Scroll-down comics

This is pretty funny. Anyone who's ever seen any zombie movie will get it.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/zombie_how

Content aside, and maybe I'm just sheltered when it comes to web comics, but it never occurred to me to set up a comic that way. To just make it one long scroll, utilizes the most basic of web browser elements (the scroll bar) to great effect. There are little things you can do with timing and pacing in a comic laid out vertically for the entire narrative.

So could this work as well elsewhere? As in, not on a computer?

I don't think so. I mean, humans used to be all about scrolls, but then we realized how much easier it was to make much smaller pieces of paper, bind them, and turn them over with our hands. A scroll is big and awkward (obviously, I can say this because I remember the golden days of the scroll, firsthand).

With the computer, however, we can bring the scroll back in all its vertical glory, as evidenced in this little web comic. Hmm, I think I'll add another side project to my never ending, will-probably-never-finish list of side projects.

Marketing Stumptown Investigations to the Diehards

I'm a big noir head. Films noir, novels noir, comics noir, sci-fi noir, neo-noir, you name it, I'm interested. There's been a big resurgence of noir appreciation over the past several years, and the comic book industry has become a real hotbed for the best of the best noir on the market (see 100 Bullets, Scalped, Criminal, and the unfinished Stray Bullets).

Which is I'm so hyped for Stumptown, an upcoming series written by Greg Rucka (co-writer of an excellent superhero/noir hybrid called Gotham Central, a series told from the perspective of the detective unit in Batman's Gotham City). And it's a private detective story, the most classic archetype in all of noir fiction, second only to the femme fatale.

The indie comic publisher, Oni Press, has come up with some very cool little ways to market the series. First of all there's this fake yellow pages entry:

Check out some of the names up there, too. Every single one of them is a reference to famous (or obscure) private detective character or agency, whether from books or film. Of course you have Spade & Archer, as in Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon. And also P. Marlowe, as in Philip Marlowe from The Big Sleep. But then he's even included Valiant & Valiant. The detective agency from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Awesome.

This is definitely niche marketing, but I'll be damned if they don't have their target audience - me - in the palm of their hand. I'm very anxious to get my hands on this series. And it's a female protagonist, if you'll notice. Not many girl P.I.'s out there. This will be a treat.

Oh, and the Stumptown website? Well, it doesn't exist, but if you go there, you'll see this:

503-389-2135.

That number actually works, too. If you have a chance, call it right now. It's another great bit of interactive, immersive marketing.