See 4 w> r\ 1) ts “A REMARKABLE NEW BAEDEKER OF THE TOONS.” aT ata Ma aCe aus eee adA Kitchen Sink Book for HarperPerennial L——— A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers| 4 ne a, |WRITING AND ART SCOTT McCLOUD LETTERING BOB LAPPAN EDITORIAL ADVICE AND SELECTIVE EGO-TRIMMING STEVE BISSETTE KURT BUSIEK NEIL GAIMAN BOB LAPPAN JENNIFER LEE LARRY MARDER IVY RATAFIA EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS WILL EISNER EDITOR MARK MARTIN ‘A paperback edition of this book was originally published in 1993 by Kitchen Sink Press. It is here reprinted by arrangement with Kitchen Sink Press. UNDERSTANDING COMICS: THE INVISIBLE ART. Copyright ©1999 by Scott McCloud. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may bbe used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever with- out written permission except in the case of brief ‘quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. HarperCollins books may be purchased for educa- tional, business, or sales promotional use. For information please write: Special Markets Department, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. First HarperPerennial edition published 1994. ISBN 0-06-097625-X (pbk.) 94 95 96 97 98 RIPON 10987654321 ANY SIMILARITY BETWEEN CHARACTERS /INSTITUTIONS IN THIS WORK ‘TO ACTUAL CHARACTERS/INSTITUTIONS IS UNINTENDED ENTIRE CONTENTS COPYRIGHT SCOTT McCLOUD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED UNDERSTANDING COMCS IS A TRADEMARK OF SCOTT McCLOUD ALL RIGHTS RESERVEDWiACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The book you're about to read took 15 months to produce and many of the ideas it con- tains had been on the back-burner for over nine years, so acknowledging all of those who have helped in its development may be next to impossi- ble. Furthermore, since its initial publication in the comics industry, I've received tremendous support from hundreds of fellow travelers in all corners of the publishing world. My apologies to anyone who is not listed below and should have been. My deepest gratitude to Steve Bissette, Kurt Busiek, Neil Gaiman, Larry Marder and Ivy Ratafia who all reviewed my original draft in detail and offered many valuable critiques. Their contribution to the project cannot be overstated. I was also for- tunate to receive detailed analysis from the talented Jennifer Lee and beyond-the-call-of-duty proofread- ing and good advice from Bob Lappan. Special thanks are also due to the magnificent (and mag- nanimous) Will Eisner who offered many words of encouragement and excellent advice in the proj- ect's later stages. Will Eisner’s work has been an inspiration to me, and to thousands of artists, for many years. Eisner's COMICS AND SEQUENTIAL ART was the first book to examine the art-form of comics. Here’s the second. | couldn't have done it without you, Will. Thanks. I'm deeply indebted to all of the friends and family who offered their thoughts on the manuscript as it was being prepared. Among this long list are Holly Ratafia, Alice Harrigan, Carol Ratafia, Barry Deutsch, Kip Manley, Amy Sacks, Caroline Woolf, Clarence Cummins, Karl Zimmerman, Catherine Bell, Adam Philips and the legendary Dewan Brothers, Ted and Brian. In the comics world, special thanks go to Richard Howell, Mike Luce, Dave McKean, Rick Veitch, Don Simpson, Mike Bannon (technical sup- port), Jim Woodring, and all of the wonderful clan at San Diego ‘92. Thanks also to the numerous pro- fessionals who have lent their support and endorsements to the project. I'm particularly indebt- ed to Jim Valentino, Dave Sim and Keith Giffen who used their own books as a forum on my behalf. In the retail sector, my