Gallery: Gallery: How Steve Jobs Ruined Comics
01people-interacting-with-multi-purpose-devices-arent-doing-anything
"Interacting with multipurpose devices requires more information from the author/artist to explain what the character is doing," Pappalardo says.
02now-with-flatscreen-tvs-they-look-like-this
"Televisions are now flat, black-rimmed rectangles," Pappalardo says. "A television mounted on a wall becomes less clearly understood in a static comic panel. It requires additional information from the author to distinguish it from other, similar-looking objects."
03television-sets-used-to-look-like-this
"Televisions used to be pieces of furniture," Pappalardo says. "You could draw them from any angle and they would be immediately recognized for what they are."
04now-with-ipads-and-ereaders-they-look-like-this
"A multipurpose device needs more context to explain how the person is using it," Pappalardo says. "He could be angry at a news item, an e-mail, a video or a pile of cartoon pigs wearing helmets."
05newspaper-jokes-used-to-look-like-this
"A clear example of a person reacting to reading a news item," Pappalardo says. It's not so easy to depict when the medium is an iPhone.
06the-dreaded-bluetooth
"In-ear headsets make \[cartooning\] a little trickier," Pappalardo says. "More clues need to be dropped to communicate what's going on."
07with-the-miniaturization-of-electronics-now-talking-on-the-phone-looks-like-this
"This image is slightly less clear, since the handheld device is now as small or smaller than the hand that's holding it," Pappalardo says. "It requires a bit more context."
08drawing-a-person-talking-on-a-telephone-once-looked-like-this
Before the iPhone, "This image would clearly be understood without the voice balloon, or the character's open mouth," says cartoonist Tom Pappalardo, who jokes that Steve Jobs ruined comics.
