Scott McCloud: Understanding comics

翻译人员: Haohao Chen 校对人员: Tony Yet

五感之中，

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

视觉是我最欣赏的，

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

也是我最不可熟视无睹的。

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

我认为部分原因归于我的父亲。他是盲人。

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

他通常不把这当多大一回事。

有一次，在新斯科舍，

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

我们去看一场日全食 ─

(Laughter)

没错，就是 Carly Simon 歌里的那一场，

Yeah, same one as in the Carly Simon song,

其暗指的可能是

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

James Taylor，Warren Beatty，或者 Mick Jagger；我们不确定。

or Mick Jagger; we're not really sure.

人们发放那些暗塑料观景器，

They handed out these dark plastic viewers

让我们能直视太阳，

that allowed us to look directly at the sun

而又不会伤害眼睛。

without damaging our eyes.

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

但爸爸很害怕：

他不想让我们那么做。

He wanted us instead to use these cheap cardboard viewers,

他想让我们用廉价的硬纸皮观景器，

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

那样我们的眼睛就决不可能受到伤害。

I thought this was a little strange at the time.

我当时觉得有些奇怪。

What I didn't know at the time

我当时不知道的是：

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

我父亲其实出生时视力完全正常。

When he and his sister Martha were just very little,

当他和他妹妹还很小的时候，

他们的母亲带他们去看一场全食，

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

or actually, a solar eclipse --

一场日食。

之后不久，

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

他们两人开始丧失视力。

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

几十年后发现，

他们致盲的原因

很可能是某种细菌感染。

was most likely some sort of bacterial infection.

据我们所知，

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

和那场日食根本毫无瓜葛。

with that solar eclipse,

but by then my grandmother had already gone to her grave

但是那时，我祖母已经满怀内疚地

去世了。

thinking it was her fault.

So, Dad graduated Harvard in 1946,

爸爸在1946年从哈佛毕业，

married my mom,

娶了我妈妈，

买了一套房子，在麻省莱克星顿镇，

and bought a house in Lexington, Massachusetts,

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

也就是1775年对英国打响第一枪的地方，

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

虽然我们直到康科德镇才真正打中他们。

He got a job working for Raytheon designing guidance systems,

他在 Raytheon 找了一份工作，

设计导航系统，

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

Raytheon 是当年128号公路高科技轴心区的一部分 ─

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

相当于70年代的硅谷。

Dad wasn't a real militaristic kind of guy;

爸爸不是个很有军人作风的人；

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

他只是对自己因身体缺陷而没能参加二战

on account of his handicap,

感到不快。

尽管他们的确让他一路通过了

although they did let him get through

the several-hour-long army physical exam

长达数小时之久的军队体检，

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

直到最后一项

测视力。

（笑声）

(Laughter)

So Dad started racking up all of these patents

于是，爸爸开始拿下一个又一个专利，

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

获得了盲人天才、导弹科学家、和发明家的美称。

但对于我们，他只是爸爸。

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

我们的家庭生活十分平常。

As a kid, I watched a lot of television

小时候，我看很多电视，

and had lots of nerdy hobbies like mineralogy and microbiology

还有许多古怪的爱好，

比如说矿物学、微生物学、宇宙计划，

and the space program and a little bit of politics.

还有少许政治学。

I played a lot of chess.

我常常下棋。

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

但14岁时，

我的一个朋友让我对漫画书着迷了，

我决定那就是我以后谋生的行业。

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

So, here's my dad:

所以说，这是我爸爸：

他是一名科学家，一名工程师，一名军事承包商。

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

他有四个孩子。

So, he has four kids, right?

One grows up to become a computer scientist,

一个长大成为了电脑科学家，

一个长大加入了海军，

one grows up to join the Navy,

one grows up to become an engineer ...

一个长大成为了工程师，

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

然后就是我：

漫画家。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

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

这使我无意中成为了 Dean Kamen 的反面，

因为我是一名漫画家，一个发明家的儿子；

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

而他是一个发明家，一名漫画家的儿子。

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

（笑声）

(Laughter)

没错，是真的。

Right? It's true.

（掌声）

(Applause)

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

有趣的是，爸爸对我很有信心。

他相信我作为漫画家的能力，

He had faith in my abilities as a cartoonist,

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

尽管他无法直接取证我的水平到底如何：

everything he saw was just a blur.