thanks to the generous mem- bers of the Direct Line Group, to the many stores which played host during our first tour and espe- cially to the Mighty Moondog himself, Gary Colobuono. Thanks, as always, to Larry Marder, Nexus of All Comic Book Realities, for his tireless efforts on my behalf. Thank you to the legion of journalists in print, radio and television who have been able to talk about this book without quoting sound effects from the old Batman TV show; especially Calvin Reid and the whole gang at PW. Early influences on the ideas in this book are harder to trace, but no less important. Kurt Busiek introduced me to comics long ago and was my best guide for many years. Eclipse Editor-in-Chief cat yronwode helped shape my critical faculties over seven years on ZOT! and is one of the very few people in comics who really understood where | was coming from. Art Spiegelman, like Eisner, offered me a role-model for serious inquiry into comics as an art-form and, in his short comics- essay “Cracking Jokes,” clarified comics’ potential for non-fiction and made this book a possibility. Other important early influences include Syracuse professor Larry Bakke, Richard Howell and Carol Kalish. My thanks to all the fine people at Tundra Publishing, Kitchen Sink Press and HarperCollins. Without Kevin Eastman this book might have never seen the light of day. Thank you, Kevin Without lan Ballantine, you wouldn't be hold- ing it in your hands today. Thank you, lan ‘And without you, Ivy, it wouldn't have been much fun. | love you madly. Let's take tomorrow off 9 BP Scott McCloudCONTENTS OY INTRODUCTION PRP AGP POPOL I iN & SETTING 1 THE RECORD 9 STRAIGHT 2 THE 2 VOCABULARY A OF COMICS 24 BLOOD IN THE GUTTER 60 TIME FRAMES 94 5 LIVING © LINE eS SHOW } : 6 1 ees TELL tz ne oe sy o 0 ||N >> : Ca a") © Ess] Tr TOGETHER 193My OLD PAL MATT FEAZELL CALLED THE OTHER DAY. $0, SCOTT, WHAT'S YOUR NEXT PRQUECT GOING TO BE NOW THAT YOU'VE FINISHED INTRODUCTION WELL, IT'S A BIT HARD. Bl 10 DESCRIBE, MATT. IT'S SORT OF A COMIC BOOK ABOUT COMICS / NOT EXACTLY, NO... ALTHOUGH THERE IS SOME HISTORY WV TT... 1T’S MORE AN_EXAMINATION OF THE ART-FOR/ OF COMICS, WHAT IT’S CAPABLE OF, HOW IT WORKS. 7 YOU KNOW, HOW DO WE DEFINE COMICS, WHAT ARE THE BASIC ELEMENTS: OF comics, HOW DOES THE MIND PROCESS THE LANGUAGE OF COMICS HAT SORT OF ) | CLOSURESN Nour ALL ABOUT. WHAT HAPPENS E7IVEEW THE PANELS, THERE'S ONE ON HOW Z7ME FLOWS THROUGH COMICS, ANOTHER ON THE INTERACTION OF WORDS AND PICTURES AND STORYTELLING. 17) ZZ EYEN Gur tose er a ew OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS- AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR COMICS AND FOR ART /N GENERAL IT AREN'T YOU KIND OF YOUNG TO BE DOING THAT SORT OFUAE UTR RUTLZ oo TAY) WHEN TWAS A LITTLE KID icNEW. 7LY WHAT COMICS /ERE. BUT WHEN T WAS IN &f% GRADE A FRIEND OF MINE _C WHO WAS A LOT SMARTER THAN TWAS) CONVINCED ME TO GIVE COMICS ANOTHER LOOK AND LENT ME HIS COLLECTION: CORREA)IN_LESS THAN A. % PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICES ij IF PEOPLE FAILED TO UNDERSTAND COMICS, IT WAS. BECAUSE THEY DEFINED WHAT COMICS COULD BE 700 NARROWLY, { h\ A H y | | BUT WHENEVER T TRIED TO EXPLAIN I FELT THAT MY FEELING, I THERE WAS SOMETHING FAILED M/SERABLY| LURKING IN COMICS... ‘SOMETHING THAT HAD. NEVER BEEN DONE: THE PROBLEM WAS THAT FOR MOST" PEOPLE, THAT WAS, WHAT “Contic Book” MEANT, SURE, I REALIZED THAT COMIC BOOKS DON'T_GIMME THAT COMIC BOOK TALK, BARNEY A PROPER DEFINITION, \- WE COULD 7D ONE, OMUST ENCOMPREe ALT THESE PCS ~-COMICS: 7 wyMASTER COMICS ARTIST WZZZ EISNER USES THE TERM EQUENTIAL A TAKEN /MOIV/DUALLY, THE PICTURES BEI LY 7H HOWEVER, NOTICE THAT MUCH HAS ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN ON THE VARIOUS SCHOOLS QE SONIC ARTE ON PAR CULAR TITLES PARTICULAR TRENDS.THE ARTFORM -~THE MEDIL/M-- KNOWN THE "CONTENT" OF AS COMICS IS A VESSEZ WHICH CAN THOSE IMAGES AND HOLD ANY MUMBER OF DEAS AND IMAGES. | | IDEAS 1S, OF COURSE, UP TO CREATORS, AND_WE ALL HAVE DIFFERENT TASTES. 