So, I've been pondering deeply about my next project, and, whilst looking through a copy of The Frankenstein novel with Illustrations by Bernie Wrightson, I got to wondering about an ‘illustrated novel’ format. More specifically, how it'd ‘go over’ on a ‘web comic’ site.

To clarify, I envision an illustrated novel as essentially a regular novel (pages with text) but there's art stuck in there in various places, often a full page of art at various intervals, but sometimes included art on pages with text, with the text sort of worked around the art (one version of Neil Gaiman's Stardust is a good example this). A Graphic Novel, on the other hand, is your standard comic book format (panels with art, balloons to indicate speech and thought). Most web comics follow this format.

I'm thinking, for an Illustrated Novel to even be feasible on a site like DD, every page must have at least one illustration, most of the time with text wrapped around the illustration, with the occasional page that's a full illustration only…

On this site, Skyangel has a short story called Cathy that seems to have been well received, and it largely fits what I'm talking about, so I know it can work here to some extent… Still, have my reservations…

So what's anyone's thoughts on this? Mostly out of place here? Totally feasible…? Is it something you'd think about reading (providing the story and art is presentable)?

Look at the work of Hal Foster and Alex Raymond . You know Prince Valiant, the old Tarzan comic, Flash Gordon. It's an illustration with a narrative. It's not exactly an illustrated novel but not exactly what we've come to consider a comic. There are no speech balloons but an ongoing narration in a box underneath. The comic that inspired Go A Viking! was done that way and the first pre-Drunk Duck versions of both Go a Viking and Attack of the Robofemoids were done in that format.

Most of the narration was cut and speech balloons added. But a graphic narrative could be presented on this site is that format. Look at Supermassive Black Hole. It's one panel with dialogue. But it would be so easy to add more narration. But remember with good illustration the need for narration can decrease markedly.

Come to think of it my edition of Sherlock Holmes is all facsimiles of the original Strand magazine pages as is a collection of H.G. Wells. If done right the illustration compliments the prose, but you got to know how to do wrap the text around the images instead of simple boxes.

Yes, I'm a big fan of Supermassive Blackhole - it's part of the inspiration for this idea! I've even commented on that story how sometimes it's reminiscent of Alex Raymond's stuff. As for text, I do know how I'd make it fit around an illustration, even if the illustration is in the middle of the page, or to the right or left a bit

In graphic design school I had to do some brochure and packaging layouts in Quark and InDesign (dating myself there) where you could do some neat text wrapping effects like an old time literary magazine. Like where the illustration looks like it was plopped in the middle of the text and the text flows around it, perhaps even a certain phrase highlighted by where it intersects the illustration.