The Comic
in 2000, Chris Yates started a website as part of his senior project at the Rhode Island School of Design. Later on, the site became a showcase for Chris's art projects and a way for him to display and sell some of those pieces . On a whim in early 2005, he started taking pictures of himself at his day job at the local Art Superstore's Reprographics desk. Editing the pictures together to create a narrative, the comic known as Reprographics was born.
The comic originally featured two characters, Chris himself and the OCE, the large copy machine that he worked on. Chris would carry on entire conversations with the OCE, at first thinking that he had gone a bit mental due to lack of caffeine, but later accepting OCE as a sentient entity.
Later in the comic, Chris would incorporate his friends and family into the story and then started creating characters to add to the Reprographics universe. The first, and most famous of his characters was Mensa the Menacer, leader of the notorious Supervillain Team Club. An evil genius with a vastly oversized brain, Mensa is Chris's best friend and has never been seen out of character in a Reprographics comic. Another addition to the cast came by way of The Visitors, small, one-eyed space creatures that Chris fashioned out of wood for a stop-motion film in 1998.
As time went on, Chris was able to take his camera to conventions, road trips and shows, incorporating his adventures into the comic as well. The comic has been running since January 2005 and is still updating three times a week. Reprographics is now part of the web-comics group Playground Ghosts, which features such comics as Wondermark and Fluff in Brooklyn.
Since its creation, Reprographics has undergone some stylistic changes, moving away from the high-contrast blurs and monotone colors that had marked the early comics and progressing to more colorful surroundings, sharper images and more varied adventures. There has also been a shift from self contained one-shot strips, to a format that also allows for longer story arcs . Since the Reprographics universe has grown, it is possible to have entire strips without Chris in them, allowing the readers to see what kinds of things happen the other characters on a day-to-day basis . Chris has also used the comic as a way to educate his readers about some of his favorite artists .
Read more about this topic: Reprographics (webcomic)
Famous quotes containing the word comic:
“Today’s comedian has a cross to bear that he built himself. A comedian of the older generation did an “act” and he told the audience, “This is my act.” Today’s comic is not doing an act. The audience assumes he’s telling the truth. What is truth today may be a damn lie next week.”
—Lenny Bruce (1925–1966)
“Wit is often concise and sparkling, compressed into an original pun or metaphor. Brevity is said to be its soul. Humor can be more leisurely, diffused through a whole story or picture which undertakes to show some of the comic aspects of life. What it devalues may be human nature in general, by showing that certain faults or weaknesses are universal. As such it is kinder and more philosophic than wit which focuses on a certain individual, class, or social group.”
—Thomas Munro (1897–1974)