2GLUG: =GLUG: H / sGAAKE 2 sew MESSENGER. é IS TO NEVER Sueebeze WHEEESZ MISTAKE THE MESSAGE -- t = 4 Het fot) Jy Sy BUT FOR COMICS, Sue rete IAT ONE Ad Been simeO8 orien eae VIRTUALLY AZZ THE DB See aE 0 0) LETS See F We gece ven eemone AN eSB ECE y EXAMINATION. THE SITUATION. Wen OF THEIMISELVES. < H Ft " 5 t e SOMETHING LIKE THIS. NOW -- you'LL FIND THAT NO MATTER WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE SHAPES CAM BE MADE INTO A FACE WITH ONE SIMPLE YOUR MIND HAS NO TROUBLE AT ALL CONVERTING SUCH SHAPES INTO FACES, YET WOULD IT EVER MISTAKE 7#/S~~ © we HUMANS ARE A, SELF-CENTEREDTHINK, QF YOUR FACE AS A MASK FACING, OUTWARD. SEEN BY EVERYONE YOU MEET. THAT'S, WHAT IT 78, AFTER ALL WORN FROM THE DAY YOU WERE BORN.<’MON NOBODY'S LOOKING. GOOD. NOW, WHAT CHANGED WHEN YOU SMILED? WHAT DID YOU SEE? NOTHING, RIGHT. YET, YOU KNVOW YOU SMILED! NOT JUST BECAUSE YOU FELT YOUR CHEEKS COMPRESS OR THE CRINKLING AROUND YOUR EYES/ you KWVOW you SMILED BECAUSE YOU TRUSTED THIS MASK CALLED YOUR FACE 10 RESPOND’. BUT THE FACE YOU SEE IN YOUR MIND IS NOT THE SAME AS OTHERS SEE! WHEN Two Pi PLE INTERRACT, THEY USUALLY LOOK DIRECTLY AT ONE ANOTHER, SEEING THEIR PARTNER'S FEATURES IN VIVID DETAIL.EACH ONE AZSO SUSTAINS A CONSTANT AWARENESS OF HIS OR HER OW?V FACE, BUT 7H/S MIND-PICTURE IS NOT NEARLY SO VIVID; JUST A SKETCHY ARRANGEMENT...A SENSE OF SHAPE... A SENSE OF GEWERAL PLACEMENT. SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AND AS. BASIC-- THUS, WHEN YOU LOOK AT A PHOTO OR REALISTIC DRAWING ‘OF A FACE-~ --YOU SEE IT AS THE FACE OF ANOTHER, THE CARTOON IS A YACULI INTO_WHICH OUR IDENTITY BND AWARENESS Nt a Msn 3 i] Se BUT WHEN You. ENTER THE WORLD OF THE CAR 700N-- sAN EMPTY SHELL THAT WE INHABIT. WHICH EWABLES US TO TRAVEL IN ANOTHER REALM. WE DON'T JUST OBSERVE THe CARTOON,| WE BECOME "1! =o 4 =-AS A CARTOON. I BELIEVE THIS IS THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF OUR CHILDHOOD FASCINATION WITH CARTOONS, THOUGH OTHER, FACTORS SUCH AS UM/VERSAL IDENTIFICATION, SHAPLICITY AND THE CHILDLIKE FEATURES OF MANY CARTOON CHARACTERS ALSO PLAY A PART. THATS wry I DECIDED 10 DRAW’ MYSELF IN SUCH A SIMPLE STHLE. wou YOU HAVE LISTENED TO WE \F T LOOKED LIKE THUS 77, = 36[power a0 | JULD HAVE BEEN Pe ‘TOO AWARE OF 1 Aiy eecewe APART FROM WHAT LITTLE T TOLD YOU ABOUT MYSELF IN CHAPTER ONE, I'M PRACTICALLY A BLANK SLATES 1T WOULD NEVER EVEN OCCUR 10 YOU TO WONDER WHAT My POLITICS ARE, OR Waar t HAD FoR LUNCH OR WHERE T GOT THS SZ OTT =} Z'M JUST ALITTLE VOICE INSIDE YOUR HEAD. LE YOU GIVE ME LIFE BY READING THIS BOOK AND BY. "FILLING LIP* THIS VERY /CONIC GARIOONY) FORM. FETE are OF MOW-VISUAL SEL F-Al STILL APPLY TO OUR WA WHO © AMIS IRRELEVANT. I’M JUST A LITTLE PIECE OF YOU. SO FAR, WE'VE ONLY DISCUSSED FACES, BUT THE PHENOMENON ARENESS. CAN, "10 A LESSER DEGREE, LE BODIES. AFTER ALL, DO WE NEED TO SEE OUR HANDS TO KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING? BUT IF WHO ZAM MATIERS ZESS. MAYBE WHAT I SAY] WILL MATTER MORE. THERE'S MORE, ToorTHE LATE GREAT (MARSHALL MELUHAN OBSERVED A SIMILAR: FORM OF NON-VISUAL AWARENESS WHEN PEOPLE INTERACT WITH INANIMATE OBJECTS. WHEN DRIVING, FOR EXAMPLE, WE EXPERIENCE MUCH MORE THAN OUR FIVE SENSES REPORT THE WHOLE CAR--NOT JUST THE PARTS WE CAN SEE, FEEL AND HEAR--IS VERY MUCH ON OUR MINDS AT ALL TIMES. THE VEHICLE