Voice over for comics?

[60Six]

So a friend of mine decided recently that they wanted to animate a short scene from my comic City of Blank. This involved getting a voice actor who I couldn't be more thrilled with as his voice is the voice I've been looking for since I made the character.
But this got me thinking... What if I did voice over for my whole comic? And no, I don't mean animating the whole thing. The comic would still just be done as it always has in a normal comic format, but it would be uploaded with an audio file of voice actors reading the page and some sound effects. Of course, it wouldn't be necessary or vital to the page, just a bonus that people could listen to and read along with each page.
This is all hypothetical of course, I don't even know if I could get voice actors yet. But I'd like to know if people would even be interested if I did decide to move forward with it.

So, if your favorite comic added this feature, do you think you would listen to it? Or do you think you'd just skip it and read the page like you normally do? Also, do you know of any comics that are already doing this? If so, please link me!

And don't be afraid to say it wouldn't interest you! Because I am just honestly curious how interested people would be in a feature like this.

[YoungAdventurer]

I think that would be awesome! Although sometimes it weirds me out when a character doesn't sound like I think they should.Personally I wouldn't listen to it but that is because my internet is soooooooo slow and the audio would keep freezing lol.

It might be a lot of effort for not much of a reward, but it would make your comic stand out. Also, it would make your comic take more time to read, which means people would have more time to appreciate your gorgeous artwork!

[igneriss]

It sounds really cool : D Probably I'd first read the page myself, and then check the voices.

[Wishjacked]

@igneriss I think I'd do the same.

I do really like the idea! It would require a lot of work, but I actually really really enjoy audio stuff and tend to remember things better when I've heard 'em spoken.

[Jrej]

I like the idea. It brings another dimension to the comic. And audio books are getting big right now.

I'd probably read it by myself at first and then add the voices when I'm finished. Kind of like you listen to a movie with commentary.

Are you looking for professional voice actors or would you be doing it with friends only?

[60Six]

Thanks for the response guys! This is good input, though I still definitely wanna get a few more opinions before I start looking into it more.

And @Jrej I'd probably hold auditions. The person I found for my main character (If he's interested in doing more than the one tiny scene he agreed to) was found through a friend but he does a lot of voice acting work but I don't think he's doing anything professionally (yet). So basically I'd just be looking for anyone who has any decent recording software and the voice I need.
...And of course working mostly for credit and experience which I'm MORE than aware will make my search more difficult but that's something I'll look more into if I even decide to move forward with this.

[shazzbaa]

HMMMMMMM..... I think... I probably wouldn't listen to them!

It would be interesting, like "oh dude how are they imagining this character, did they get good voice actors," so I'd check it out, but then unless the voice acting was Very Entertaining* I would just read the pages normally after listening to one of them. I tend to trawl the internet in a room with other people, so unless I am Specifically Watching A Video, I avoid audio -- I watch vines muted, I'll avoid news articles if they're an embedded video, etc etc. I might check out the audio if I saw a lot of comments to the effect of "omg so-and-so-'s voice on that line is PERFECT"

That's not to mention that the voice acting would have to be Incredibly On Point for me to appreciate it; I get second-hand-embarrassment from fan-made things very easily. xD

*I feel like this wouldn't enhance a drama, for me... Something fun, like if the characters have super distinctive voices like, idk, Skeletor, I could see that being entertaining enough that I might want to listen to them! But I don't really want to hear dramatic lines dramatically read. For me, at BEST, it's just Not Distracting.

[60Six]

Thanks for the honest reply!
Honestly though, I'd have the same problem! If voice actors aren't...actually good, I feel so awkward listening to them. I think it'd be fun though if the voice actors are actually good though. I wish some other comic was already doing it so I could hear some samples and get ideas!

[zjwestbrook]

Voice acting is a whole discipline unto itself; apart from live acting. That's why people tend to do one or the other. Some people, like Paget Brewster, do both incredibly well, but it's rare. Look at Mark Hamill; he's not all that impressive on screen, but his voice work is the stuff of legend. On the other hand, Emily Blunt is always amazing on screen, but her voice stuff is just sort of meh. And can you imagine listening to Harrison Ford or even Daniel Day-Lewis reading a book to you? Sooooo horrible.

Plus, if you're just doing audio to pair with still images, you'll need a sound designer on board. Because you'll want some pauses, otherwise every issue will sound like a Mark brothers movie, but you don't want dead air. It's also weird if your comic has sound words, but then the audio doesn't have effects. All to say nothing for needing the audio to be clean and echo-free (not reverb free, echo-free).

If you can pull it off, yeah, it'd be awesome. Just know that pulling it off is going to take about as much time and effort as drawing the comic itself.

[pandymeez]

It's a really interesting idea and I'd totally be on board with it! ... For a while.

Unless the voice acting is good and coincide with the voices I hear in my head when reading a character's lines (makes me sound like a loony prick), I don't know how long I'd be interested in listening. Probably for a good while but I feel like I'd eventually stop listening and prefer just reading the comic or reading the comic then going back and listening while waiting for the next update! It definitely would be something to spice up a comic and add even more interest to it!

I do think that a different way to do it would be having the first few pages of each chapter be voiced and have the rest of the chapter left without to kind of draw readers right into the feel of the moment at the very beginning. It would cut the amount of work down and might be appreciated a little more since it's like a taste of audio to go with the experience. Kinda like how some comics start out with a few colored pages in a chapter and go back to being black and white for the rest? I don't know if that would work out well though or if that's a good comparison. x w x; Just throwing the idea out there!

[60Six]

Thanks for the response and feed back guys!
I actually do have a person who is totally on board with doing the sound editing and they've actually already put together audio for the animation that's being worked on right now.
I'm thinking of uploading said audio with the first couple of pages, just to see how it works and how people like it. Then, depending how it goes, doing the first ten pages (the full opening of the comic) with audio and see how people like it and if it's something worth pursuing.