Scott McCloud: Understanding comics

Translator: Kirstine Kronborg Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

Ud af de fem sanser

Of the five senses, vision is the one that I appreciate the most,

Er det synet jeg værdsætter mest

and it's the one that I can least take for granted.

og det er det jeg tager mindst for givet.

I think this is partially due to my father, who was blind.

Jeg tror det tildels skyldes min far som var blind.

It was a fact that he didn't make much of a fuss about, usually.

Det var ikke noget han gjorde særlig meget ud af, for det meste.

Engang i Nova Scotia

One time in Nova Scotia, when we went to see a total eclipse of the sun --

da vi skulle se en fuld solformørkelse -

(Laughter)

ja, den samme som i sangen med Carly Simon -

Yeah, same one as in the Carly Simon song,

som måske, måske ikke refererer

which may or may not refer to James Taylor, Warren Beatty

til James Taylor, Warren Beatty eller Mick Jagger; det vides ikke rigtig.

or Mick Jagger; we're not really sure.

De delte nogle mørke plastikbriller ud

They handed out these dark plastic viewers

som gjorde, at vi kunne se direkte på solen

that allowed us to look directly at the sun

uden at skade vores øjne.

without damaging our eyes.

But Dad got really scared; he didn't want us doing that.

Men far blev meget bange:

Han ville ikke have os til at bruge dem.

He wanted us instead to use these cheap cardboard viewers,

I stedet ville han have os til at bruge de her billige papbriller

so that there was no chance at all that our eyes would be damaged.

så der ikke var nogen sandsynlighed for, at vores øjne kunne komme til skade.

I thought this was a little strange at the time.

Jeg syntes det var en lille smule mærkeligt.

What I didn't know at the time

Hvad jeg ikke vidste på det tidspunkt

was that my father had actually been born with perfect eyesight.

var at min far faktisk var blevet født med perfekt syn.

When he and his sister Martha were just very little,

Da han og hans søster Martha var meget små

havde deres mor taget dem med ud var at se en formørkelse,

their mom took them out to see a total eclipse --

or actually, a solar eclipse --

eller, en solformørkelse

og kort tid efter det

and not long after that, both of them started losing their eyesight.

begyndte de begge at miste deres syn.

Decades later, it turned out that the source of their blindness

Årtier senere

viste det sig, at kilden til deres blindhed

sandsynligvis har været en slags bakteriel infektion.

was most likely some sort of bacterial infection.

Så vidt vides

As near as we can tell, it had nothing whatsoever to do

havde det overhovedet intet at gøre med den solformørkelse,

with that solar eclipse,

but by then my grandmother had already gone to her grave

men på det tidspunkt var min bedstemor allerede blevet begravet

i troen at det var hendes skyld.

thinking it was her fault.

So, Dad graduated Harvard in 1946,

Så min var blev færdig med sine Harvard studier i 1946,

married my mom,

blev gift med min mor,

og købte et hus i Lexington, Massachussetts,

and bought a house in Lexington, Massachusetts,

where the first shots were fired against the British in 1775,

hvor de første skud blev affyret mod briterne i 1775,

although we didn't actually hit any of them until Concord.

selvom vi ikke ramte nogen af dem før slaget ved Concord.

He got a job working for Raytheon designing guidance systems,

Han blev ansat til at arbejde for Raytheon

hvor han designede guidance-systemer,

which was part of the Route 128 high-tech axis in those days --

hvilket var en del af det højteknologiske omdrejningspunkt, der på det tidspunkt drejede var Rute 128

so, the equivalent of Silicon Valley in the '70s.

Så det var hvad der svarer til 70'ernes Silicone Valley.

Dad wasn't a real militaristic kind of guy;

Far var egentlig ikke militaristisk;

he just felt bad that he wasn't able to fight in World War II

Han havde bare rigtig dårlig samvittighed over, at han ikke kunne slås med under Anden Verdenskrig

on account of his handicap,

på grund af hans handicap,

Selvom de dog trak ham igennem

although they did let him get through

the several-hour-long army physical exam

den timelange fysiske hærundersøgelse

before they got to the very last test, which was for vision.

før de kom til den allersidste test,

som var en synstest.

