to a YouTube Channel
by Loi Wei Zheng (47448)
The Advantage of YouTube for me
I consider myself as a video maniac. I spend a lot of time watching videos on YouTube, thus subscribing to numerous channels. Subscriptions are an important part of my YouTube experience. If there are specific channels that I like, subscribe to them. Once I did, any videos that channel publishes will show up in my Subscriptions feed. This makes it simple to keep up with the content I care about.
Here's a story, I got into comic books nearly 16 years ago. However, the price of a comic book isn't cheap and buying one is even difficult since not every book store in Malaysia sells American comic books. So how do I read comic book then? Technically, I don't.
At the early years, my source of knowledge about comic books are through fan pages and Wikipedia. Thanks to those websites, I'm able to read the synopsis and summary of any comic I was interested to get into.
8 years ago, the comic book culture rose to prominence due to the popularity of superheroes genre movies. Many (like me) refer to the original sources - comic book to understand deeper about their favorite on screen heroes. However, catching up to a comic book character is a tough row to hoe. Many comic book characters' origins go back decades. For instance, Superman was created in 1933 by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shustergoes.
His origin had actually underwent several alteration and changes throughout the decades. So for the new Superman fans, which comic book do they refer to? What year of publication they should read? More importantly, how do they even begin?
Thanks to YouTube, all of these dilemmas came to an end. Many comic book fans who have experience of reading and collecting comic books - the experts around the world have came together to form alliances and dedicate themselves by presenting their knowledge about comic books through vlogging on YouTube. As of today, there are nearly 200 comic book YouTube channels.
The Channel that I Subscribed
As for me, I subscribed to ComicsExplained , a channel that was designed to assist in answering questions about Marvel Comics and Dc Comics in an easy to understand way. The channel is created by Rob on the Jul 8, 2013. Currently, it has over 984,795 subscribers.
Overall, Here's what I think about:
PROS
In terms of the content, the host often upload videos that provide details explanation about comic characters (what do they symbolize, when, how and why they were created); the alterations that the characters have gone through; as well as the significant impact on the publication due to those changes. Thus, viewers do not just learn about the comic characters, but they are able to understand how the physical world (the author's perception and socio-political issues) shapes the characteristics of the characters themselves. In a way, viewers can somehow relate the frictional characters with real world issues.
In terms of the medium, the videos uploaded by the host are mostly 20-30 mins long, in the form of narrative and visual content were included. They are easy to understand and interesting to watch.
CONS
However, many of the content speak from a single person point of view. For instance, what the host think about a character; cancellation of a publication; criticism on a comic book adaptation movie/tv-series all through his personal opinion and interpretation through years of reading. Hence, there's a matter of objectivity in terms of the host's choice of knowledge share to the viewers.
2. The IMPLICATIONS towards the communication on:
CURRENT SOCIETY
There was a time when comic book conventions were a niche event for avid nerds to geek out over the latest adventures facing their favorite superheroes. Today, San Diego Comic-Con is a cultural Mecca attended by over a hundred thousand fans and followed by millions across the globe looking for sneak peaks. Similarly, fan across the globe express excitement and provide review on a recently watched superhero movie via vlogging in YouTube. In a way, this phenomena helps redefine comic book culture in the digital age.
FUTURE SOCIETY
According to Lucas (2013), online comics and digitally distributed comics have already changed the way people read comics. Not only has the internet changed the industry itself, but it has also affected how the audience commentary is packaged. YouTube vlogging is the new talking over bins in the back of the comic book store. Conventions heavily rely on a digital presence to boost sales and drive influencers to want to participate in the Comic Cons, giving readers an opportunity to discuss their opinions openly, and for the first time, anonymously.
In other word, YouTube comic book channel has taken over a large part of the backyard community surrounding comic books. Though the industry and culture adjust to that as they have been all along; but it has also given rise to digital comics, which are easier to store (on a hard drive rather than in boxes) and to take on the go.
The internet has taken what used to be the simple act of going to the comic book store after school with a few of your friends and magnified it into a global conversation. Superheroes aren’t a new concept, but the exchanges stemming from a culture still trying to digest story-lines of characters that have been around for over 60 years are. In a way the internet’s consumption of comic books and their characters has become the pumping heart of a dying, generational experience.
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Lucas, J. (2013). The Future of the Comic Book in a Digital World. Retrieved from:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:SxJg38jkVdgJ:www.nerve.com/comic-books/the-future-of-the-comic-book-in-a-digital-world+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk
