Advertising in comic books used to be pretty limited, but a new generation of cartoonists are working in Web Comics, using the low barriers to enter a mind-boggling number of spaces. On Wired News, Randy Dotinga interviews comics historian Scott McCloud and they do an excellent job of surveying today’s landscape and speculating about what could come.

McCloud is concerned that if mobile phone carriers start distributing comics they could confine the format and subject matter, but I think comics are ideal for the cell phone screen and I don’t know why there wouldn’t be mainstream cell phone comics like what we see in the newspapers today and the wild adventurous territory of the internet for exploring new ideas.

Wired News: Mr. Comics Talks Comics, by 2006-Jul-21, by Randy Dotinga

Wired News: What’s next for comics?

McCloud: Hopefully many, many things. This trend of diversification, balkanization, mutation, the creation of new genres and new markets — I hope it will continue. If it does, comics will take their place alongside other popular media as a form capable of presenting virtually any idea in any style to any audience.