Song Comics

Moder · Post by **Moder** » Mon May 14, 2007 10:55 am

I´m planning to do a 1 page comic based on a Song by Tom Waits.

If anyone has done (or wants do to

) a song->comic translation, post It here! I´d love to see It.

Neotomi · Post by **Neotomi** » Mon May 14, 2007 11:07 am

I've done song to animation translations... kept the songs in them, though. does that count?

Rcmonroe · Post by **Rcmonroe** » Mon May 14, 2007 11:15 am

As a Waits fan (and a Modern Love fan as well, of course), I look forward to seeing it.

Sometimes I'll throw a lyric or a song title into one of my comics, just to see if anyone's paying attention. So far no one's ever noticed one or at least no one's ever commented.

This was one ("A New Career in a New Town" by David Bowie).

This was another ("Do You Remember Walter?" by the Kinks). That's right, I actually created a character and named him Walter just so I could do that.

I think I've used titles or lyrics other times, but these were the only ones I remember right now.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Mon May 14, 2007 11:20 am

Those are awfully nice choices of songs. But I found that strict translations of lyrics into comics often don't work very well.

Moder · Post by **Moder** » Mon May 14, 2007 11:46 am

Neotomi: although I DO want to see the animations, I was really talking about comics ... :)p

RC: I´ll do my best! No I didnt notice the lyrics In your comics (though Im a big DB fan).

mcDuffies: I agree with you... I rarely like a song2comic translation. But I have to give It a go

CaptainClaude · Post by **CaptainClaude** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:56 pm

i still want to see the full version of Jamie Hewlett's "common people" comic.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Mon May 14, 2007 1:29 pm

Here's my contribution. One of my early strips. I'm not gonna tell you the name of the song or the group, because that's pretty well the entire joke behind the strip. You can try to work it out for yourselves.

The obvious hint I will give though is that they're an Australian group. It wouldn't be School Spirit otherwise, eh?

Cheers.

[geoduck] · Post by **[geoduck]** » Mon May 14, 2007 3:57 pm

This is as close as I've ever come. (The song in question is from ye olden days, so any whippersnappers in the audience may not recognize it..)

Axonite · Post by **Axonite** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:05 pm

If I do that sort of thing, it's usually as some sort of bonus strip.

Like this:

(Though I think I also had a strip at some point where the Plant started singing the theme to Happy Days...)

Nanda · Post by **Nanda** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:28 pm

Dutch! wrote:Here's my contribution. One of my early strips. I'm not gonna tell you the name of the song or the group, because that's pretty well the entire joke behind the strip. You can try to work it out for yourselves.

The obvious hint I will give though is that they're an Australian group. It wouldn't be School Spirit otherwise, eh?

Cheers.

Who can it be now????

[geoduck] wrote:This is as close as I've ever come. (The song in question is from ye olden days, so any whippersnappers in the audience may not recognize it..)

Eh, que sera sera...

McBean · Post by **McBean** » Mon May 14, 2007 9:46 pm

ryclaude wrote:i still want to see the full version of Jamie Hewlett's "common people" comic.

I agree, but only if it's William Shatner's version.

I know mitch clem had a version of checkers speech by the Mr. T Experience. But if you're going to do a song, try not to make it too literal.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Mon May 14, 2007 10:05 pm

Aw... I was hoping to jump in and mention Doris Day first but Nanda's beaten me to it!

LibertyCabbage · Post by **LibertyCabbage** » Mon May 14, 2007 11:13 pm

"Unto Deeper Calling" by Iszoloscope
http://orangerevolution.comicgenesis.co ... 60904.html
(I plan on doing a lot more music-inspired stuff in this comic's future. Also, all the chapters will be named after songs; the next chapter will be "Burn" by Nine Inch Nails.)

"Where I End and You Begin" by Radiohead
http://deep.comicgenesis.com/d/20060904.html
http://deep.comicgenesis.com/d/20060906.html
http://deep.comicgenesis.com/d/20060908.html
http://deep.comicgenesis.com/d/20060911.html
(In addition, the chapters are named after and tied into certain songs. For example, chapter 2 is called "Optimistic" and is named after a Radiohead song by the same name that has the line "Dinosaurs will rule the Earth" at the end. The last page of the chapter has dinosaurs in it.)

"Deep" by Nine Inch Nails
http://freedomfries.comicgenesis.com/d/20060210.html

I've done some other minor song comic stuff, but those are the main ones.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue May 15, 2007 4:22 am

moder wrote:mcDuffies: I agree with you... I rarely like a song2comic translation. But I have to give It a go

For what it's worth, I did it twice in mcDuffies. One time I thought that David Byrne's "Call of the wild" was perfect for the scene I was having so I just added lyrics above the panels, and the other time I had characters of the comic perform Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" as christmass comic. But they were both part of the comic series more than standalone... The images were more related to the whole comic, and only marginally related to what the song was singing about. Retelling the words of the song literally always seems a bit too obvious solution to me.

Moder · Post by **Moder** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:40 am

ryclaude: I didnt know that Common People comic. I found some samples online and It does look very cool.

I liked the strips you guys sent. They are more loosely based on the song other than taking the lyrics word by word (as I am currently doing In mine).

Maybe a word-by-word translation Is really not the best approach (as noted by McBean and McDuffies), since different mediums require different story-telling tools.

Though since the lyrics to the song I´m doing ("Poor Edward" by Tom Waits) are in the form of a narrative, I guess In this case It makes more sense to do a word-by-word translation... I may be wrong.

LibertyCabbage, I liked the Radiohead comics. The way you imitated the way he sings in the typing (with the repeated letters) Is interesting.

I did something like that In a Bob Dylan strip and in a Beatles strip, but I think this can bring translation problems - someone that doesnt know the song probably wont "get" these moments as much as someone that does. I cant help reading them and imagining the songs In my head, wich obviously enhances the experience for me (and diminishes It to the rest).

Ive never been a fan of "art with prerequisites"...

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Tue May 15, 2007 11:58 am

never even thought to do something like that. music video comics! a whole untapped market!

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:49 pm

I plan to do this kinda thing a little more often. It's fun.

Rainer Maria.
http://yeahduff.comicgen.com/d/20031021.html

The Ramones.
http://yeahduff.comicgen.com/d/20050328.html
http://yeahduff.comicgen.com/d/20050330.html

Rcmonroe · Post by **Rcmonroe** » Tue May 15, 2007 11:24 pm

How could you have forgotten this one, yeahduff?

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Wed May 16, 2007 7:30 am

Oh yeah. Man, I should sleep more.

Nanda · Post by **Nanda** » Wed May 16, 2007 8:03 am

All the songs that have appeared in my comic so far have been deliberately chosen for their suckatude. People are going to start thinking I have shit taste in music...

Bryan Adams
http://nanda.comicgenesis.com/d/20060110.html

Barry Manilow
http://nanda.comicgenesis.com/

And while not a song, the Dresden Dolls appear in this comic (anda I don't think they suck at all)
http://nanda.comicgenesis.com/d/20070326.html