#symbolia

Thought I’d share a bit of my behind the scenes work for my scifi story Suspension, now published in Symbolia magazine!  In the story, we follow new hire Josefina through an exceptionally windy day of work installing solar gum panels on a luxury skyscraper.  Character design is by far one of my favorite yet also most frustrating steps of creating a comic, and I put a lot of work into putting together this quartet of skilled construction laborers.

Surveying the tablet comics world: Symbolia, Wormworld, Sequential, Madefire

NOTE: the below is me spitballing at 3 in the morning just to get some dialog going. I invite your comments and corrections.

I’ve had this news item floating around for ages and kept meaning to write it up: Symbolia, the journalistic comics magazine for tablets, has wrapped up its final issue. Founded by Erin Polgreen and Joyce Ricetwo years ago, this was an ambitious attempt at putting out non…

We have some exciting news to share! Creative Director Joyce Rice has been selected as a Journalism Leadership Transformation (JoLT) Fellow at American University. 

This fellowship will help Symbolia continue to grow. We wouldn’t be here without the support of our community. Thank you! You’ve helped us launch incredible experiments in non-fiction, visual storytelling.

JoLT will give us access to new tools to expand our work. As a JoLT fellow, Joyce will be designing journalism summits, attending leadership workshops, and creating immersive media projects with two other fellows in Washington D.C. She’ll also work towards an MA in Game Design. Joyce is especially excited about applying “gamification” principles to comics journalism. 

Learn more about the program and the other fellows.

Overview: This issue of the comics magazine focuses on how people deal with their fears, or when things generally go bad.

Pros: All five of the stories in this issue are excellent. Symbolia continues to impress me by getting better with each issue.

Cons: Few, if any. There were some problems I had with the lettering choices in one of the stories, but that's about it.

Good for: People who like to learn.

Overview: This issue of the digital comics/journalism magazine focuses on food - how it gets to our tables and alternative ways to get the nutrition we need.

Pros: Every issue I read of Symbolia is better than the last. The Food Chain includes a very interesting piece on the practicality of eating insects that made me want to try it, and every story kept me engaged throughout.

Cons: Like every magazine, I would like a little more information. It would be super awesome if each story contained links for further study.

Good for: People who enjoy learning about new things.

Overview: This issue of the comics/journalism mash up magazine focuses on fiction, presenting several fictional stories from a variety of comics creators.

Pros: The stories are all excellent. Drawn well and intriguing.

Cons: Many of the stories are excerpts from larger works.

Good for: People who enjoy comics.