(Latter)

(Laughter)

So Dad started racking up all of these patents

Så far samlede en masse patenter sammen

and gaining a reputation as a blind genius, rocket scientist, inventor.

og fik hurtigt ry for at være en blind geniraketvidenskabsmandsopfinder

Men for os var han bare far,

But to us he was just Dad, and our home life was pretty normal.

og vores liv derhjemme var meget normale.

As a kid, I watched a lot of television

Som barn så jeg meget fjernsyn

and had lots of nerdy hobbies like mineralogy and microbiology

og havde mange nørdede hobbyer

som mineralogi og mikrobiologi og rumprogrammer

and the space program and a little bit of politics.

og en lille smule politik.

I played a lot of chess.

Jeg spillede meget skak.

But at the age of 14, a friend got me interested in comic books,

Men da jeg var 14,

præsenterede en ven mig for tegneserier,

og jeg besluttede at det var det jeg ville leve af som voksen.

and I decided that was what I wanted to do for a living.

So, here's my dad:

Så der er min far:

Han er videnskabsmand, han er ingeniør og han er militærentreprenør.

he's a scientist, he's an engineer and he's a military contractor.

Og han har fire børn;

So, he has four kids, right?

One grows up to become a computer scientist,

En vokser op og bliver datalog,

en vokser op og melder sig ind i flåden

one grows up to join the Navy,

one grows up to become an engineer ...

og en vokser op og bliver ingeniør,

And then there's me: the comic book artist.

og så er der mig:

tegneserietegneren.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Which, incidentally, makes me the opposite of Dean Kamen,

Hvilket forøvrigt gør mig til det modsatte af Dean Kamen,

Fordi jeg er en tegneserietegner der er søn af en opfinder,

because I'm a comic book artist, son of an inventor,

og han er en opfinder, der er søn af en tegneserietegner.

and he's an inventor, son of a comic book artist.

(Latter)

(Laughter)

Det er sandt.

Right? It's true.

(Klapsalve)

(Applause)

The funny thing is, Dad had a lot of faith in me.

Det sjove ved det er, at far havde masser af tillid til mig.

Han troede på mine evner som tegner,

He had faith in my abilities as a cartoonist,

even though he had no direct evidence that I was any good whatsoever;

selvom han jo ikke havde noget direkte bevis på, om jeg var god eller ej:

everything he saw was just a blur.

Alt hvad han kunne se var bare utydeligt.

Now, this gives a real meaning to the term "blind faith,"

Det giver en ny betydning til udtrykket 'blind tillid,'

som ikke har de samme negative konnotationer for mig som det kan have for andre mennesker.

which doesn't have the same negative connotation for me

that it does for other people.

Now, faith in things which cannot be seen, which cannot be proved,

Tillid til ting der ikke kan ses, der ikke kan bevises,

is not the sort of faith that I've ever really related to all that much.

er ikke noget jeg har følt mig særlig forbundet med.

I tend to like science,

Jeg kan godt lide videnskab,

where what we see and can ascertain are the foundation of what we know.

hvor hvad vi ser

og kan fastslå er grundlaget for hvad vi ved.

But there's a middle ground, too --

Men der er også et mellemleje

a middle ground tread by people like poor old Charles Babbage

Et mellemleje der bliver betrådt af folk som stakkels Charles Babbage,

and his steam-driven computers that were never built.

og hans dampdrevne computere, der aldrig blev bygget.

Nobody really understood what it was that he had in mind

Der var aldrig rigtig nogen der forstod hvad han havde i tankerne,

bortset fra Ada Lovelace,

except for Ada Lovelace,

and he went to his grave trying to pursue that dream.

og han døde, mens han forsøgte at forfølge den drøm.

Vannevar Bush with his memex --

Vannevar Bush med Memex -

this idea of all of human knowledge at your fingertips --

idéen om at have al menneskelig videnskab på fingerspidserne -

he had this vision.

det var hans vision.

And I think a lot of people in his day

Og jeg tror mange mennesker på hans tid

sikkert betragtede ham som lidt af en skør kugle.

probably thought he was a bit of a kook.

Og ja, vi kan tage se tilbage i dag og sige,

And, yeah, we can look back in retrospect and say,

Ja, ha-ha, du ved - det er alt sammen mikrofilm. Men det er-

"Yeah, ha-ha, it's all microfilm --

(Laughter)

But that's not the point; he understood the shape of the future.

det er ikke pointen. Han forstod hvordan fremtiden ville forme sig.

So did J.C.R. Licklider and his notions for computer-human interaction.

Det gjorde J.C.R. Licklider også med hans ideer om computer-menneskelig interaktion.

Det er det samme: han forstod hvordan fremtiden ville forme sig,

Same thing: he understood the shape of the future,

selvom det var noget der først ville

even though it was something that would only be implemented

blive indført af folk meget senere.

by people much later.

Or Paul Baran, and his vision for packet switching.

Eller Paul Baran, og hans idé om 'packet switching'.

Hardly anybody listened to him in his day.

Næsten ingen lyttede til ham dengang.

Or even the people who actually pulled it off,

Og selv de mennesker det faktisk lykkedes for,

the people at Bolt, Beranek and Newman in Boston,

folkene på Bolt, Beranek og Newman i Boston,

who just would sketch out these structures

der bare skulle optegne de strukturerne

of what would eventually become a worldwide network,

for hvad der ville blive et verdensomspændende netværk

and sketching things on the back of napkins and on note papers

og tegne ting på bagsiderne af servietter og på notepapir

and arguing over dinner at Howard Johnson's --

og skændes under middagen hjemme hos Howard Johnson

on Route 128 in Lexington, Massachusetts,

på Rute 128 i Lexington, Massachussets,

just two miles from where I was studying the Queen's Gambit Deferred

bare tre kilometer fra hvor jeg studerede berømte skakåbninger

og lyttede til Gladys Knight & the Pips

and listening to Gladys Knight & The Pips

der sang "Midnight Train to Georgia," mens -

singing "Midnight Train to Georgia" --

(Latter)

(Laughter)

jeg sad i min fars store, komfortable stol

in my dad's big easy chair, you know?

So, three types of vision, right?

Så lad os sige der er tre typer syn:

Vision based on what one cannot see,

Syn baseret på hvad man ikke kan se:

the vision of that unseen and unknowable.

Syn på hvad der er uset og der ikke kan vides.

The vision of that which has already been proven or can be ascertained.

Synet af hvad der allerede er blevet enten bevist eller kan fastslås.

And this third kind, a vision of something which can be, which may be,

Og så er der den tredje slags

syn, som er noget

der kan være, der måske er,

based on knowledge but is, as yet, unproven.

det er baseret på viden, men er stadig ikke bevist.

Now, we've seen a lot of examples of people

Vi har set en masse eksempler på folk der forfølger den type syn inden for videnskaben,

who are pursuing that sort of vision in science,

but I think it's also true in the arts, it's true in politics,

men jeg tror også det er sandt inden for kunst, inden for politik

og endda også i personlig stræben.

it's even true in personal endeavors.

What it comes down to, really, is four basic principles:

Hvad det kan koges ned til, er fire grundlæggende principper:

Lær af alle,

learn from everyone;

follow no one;

Følg ingen,

watch for patterns;

Led efter mønstre

and work like hell.

og arbejd røven ud af bukserne.

I think these are the four principles that go into this.

Jeg tror det er de fire principper der er altafgørende her.

And it's that third one, especially,

Og det gælder især den tredje,

where visions of the future begin to manifest themselves.

hvor visioner om fremtiden

begynder at tage form.

What's interesting is that this particular way of looking at the world,

Det spændende ved det her er, at dette særlige syn på verden

is, I think, only one of four different ways

bare er én ud af fire forskellige veje,

that manifest themselves in different fields of endeavor.

der er synlige indenfor forskellige indsatsområder.