他看到的一切都是朦胧的。

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

这给“盲目信仰”提供了一个名符其实的定义，

对我而言，这个词并不像对他人一样带有负面情感。

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,

对既看不到，又证明不了的事情的信仰，

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

并不是我真正欣赏的那种信仰。

I tend to like science,

我更喜爱科学，

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

将我们看到的

和我们能确定的，作为我们知识的基础。

But there's a middle ground, too --

但科学也有灰色地带。

a middle ground tread by people like poor old Charles Babbage

像可怜的老 Charles Babbage 这样的人就行走在这灰色地带之中，

and his steam-driven computers that were never built.

还有他那从未做好的蒸汽电脑。

Nobody really understood what it was that he had in mind

没有人真正明白他脑海里的概念，

除了 Ada Lovelace，

except for Ada Lovelace,

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

而他直到入土前都一直在追寻那个梦想。

Vannevar Bush with his memex --

Vannevar Bush 和他的 Memex ─

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

一个让全人类的知识都在一指之遥的梦想 ─

he had this vision.

他一直坚信不疑。

And I think a lot of people in his day

我想当时许多人

或许认为他是一个疯子。

probably thought he was a bit of a kook.

或许我们现在看来，会说：

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

“耶，哈哈，你看，不就是微型胶片吗。”但那不是关键。

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

(Laughter)

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

他明白未来是什么样子的。

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

J.C.R. Likider 和他的人机互动概念也是如此。

同样地：他明白未来是什么样子的，

Same thing: he understood the shape of the future,

即使那仅仅是

even though it was something that would only be implemented

多年之后人们才能做出的东西。

by people much later.

Or Paul Baran, and his vision for packet switching.

还有 Paul Barron，以及他对于包交换的先见之明。

Hardly anybody listened to him in his day.

同一时代里几乎没有人理睬他。

Or even the people who actually pulled it off,

甚至是真正将其实现的人们，

the people at Bolt, Beranek and Newman in Boston,

波士顿的 Bolt Beranek and Newman 公司的人们，

who just would sketch out these structures

他们将这最终连接全球的网络

of what would eventually become a worldwide network,

的结构描绘出来，

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

描绘在纸巾背面和笔记本上，

and arguing over dinner at Howard Johnson's --

在麻省莱克星顿的 Howard Johnson 旅店

on Route 128 in Lexington, Massachusetts,

的晚餐上争论不休 ─

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

离我学习“后翼弃兵”以及

听 Gladys Knight & the Pips 唱 "Midnight Train to Georgia"

and listening to Gladys Knight & The Pips

的地方仅两英里之遥 ─

singing "Midnight Train to Georgia" --

（笑声）

(Laughter)

─ 在我爸爸的摇椅上。

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

So, three types of vision, right?

有三种看事物的方式。

Vision based on what one cannot see,

一种着眼于人们看不到的东西：

the vision of that unseen and unknowable.

着眼于不可见和不可知的事物。

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

一种着眼于已经被证明或可确定的事物。

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

还有第三种

着眼于可能的事物，

根据现有知识来说

based on knowledge but is, as yet, unproven.

有可能，但尚未证明的事物。

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

我们知道许多在科学领域中追寻那样的事物的人，

who are pursuing that sort of vision in science,

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

但我认为在艺术和政治中，也同样大有人在。

甚至在个人奋斗历程中。

it's even true in personal endeavors.

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

归根结底，四条基本原则：

向所有人学习，

learn from everyone;

follow no one;

不盲从任何人，

watch for patterns;

注意观察模式，

and work like hell.

和卖力工作。

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

我认为这四条原则是关键。

And it's that third one, especially,

尤其是第三条，

where visions of the future begin to manifest themselves.

对未来的展望

开始自我实现。

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

有趣的是，这种看世界的方式，

is, I think, only one of four different ways

我认为，是四种方式中唯一一种

that manifest themselves in different fields of endeavor.

在不同的奋斗领域中能自我实现的。

在漫画界，我知道

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

它促成了一种严谨的态度，

towards trying to understand how it works.

引导我们尝试明白它的原理。

Then there's another, more classical attitude

然后，还有一种更古典的态度，

which embraces beauty and craft;

囊括美和工艺。

another one which believes in the pure transparency of content;

还有一种相信内容的纯透明性。

and then another, which emphasizes the authenticity of human experience

还有一种

强调原汁原味的人文体验，

and honesty and rawness.

