Country: USA Year: 2007 Language: English Producers: Sébastien Dumesnil, Robert Nichols Runtime: 96' Premiere: October 9, 2006 (Tel Aviv Pre-cut); July 24, 2008 (DVD)
Awards: Nominated in the Best Documentary Film category, Tel Aviv Icon Film Festival 2006.
Adventures Into Digital Comics tells the story of the crash of the US comic book industry and the potential rebirth of the medium as an all-digital form on the Internet.
Review by Michael Netzer: "The festival featured the world premiere of the documentary film Adventures into Digital Comics. I gave an interview for the film last year. The co-producer and also guest of the festival, Robert Nichols was over at our home on Sunday for dinner and the next day I had the treat of finally seeing this marvelous documentary about comics creators and their future in the web. Excellent film that also holds a charm and appeal to non comics audiences."
Review from The Pulse:
In the interests of full disclosure, allow me to start this movie’s review by stating that, a year or so ago, I was contacted by the movie’s writer and director, Sebastien Dumesnil, and presented a series of questions regarding the subject of comics and digital media.I offered my replies and am among those “thanked” at the end of the movie.For this, I received nothing more than that a warm thank you, a copy of the film, and, to my delight, a listing on imdb.com (last week I was down 53% on the Starmeter, this week I’m up 144%...why, I have no idea.Paging Mr. Spielberg!).
As previously mentioned, Adventures in Digital Comics (2007) is a documentary written and directed by Sebastien Dumesnil.The movie’s focus, as the title implies, is the relatively new field of Digital Comic books.Filmed between 2002 and 2005, the movie offers an interesting look at what was, essentially, the genesis of the digital comic book.
First, though, the movie offers a primer on the comic book field in general and a more detailed look at the recent travails this field has experienced.If you’re looking for a very detailed look at how comic books came to be along with a detailed biography of the persons involved, you should look elsewhere.The main focus of this documentary is recent history, with a particular emphasis on the market forces that have dominated the industry within the past couple of decades.
Those uninitiated will learn of the direct market and how books are sold through it.You’ll also learn about the speculator market and how the comic book industry as a community nearly committed hari-kiri by the late 1990’s.You’ll hear about some of the notorious gimmicks used both past and present to sell books and how the market’s taste, largely along the lines of superhero power fantasy, is both a source of sustenance and, ironically, a curse which may eventually threaten our beloved industry.
Of course, the film’s main focus turns to the curious animal that is Digital Comics.This is where the documentary shines the brightest and provides insight into something that perhaps few of us know about.Though I’ve worked in the field for a good number of years, I must admit I was not as familiar with Digital Comics as I thought.
Tracy White, one of the Digital Comics artists interviewed in the film, sums up Digital Comics with this statement: “There is a big difference between comics on the web and digital comics.”Comics on the web, she explains, would involve taking the static images you might find in any given comic book and simply posting them on the web.A digital comic, on the other hand, uses the available digital media to its fullest.The digital comic book creator may use flash effects or s/he may have a comic that reads from the top to the bottom of the webpage, scrolling down and down and down.Conversely, the creator could make a story read from the left to the extreme right, again scrolling as far as a webpage allows.There could also be stories wherein the reader clicks on images to continue the story, moving back and forth at the creator’s whims.
It seems as if digital comic book artists have invented a hybrid comic book, one that bridges the gap between static images and full animation, not unlike director Ang Lee attempted to bridge the gap the other way, from movies to the comic book reading experience in his movie The Hulk.
The final act of the film focuses on one of the more important issues regarding any sort of publication and business: Money.How do Digital artists make it?Can they make it?By doing so, are they compromising their integrity?
In the end, Adventures in Digital Comics offers a fascinating first look at what may, in time, be a whole new and unique hybrid field within the comic book medium.
