Formats

What is common to all grassroots comics formats is that they always use simple, widely available duplicating methods, such as:

• Photocopying for issues up to 30-40 copies
• Screen printing for issues from 100 copies upwards
• Offset printing for issues from 200-300 copies upwards

Comics can later be converted for publication in newspapers, magazines and brochures, so it is also a good idea to consider this when choosing the format.

Wallposter comics

Wallposter comics are the most common and most cost-effective format. The advantages are obvious: you can cover a whole village population by pasting two or three wallposter comics in strategic places. All this for the cost of a few photocopies!

The wallposter comic is a story that is told visually in four parts, so it is a compact format. Most messages, however, can be converted into a short and precise story. Many of the traditional development communication posters normally have only one message or a slogan, but in the wallposter comic you can put in a lot more information and feeling as in the story there can be drama and a sequence of things that happen.

Normal photocopying, using A4 sized paper, is widely available in the world, even in rather remote areas. Therefore the simplest wallposter format is to combine two A4-photocopies and join them. This makes a wallposter of A3 size, which is big enough to be noticed from a distance. The wallposter can be comfortably read standing, from a distance of about 1 meter. If a bigger (A3) photocopying machine is available, then the copies can be made directly to this size.

When you need a big amount of wallposters, photocopying becomes an expensive option. There are, normally, in towns some small printing shops that cater to the business printing needs in the area. Most of these small printers can make inexpensive print runs of a few hundred copies. There might be some requirements for what type of original the printer can use, but these should not be too difficult to master.

Booklets

Comic booklets are useful because the stories can be much longer than in a wallposter comic. You can increase the number of turns the story takes, introduce more characters, and make the story more dramatic and lively when you have more space. A booklet can be distributed to participants in meetings or seminars, to people that are motivated to take a stand on an issue, to visitors to an NGO office, etc.

The basic booklet is an 8-page story produced from one double-sided photocopy. When the pages are set in a specific order1 and photocopied on the same sheet of paper, it can be folded into an 8-page booklet.

You can also make a 16-page story by folding a double-sided photocopy. This is the format to use when you need to make a longer story without having to draw a lot of detailed action.

Accordion minicomics

Accordion comics are folded into an accordion and read either as a long strip or a minibooklet. The format is especially useful for discreet distribution because from the outside of the minicomics you cannot see what it is about as the covers are blank.

The simplest accordion comic is made from a photocopy of a story that is drawn in eight panels on a sheet of paper. The paper is cut in half and the two pieces are joined with a piece of tape. Although it includes a bit of handwork, the size of the panels is OK and this format is easy to photocopy as you need to copy only on one side.

A mini-accordion can be made if you have access to a photocopying machine that can reduce the original to 50% of its size. Take the original 8-panel story (A3), reduce it to 50% and make four copies. Cut the two strips and assemble them on an A3 sheet of paper. Then fold the A3 into an accordion, cut it into four parts, and you have got four accordion minicomics for the price of one A3 photocopy!

Comic strips

You can convert comics into strips to be published in magazines, newsletters and brochures, but you have to remember that the reduction from the original size can be very drastic and you will have to make sure that the original artwork has sufficiently thick lines so that you don't lose them if the quality or size changes, and that the text is big enough.