gobnobble -- the comic work of David Allan Duncan: ARTH 757 - Media Art

Boulet’s Light:

Gamifying the Glow of Digital Media

in Franco-Belgian Webcomics

an abstract

with love from Duncan

French cartoonist Boulet (Gilles Roussel, b. 1975) frequently represents gamification in his autobiographical webcomic using limited animation and/or fantastical portrayals of augmented reality. Boulet processes the events in his life and his emotional responses through a lens of game iconography. His cartoon avatar interacts with visual elements associated with fantasy video game play. He employs these graphic devices to express a point of view using a language shared by his audience.

Boulet’s most effect work employs the glow of digital media as a major element in these depictions. As acclaimed web cartoonist James Kochalka said at the 2008 Ignatz Awards:

“Most of you probably know that online comics are better than print comics. And the reason they are better--something that print comics simply cannot do: webcomics glow. They fucking glow. Light comes out of the comic. Eat that.”

Boulet’s work lives purposefully on platforms that embodies digital/human interaction: smartphones, tablets, laptops. These are regularly the apparatus on which users also experience gameplay.

This paper explore these elements of Boulet’s webcomic in the light of theories associated with comics, gamification, and augmented reality.

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Here are some examples of Boulet's Webcomic that we can look at.

Use of Light:

Liquid Light: http://english.bouletcorp.com/2015/01/16/heavy-light/Toyota light: http://english.bouletcorp.com/2013/10/08/our-toyota-was-fantastic/
Pixel, Old Singer: http://english.bouletcorp.com/2015/08/26/brassens-in-space/
Long scroll: http://english.bouletcorp.com/2013/08/02/the-long-journey/
3D Pen Imagination: http://english.bouletcorp.com/2013/03/04/the-3d-pen/
Sunlight: http://english.bouletcorp.com/2010/10/27/helios-and-thanatos/

Gamification:

Installing Windows: http://english.bouletcorp.com/2016/02/07/installing-windows-10/
Flower Grows: http://english.bouletcorp.com/2015/03/31/3993/
Real World Ratio 10%: http://english.bouletcorp.com/2012/11/16/real-worl/
Pixel Fantasy Novel: http://english.bouletcorp.com/2010/05/21/fantasy/

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Additional Scholarly Inquiry for Boulet’s Light:

Does this connect to other French webcomics?
How does this compare to other webcomics like Jen Lee’s ThunderPaw or Zac Gorman’s Zelda?
Should I bother bringing up McCloud’s ideas from Reinventing Comics?
Is Boulet’s use of digital gaming elements gimmicky?
Is it worthwhile to consider the role of autobiography?
What about the illusion of diary/honesty online?
Relations to depictions of similar iconography in other media (film, video games)?