I tegneserier ved jeg at

In comics, I know that it results in sort of a formalist attitude

det ender ud med en formalistisk indgang

towards trying to understand how it works.

hvor man prøver at forstå hvordan det virker.

Then there's another, more classical attitude

Så er der en anden, mere klassisk tilgang

which embraces beauty and craft;

der omfavner skønhed og håndværk.

another one which believes in the pure transparency of content;

En anden forholder sig til indholdets gennemskuelighed.

and then another, which emphasizes the authenticity of human experience

Og en anden igen

lægger vægt på autenticiteten af menneskelig erfaring

and honesty and rawness.

og ærlighed, og råhed.

These are four very different ways of looking at the world.

Her er der fire forskellige måder man kan anse verden på. Jeg har endda givet dem navne.

I even gave them names:

Den klassicistiske, den animistiske, den formalistiske og den ikonoklastiske.

the classicist, the animist, the formalist and iconoclast.

Interestingly, they seem to correspond more or less

Interessant er det, at det mere eller mindre svarer til

Jungs fire underinddelinger af menneskelig tanke.

to Jung's four subdivisions of human thought.

And they reflect a dichotomy of art and delight

Og de afspejler en dikotomi mellem kunst og fornøjelse

on left and the right;

på venstre og højre;

tradition and revolution on the top and the bottom.

tradition og revolution i toppen og bunden

And if you go on the diagonal, you get content and form,

og hvis du ser på det diagonalt, får du indhold og form -

og så skønhed og sandhed.

and then beauty and truth.

And it probably applies just as much to music and movies and fine art,

og det kan sikkert i lige så høj grad overføres

til musik, film og kunst,

which has nothing whatsoever to do with vision at all,

hvilket som sådan ikke har noget at gøre med syn,

or, for that matter, nothing to do with our conference theme

eller for den sags skyld temaet for konferencen -

of "Inspired by Nature,"

"Inspired by Nature"-

except to the extent of the fable of the frog

medmindre man beslutter sig for at inddrage fablen om frøen

who gives a ride to the scorpion on his back to get across the river

der giver skorpionen et lift på sin ryg, så den kan komme over floden

because the scorpion promises not to sting him,

fordi skorpionen lover ikke at stikke ham.

Men så stikker skorpionen ham alligevel, og de dør begge to.

but the scorpion stings him anyway and they both die,

Men først spørger frøen ham hvorfor, og skorpionen svarer,

but not before the frog asks him why, and the scorpion says,

"Fordi det er min natur"-

"Because it's my nature."

I den forstand, jo.

In that sense, yes.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Så-

So this was my nature.

Så det her var min natur. Sagen er, at jeg kunne se,

The thing was, I saw that the route I took

at den vej jeg tog for at finde

to discovering this focus in my work

fokus i mit arbejde

and who I was --

og for at finde ud af, hvem jeg var,

I saw it as just this road to discovery.

Jeg så, at det var min vej til erkendelsen.

Actually, it was just me embracing my nature,

Faktisk var det bare mig, der omfavnede min natur,

which means that I didn't actually fall that far from the tree, after all.

hvilket betyder,

at jeg trods alt ikke faldt særlig langt fra stammen

So what does a "scientific mind" do in the arts?

Så hvad betyder "et videnskabeligt sind"

i kunstverden?

I started making comics, but I also started trying to understand them,

Tja jeg begyndte at lave tegneserier,

men jeg begyndte også at prøve på at forstå dem, næsten med det samme.

almost immediately.

Og en af de vigtigste ting jeg fandt ud af med tegneserier er,

One of the most important things about comics that I discovered

at tegneserier er et visuelt medium,

was that comics are a visual medium,

men de forsøger af omfatte samtlige sanser.

but they try to embrace all of the senses within it.

So, the different elements of comics, like pictures and words,

Så de forskellige elementer i tegneserier, som billeder og ord,

and the different symbols and everything in between

og de forskellige symboler og alt derimellem,

that comics presents,

som tegneserier udgør,

are all funneled through the single conduit, a vision.

bliver alle transporteret gennem synet som den eneste kanal.

