AI COMIC BOOKS: FREE IS THE RIGHT PRICE.
Whether you shudder at the mere mention or wax rhapsodic about the future potential, ‘AI’ systems are going to be present in more and more ways for the near future. Especially in artistic mediums.
The company AI Comic Books currently hosts a wide range of AI-based material, all of which is distributed for free. The main principle behind the comics they host is that they are written by humans, with ‘AI’ systems providing the artwork.
Though the images can be attractive, the writing does leave something to be desired (from Soujorn Realm)
If you can’t already sense the potential issues with this format, here are three examples of series available on the AI Comic Books website. These represent a cross-section of the works available.
AIAI: Cyberpunk dystopia with an artificial intelligent dictator. The protagonist is an outlaw for not having any cybernetic modification. He finds an outdated AI, called Aaiyah, and falls in love.
Soujorn Realm: A recently dead man’s ethereal journey through the dimensions of the afterlife. Where the dialogue is predominately waxing philosophical, back and forth, until the protagonist moves to the next surreal set piece.
Unterra: Humans living in a post-apocalyptic, subterranean society, where knowledge of the surface is forbidden. One young girl goes on a quest to find the surface and truth about their world.
The writing of these three comics have a lot of the similar problems most independently produced works have. Often heavily leaning on cliches, poor characterisation, stagnant dialogue, and poor pacing and world building.
The creators don’t seem to mind that his clothing changes between panels. (from AIAI)
However these issues are compounded from them relying on artwork that they have very little control over, which they would otherwise have if they collaborated with an actual artist. Image style, colours, even character’s clothing can change from panel to panel, since without a talented artist available they are unable even to edit the images provided by the AI software. Without the ability to finely dictate what they want certain panels to show, they must rely on clunky dialog and narration to describe the events and nuances not shown in the images.
The website and publications seem strangely enamoured and proud of what they have produced and how. Unterra boasts that it was created from the “contributions of 18 talented participants”, and all I could wonder was if you were going to get 18 people to make a comic, why couldn’t a couple of them be actual artists who could draw a hand properly.
I’m not sure she’s supposed to have that many fingers. (from Unterra)
The comics look like clever little pet projects, like a writing exercise, but not something to be presented as a finished product. Because aside from showing why this medium Is extremely dependant on talented artists for the specificity needed to tell a story visually, they also need talented editors to help with the overall product.
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