Fancomic

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Synonyms: fan comic
See also: Doujinshi, Fanart, Fanzine, Ficpic, Webcomic
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A fancomic, or fan comic, is a comic created by a fan for other fans. It can be in any comic form, such as a comic strip, comic book, graphic novel, or webcomic. A fancomic might be released as a published work or as image files over the internet.

In Japan, self-published comic books known doujinshi are very popular and have been quite influential in some Western fan circles, particularly in anime, manga, and video game fandoms; many anime/manga/game fans who create fancomics refer to their work as doujinshi[1] and draw their comics reading right-to-left, which is the way comics are read in Japanese. The Japanese convention Comiket is the largest convention for self-published works (doujinshi) in the world. Self-published fanzine comics are less prevalent in the West, but are growing in popularity. Typically, fancomics are printed in a limited run of around 50 issues to avoid copyright conflicts.


Some fancomics are published as online webcomics. A significant number of webcomics use other authors' worlds or characters [2], but there is to some extent a divide between those fancomic creators who see themselves as comic artists who happen to write derivative stories, and those who see themselves as fanartists or fanfic writers who happen to create comics.[3] And fan creators are involved with both the webcomics and fannish communities, for example, several prominent Ranma 1/2 fanfic authors went on to create original webcomics.

Types of Fancomics

This panel by THISisGREAT is an adaptation of another fanwork, the Good Omens fic Repossession

Fancomics cover many of the different types of fanart, and can be either hand-drawn or digitally created. The Japanese manga style of drawing has recently become very popular with Western artists (both in animanga fandoms and in Western media), partly due to the influence of doujinshi. A lot of fan art is drawn in a very simple, cartoonish style.

Fancomics created for live-action fandoms are sometimes photo comics, rearranged and cropped screencaps combined with text and speech balloons. Similarly, fancomics created for video games may use the sprites and images from the game to create the comic images.

In terms of writing, fancomics cover the continuum from fanart with a caption, to long (and possibly open-ended) works with a complex story. But the larger proportion of fancomics are short and humorous.

Some fancomics

Battle On! banner

In Fanzines:

cover of Trekkie Toons (1976)
Startoons by Leah Rosenthal

Related Links

References

  1. ^ dojinshi_circle livejournal community, originally a group of artists from New York
  2. ^ Fan_Fiction category at Comixpedia
  3. ^ Discussion about fancomics at fanthropology community
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