BECOMES AN EX7EWS/ON OF OUR BODY. IT ABSORBS OUR SENSE OF IDENTITY. WE BECOME THE CAR, y / IF ONE CAR #/7$ ANOTHER, THE DRIVER OF THE VEHICLE BEING S7RUCK IS MUCH MORE LIKELY TO SAY: THAN “HE HIT MY CARS” OR “HIS CAR HIT MY CAR", FOR THAT MATTER. OUR /DENTITIES AND AWARENESS. ARE INVESTED IN MANY /WAM/MATE OBJECTS EVERY DAY. OUR CLO7HES, FOR EXAMPLE, CAN TRIGGER MUMEROUS TRANSFORMATIONS | IN THE WAY OTHERS SEE US AND IN THE WAY WE SEE OURSELVES.QUR ABILITY TO PIECES OF METAL PIECES OF PLASTIC EXTEND OUR TO BECOME TO BECOME IDENTITIES INTO. HANDS... EARS... INANIMATE OBJECTS CAN CAUSE PIECES OF wood TO BECOME AND JUST AS OUR. AWARENESS OF OUR BIOLOGICAL SELVES ARE SIMPLIFIED CONCEPTUALIZED MAGES -- AND IN EVERY CASE, OUR CONSTANT AWARENESS OF SEZF-- ==$0 TOO 1S OUR AWARENESS OF 7/585 7 ALL THE THINGS WE WY -- AND EXTENSIONS GREATLY SUMIPLIFIED. EXPERIENCE IN LIFE" THE REALM CAN BE'SEPARATED INTO ] OF THE 7WO REALMS, THe SENSES.QUR IDENTITIES BELONG PERMANENTLY TO THE CONCEPTUAL WORLD. THEY CAN'T BE, SEEN, HEARD. SMELLED, TOUCHED OR TASTED. THEY'RE MERELY /DEAS. AND EVERYTHING ELSE--AT THE START--BELONGS TO THE SENSUAL WORLD, THE WORLD OUTSIDE OF US GRADUALLY WE REACH BEYOND OURSELVES WE ENCOUNTER THE SIGHT, SMELL, TOUCH, TASTE AND SOUND OF OUR OWN BODIES. AND SOON We DISCOVER THAT OBJECTS OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD CAN ALSO CROSS OVER-- --AND POSSESS IDENTITIES OF THEIR OWN.E LEWD TO THEM BY DE-EMPHASIZING THE APPEARANCE OF THE PAYYSICAL WORLD IN FAVOR OF THE /DEA OF FORM, THE CARTOON, PLACES ITSELF IN THE WORLD OF CONCEPTS. THROUGH TRADITIONAL REALISM, THE COMICS ‘ARTIST CAN PORTRAY THE WORLD WITHOUT-- --AND THROUGH THE CARTOON, THE WoRLD WITHIN. WHEN CARTOONS ARE USED THROUGHOUT ‘A STORY, THE WORLD OF THAT STORY MAY SEEM TO PULSE WITH LIFE. rc INANIMATE OBJECTS MAY SEEM TO POSSESS. SEPARATE IDENTITIES ‘SO THAT 1F ONE YUMPED UP AND ‘STARTED SYVGING TT WOULDN'T FEEL OUT OF PLACE — co LS BUT IN EMPHASIZING THE CONCEPTS OF OBJECTS OVER THEIR PHYSICAL APPEARANCE, MUCH HAS TO BE OMITTED. IF AN ARTIST WANTS TO PORTRAY "THE BEAUTY AND COMPLEXITY OF THE -- REALISM OF. SOME SORT |S GOING TO PLAY & 41WHEN DRAWING THE FACE AND FIGURE, NEARLY AZZ COMICS ARTISTS APPLY AT LEAST SO77E SMALL MEASURE OF CARTOONING. EVEN THE MORE REALISTIC ADVENTURE ARTISTS~~ ARE A FAR CRY FROM PHOTO-REALISTS? STORYTELLERS IN ALL MEDIA KNOW THAT A SURE INDICATOR OF AUDIENCE INVOLVEMENT ~-18 THE DEGREE TO WHICH THE "AUDIENCE IDENTIFIES, WITH A STORY'S CHARACTERS. ON THE OTHER HAND, NO ONE EXPECTS AUDIENCES TO IDENTIFY WITH BRICK WALLS OR LANDSCAPES AND INDEED, BACKGROUNDS TEND TO BE SLIGHTLY MORE REALISTIC. AND SINCE WEWVER-IDEN TIFICATION ISA SPECIALTY OF CARTOONING, CARTOONS HAVE HISTORICALLY HELD AN ADVANTAGE IN BREAKING IN7O WORLD POPULAR CULTURE. IN SOME COMICS, THIS SPLIT 1S FAR MORE PROWOLUIVCED. THE BELGIAN “CLEAR-LINE” STYLE OF HERGES 7/V771V COMBINES VERY ICONIC CHARACTERS WITH UNUSUALLY REAL/S7/C BACKGROUNDS, TINTIN 6 EDITIONS CASTERMAN 42THIS COMBINATION ALLOWS READERS TO MASK’ THEMSELVES IN A. CHARACTER AND SAFELY ENTER A SENSUALLY STIMULATING WORLD. See A ONE SET OF ae MM LINES TO SEE af ANOTHER SET OF] LINES 10 BE. IN AMERICAN COMICS, THE EFFECT 1S LISED FAR LESS OF7ENV, ALTHOUGH IT HAS CREPT UP IN THE WORKS OF ARTISTS AS DIVERSE AS. CARL BARKS, JAIME HERNANDEZ ND IN THE TEAM OF DAVE S/M AND GERHARD. IN THE WORLD OF IN EUROPE IT CAN ANIMATION, WHERE | | BE FOUND IN MANY THE EFFECT HAPPENS| | POPULAR COMICS, ‘TO BE A PRACTICAL FROM ASTER/X TO NECESSITY, DISNEY |_| 7/N77¢V TO WORKS OF HAS USED (T WITH JACQUES TARDY. IMPRESSIVE RESULTS, FOR OVER 5O YEARS/| (CEREBUS © DAVE SIM. THANKS TO THE BUT, IN SEMINAL