So we have things like resemblance,

Så du har ting som lighed,

where something which resembles the physical world can be abstracted

hvor noget der ligner den fysiske verden kan gøres abstrakt

i forskellige retninger:

in a couple of different directions:

abstracted from resemblance, but still retaining the complete meaning,

Det kan fjernes fra lighed,

hvor det stadig bevarer sin betydning

or abstracted away from both resemblance and meaning

eller fjernes fra både lighed og betydning, mod billedplanet

towards the picture plane.

Put all these three together, and you have a nice little map

Hvis du lægger alle de tre ting sammen har du et lille kort

over den grænse for visuel ikonografi

of the entire boundary of visual iconography,

which comics can embrace.

som tegneserier kan omfavne.

And if you move to the right you also get language,

Og hvis du flytter dig til højre får du også sprog,

because that's abstracting even further from resemblance,

for der bliver det fjernet endnu mere fra lighed,

but still maintaining meaning.

men bevarer stadig mening.

Vision is called upon to represent sound

Syn bliver påkaldt som repræsentation for lyd

and to understand the common properties of those two

og for bedre at forstå de tos fælles egenskaber

samt deres fælles ophav.

and their common heritage as well;

Også for at repræsentere lydes tekstlighed

also, to try to represent the texture of sound

to capture its essential character through visuals.

- at fange deres grundlæggende træk gennem det visuelle.

There's also a balance between the visible and the invisible in comics.

Og der er også en balance

mellem det synlige og det usynlige i tegneserier.

Comics is a kind of call and response,

Tegneserier er en slags 'Call and response'

in which the artist gives you something to see within the panels,

hvor kunstneren giver dig

noget du kan se i panelerne,

og derefter giver dig noget du kan forestille dig mellem panelerne.

and then gives you something to imagine between the panels.

Also, another sense which comics' vision represents,

Der er også en anden sans

som synet repræsenterer i tegneserier, og det er tid.

and that's time.

Sequence is a very important aspect of comics.

Rækkefølge er et vigtigt aspekt i tegneserier.

Comics presents a kind of temporal map.

Tegneserier udgør et slags tidsligt kort.

And this temporal map was something that energizes modern comics,

Og dette tidslige kort var noget der bragt energi til moderne tegneserier.

but I was wondering if perhaps it also energizes

Men jeg tænker på, om det måske også giver energi til

other sorts of forms,

andre ting,

and I found some in history.

og jeg fandt nogle i verdenshistorien.

You can see this same principle operating

Her kan I se, at det fungerer ud fra samme princip

in these ancient versions of the same idea.

I de her antikke versioner af den samme idé.

What's happening is,

Hvad der sker er, at kunstformen støder sammen

an art form is colliding with a given technology,

med den anvendte teknologi,

uanset om det er maling eller sten, som i denne her grav fra det gamle Ægypten.

whether it's paint on stone,

like the Tomb of Menna the Scribe in ancient Egypt,

or a bas-relief sculpture rising up a stone column,

eller en bundrelief-skulptur, der kommer ud af en stensøjle

or a 200-foot-long embroidery,

eller et 60 meter langt broderi,

or painted deerskin and tree bark

eller malet hjorteskin og træbark

running across 88 accordion-folded pages.

der strækker sig over 88 harmonikafoldede sider.

What's interesting is, once you hit "print" --

Det spændende er, at så snart det skal trykkes -

and this is from 1450, by the way --

og det her er forresten fra 1450 -

all of the artifacts of modern comics start to present themselves:

dukker alle de kendetegn op, som vi kan genkende fra moderne tegneserier:

retlinjet panelopsætning,

rectilinear panel arrangements,

simple line drawings without tone,

simple linjer uden farvetonation

and a left-to-right reading sequence.

og en læserækkefølge der går fra venstre mod højre.

And within 100 years, you already start to see word balloons and captions,

Og inden for 100 år

begynder man allerede at se talebobler og billedtekst,

and it's really just a hop, skip and a jump from here to here.

og det er bare en spytklat at komme herfra til her.

