It seems really obvious to me that the differences between mini-comics folk from the late 90′s and early 2000′s are stark in comparison to today’s mini-comics cartoonists, not in terms of aesthetics or craftsmanship, as much as interest in storytelling. I think that the biggest reason for this is actually pretty simple.

The people making mini comics back in the late 90′s and early 2000′s were people who had read a wide range of comics, most of us reading things like Love and Rockets, Eightball, and King Cat in highschool, along with a huge variety of other great comics, and it seems like there was a real awareness of comic history, and artful storytelling.

I went to art school in my mid 20′s and what I found there was a whole group of young kids who were into mini-comics, Chris Ware, and Kramer’s (no so much webcomics, so i can’t speak to that), but who didn’t know who Joe Sacco or Daniel Clowes was, and they could care less about guys like Chester Brown or Julie Doucet. These kids in large part just wanted to make cool looking little books, and storytelling was an afterthought.

I don’t know if it’s fair to say this is exemplary of all of mini-comic cartoonists at these little comic cons, but it is a change in the culture of the comics readership, and I think this kinda relates back to the whole fandom issue in the sense that the younger generations aren’t going to comic shops for comics anymore. I think they’re going to APE and SPX, and little boutiques, galleries, bookshops, etsy and blogs more and more, and that in general more people are getting involved because they like the idea of making these little objects to sell that showcase their drawing talents and all that shit……I’m getting a little off topic, but it sort of relates, I guess.

well, gotta rush off suddenly… hope my spelling is okay!

The internet is a marvelous thing, and great works have and will come alive on it. But I have the urge to work in print, maybe because I still can.

Will physical being always need physical objects around them?

I’ll add, though, that seeking out more and more of what has come before is part of the ambition and drive aspect. Yeah, for a long time you don’t realize how much of a bigger thing is happening out there, but it’s natural that the more into what you are doing, the more you want to see more of what other folks have done.

It’s slow at first, but it quickly picks up speed. “Craft” is as much education as it is an end product, at least when paired with ambition and drive. Maybe this is all common knowledge.