INFLUENCE RECENT| DECADES ‘OF COMICS CREATOR | | JAPANESE FANS ALSO MASKING EFFECT WAS, FOR A TIME, OSAMU TEZUKA, | | DEVELOPED A TASTE VIRTUALLY A WATIONAL STYLES JAPANESE COMICS HAVE] | FOR AZASH™. ”H070- ‘A LONG, RICH HISTORY REALISTIC ART. OF ICONIC CHARACTERS} [ART © HAYASI AND OSIMA‘ART © HAYASI AND OSIMA. THE RESULTANT HYBRID STYLES HAD TREMENDOUS ICONIC RAGE, FROM EXTREMELY CARTOONY CHARACTERS TO (NEAR-PHOTOGRAPHIC BACKGROUNDS. =e SOON, SOME OF THEM BUT REALIZED THAT THE JAPANESE OBJECTIFYING POWER COMICS ARTISTS OF REALISTIC ARTS TOOK THE IDEA COULD BE PUT 10 A STEP. OTHER USES. FURTHER FOR EXAMPLE, WHILE MOST CHARACTERS WERE DESIGNED SIMPLY, TO ASSIST IN READER-IDENTIFICATION- BUT SUPPOSE NOTICE SOME MYSTERIOUS WRITING CARVED ON THE SWORDS HOLT. OTHER CHARACTERS. WERE DRAWN MORE puE REALISTICALLY IN ORDER LIKE THIS SWORD TO THE “LIFE” 10 OBJECTIFY THEM, MIGHT BE VERY IT POSSESSES AS EMPHASIZING “THEIR CARTOONY \N OVE AN EXTENSION OF “OTHERNESS” FROM SEQUENCE: MY CARTOON THE READER IDENTITY/, IN JAPANESE COMICS, THE SWORD MIGHT Wow] | IN THIS AND IN O7HER BECOME VERY REAL/STIC, NOT ONLY TO SHOW US| | 7A%, COMICS IN THE DETAILS, BUT TO_MAKE US AWARE OF THE JAPAN HAVE EVOLVED SWORD AS AN OBJECT, SOMETHING WITH WEVOH7,| | VERY DIFFERENTLY TEXTURE ®ND PHYSICAL COMPLEXITY. FROM THOSE IN THE WEST WE'LL RETURN TO THESE DIFFERENCES SEVERAL TIMES DURING THIS 800k 44I L/KE THE MANY STILL, I HOPE THE JAPANESE PERSONALLY, BUT IT'S " FAVORITE DEMONSTRATE THAT ONE'S CHOICE JUST ONE OF MANY ARTISTS USE OF STYLES CAN HAVE CONSEQUENCES POSSIBLE APPROACHES IT VERY FAR BEYOND THE MERE ‘ZO0K" i ‘TO COMICS ART. RARELY OF A STORY. 3 : i : i AS T WRITE THIS, THE PLATONIC IDEAL ‘BUT SIMPLE ELEMENTS Paras | eau ere AUDIENCES ARE JUST MAY SEEM TO COMPLEX WAYS, AS BEGINNING TO REALIZE OMIT MUCH OF e ATOMS BECOME THAT A SIMPLE STZ E THE AMBIGLITY MOLECULES AND DOESN'T NECESSITATE AND COMPLEX” MOLECULES BECOME SIMPLE STOR” CHARACTERIZATION LIFE. naar LITERATURE, LEAVING THEM SUITABLE ONLY FOR CHILDREN. “at jorgelmon (MAUS © AND TM. ART SPIEGELMAN. AND Z/KE THE ATOM, OREAT POWER IS LOCKED IN THESE FEW SIMPLE LINES, = - ay oar) > THERE'S ALOT MORE TO CARTOONS. THAN MEETS THE EYES ty RELEASEABLE ONLY BY THE READER'S MIND. 45SHOWS SEVERAL, SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT PROGRESSIONS. LET'S CONCENTRATE ON OVE AND SEE IF WE CAN TAKE IT ANY FURTHER. ‘ComPLEX ———> SIMPLE. ee EALISTIC > ICONIC = OBECTIVE—> SUBJECTIVE SPECIFIC——> UNIVERSAL REALITY” REDUCED THIS FACE 10 7#VO DOTS AND 7WO LIVES. \S OUR ICONIC ABSTRACTION SCALE COMPLETES, THE SCALE = CAN ANY. CONFIGURATION OF [VC OV PAPER: Be MORE ABSTRACTED| FROM “REALITY --YET STILL REPRESENT A FACE AS CLEARLY AS JAS ONE I SAY THE ANSWER JUST DRAW, ALINE STRAIGHT T DOTS 13 OF TH 70 HERES A THIS HEIGHT £0} PART OF THE THE ANSWER. SOLUTION. 46EETOUITE CAG cs qr MEANING ed RETAINED. }; KHEAD era oro pa ee ABSTRACTION. WRITING AND DRAWING ARE SEEN AS DSCNS, WRITERS AND ARTISTS AS. “PARA? BIg ‘A SINGLE UNIFIED LANGUAGE DESERVES A SINGLE, UNIFIED VOCABULARY, MOST AMERICAN, COMICS, NOTABLY COMIC BOOKS, HAVE Jif LONG EMPHASIZED THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WORDS AND PICTURES. --AND "GOOD" COMICS AS THOSE IN WHICH THE COMBINATION OF THESE VERY. DIFFERENT FORMS OF EXPRESSION 1S THOUGHT TO BE HARMONIOUS. WORDS, PICTURES AND OTHER ICONS ARE THE VOCABULARY OF THE LANGUAGE CALLED| COMICS. lon pareR Pare} liveson paper Just es ON UST Lines OMBaPER JUST Li PAPE lies Sif N lvest st A NPs Ines ol Lust cin lon pares INES on, Lust; eH Ss FACTORS HAVE AGAINST comics, RECEIVING THE witl CONTINUE 10 LIMP ALONG AS THE "BASTARD IDENTITY AND AMONG THEM LIE SOME OF OUR VERY INSTINCTS,JOINED ACROSS THE GAP, WITH A COMMON THAT THIS MEANS THAT THIS MEANS: PURPOSE: TO MAKE COMICS OF QU/AL/TY™ MORE THAN JUST MORE THAN JUST STICK-FIGURES AND) OOF’ POW! BLAME CRUDE CARTOONS. AND ONE-A-DAY PEE | | CES someTHING DEEPER. IN. ANUSEUMS AND IN SHE 700 FINDS WHAT 1 LIBRARIES, THE ARTIST | | SHE'S LOOKING FOR, IN FINALLY, THEY'RE READY. BOTH HAVE FINDS WHAT HES LOOKING | | THE GREAT MASTERS OF MASTERED THER ARTS. WIS. BRUSHSTROKE FOR. HE STUDIES THE WESTERN LITERATURE. 