So I wrote a book about this in '93, but as I was finishing the book,

Så jeg skrev en bog om det i '93,

men da jeg var ved at blive færdig med bogen

I had to do a little bit of typesetting,

blev jeg nødt til at arbejde lidt med opsætningen

og jeg var træt af at være nødt til at bruge den lokale kopiforretning,

and I was tired of going to my local copy shop to do it,

så jeg købte en computer.

so I bought a computer.

And it was just a little thing --

Og det var bare en lille en - den kunne ikke så meget udover tekstbehandling.

it wasn't good for much except text entry --

Men min far havde fortalt mig om Moore's lov,

but my father had told me about Moore's law back in the '70s,

om Moore's lov tilbage i 70'erne, og jeg vidste hvad der nu var på vej.

and I knew what was coming.

And so, I kept my eyes peeled

Og så holdt jeg øjnene åbne

to see if the sort of changes that happened

for at se, om de ændringer der var sket

when we went from pre-print comics to print comics

da vi gik fra ikke trykte tegneserier til trykte tegneserier

would happen when we went beyond, to post-print comics.

ville ske, hvis vi fortsatte mod posttryk-tegneserier.

So, one of the first things proposed

Så en af de første ting der blev foreslået var,

was that we could mix the visuals of comics

at vi kunne blande det visuelle fra tegneserier

with the sound, motion and interactivity of the CD-ROMs

med lyd, bevægelse og interaktivitet

fra CD-ROM'erne som blev lavet dengang.

being made in those days.

This was even before the Web.

Det var selv før internettet.

And one of the first things they did was,

Og en af de første ting de gjorde var,

at de forsøgte at tage tegneseriesiden som den så ud

they tried to take the comics page as is

og overføre den til en skærm,

and transplant it to monitors,

hvilket var en klassisk McLuhansk fejltagelse,

which was a classic McLuhanesque mistake

of appropriating the shape of the previous technology

hvor man anvender form fra den tidligere teknologi

as the content of the new technology.

som indholdet for den nye teknologi.

And so, what they would do is have these comic pages

Hvad de derfor gjorde var,

at de ville have de her tegneseriesider som så ud ligesom trykte tegneseriesider.

that resemble print comics pages,

og de ville indføre forskelligt lyd og bevægelse.

and they would introduce all this sound and motion.

The problem was that if you go with this basic idea

Problemet var, at hvis du følger den idé -

den simple idé at rum er lig med tid i tegneserier,

that space equals time in comics,

what happens is that when you introduce sound and motion,

hvad der sker er, at når du så introducerer lyd og bevægelse,

som er tidlige fænomener, der kun kan repræsenteres gennem tid,

which are temporal phenomena that can only be represented through time,

they break with that continuity of presentation.

så bryder de med præsentationens kontinuitet

Interactivity was another thing.

Interaktivitet var en anden ting.

There were hypertext comics, but the thing about hypertext

Der var hypertekst-tegneserier.

Men problemet med hypertekst er,

at alt ved hypertekst enten er her, ikke er her eller er forbundet hertil.

is that everything in hypertext is either here, not here,

Det er iboende ikke-rummeligt.

or connected to here;

it's profoundly nonspatial.

Afstanden fra Abraham Lincoln til en Lincoln penny-mønt,

The distance from Abraham Lincoln to a Lincoln penny

Fra Penny Marshall til Marshall Planen

to Penny Marshall to the Marshall Plan to "Plan 9" to nine lives:

fra "Plan 9" til ni liv:

Det er altsammen det samme.

it's all the same.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

But in comics,

Og - men i tegneserier, i tegneserier

every aspect of the work, every element of the work,

har hvert arbejdsaspekt, hvert element

has a spatial relationship to every other element at all times.

et rummeligt forhold til alle andre elementer på alle tidspunkter.

