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Gotham and a Motion Comic Future

Gotham returns for the second half of it’s second season tonight. Let’s take a look at it’s rather unique way of filling in the hiatus. While most shows would just let the time go by, Gotham instead decided to use the long interval to put out a full production, voice acted, motion comic in order to fill in the gap. An interesting choice given that other DC Comics live-action shows have had digital tie-ins but nothing of this magnitude.  

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  The closest equivalent would have to be the similarly short Vixen web-series, meant to set her character up for future appearances. Although both were short and told only a small scale story, Vixen’s short is just about her. Gotham’s “Gotham Stories” is weirdly meant to be the prologue to the next batch of episodes. The motion comic aspect of it all is what interests me at this point, due to how there are already other digital comics out there for shows.   Would this sort of model work for digital comic tie-ins of the shows in the future? If we take price range out of the equation for a second, this showed a well enough quality for semi-animated and voice acted by the actual actors. What has been holding the digital comics back is that they can sometimes feel like holding a looser grip with their source material.  

Gotham stories

  Especially with ones like The Flash or Smallville: Season Eleven, the comics can feel too different. Bringing in this higher production value would do wonders with making the comic reading experience. This might also lead to solidifying the ideas that are introduced in those comics as well. As of now one can’t help but note that the comics as they are right now don’t do much with any impact.   Imagine one of those comics with the voice work of Grant Gustin, Stephen Amell, or Melissa Benoist. That would draw attention. It would demand attention. I daresay that given the loyal fanbases that these shows have cultivated, that they would find a solid enough consumer base. There’s potential here for a brand new multimedia experience, and something to really give those dry spells something to look forward to.  

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  The pinpoint here is the tendency that these shows have for huge hiatuses. The Flash and Arrow especially, which are going or an entire month. If these can quell the thirst as well as be a fully rounded and immersive experience - don’t these motion comics seem to be something to explore? I think that the future might someday involve supplemental materials such as these. Comments and thoughts would be appreciated below.

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