Constrained comics
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Constrained comics are a form of sequential art that places some fundamental constraint on form, in much the same way poetry is often constrained into specific rhyme and meter categories such as haiku or sonnet. By adding a constraint, the artist is attempting to produce original art within tightly defined boundaries.
The constrained comics movement is conceptually similar to the constrained writing movement, where writers have attempted to do things such as write novels in palindromic form or without the letter "e", and is the opposite of the infinite canvas movement in comics, which advocates even greater freedoms than traditional comics.
The Angriest Dog in the World by David Lynch was one of the first constrained comics in print. Every strip involved the exact same panel repeated over and over again. Other notable constrained comics include:
- Dinosaur Comics (Uses the same sequence of 6 panels for every strip)
- explodingdog, Spamusement (Text is taken from reader submissions/spam)
- Get Your War On (Only uses a small set of clip art)
- Tile Comics (Exclusive use of 20 predefined images)
- Whispered Apologies (Art drawn separately from text)
- Exercises in Style (Same story told in 99 different formats)
- Death to the Extremist (Same sequence of 9 panels for every strip. Minimalist art)
- Partially Clips (Three identical panels of clip art)
