Most of the comics I read on Substack are quite awkward on a phone (especially as my eyes are increasingly bum). Even when the flow is designed for vertical reading (eg Molly Knox Ostertag's excellent stuff), the text is simply too small to read. And there are a lot of comics creators who are using traditional layouts (eg Brian K Vaughn) which really need a big screen to work.
Square panels, at the size and resolution you've gone for here, work really well on big and small screens. Really interesting to think about how adaptable the square format is - converting traditional vertical, webtoon-style comics into paginated content for print publishing must be a very awkward process - especially when the verticality is a strong part of the storytelling.
Which is a long-winded way of saying: yeah, that worked well! Looking forward to the full X365.
Thanks Simon! Really interesting points. I’ve not had a chance to look at many comics substacks yet, would welcome any other recommendations!
I think comics on a phone *can* work great - I was really enjoying some of the Marvel Unlimited ones that are designed for the format - but exactly as you say, you have to think about size and resolution and kind of plan for that format. Just doing ‘A Page of Comics’ but on a phone won’t really work great, I’d imagine. But yeah, it’s something I’m really excited to try doing more with. One of these days, when I get a minute, eh.
Most of the comics I read on Substack are quite awkward on a phone (especially as my eyes are increasingly bum). Even when the flow is designed for vertical reading (eg Molly Knox Ostertag's excellent stuff), the text is simply too small to read. And there are a lot of comics creators who are using traditional layouts (eg Brian K Vaughn) which really need a big screen to work.
Square panels, at the size and resolution you've gone for here, work really well on big and small screens. Really interesting to think about how adaptable the square format is - converting traditional vertical, webtoon-style comics into paginated content for print publishing must be a very awkward process - especially when the verticality is a strong part of the storytelling.
Which is a long-winded way of saying: yeah, that worked well! Looking forward to the full X365.
Thanks Simon! Really interesting points. I’ve not had a chance to look at many comics substacks yet, would welcome any other recommendations!
I think comics on a phone *can* work great - I was really enjoying some of the Marvel Unlimited ones that are designed for the format - but exactly as you say, you have to think about size and resolution and kind of plan for that format. Just doing ‘A Page of Comics’ but on a phone won’t really work great, I’d imagine. But yeah, it’s something I’m really excited to try doing more with. One of these days, when I get a minute, eh.
Some links to a few that I'm aware of:
ND Stevenson: https://www.imfineimfine.com/
Molly Knox Ostertag, who is serialising: https://ostertag.substack.com/
Saladin Ahmed, with lots of free excellence: https://www.copperbottle.net/
Tom King: https://everlastingproductions.substack.com/
BKV: https://explodinggiraffe.substack.com/
Weekly sketch cartoons: https://lianafinck.substack.com/
This is more observational illustration than comics, but it's REALLY good illustration: https://sneakyart.substack.com/