Body Disposal - Division and Rush
The newspaper comic strip is in dire straits. Village Voice Media dropped all comics from their papers and the Alt Weekly category is so weak, Simpsons creator Matt Groening has publicly mused about dropping his long-running “Life in Hell” strip. In the world of dailies, the Washington Times is the first newspaper to drop their comics section entirely, as cartoonists hold their breath while wondering if this is an isolated incident or the merely the first shoe dropping.
As the worlds of print and syndication worry about the future, ChicagoNow, a blogging site created by the Chicago Tribune Media Group is running an experiment in digital comics.
“Division and Rush certainly tests the limits of what’s possible with a ‘blog’,”
The resulting strip, “Division and Rush,” is something unique in the comics world. At face value, a detective strip like Dick Tracy, its underlying satirical barbs take shots at a wide range of topics as celebrity murder trials, media exploitation, The Bachelorette and in an upcoming installment, even the inadequacies of the Chicago Bears football team.
“I’m taking advantage of two things,” explains Division and Rush writer, Todd Allen. “The first is space. The size of the modern newspaper strip really online allows for set-up/punch line combinations. It’s very hard to tell a story in two or three panels. We’re doing the equivalent of 5 graphic novel pages in each installment, so there’s a little more room to operate. The second is a matter of editorial content. Humor is subjective and by its very nature will offend some portion of the public. That’s why you see bland strips like Family Circus and Garfield in the comics section and strips like Doonesberry are often sequestered to the editorial page. I have a much freer hand with mature themes. That’s just a difference between online culture and print culture.”
Allen isn’t the only one noticing the difference in content. Henry Jenkins, the Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, perhaps the comic’s most prominent fan, has noted: "It is surprising that the [Tribune Media Group] is ready to go as far out as [Allen is] taking it -- but that's a sign that newspapers may be open, someday, to more innovative comics."
For More Information Contact:
Fernando Diaz, ChicagoNow Community Manager for News and Opinion fediaz@tribune.com
Todd Allen, Division and Rush writer,
todd.w.allen@
Website: http://www.DivisionAndRush.com
First chapter of the comic: http://www.chicagonow.com/
About the Author
Todd Allen is a Chicago, IL-based writer, technologist and college
professor. He has written about new media for the Chicago Tribune,
comic book publishing for Comic Book Resources and Publisher’s Weekly,
covered the NBA/WNBA and also penned a humor column for New York
Resident. He is the author of two (prose) humor anthologies and his
book “The Economics of Web Comics” is taught at the college level.
About the Artist
Bensonville, IL-based Scott Beaderstadt has been illustrating comics
since the mid-1980s. He’s best known as the co-creator of the classic
independent comic, “Trollords.”
About ChicagoNow
ChicagoNow is a local website that features over 100 of the city's
best bloggers, including local celebrities and experts. At ChicagoNow,
Chicagoans discuss everything ranging from fashion and music to sports
and politics. It will also be home to the relaunched RedEye Web site.
ChicagoNow is part of the Chicago Tribune Media Group portfolio which
includes chicagotribune.com, metromix.com, Chicago Tribune, RedEye,
Hoy and Triblocal.
http://www.chicagonow.com