So the question was:

Så spørgsmålet var:

Was there any way to preserve that spatial relationship

Var det overhovedet muligt at bevare det rummelige forhold

while still taking advantage of all of the things

mens man stadig gjorde brug af alle de ting

det digitale kunne tilbyde os?

that digital had to offer us?

And I found my personal answer for this

Og jeg fandt mit personlige svar på det

in those ancient comics that I was showing you.

i de antikke tegneserier som jeg viste jer.

Each of them has a single unbroken reading line,

Hver af dem har en ren, ubrudt læselinje,

whether it's going zigzag across the walls or spiraling up a column

uanset om den kører i zigzag over væggen

eller op ad en søjle som en spiral

or just straight left to right,

eller direkte fra venstre til højre, eller endda i bagvendt zigzag

or even going in a backwards zigzag across those 88 accordion-folded pages,

over de 88 harmonikafoldede sider.

Det samme sker, og det er, at den grundlæggende idé,

the same thing is happening;

that is, that the basic idea that as you move through space

at når du bevæger dig gennem rummet bevæger du dig gennem tiden,

you move through time,

bliver udført uden kompromis,

is being carried out without any compromise,

men man indgik kompromiser, da trykket blev opfundet.

but there were compromises when print hit.

Adjacent spaces were no longer adjacent moments,

Sidestillede rum var ikke længere sidestillede øjeblikke.

so the basic idea of comics was being broken again and again

Så tegneseriens grundlæggende idé blev mast igen og igen

and again and again.

og igen og igen.

And I thought, OK, well, if that's true,

Og jeg tænkte: Ok,

hvis det passer, er der så en anden måde,

is there any way, when we go beyond today's print,

når vi bevæger os udover brugen af tryk i dag,

to somehow bring that back?

hvorpå vi kan bringe det tilbage?

Now, the monitor is just as limited as the page, technically, right?

Nu er skærmen

teknisk lige så begrænset som siden, ikke?

It's a different shape, but other than that,

Det er en anderledes form, men bortset fra det

it's the same basic limitation.

er det den samme grundlæggende begrænsning.

But that's only if you look at the monitor as a page,

Men det er kun hvis du kigger på skærmen som en side.

but not if you look at the monitor as a window.

Men ikke hvis du kigger på skærmen som et vindue.

And that's what I propose,

Og det er hvad jeg foreslog: at måske skulle vi bygge de her tegneserier

that perhaps we could create these comics on an infinite canvas,

ud fra et ubegrænset lærred

along the X axis and the Y axis

langs X-aksen og Y-aksen og trapper.

and staircases.

We could do circular narratives that were literally circular.

Vi kunne lave cirkulære fortællinger, der bogstaveligt talt var cirkulære.

Vi kunne lave et vendepunkt i historien der bogstaveligt talt var et vendepunkt.

We could do a turn in a story that was literally a turn.

Parallel narratives could be literally parallel.

Parallelle historieforløb kunne bogstaveligt talt være parallelle.

X, Y and also Z.

X, Y og Z, også.

So I had all these notions.

Så jeg havde alle de her ideer. Det var tilbage i 90'erne,

This was back in the late '90s,

og andre folk i branchen syntes jeg var temmelig skør,

and other people in my business thought I was pretty crazy,

but a lot of people then went on and actually did it.

men mange endte faktisk med at gøre lige præcis det her.

I'm going to show you a couple now.

Jeg viser jer lige et par stykker.

This was an early collage comic by a fellow named Jasen Lex.

Det her var en tidlig collagetegneserie af en fyr ved navn Jason Lex.

And notice what's going on here.

Læg mærke til hvad der sker her:

What I'm searching for is a durable mutation --

Hvad jeg leder efter, er en holdbar afvigelse -

that's what all of us are searching for.

Det er hvad vi allesammen leder efter.

As media head into this new era,

Som medierne træder ind i den nye tid

leder vi efter afvigelser

we are looking for mutations that are durable,

der er holdbare, der har styrken til at blive.

that have some sort of staying power.