E. R. Torre has found work in the comic book industry since roughly 1993. He’s worked on a host of forgotten books (some well deserving of this terrible fate) while also producing his very own The Dark Fringe, a noir mystery TPB. To his delight, the book was optioned for film. Mr. Torre has also inked several pieces that appeared in various DC role playing books and inked a page in the second volume of DC’s 9-11 tribute book. That piece, along with many others in the two volume series, was displayed in the Library of Congress. More recently he’s completed his fourth novel and is in the process of starting his fifth. His website is atomicrocketproductions.com and email to him can be sent to atrocket@aol.com. Questions or comments are always welcome.
Cast
John Barber
Leonard M. Cachola
Joe Casey
Patrick Farley
Shaenon K. Garrity
Cat Garza, Jr.
Chris Gossett
Tricia Hale
Lea Hernandez
Derek Kirk Kim
Scott Koblish
James Kochalka
Jean-Marc Lofficier
Joey Manley
Scott McCloud
Tom McWeeney
Mark Pacella
Ben Raab
Chris Shadoian
Tracy White
Marv Wolfman
Jim Zubkavich
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Crew
Written and Directed by
Produced by
Director of Photography
Production Designer
Edited by
Music by
Additional Photography
Production Assistant
Camera Operator
Sound Recordist
Boom Operator
Additional Editing by
Artists
Sébastien Dumesnil
Sébastien Dumesnil
Robert Nichols
Brien Longobardi
Nicole Stranz
Robert Nichols
Eric Dufour
Sébastien Dumesnil
Robert Nichols
Michael Webster
Jeremy Blodgett
Jeremy Blodgett
Jeremy Blodgett
Brien Longobardi
Robert Nichols
Nicole Stranz
Jeremy Blodgett
Brien Longobardi
Robert Nichols
Nicole Stranz
Brien Longobardi
Joe Constantino
Anna Dale
Sam Hare
Matthew Hickney
Nick Wenger
Scott Allie
Eduardo Alpuente
Brent Anderson
Neil Babra
Peter Bagge
John Barber
Donna Barr
Jim Blanchard
Fernando Blanco
Karine Boccanfuso
Tim Broderick
Brian Buccellato
Steve Buccellato
Sal Buscema
Kurt Busiek
John Byrne
Leonard M. Cachola
Brendan Cahill
Joe Casey
John Cassaday
Elizabeth Chadwick
Paul Chadwick
Howard Chaykin
Su-Ling Chong
Ernie Colon
Ed Cookson
John Daly
demian5
Todd Dezago
Reinder Dijkhuis
Jeff Eckleberry
Will Eisner
Bill Everett
Patrick Farley
Tristan Farnon
Rob Feldman
Lou Fine
Gil Formosa
Gardner Fox
Simon Furman
David Gaddis
Dorothy Gambrell
Manuel Garcia
Shaenon K. Garrity
Cat Garza, Jr.
