
Posted by: Jan Eliot | August 21, 2009 at 09:48 AM