1S NEARLY /VV/S/BLE IN ITS SUBTLETY, TECHNIQUES OF THE GREAT | | SHE READS AND WRITES THE FIGURES PURE M/CHAELANGELO. MASTERS. OF WESTER CONSTANTLY, SHE HER DESCRIPTIONS ARE DAZZLING. ART, HE PRACTICES ‘SEARCHES FOR A VOICE THE WORDS FLOW TOGETHER LIKE A MIGHT AND DAY. UNIQUELY HERS. SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET. THEY'RE READY TO JON HANDS ONCE MORE AND CREATE A COMICS MASTERPIECE. Ree | eS P-©-0-9-0 -FACE- Bae 48pictures Are RECEIVED INFORMATION. WE NEED NO. FORMAL EDUCATION 10°GE7 7#E MESSAGE” THE MESSAGE IS MSTANTANEOUS. writins 1s PERCEIVED INFORMATION. iT TAKES TIME AND SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE TO DECODE THE ABSTRACT SYMBOLS OF LANGUAGE ro d “RECEIVED ..- WHEN PICTURES ARE MORE ABSTRACTED FROM “REALITY} THEY REQUIRE GREATER’ LEVELS OF PERCEPTION, MORE LIKE WORDS. WHEN WORDS ARE BOLDER, MORE DIRECT, THEY REQUIRE LOWER LEVELS OF PERCEPTION AND ARE RECEIVED AAIS7ER, MORE LIKE PICTURES. OUR NEED FOR A. UNIFIED LANGUAGE OF COMICS SENDS US TOWARD THE CENTER WHERE WORDS AND PICTURES ARE LIKE Wo SIDES OF OVE COINS aC BUT OUR NEED FoR SOPHISTICATION IN COMICS SEEMS TO LEAD US OUTWARD, WHERE WORDS AND PICTURES; ARE MOST SEPARATE, BOTH ARE WORTHY ASPIRATIONS. BOTH STEM FROM A LOVE OF COMICS AND A DEVOTION TO ITS FUTURE CAN THEY BE RECONCILED 7 I. SAY THE ANSWER 18 YES, BUT SINCE THE REASONS BELONG IN A DIFFERENT CHAPTER, WE'LL HAVE TO COME BACK TO THIS ZA7ER. 49Iconic ABSTRACTION 1S ONLY OVE FORM OF ABSTRACTION AVAILABLE TO COMICS ARTISTS. USUALLY THE WORD “ABSTRACTION” REFERS TO THE NON-ICOMIC NARIETY, WHERE NO ATTEMPT 1S MADE TO CLING TO RESEMBLANCE OR MEANING. ©-©.8-0-©-Face THE TYPE OF ART WHICH OFTEN PROMPTS THE QUESTION. “WHAT DOES IT MEAN >” EARNING THE REPLY "IT MEANS’ WHAT ITTHIS 1S THE REALM OF THE ‘SHAPES, LINES AND COLORS CAN BE THEMSELVES BND NOT PRETEND OTHERWISE THE AREA DESCRIBED BY THESE 3 VERTICES-- “REALITY; LANGUAGE AND THE PICTURE PLANE -— REPRESENTS THE TOTAL PICTORIAL VOCABULARY OF COMICS OR OF AMY BELOW NE, OF THE VISUAL ARTS. FACE x WEAR THE LINE, BUT NOT NECESSARILY OM \Tf FOR EVEN THE MOST S7RAIGHT- FORWARD LITTLE CARTOON CHARACTER HAS A MEANINGLESS LINE OR TWO! MOST COMICS ART LIES NEAR THE BOTTOM--THAT 1s, ‘ALONG THE /CONIC ABSTRACTION SIDE WHERE EVERY LINE HAS A MEANING. rc IF WE INCORPORATE LANGUAGE AND OTHER ICONS /V7O THE CHART, WE CAN BEGIN TO BLILD A COMPREHENSIVE MAP-- ~- OF THE LMIVERSE CALLED 514. MARY FLEENER at har mottsberacl_ 2. rasitic ansfomieal base, Simpson distorts and SWAIN, 35. CHESTER GOULD's DICK —_(Wolland Cus") © Koike and Kojima. 48. MISTY. © Maret Enterainment Group, Ine. 71 MARISCAL's Phor. 3. DAVE McKEAN exaggerates MM’ osures to the brik of TRACY © Cheags Troune New Yor Syrdeeie, EDDIE CAMPBELL's ALEC. Flaistcin fone, _RIYOKO IKEDA's Osea’ rom THE ROSE OF ‘employing one of the many styis ound in his Sbatacton.” 23. MICHAEL CHERKAS {07m Ine, 28. JACK KIRBYs Darkewid, © DE Buta guatral and spomaneous. The process VERSAILLES. 72. GEORGE McMANUS. Sets CAGES. "4. MARC HEMPEL's SILENT INVASION, © Chetkas and Hancock. Comics 37, BOB BURDEN. 36, DANIEL i drawing ant hdden ftom view 47 ALEX BRINGING UP FATHER € lntrnatonal Feature GREGORY. S MARK BEYER "6 LARRY 24 RICK GEARY. 