Gene Gonzales
Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
Chris Gossett
Timothy Green II
Amber Greenlee
Jesse Hamm
Kurt Hathaway
Greg Horn
Brian Horton
Jed Hotchkiss
Allan Hubbard
James D. Hudnall
Don Hudson
Deric A. Hughes
Stuart Immonen
Michael Jantze
Adam Jennings
Bryant Paul Johnson
Bradley Kayl
Indigo Kelleigh
Kazu Kibuishi
Henry Kiefer
Derek Kirk Kim
Greg Kirkpatrick
Scott Koblish
James Kochalka
Daniel Krall
Jose Ladronn
Roger Langridge
Jenn Manley Lee
Paul Lee
Jasen Lex
Jason Little
Jean-Marc Lofficier
John Lowe
John Lucas
Thomas Luth
Michelle Madsen
Mark Martin
Nathan Massengill
Winsor McCay
Scott McCloud
Carla Speed McNeil
Tom McWeeney
Mort Meskin
Mike Mignola
Scott Mills
Jim Mooney
Terry Moore
Matthew Morra
Paul Mounts
Mostafa Moussa
Al Nickerson
Cary Nord
Mark Pacella
Allen Passalaqua
Ethan Persoff
Olivier Péru
Stéphane Péru
Dawn Pietrusko
Javier Pina
Bob Powell
Adam Prosser
Pat Quinn
Ben Raab
Clem Robins
Jerry Robinson
Sam Rosen
John Roshell
Alex Ross
Stéphane Roux
Greg Rucka
Fernando Ruiz
Art Saaf
Stan Sakai
Art Semik
Chris Shadoian
Neal Shaffer
Eric Shanower
Justine Shaw
Walter Simonson
Alex Sinclair
Snakebite
Kean Soo
Bill Spicer
Spike
Richard Starkings
Dave Stewart
Roy Thomas
Dirk Tiede
Alex Toth
Jose Villarrubia
Neal Von Flue
Matt Webb
Chuck Whelon
Tracy White
Ogden Whitney
Mike Wieringo
James Wilcox
Andrew Wildman
Barry Windsor-Smith
Ken Wolak
Basil Wolverton
Gene Yang
Joe Zabel
Jim Zubkavich
Dialogue Editor
Music Editor
Music Performed by
Special Thanks to
Post-Production Equipment by
Filmed at
Shot entirely digitally on
Visit the official website at
Anna Dale
Sébastien Dumesnil
Robert Nichols
Robert Nichols
Michael Webster
Ben Adams
Steven R. Addlesee
Charlie Adlard
Gerry Alanguilan
David Alvarez
Graham Annable
Dan Berger
Al Bigley
Benjamin Birdie
Winston Blakely
Craig Boldman
Kristen Brennan
Tom Brevoort
Matt Busch
Christopher Butcher
Mike Carlin
Dave Cockrum
Kevin Conrad
Mark Crilley
Andrew Dabb
Rob M. Davis
Floro Dery
Evan Dorkin
Steph Dumais
Scott Dutton
Hunt Emerson
Glenn Fabry
Norman Felchle
Bob Fingerman
Matthew Forsythe
Ron Fortier
Brendon & Brian Fraim
Simon Fraser
Jean-Pierre Geuens
Michael T. Gilbert
Peter B. Gillis
Don Glut
Mick Gray
Barry Gregory
Tom Hart
Dean Haspiel
Ben Hatke
Jon Haward
John Heebink
Phil Hester
Janet Hetherington
Frazer Irving
Gerard Jones
Dan Jurgens
Rafael Kayanan
Terry LaBan
Joe R. Lansdale
Bob Layton
Mike M.
Stan Mack
Fredrik Malmberg
Jeff Mariotte
Bill Maus
Mark McKenna
Diana McQueen
Mickmo
Grant Miehm
Mike S. Miller
Pat Mills
Thierry Mornet
Kelli Nelson
Michael Netzer
Tom Nguyen
Graham Nolan
Michael Avon Oeming
Jerry Ordway
Dan Panosian
Tintin Pantoja
Charley Parker
Stefan Petrucha
Woodrow Phoenix
Jon Plante
Adrian Ramos
Scott Reed
Jamie S. Rich
Roy Richardson
Hans Rickheit
Darick Robertson
Enric Badia Romero
Duncan Rouleau
Steve Rude
Andy Runton
Scott Saavedra
Antonio Santini
Jean-Christophe Saurat
Diana Schutz
Liam Sharp
Howard M. Shum
Ryan Sias
Beau Smith
Aaron Sowd
Val Staples
Doug TenNapel
Marcelo Teson
Greg Theakston
Eric Thériault
ER Torre
Joseph Torres
Tim Townsend
Herb Trimpe
Chris Tsuda
Jason Turner
Colin Upton
Kevin VanHook
Bruce Wallis
Robert Weinberg
Shane White
Walden Wong
David Yurkovich
The Tans Post-Production Facility
Los Angeles City College, California
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