Sprite comic

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A panel of a hypothetical sprite comic featuring graphics from The Battle for Wesnoth

Sprite comics are

8-bit Theater
concluded in 2010.

History

The 1998 webcomic Neglected Mario Characters was the first sprite comic to appear on the internet,

Mega Man series of games, with most of the characters being taken directly from the games. Bob and George played a significant role in the popularity of sprite comics, as well as webcomics in general.[2][3]

Art assets were

recolored characters or edited them to convey a broader range of emotion. Over time, sprite comic creators collaborated with projects such as the World Spriters Tournament, in which cartoonists let their sprite comic characters fight one another.[4]

Few sprite comics have gained mainstream attention since 8-Bit Theater ended in 2010. Though sprite comics are still popular among amateur cartoonists, Larry Cruz from Comic Book Resources noted that the aesthetic is played out.[2]

Style

Sprite comics mainly use graphics from 1980s video games, such as Mega Man and Final Fantasy. Lore Sjöberg from Wired stated that sprite comics "re-create the feel of [such games] with a minimum of artistic effort." Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik pointed out that sprite comics are a good way for people who can't draw well to create comics.[3] Cruz pointed out that the aesthetic has "evolved and flourished in a variety of media" since. However, the style is also commonly criticized. Cruz described sprite comics as "the favorite style for the laziest webcomic creators,"[2] while Sjöberg pointed out that sprite comics are often seen as substandard by comic fans.[3] Both Chris Dlugosz and Michael Zole (Death to the Extremist) have criticized the style, Zole stating that creators of sprite comics "seem to think that they're scoring humor points just by reusing old pixelated characters," and Dlugosz devoting his webcomic Pixel explicitly to making fun of the practice.[5]

In a review of the webcomic Kid Radd, Dani Atkinson of Sequential Tart noted that people without a gamer background may find that "much of the irony and humour in [sprite comics] goes swooshing over [their] head." However, she also praised Kid Radd specifically for using original sprites, unique to the webcomic, allowing for a broader audience. She described this as a "fake" sprite comic.[6]

Legal situation

Sprite comics are threatened by legal action, as the graphical sprites used in them are generally protected by

parodies of the works they are based on, and as such they might be protected under fair use. However, seeing as many sprite comics have developed substantial plot-driven stories featuring the copyrighted characters and environments, it is quite possible that a sprite comic creator would lose a lawsuit if a game developer decided to sue. Thus far, no sprite comic has been subject to legal action.[7] Capcom has stated that they will never "officially endorse" sprite comics, but no take-down request has ever taken place.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1UP. Archived from the original
    on 2015-12-08.
  2. ^ a b c Cruz, Larry (2014-05-09). "Will there ever be another great sprite comic?". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 2014-10-07.
  3. ^
    Wired. Archived from the original
    on 2005-12-25.
  4. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    .
  5. ISBN 1-56163-465-4
    .
  6. ^ Atkinson, Dani (2015-09-14). "Kid Radd". Sequential Tart.
  7. ISBN 1-904705-50-2
    .
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