1. Who are you and what are you working on right now? (/2 questions in 1,
I know!)
I’m Cy Dethan. Right now I’ve got several books on the go with Markosia, including punk-parapsychological espionage thriller Phantom Lung & the Garden of Dead Liars and a supernatural comedy/horror book called The Case Files of Harlan Falk.
I’m also writing Blood Cries Out, the first full-length expanded universe story for Barry Nugent’s Unseen Shadows transmedia project and I’ve just started the first script for a very exciting all-digital project that I can’t talk about for a publisher I can’t yet name.
2. What drew you to digital comics?
Necessity. The future is upon us.
3. Webcomics or digital comics?
I think they answer very different needs. My heart will always be with full-length comics, but I do have a hard time getting through a week without a quick webcomic fix.
4. What do you think works with digital comics?
I think the digital format plays very well into the strengths of comics as a medium. It has a lot to do with the immediacy and dynamism of the form, for me.
5. Can digital comics replace print comics?
Possibly, eventually – if that’s really the goal. I’d hate to think that the end-game for digital comics would be that limited, though. The more significant challenge, I’d like to believe, is to exploit the potential in the format that is specific – or even unique – to digital. Creator commentaries, for example, may have shown us the tip of that particular iceberg.
6. How can print comics work with digital comics?
Certainly, they can complement each other. As I say, though, I think the loftier goal is to find ways to harness the strengths that are unique to the form.
7. What don’t you like about digital comics?
It can be painful to read a digital comic that is ill-suited or poorly formatted for the device I’m reading it on. You occasionally find that the people responsible for translating a book from print to digital have given no serious thought to how readable the end product is going to be. That’s getting rarer, thankfully, but it does still happen.
8. What digital comics/webcomics do you read?
About half my monthly comic intake is digital, I’d guess. In terms of webcomics, I’m partial to things like Looking For Group, Luke Foster’s Moon Freight 3 and Sam Medina’s Jake the Evil Hare. I’ve also recently discovered Jamie Smart’s Corporate Skull, which is glorious.
9. Where do you see digital comics going from here?
There’s no stopping it now. It’s already out there.
10. Who do you think we should look out for in digital comics?
Anyone who stands in our way.
“10 Questions With” is to be a interview session with digital comics creators – there’s a lot of great people I’ve got lined up and I hope you enjoy seeing what the creators are interested in.
If you are a digital creator and am interested in participating, please contact me!