Issue 1.05 | Nov 1993
The Way of Comics
By Mark Frauenfelder
Microsoft Burnout Prevention And
The Way of Comics
The early '70s offered two flavors of comics: muscular men in tight
pajamas fighting crime and drug-gobbling freaks having sex. As a young
teen, I was happy to add The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and
Trashman to my stacks of The Fantastic Four and Spiderman, but I was
even happier when Byron Preiss began roping in my favorite aboveground
comic-book writers and artists to produce a series of highly stylized
graphic novels for adults. Called "Fiction Illustrated," these small
paperbacks had stories that read like good pop-fiction novels and
helped reintroduce comics to an audience that might otherwise write
off "funnybooks" after adolescence.
Fiction Illustrated's combination of comic-book art and text was
commercially successful, so Preiss tweaked his recipe and produced
hundreds of "visual books" for major publishing houses, working with
people such as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and
Harvey Kurtzman.
It's no surprise that Preiss is now bringing his favorite subjects -
science, science fiction, and comic books - to CD-ROM. "I think there
are tremendous possibilities for interactivity with the narrative
style of comics. In fact, we're working on multimedia projects with
[cartoonists], one being Gahan Wilson. Gahan is drawing and designing
a haunted house that you interact with. We call it a 'Dying Book' as
opposed to the Broderbund 'Living Book.'"
Byron Preiss Multimedia (BPMM) is releasing titles under five
imprints, including Digital Bauhaus (entertainment for adults) and
Crayon Multimedia (kid's programs).
The first Bauhaus title is The Ultimate Robot (US$50- $70), based on
the works of Isaac Asimov. It includes a robot tool kit designed by
Ralph "Star Wars" McQuarrie, film clips from real and sci-fi movie
robots, and every major Asimov robot story and essay.
In 1994, BPMM will begin publishing CD-ROM versions of Scientific
American Library books.
I haven't seen any of the BPMM titles yet, but I'm interested how the
cartoonists working with Preiss will adapt to the medium. What will
happen when word balloons and art panels mutate to fit the space
defined by multimedia?
Byron Preiss Multimedia: +1 (212) 645 9874
ELECTRIC WORD
Returning to the Cave