Looking at the (In)finite Canvas and Digital Comics

The typical single-issue American comic that you can get from your LCS is roughly 6 by 10.25 inches. The story content sans advertisements, front matter, and back matter will typically consist of 20 pages, however any multiple of four is generally considered acceptable given how production works. Of course, this is “industry standard,” more convention than hard fast rules that must be followed at all costs. For example, DC Comics’s Black Label released Joker: Killer Smile, which measures at 8.5 by 11 inches. All of this to say when you’re reading a comic designed for print, they are known constraints, rules that dictate what you are readily and easily able to do. The literal canvas the artist and writer have to work with is finite. But that’s only when you’re dealing with print. The Digital Landscape For the longest time, I have been fascinated by the concept of the “infinite canvas.” This is a term that Scott McCloud coined in his 2000 book, Reinventing Comics, the spiritual successor to the beloved Understanding Comics. It’s a very simple concept: when you’re online you are not bound by the borders of the page. With the ability to scroll and zoom in, creators are granted virtually infinite amount of space to work with. McCloud himself experimented with this format with his story The Right Number, when the next panel was embedded at the center of the current panel. As you clicked through, you’d zoom in to continue the story. Scott McCloud’s The Right Number The format and th…