Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Synthetic Comics: Computation, Standardization, Automation

Synthetic Comics: Computation, Standardization, Automation

Manouach, Ilan
Crucifix, Benoît

Hardcover

Series: Comics Studies, Book 4

Literary CriticismGeneral Art InstructionGeneral Sociology

PREORDER - Expected ship date October 19, 2026

ISBN10: 3112211626
ISBN13: 9783112211625
Publisher: de Gruyter
Published: Oct 19 2026
Pages: 242
Weight: 1.10
Language: English

This book delves into the intricate relationship between automation, industrial manufacturing, and the production of comics, tracing a historical continuum from early mechanization to contemporary algorithmic tools like Midjourney and ChatGPT. The volume situates comics within a broader discourse of automation in art, noting that unlike other art forms, the medium has long incorporated industrial processes as fundamental to its production. Concepts such as efficiency, marginal utility, and computability have been essential both technically and conceptually, as comics evolved within a dense information economy driven by standardization and scalability. The book argues that comics production, from ideation to editorial revision, operates within a framework of human-machine collaboration, defined by decentralized, asynchronous processes akin to what Rudy Rucker describes as computation--finitely describable processes of calculating, processing, and transforming information. By examining the industry's historical attempts at automation, the volume suggests that the integration of computational processes in contemporary comics production is a natural extension of the medium's longstanding practices. The book positions this evolution as a continuous thread linking early industrial practices with today's use of generative AI, reshaping our understanding of comics craftsmanship as a symbiotic expansion alongside advancements in printing, distribution, and communication technologies.

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