I created a comic called Nelson as an experiment to see if I could fit an entire comic strip on a single iPhone screen. The result being a strip you could read quickly without having to flip through panels.
I’m not sure how well the format works, but I liked the gags and characters I came up with. I’ve posted all 24 samples below. Comments are welcome.
Enjoy!
These are great! I don’t own an iPhone, but I would love to see more!
What fun! I’m iPhone-less too, but I really like the characters. I need to share Eggy with my germophone coworker.
Norm, these are great. I think you’ve mastered the format. Very funny AND a Godwin reference. Keep it up.
I don’t have an iPhone either, but I definitely like the comic. You should keep at it, as long as it doesn’t make you cut back on Gill.
These are great! Well written, funny, engaging characters. Zing!
Wow…great stuff, Norm. Not everyday I laugh out loud at several strips and smile broadly at the others.
Have you submitted these anywhere? Is there any interest from your syndicate? I’d be fascinated to find out if this sort of thing is a wave of the future.
Hey Norm, you rule. This is a great comic, just like your others. Keep up the great work!
Don’t think small. There are lots of Android phones with great screens (I think the AMOLED screen on my new Samsung Moment is just gorgeous). The cartoon fits mine perfectly.
You never fail to surprise me, Norm. I agree that these strips are very funny and well done. It’s the sort of fast reading that can easily be done on the iphone. I, too, would be interested to know if your syndicate would try to push this on itunes. I think it could be the start of something very successful.
These are hilarious, Norm!
P.S. They look great on my Blackberry Tour, btw.
Thanks, everyone.
Re-reading my intro, I shouldn’t have made it sound like it was only intended for iPhone users. I was more designing it with an iPhone-SIZED screen in mind. Actually the whole point was that you wouldn’t need an app to read it … just a screen about the same size. No flipping or scrolling necessary.
I think you’re ahead of your time Norm. Funny strip though, I quite like the sardonic humor.
I wonder if a person could just enter their phone number and receive a text with the cartoon attachment. If it’s not an app, then anyone could receive it on their phone no matter what kind of phone they have.
Of course, that bypasses the whole money angle, so maybe that wouldn’t fly unless it was on itunes or something similar. It would be nice if a micro-payments style would work with different features, but I’m not sure that will ever happen.
Flippin’ hilarious,I think you nailed it dead on with this comic.
Great stuff, Norm. How do you find the time?
Norm, nice work! They all look great but I especially appreciate the four panel fit… not so distant than the traditional format I am accustomed to. I was wondering, if they are just images with no app, what were you thinking in terms of a delivery system?
Norm,
Just tried this site on my Palm Treo with mobile version of Internet Explorer. The format worked great. My screen still doesn’t always hold a complete comic, but it’s OK as I only have to scroll down. Normally to read comics I have to reset the image size to something readable and then scroll left to right.
The only sugestion I’ll make is if you are intending to make this available through the reader’s web browser have the page test for a mobile browser and if it is one go to a page designed for that. In my case the side and top bars flipped and flopped around until everything was loaded and then lined them selfs up on top of the content. This results in a bunch of scrolling before getting to the fresh content.
Otherwise looks good and is funny to boot!
Enjoy
Thom
This stuff is awesome, Norm. I love the format and the strip is really funny. I love these characters. Very inspiring!
See everyone? THIS is the quality of work I was expecting in the Amazon contest. Is it any wonder I was so disappointed?
Great stuff, Norm! Funny strip, great characters, and brilliant use of mobile media. I hope this turns into some $$$ for you.
Cool deal Norm. You rock the casbah. I’m more curious as to the nuts and bolts of what dimensions you worked in originally so that the strip could be sized down proportionally?
Thanks again for the kind words, everyone. To answer some questions:
Mostly this was a format experiment, but in my mind the ideal delivery system would be a free/pay hybrid. The strip would appear free on the web, but a user could opt for a paid subscription to have the strip delivered/emailed to their phone daily. That way anyone could see if they liked it before they subscribed, but they couldn’t get the convenient delivery without paying. I think the subscription fee would have to be cheap to work. Like 99 cents a year or something. The strip could simultaneously be sold in print as a panel since it’s close to that format.
The format would also work well for Kindle-sized devices as well. If the rumors are true that Apple is coming out with a Kindle-sized iTouch with color capability, the format would translate perfectly because the proportions would (presumably) be the same.
Would any of this work? I have no idea. Maybe … maybe not. It’s just an idea.
Speaking of proportions, an iPhone screen is essentially a 2″x3″ rectangle. My originals were drawn at three times that size.
Great work Norm! Lacking and iPhone a RSS feed would be great but really like the start you have given this comic.
Norm, I really like it! Especially the title…
Excellent art and all the gags are great.
My only hesitation is with the fourth one; Carl the monkey’s dialog.
I don’t have anything against swearing… but I think using $#%& in comic dialog just doesn’t work; whenever I come across it, I have to pause and “translate”. Spoils the flow, for me.
Why not just say, What the heck or what the hell or what the crap…?
@Nelson
Thanks.
As for the the generic swearing code, I use it for the same reason any syndicated cartoonist uses it. “Heck” isn’t strong enough, and in newspaper comic strips there’s absolutely no middle ground between “heck” and “fuck”. You can’t use “hell” or “crap” as expletives in a newspaper comic either.
True this isn’t a newspaper comic, but when I created it I wanted to keep open the possibility of selling it to print as well.
I understand, Norm. I’ve used it myself, although it seems like there’s some bizarre double standard being applied to comics: you can’t show real profanity, but it’s okay to use “secret code”.
I just wish there was some alternative; it’s a glitch with me that whenever I see it, I’m distracted from the dialog — especially when more than one word could apply.
My personal windmill to tilt at…
Hi Norm,
Love the new comic, very different style for you! I always like the fake profanity for it’s silly factor, and Nelson seems the type to inspire it’s use around him…
For me the fake profanity covers single words to a whole phrase of comments, so I like to “fill in the blanks” as it were and use my imagination. “What would Carl be likely to respond with..” etc..
Hope you can keep up with all these great comics!
Awesome. Love the characters and it works perfect for my iPhone.
Hahaha! These are great!
Yay
Norm, Ed and I just read through all the Nelsons together on my iPhone, and we love them! Keep up the great work!
This is good stuff!
Norm,
these are awesome. Are you developing an app? I wouldn’t know how to view it on my iphone otherwise.
These are a riot. Awesome job on this strip. Two Rabbit Feet Up.
I love this comic. It’s really fun. There should totally be more of this.
Norm, thanks very much for these. Love those comics. I agree with RockinKat – there should be more of this!