Now, we're taking this basic idea of presenting comics in a visual medium,

Nu tager vi den grundlæggende idé om at fremlægge tegneserier i et visuelt medium

and we're carrying it through all the way from beginning to end.

og så tager vi det hele vejen fra begyndelse til slutning.

Det er den tegneserier I lige har set.

That's that entire comic you just saw, up on the screen right now.

Den er oppe på skærmen nu.

But even though we're only experiencing it one piece at a time,

Men selvom vi kun oplever den en del af gangen,

that's just where the technology is right now.

er det bare der hvor teknologien er nu.

As the technology evolves,

Som teknologien udvikler sig

as you get full immersive displays and whatnot,

Og vi får alt omsluttende visninger og hvad der ellers er på vej,

this sort of thing will only grow; it will adapt.

vil ting som den her bare vokse.

Den vil tilpasse sig. Den vil tilpasse sig

It will adapt to its environment; it's a durable mutation.

til sit miljø.

Det er en holdbar afvigelse.

Here's another one.

Her er der en anden. Den er lavet af Drew Weing;

This is by Drew Weing; this is called

Den hedder

"'Pup' Ponders the Heat Death of the Universe."

"Hvalp Grunder over Universets Varmedød."

See what's going on here

S, hvad der sker her

as we draw these stories on an infinite canvas

som vi tegner historierne på et uendeligt lærred,

er at der opstår et mere rent udtryk

is you're creating a more pure expression of what this medium is all about.

for hvad mediet handler om.

We'll go by this a little quickly. You get the idea.

Vi går lige hurtigt igennem - I forstår vist princippet.

I just want to get to the last panel.

Jeg vil bare hen til det sidste panel.

[Cat 1: Pup! Earth to Pup! Cat 2: Come play baseball with us!]

(Latter)

(Laughter)

Sådan.

[Pup: Did either of you realize

that eventually the universe will be nothing but a thin, cold gas

(Latter)

spread across infinite, lonely space?]

[Cat 1: Oh ... Cat 2: We'd better hurry, then!]

(Latter)

(Laughter)

Just one more.

Bare ét til.

Her kan man vist tale om et uendeligt lærred.

Talk about your infinite canvas.

It's by a guy named Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, in Britain.

Det er af en fyr der hedder Daniel Merlin Goodbrey fra Storbritannien.

Why is this important?

Hvorfor er det her vigtigt?

I think this is important because media --

Jeg synes det er vigtigt fordi medier,

all media --

alle medier

provide us a window back into our world.

giver os et vindue tilbage ind mod vores egen verden.

Now, it could be that motion pictures and eventually, virtual reality,

Det kan godt være at film -

og i sidste ende virtuelle virkeligheder, eller det der svarer til det -

or something equivalent to it, some sort of immersive display,

andre former for immersive visninger,

is going to provide us with our most efficient escape

kan give os den mest effektive flugt fra den verden vi lever i.

from the world that we're in.

Derfor søger de fleste hen mod historiefortælling, for at flygte.

That's why most people turn to storytelling, to escape.

But media provides us with a window back into the world we live in.

Men medierne giver os et vindue

tilbage til den verden vi bor i.

And when media evolve

Og når medierne udvikler sig,

so that the identity of the media becomes increasingly unique --

så mediernes identitet i højere grad bliver unik.

because what you're looking at is comics cubed,

For hvad I ser på, er præcist tegneserier.

you're looking at comics that are more comics-like

I ser på tegneserier der er mere tegneserieagtige end de nogensinde har været før.

than they've ever been before --

when that happens, you provide people with multiple ways

Når det sker, giver man folk mange forskellige muligheder

of reentering the world through different windows.

for at vende tilbage til verden gennem forskellige vinduer

And when you do that, it allows them to triangulate the world they live in

Og når man gør det, tillader det dem at forholde sig til den verden de bor i

og se dens konturer.

and see its shape.

That's why I think this is important.

Og det er derfor jeg synes det her er vigtigt.

One of many reasons, but I've got to go now.

En af mange grunde, men jeg bliver nødt til at gå nu.

Thank you for having me.

Tak fordi jeg måtte fortælle for jer.