25. PETER KUPER. FORRES’ Mosse Vaiges om TRITON. 38. TOTH. Zorro © ZorroProgucions, inc. At © Service, Ine. 73, CHARLES SCHULZ's PETER BAGGEs Busty Bracley om HATE, Wat Disney Productions. (Zoro created by _Charte Brown tom PEANUTS © Unted Foaiures Compare 12 11. 40. SETH. 41” MARK Johnston MeCuley. 48. HUGO PRATT's Syrdeata, inc. 74. ART SPIEGELMAN rom MARTIN. ” 42, JULIE DOUCET. 43, CORTOMALTESE © Casterman, Pars Tourmal. MAUS. 75. MATT FEAZELL's CYNICALMAN EOWARD GOREY. 4a. CRAIG 42. WILL EISNER (for TO THE HEART OF 78. Te company Logo. The picture as symbol MARDER's Beanish from TALES OF THE 28. GARRY TRUDEAU's DOONESBURY. BEANWORLD. “esemblng” nothing overseen 27. LYNDA BARRY. 28. SAMPEL (hence ab the way othe right), Marder beans SHIRATO, 20. ‘CHARLES BURNS's BIG. valine le trom design to meaning. 7. SAUL BABY. 29. 4/2. (Whoops) CLIFF STIENBERG. "&. PENNY MORAN VAN. STERRETT. The character pioured hae (rom RUSSELL's Mowgt tom Ketrgs THE JUNGLE THE STORM. 50. DORI SEOA. 51. A. 77. The Logo. The word as object 7B. Sound HORN fiom THE LIBRARIAN, 8. LORENZO POLLY AND HER PALS) mgt balong ab wer, BOOKS. Rusvel's characters ate as linely between reaieie and canoony Effect. The word ae sound. 79, TOM KING'S MATTOTI in FIRES (© Eaons Ain Mehl but Starrat’s af, ike Fieanar's often heads ouarved and reiatcaly based as Ha Fosters characters, usualy staying about ths high bat SNOOKUMS, THAT LOVABLE TRANSVESTITE S.A) combines deeply impressionistic Ightng upward toward the wid abatact. PAH. is © or Dave Stevens bu wih an onparalled sense Seeasionaly veniusing upward. $2. STEVE 2 proto-comic. #0. DREW FRIEOMAN. 81 wih leone forms and sttong, deagn-orenied Newspaper Features Syndicate, Inc. 30. Si esign tna eraws trom toward the upper OITKO. $3. NORMAN. DOG. 54. DAVE STEVENS. 82. WAL FOSTER. Sere “Laton, Rast he So hating bt VALENTINO HOMMALMAN ates bt 0 the TARZAN conte y Eda’ Ace Bureuhe. 83. Nga aiitarergtinionecoss, 48 Tah andp om he cute SHAGOWHAWR ALEX RAYMOND. Fash Gordon @ King GBsERT KOVIMA ioe, KOZURE"OxaMti (thom cone aust nade'nm ate mrcorto Features Syneteata Ine Slacey “a8, nO2 HAST. 56. Joost MANARA Swanre's Aron Mateos: ‘87. E21 Visor © Stcane POPEYE © king tenes Syrca fess, oeonae NEMniuaNs “Oven Gras Abrare Pungrtom KRAZY XAT. clmernaoralfouuresfaightorward” aie” 87 Serco au ui woooRING® Faw WERRANOEE. #0. JAIME” HERNANDEZ $6" NEAL ADAMS. rom XMEN © Mave! COUN UPTON ao. KURT RS Eniennoren Geum in QeMenc'eseity ce SCHAFFENBERGER, "Supertoy © OC Stan Bi GA KONE Tem ACTON. Conse. #1. JAcK GOL, PLASTIC MAN © N Cowie © OC Comes, Inc "62. MILTON D.C Comes. ea, REED WALLENs OMAHA Conportions. In oer words he Raoneto SERGIO. ARAGONES's GHOO THE plnce 10. ALINE KOMINSKY-CRUMB. — WANOERER. Sample, sraightorwad, but wh 8 11. “PETER BAGGE's Chuckie-Boy trom strong gestural quality that aways reminds vs of NEAT STUFF. Compare to 39. 12. KRISTINE the hand that holds the pan (aaa tive of KAVITRE. 13. REA IRVIN. THE SMYTHES 1428.31.41). 91, ROBERTA GREGORY © Fiat Newspaper Syndicate. 14. STEVE Bichy Bich fom NAUGHTY BITS. 32. DAVID. WILLIS's Mony. 15. PHIL YEH's FRANK — MAZZUCCHELL trom BATMAN’ YEAR ONE THE UNICORN, 16. JERAY MORIARTY’: Commissionar Gordon © DC. Comes. 33. “ack Survives”. Based closely on real wor) JOSE MUNOZ. from "Mater Conrad, Miser light and shadow, but decomposes into ‘ough Wieor’- “© Aknoa and Sampayo. 34. CAROL, shapes. Simla etlcte are found in nos JEFF WONG's an for 48. ROLF STARK "ate RAIN SPAIN's i % CCANIFF's STEVE CANYON. 63. JIM LEE. THE CAT DANCER © Waller and Wortey. 