强调诚实和本性。

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

这是看待世界的四种迥异方式。我还给它们命了名。

I even gave them names:

古典主义者，泛灵主义者，形式主义者，和标志主义者。

the classicist, the animist, the formalist and iconoclast.

Interestingly, they seem to correspond more or less

有趣的是，其恰好和

荣格的四类人类思维相吻合。

to Jung's four subdivisions of human thought.

And they reflect a dichotomy of art and delight

他们反映了一种二分法：艺术在左，

on left and the right;

喜悦在右；

tradition and revolution on the top and the bottom.

传统在上，革新在下。

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

在对角线，则是内容和形式，

以及美与真实。

and then beauty and truth.

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

这同样可以被运用在

音乐、电影、和高雅艺术上，

which has nothing whatsoever to do with vision at all,

它们和视觉之间并无关系，

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

或者说，和我们这次的“来于自然的灵感”的主题

of "Inspired by Nature,"

毫无关系；

except to the extent of the fable of the frog

除了那个关于青蛙的寓言：

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

青蛙让蝎子坐在它背上渡河，

because the scorpion promises not to sting him,

条件是蝎子承诺不蛰它，

但蝎子最后还是蛰了它，结果它们都淹死了，

but the scorpion stings him anyway and they both die,

在临死之前，青蛙问为什么，蝎子说：

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

“因为这是我的自然天性” ──

"Because it's my nature."

从这个意义上来说，有关系。

In that sense, yes.

(Laughter)

（笑声）

因此，

So this was my nature.

这就是我的天性。我曾回顾

The thing was, I saw that the route I took

我追寻我工作的

to discovering this focus in my work

这个重心的历程，

and who I was --

以及曾经的我，

I saw it as just this road to discovery.

我当时认为，那只是一条通往探索的道路。

Actually, it was just me embracing my nature,

事实上，我只是在拥抱我的天性，

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

也就是说

我其实离我父亲的期望并不算远。

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

那么，在艺术中，

“科学思维”有何作用呢？

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

嗯…当我开始画漫画时，

我也几乎同时开始了解漫画。

almost immediately.

我发现，关于漫画最重要的事情之一，

One of the most important things about comics that I discovered

就是：漫画是一种视觉媒介，

was that comics are a visual medium,

但它也尝试将其它感官囊括其中。

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

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

因此，漫画的不同元素，比如说图像和文字，

and the different symbols and everything in between

和不同的符号，以及两者间种种

that comics presents,

漫画表现的东西，

are all funneled through the single conduit, a vision.

都通过视觉这一条途径涉入。

So we have things like resemblance,

因此，你就有了表相，

where something which resembles the physical world can be abstracted

也就是说代表现实世界的事物，

可以被不同的方式抽象化：

in a couple of different directions:

abstracted from resemblance, but still retaining the complete meaning,

将表相抽象化，

但仍保留完全的含义，

or abstracted away from both resemblance and meaning

或者将表相和含义两者都抽象化，趋于图形化。

towards the picture plane.

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

将这三者放在一起，你就有了这一幅有趣的小图，

表现了漫画所能表现的视觉符号

of the entire boundary of visual iconography,

which comics can embrace.

的整个领域。

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

如果你再往右移，就是语言，

because that's abstracting even further from resemblance,

因为其将表相进一步抽象化，

but still maintaining meaning.

但仍旧保留含义。

Vision is called upon to represent sound

视觉被用来重现声音

and to understand the common properties of those two

以明白这两者，以及他们的共同来源

之间的共性。

and their common heritage as well;

也用来重现声音的质感；

also, to try to represent the texture of sound

to capture its essential character through visuals.

用视觉捕捉其关键的特性。

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

漫画中还有可见和不可见事物

的平衡。

Comics is a kind of call and response,

漫画是一种呼应：

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

漫画家让你在格子里看到

一些东西，

然后让你在格子之间想象另一些东西。

and then gives you something to imagine between the panels.

Also, another sense which comics' vision represents,

漫画视觉还表现了

另一种感觉：时间感。

and that's time.

Sequence is a very important aspect of comics.

序列是漫画中重要的一个方面。

Comics presents a kind of temporal map.

漫画表现了一种时间图序。

And this temporal map was something that energizes modern comics,

这时间图序使得现代漫画充满了活力，

but I was wondering if perhaps it also energizes

但我猜想它可能也使得

other sorts of forms,

别的艺术形式充满活力，

and I found some in history.

