Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Cross Panel Comics

I recently had a dream about a comic strip that was configured like a crossword puzzle. I found it really interesting and told my son, Martin, about it. He said, "Let's make one!"

I drew a grid on an 12" x 18" piece of paper and decided we would play a game like Scrabble. I would draw a strip, and he would draw an intersecting one. Then it would be my turn, and we would continue until the page was somewhat full.

It was actually easier than I thought it would be! We completed three. I've traced off, and cleaned up, one of them. Here is it below. I've indicated the panels I drew with blue. Martin's are in green. The first strip drawn was the middle horizontal one, starting with, "What are you doing?" Click to enlarge...

Like Scrabble, the tough areas were where something had to work when two squares inconveniently touched, such as the "Love is the solution." touching "What about overpopulation?" There's a joke there, but it doesn't jump out at you.

I'm thinking this has the potential to be a fun challenge for cartoonists, much in the same way a "24 hour comic" is!

(Update! See our other Cross Panel Comics here.)
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24 comments:

  1. TrevorApril 28, 2010 at 9:34 AM

    This is a mighty lot of FUN!
    More, more!

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  2. Kerry CallenApril 28, 2010 at 7:04 PM

    I plan to definitely post more in the future. I'm also thinking about creating a Halo & Sprocket one, just for kicks.

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  3. TrevorApril 28, 2010 at 10:35 PM

    And THAT would be even more FUN!

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  4. UnknownApril 30, 2010 at 4:00 PM

    This is great - very creative! I agree, more, more.

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  5. Z-KidsApril 30, 2010 at 4:44 PM

    WOW - this is awesome! What a great idea!
    - AZ

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  6. Kt ShyMay 1, 2010 at 12:03 AM

    This is adorably silly! Lots of chuckles to be had :) (I found you of drawn.ca) and also, yay Halo and Sprocket! I picked up the comic a few years back and found it incredibly charming and fun, great stuff!!

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  7. AnonymousMay 1, 2010 at 2:03 AM

    that is awesome!

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  8. billMay 1, 2010 at 8:49 AM

    Great fun Kerry. I see you putting out a book of these with starting panels to get people's juices rolling. Could be right there next to all of those crossword books on the magazine stand.

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  9. Toby JMay 1, 2010 at 9:28 AM

    This is Genius.I love it.

    If its ok we might try to do one too. You've started something great.
    Thank you

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  10. mattmaddenMay 1, 2010 at 11:06 AM

    Nice work, the more you read the more surprises you find. For an alterative to this approach check out this collaborative domino comic: http://revistabeleleu.wordpress.com/

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  11. Walaka of Earth 2May 1, 2010 at 12:24 PM

    Scott McCloud has been working on something similar to this concept for a while... not so much as a game but and exploration of narrative structure in comics.

    http://scottmccloud.com/1-webcomics/carl/index.html

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  12. Kerry CallenMay 1, 2010 at 1:53 PM

    Matt, Walaka,

    Thanks for the links. I guess there's nothing completely new under the sun. It looks like Scott McCloud's work is from over ten years ago, while the domino comics is from only a couple of months ago (!). I actually did an internet search, for "cross comics" and such, before posting. Couldn't find anything. It deflates my ego a bit to see the others, but it doesn't take away from the fun of creating them. If anyone picks up the challenge, and makes the results available on the web, I'd enjoy seeing a link to it in these comments!

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  13. DaneshMay 2, 2010 at 2:47 AM

    Absolutely brilliant, man this is revolutionary for comics!

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  14. MiggyMay 2, 2010 at 8:59 PM

    Fantastic Idea and a lot of fun to read... I found myself intrigued by the crossover and trying to decide which panel came first in a given scenario.

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  15. bregmanMay 3, 2010 at 10:45 AM

    This is really brilliant. I was expecting it to be more of an exercise, but all the iterations are hilarious! Great work.

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  16. David MillarMay 3, 2010 at 12:02 PM

    This was amazing! I would love to see more!

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  17. Dan MoynihanMay 3, 2010 at 4:09 PM

    These are hilarious - I want to try it!

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  18. NienkeMay 4, 2010 at 1:45 PM

    My friends and I are going to try this, we'll definitely post a link when/if we have a finished result! It's awesome :D

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  19. Jenni MonaghanMay 5, 2010 at 10:05 AM

    My 12 y.o. son and tried this last night (we used 4 8x10 pages; 2"x2" squares) - It was so much fun!
    (We started it too close to bed time... our jokes suffered from sleepiness)
    we experimented with a scoring system based upon number of giggles earned after each turn.
    We are going to play again this afternoon -
    we ended up nicknaming the game scrabbledoodle
    - Thanks!!
    ~ Jenni & Shea

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  20. Kerry CallenMay 5, 2010 at 11:25 AM

    Scrabbledoodle! Love it.

    (Trademarks notwithstanding.)

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  21. AldenMay 7, 2010 at 5:48 AM

    Thank you for inspiring me today. :)

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  22. AnonymousMay 14, 2010 at 6:11 AM

    G**ddamn GOOD!!!!

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  23. ZeitwolfMay 27, 2010 at 12:57 PM

    this is one infinitly cool idea! (and these panels are hilarious, too)

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  24. FiKaLoMay 1, 2011 at 6:43 PM

    I am definitely going to have to try this with my kids. Awesome idea!

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