UPDATED! The Digital Graphic Novel: Metal Gear Solid
NOW EMBEDDED! Click “continue reading” to view the trailer on our site. (thanks to YouTube.com)
My recent resurgence of interest into comic books has led me to try to understand the medium from the perspective of a graphic designer. Basically comic books are the same as any other standard layout: text and images working together. They work together in a very specialized way, illuminated most fully in Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. That’s a topic I hope to dive into fully another day. Today, I’ve seen the most amazing thing. A visually-stunning, √ºber-kinetic new medium: The Digital Graphic Novel.
At E3 this year, Konami introduced a product that sounds very strange on paper: A moving, somewhat-interactive comic book. I’ve seen digital comics before; they stink. Either a page in a pop-up window (may as well buy the book) or a point-and-click adventure for 6-year-olds. This is an entirely new approach. Words fail me (for a change) as what you might expect a digital comic to look like rockets up to a breakneck pace with layered images, constant motion, and some of the most unbelievably expressive moving type I’ve laid eyes upon. Check it out the trailer here:
This is based-on the IDW graphic novel, itself based-on the Konami Playstation game Metal Gear Solid, in which a super-spy codenamed Solid Snake infiltrates a secret military installation in an attempt to‚Ķ ah, come on. It’s no worse a plot than any movie you’ve seen-better than most recently, actually. The script by Kris Oprisko is augmented to an extraordinary degree by the stunning, stunning illustrations of Ashley Wood.
If you haven’t clicked on either of those links yet, ask someone to punch you in the face. The MGS:DGN is being developed for Sony’s PSP (Playstation Portable) and should be released next month.
May 10th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
I’ve been a fan of Ashley Wood for some time now, and it’s great to see his talents brought to a wider audience, especially in such a ground breaking project. Now if only I had a PSP.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
The art and the translation of this into an apropos hybrid of the still-frame graphic novel and a far more interactive project is simply stunning…
It does, however, raise a really great / curious question about the nature of a graphic novel -
McCloud and many others are immediately happy to point out both the similarities and differences between comics / graphic novels, storyboards, and films, even though the three forms continue to borrow extremely liberally from one another. It’s interesting to see how much the MG:Digital Graphic Novel form pushes comics towards a really, really high-end version of the animatics that film companies tend to produce during the development stages of movie projects.
But the beautiful thing is how much this project still feels like something different – fresher and far truer to the nature of the printed comic form than it is entirely devoted towards a filmic interpretation. I’m especially pleased to see that they decided to remain true to the PRINTED text rather than overlaying it with a spoken version of what’s already shown in the type of the piece. The audio overlays really do serve to enhance rather than simply duplicate the elements of the project.
I’m totally with Daniel on this, however – I’m now itching for a PSP if only to get this when it releases! Nice catch, Nate…
May 12th, 2006 at 3:55 am
Simply stunning. That’s enough to convince me to get a PSP. I’ve been a fan of that series for quite some time. Just the movement, and the typography blows my mind! Wow.