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I think you're going to get pretty heavily downvoted, but I want to try to respond to you as if you're not trolling, but generally don't understand what all the
by jawns 11y ago
I think you're going to get pretty heavily downvoted, but I want to try to respond to you as if you're not trolling, but generally don't understand what all the fuss is about.
Munroe's technique is a type of minimalism.
By drawing mostly in stick figures and simple forms, Munroe is giving you only what is needed to set the scene, similar to a theatrical production with minimal props, costumes, and sets. You get to use your imagination to fill in all the rest.
In the xkcd world, it doesn't particularly matter that Cueball has a simple circle for a head, with no facial features present, because Munroe's comedy is not primarily a visual type of comedy. The humor is found in the text, and in the situations he sets up, not in the facial expressions of the characters or in elaborately drawn backgrounds.
Which is not to say that the visuals don't matter. They certainly do. Looking at an xkcd strip is a lot different than reading the transcript on http://www.explainxkcd.com http://www.explainxkcd.com. But the way that they matter does not depend on them being drawn in a more elaborate style.
- kneeko 11y agoScott McCloud's very excellent book, Understanding Comics, goes into great detail about this. Minimalism in comics is often used for focus.
- ryandrake 11y agoThanks for the reply. XKCD is known to be beloved by tech folks so you can't really criticize it and not expect downvotes--it's no big deal. I actually enjoy the writing. To me it seems minimalist to the point where it's unnecessary to even deliver it in comic form.