Daniel Merlin Goodbrey is a comic creator and new media lecturer based out
of St Albans, England. In E-merl.com Daniel catalogues many of his experiments in
fiction, comics, and hypercomics.In reference to the concept of hypertext
fiction, where narrative is non-linear and non-hierarchical, hypercomics are
a variation of comics that has truly embraced its digital medium, allowing
multiple changeable paths within a fractured rhizomatic environment. Hypercomics reiterate the
arguments of Marshall McLuhan who argued that new media can become so
dominant in public culture that it effectively creates a paradigm shift, as
people shift their perceptions and ways of interacting with the world, in
relation to new technologies and medias. We are not sure yet of the effect
of hypercomics in the future consumption of comics, but it's certainly
producing a great variety of alternative methods.
A great example of
hypercomics is a piece by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey entitled PoCom-UK-001. This
was a massive collaborative hypercomic that was originally created for the
wall of the ICA as part
of the Comica festival. This web adaptation marked the debut of Daniel's Tarquin
Engine, a flash-based zooming infinite canvas delivery system, which
allows other authors to easily explore the concept of hypercomics.