With, Against or Beyond Print? Digital Comics in Search of a Specific Status

What are digital comics? The answers to this question are diverse and often contradictory. Since digital comics were first published in the 1990s, it has not always been possible to gather them under a common denominator, apart from what already defines (with difficulty) printed comics. Many digital comics frequently resort to skeuomorphism, a digital reproduction of printed comics’ most salient aspects. This shows a deference of digital comics to print: some scholars see in digital comics only a technological variation of pre-existent means of distribution. Should digital comics move away from print to earn their own place? Are digital comics lacking a masterpiece that could establish their legitimacy? Should they exploit the potentialities of digital art and offer interactivity, moving images, new formats to gain their independence? This article argues that asking these questions is to try to reconcile the disparities of digital comics and see how scholars, cartoonists and publishers all try to give digital comics a specific status, for different reasons, but sharing a common goal.