我在历史中找到了一些。

You can see this same principle operating

你能看到同样的原则在这些

in these ancient versions of the same idea.

古老的版本中支配着相同的主意。

What's happening is,

事实上，艺术形式随着科技条件

an art form is colliding with a given technology,

而转变：

在古埃及的墓穴碑文上，它被画在石头上；

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,

在石柱的浮雕上；

or a 200-foot-long embroidery,

在200英尺长的刺绣上；

or painted deerskin and tree bark

在88折长的

running across 88 accordion-folded pages.

鹿皮和树皮画上。

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

有趣的是，当进入印刷时代后 ──

and this is from 1450, by the way --

顺带一提，这来自1450年 ──

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

所有现代漫画的元素一目了然：

直线性格子排列，

rectilinear panel arrangements,

simple line drawings without tone,

简单线条描绘，无色调，

and a left-to-right reading sequence.

还有由左至右的阅读顺序。

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

接下来100年里，

你已经开始看到对话泡泡和图片说明，

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

事实上从这到这真的几小步而已。

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

于是，我在1993年写了一本相关的书，

但当我快写完时，

I had to do a little bit of typesetting,

我要做一些排版，

因为我厌倦了跑复印店，

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

所以我买了一台电脑。

so I bought a computer.

And it was just a little thing --

那是电脑还很落后，除了文字输入之外用处不大。

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

但我父亲在70年代曾告诉我摩尔定理，

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

因此我知道将要到来的是什么。

and I knew what was coming.

And so, I kept my eyes peeled

于是，我拭目以待，

to see if the sort of changes that happened

看看当我们由前印刷时代漫画，

when we went from pre-print comics to print comics

到印刷时代漫画，再到后印刷时代漫画时

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

会发生什么。

So, one of the first things proposed

最先猜想的事情之一，

was that we could mix the visuals of comics

是我们能够将漫画的视觉因素

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

与声音、动态、和当时生产的

CD-ROM 的互动性相结合。

being made in those days.

This was even before the Web.

这甚至在互联网时代之前。

And one of the first things they did was,

他们最先做的事情之一，

是尝试将漫画原封不动地

they tried to take the comics page as is

搬到显示屏上。

and transplant it to monitors,

这是一个典型的麦克卢恩式错误：

which was a classic McLuhanesque mistake

of appropriating the shape of the previous technology

将上一代科技的形式作为

as the content of the new technology.

新一代科技的内容

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

因此，他们做的是

采用印刷体的漫画页面

that resemble print comics pages,

并加入声音和动态。

and they would introduce all this sound and motion.

The problem was that if you go with this basic idea

问题在于，如果你这么做 ──

这基本的空间等于时间的观念 ──

that space equals time in comics,

what happens is that when you introduce sound and motion,

当你加入声音和动态时，

它们本身就是只能通过时间表现的现象，

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

they break with that continuity of presentation.

结果它们会打断表现的连续性。

Interactivity was another thing.

互动性是另一个问题。

There were hypertext comics, but the thing about hypertext

超文本漫画问世了。

但超文本的问题

在于超文本中的一切只能是在这，不在这，或者链接到这 ──

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

非常地没有空间性。

or connected to here;

it's profoundly nonspatial.

从阿伯拉罕·林肯到林肯硬币，

The distance from Abraham Lincoln to a Lincoln penny

从 潘尼·马歇尔 到马歇尔计划

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

到“九号计划”到九条命：

都是一样的。

it's all the same.

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But in comics,

但在漫画中，

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

作品的每个方面，每个元素，

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

都总和其它的每个元素有着一种空间关系。

So the question was:

问题在于：

Was there any way to preserve that spatial relationship

能不能保留那种空间关系，

while still taking advantage of all of the things

同时又能利用数据时代

提供给我们的优势？

that digital had to offer us?

And I found my personal answer for this

我在之前的古代漫画中

in those ancient comics that I was showing you.

找到了我个人的答案。

Each of them has a single unbroken reading line,

它们每一个都有一条不间断的阅读线，

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

无论是在墙上迂回，

或是沿圆柱回旋而上，

or just straight left to right,

或者简单地由左至右，或者甚至是在

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

88折的页面上反向迂回。

同样的事情发生了，那就是当你在空间上移动时，

the same thing is happening;

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

你也在时间上移动 ──

you move through time,

这个概念被圆满地实现了。

is being carried out without any compromise,

但在印刷时代并非如此。

but there were compromises when print hit.

