If your appetite for comics has been whipped up by our regular
webcomic roundup, and you can't wait for the next
installment, why not try creating your own? If you're put off by the complexity of doing it yourself the old-fashioned
way, perhaps a program that reduces comic making to a few mouse clicks will help…
From Planetwide, the newly-released Comic Book Creator is software that will let you do just that. By
dragging and dropping screenshots from your favourite games into predefined comic layouts, you can create your own
story, and spruce it up with classic comic devices such as speech bubbles and text boxes. The library of extras also
allows you to do funky captions and use clipart for extra effect, and there are downloadable content packs which expand
the content available.
It seems the designers have thought of everything—in case the game you want to use doesn't have a suitable screenshot
function, the Comic Book Creator software includes FRAPS, and it will also export
your comic to high-quality JPG or PDF for printing. Even better news: there's a demo version available, so you can try
before you buy.
Why not try making the backstory of your favourite MMO character, or provide a new twist on a familiar cutscene? There
are even places that will publish your game-based comic—now that making them has
become a lot easier, what are you waiting for?
[Update: Brian K. and Jim pointed out that similar comic-making software has been around for the Mac for some time, although it doesn't specifically target the gamics market.]