Adjacent spaces were no longer adjacent moments,

相邻的空间并不代表相邻的时刻，

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

于是漫画的基本概念被打断了，一次又一次

and again and again.

一次又一次

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

我想：好吧，

既然如此，是不是有办法，

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

当我们超越现今的印刷时代，

to somehow bring that back?

将那种概念寻回？

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

现在，显示屏，

技术上来说，就和页面一样有限，对吧？

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

它的形状不同，但除此之外，

it's the same basic limitation.

它有同样的基本局限。

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

但只有当你将显示屏看作页面时才是如此，

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

如果你将显示屏看作一扇窗口就不同了。

And that's what I propose,

我的提议就是：也许我们能在一幅无限的画布上

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

创作这些漫画：

along the X axis and the Y axis

沿X轴，Y轴，以及阶梯递进。

and staircases.

We could do circular narratives that were literally circular.

我们能做出名符其实的循环故事。

我们能在故事中做出名符其实的转折。

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

Parallel narratives could be literally parallel.

平行故事可以是名符其实地平行的。

X, Y and also Z.

X，Y，和Z。

So I had all these notions.

我的这些看法，成型于90年代后期，

This was back in the late '90s,

我公司里的其他人认为我是疯子，

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

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

但之后很多人真的这么做了。

I'm going to show you a couple now.

我现在向你们展示一些。

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

这是一个叫 Jason Lex 的人画的早期拼贴漫画。

And notice what's going on here.

注意这里。

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

我追寻的是一个可持续的转变 ──

that's what all of us are searching for.

那也是我们所有人追寻的。

As media head into this new era,

当媒体进入一个新时代时，

我们开始寻找可持续的转变，

we are looking for mutations that are durable,

一种最终有能力持续下来的转变。

that have some sort of staying power.

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

我们在谈用视觉媒介展现漫画这一基本概念，

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

然后我们从头到尾将它看下来。

现在屏幕上显示的是

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

你刚刚看到的整篇漫画。

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

但即使我们现在只能一部分一部分地看，

that's just where the technology is right now.

那也只是因为当今的科技水平。

As the technology evolves,

当科技进步，

as you get full immersive displays and whatnot,

当有了全面沉浸显示之类后，

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

这样的东西会愈演愈烈。

它会适应。

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

它会适应它的环境：

它是一种可持续的转变。

Here's another one.

接下来一个，Drew Weing 画的

This is by Drew Weing; this is called

叫做：

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

《泊普深思宇宙的热寂》。

See what's going on here

看看这里

as we draw these stories on an infinite canvas

当我们在一幅无限的画布上画出这些故事时，

你在创造一种对于媒介的本质

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

更纯粹的体验。

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

我们快进一下，你知道大概意思了。

I just want to get to the last panel.

我想给你们看最后一格。

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

（笑声）

(Laughter)

来了。

[Pup: Did either of you realize

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

（笑声）

spread across infinite, lonely space?]

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

（笑声）

(Laughter)

Just one more.

最后一篇。

关于无限的画布。

Talk about your infinite canvas.

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

这是一个名叫 Daniel Merlin Goodbrey 的英国人画的。

Why is this important?

这为什么重要？

I think this is important because media --

我认为媒介使其尤为重要，

all media --

所有媒介

provide us a window back into our world.

给我们一个通往我们世界的窗口。

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

这媒介可以是电影 ──

以及最终，虚拟现实之类的东西 ──

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

一种沉浸式显示，

is going to provide us with our most efficient escape

给我们最高效地逃避现实世界的方式。

from the world that we're in.

这就是为什么大多数人喜欢故事，为了逃避。

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

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

但媒介也给了我们一扇窗口

通往我们生活的世界。

And when media evolve

当媒介转变，

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

媒介的性质变得越来越独特。

because what you're looking at is comics cubed,

因为你现在看到的，是多次元的漫画：

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

你看到的是比之前的一切都更为漫画化的漫画。

than they've ever been before --

when that happens, you provide people with multiple ways

它们给人们提供了从不同的窗口

of reentering the world through different windows.

重新进入世界的多种方式。

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

同时，它还使人们三分他们生活的世界，

看清它的形状。

and see its shape.

That's why I think this is important.

这就是我认为这个话题很重要

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

的原因之一。但我该就此打住了。

Thank you for having me.

谢谢你们。