93. TRASHMAN, 20. FRANK MILLER's THE Nek Fury appearing in XMEN' © Marvel WENDY PINs Skywise fiom ELFQUEST. © DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. Batman © DC Z Enertainment Group. Inc’ 64. JOHN BYRNE. Wa Graphics. #4, ‘DAN DE CARLO. Comes. ‘Batman crested by Bob Kane. 21 wittiane Superman © DC’ Comies, Inc. (Superman Veronica @ Archie Comiea. "95. HAROLD ‘ealed by Jy Sigel and Joe Schuster. 85. GRAY's LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE. © Chicago, SACQUES TARDI Irom LE DEMON DES Troune: New York News. Syndicate GLACES © Dargaud Edieur 68, JEAN. HERGE's TINTIN © Ecttons Casterman GLAUDE MEZIERES.Lavtaline trom the FLOYD GOTTFREDSON. Mickey Mouse © LERIAN series. © Dargeua Eateur Wak Disrey Procucions. 08, JERE SMITH = ILL GRIFFITWs ZIPPY THE PINHEAD. BONE. 98: Smie Dammit 100. COLLEEN SOE MATT. 68. KYLE BAKER liom WHY T DORAN’: A OISTANT SOIL. 101. ROY HATE SATURN 70. TRINA, ROBBINS's CRANE's CAPTAIN EASY € NEA Serve, lnc 102. DAN CLOWES, 103. WAYNO, 104, V.T. HAMLIN's ALLEY OOP © NEA Series, Ine" 108. CHESTER BROWN. "106. STAN SAKAl's USAGI YOJIMBO.. 107. DAVE SIMs CEREMUS THE AAROVARK 4 WALT KELLY's POGO © Salby Kell, RUDOLPH OIRKS's HANS AND FRITZ © Ki Features Syndicat, Inc. 110. ¥.C. “BUD HER’: Jot ftom MUTT AND JEFF © MeNaught Syndicate, Ine. 111. MORT WALKER's HI'AND LOIS © King Fealros Sypdieate, ine. 112. OSAMU. TEZUKA'S ASTROBOY. 112. CARL BARKS. Scrooge MeDuck © Wall Disney Productions. 11 CROCKETT JOHNSON's Mister OMalley from BARNABY © Fels Newspaper Syndata, Ine" 418. PAT SULLIVAN’ FELIX THE CAT [© Newspaper Feature Seriew. 116. UDERZO. STEAK by Goscinny and Uderzo © Oargaud Esteve (ESSNER-LOEBS's Woh ftom JOURNEY, 22. DON 7 '!MEGATON MAN. Begining fom & ALL COPYRIGHTS HELD BY THE CREATOR UNLESS ‘OTHERWISE. / ep in mind that Ky these are my coples of the original drawings, = Reality” — merse nore: aanstsin THis CHART ARE NOT NECESSARILY CHOSEN FOR ARTISTIC MERIT. SOME VERY IMPORTANT CREATORS ARE NOT INCLUDED. 52EACH CREATOR EMPLOYS A RANGE OF STYLES, THOUGH, AND MANY OCCUPY SEVERAL PLACES ON THE CHART DURING A MOST OF THE PRECEDING EXAMPLES WERE PLACED ON OUR CHART BASED ON THE DRAWING STYLES USED ON SRECIFIC. CHARACTERS. GIVEN PROJECT, A LIKE MATT FEAZELL'S CYNICALMAN, KEEP TO ONE AREA CONSISTENTLY, - THE COMBINATION OF EX7REMELY /COM/IC CHARACTERS AND ENVIRONMENTS, N\WXED WITH SUMPLE, DIRECT LANGUAGE AND A SOUND EFFECT OR TWO WOULD GIVE US ‘A SHAPE SOMETHING LIKE 7478. WE'VE ALREADY DISCUSSED THE _ RANGE OF HERGE AND OTHERS WHO CONTRAST COMIC CHARACTERS WITH, REALISTIC BACKGROUNDS. —_ BUT. OTHERS RANGE CONSIDERABLY \ FROM ONE END OF THE CHART 10 THE OTHER, Sound on! HERGE STRETCHES NEARLY FROM LEFT 70 RIGHT- FROM REAL/SM TO CARTGONING--) BUT VENTURES VERY Z/77LE INTO THE UPPER WORLD OF VO/- ICONIC ABSTRACTION [ART © EDITIONS CASTERMAN, 54MARY FLEENER, ON THE OTHER HAND, VARIES ONLY SLIGHTLY IN HER LEVEL OF CONIC CONTENT, WHILE THE LEVEL OF NON-ICONIC ABSTRACTION GOES: NEARLY FROM 70P 70 @O77OM/, ‘ART © MARY FLEENER, Ware RIGHT ENS om, oosge. tenes No THIUNG| PHATEL HAPPENS [ART: JACK KIRBY AND JOE SINNOTT (MY FACSIMILE) SCAT: STAN LEE IN JHE MID-SIXTIES, SACK KIRBY, ALONG WITH STAN LEE, STAKED “QUT A MIDDLE GROUND OF ICONIC FORMS WITH A SENSE OF THE REAL ABOUT THEM, BOLSTERED BY A POWERFUL DESIGN SENSE TODAY, MANY AMERICAN MAINSTREAM COMICS STILL FOLLOW KIRBY'S LEAD FOR STORYTELLING, SUT THE DESIRE FOR MORE REAZ/S77C ART AND MORE ELABORATE SCRIPTS HAS PUSHED ART AND STORY FURTHER APART \N MANY CASES. [ART FROM COLOR PANELS TRACED FOR REPRODUCTION, (© MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT GROUP. INC. "ART.IM LEE AND SCOTT WILLIAMS (FACSIMILE) 'SCAPT. CHRIS CLAREMONT.IN THE EIGHTIES AND NINETIES, MOST OF THE COUNTERCULTURE OF INDEPENDENT CREATORS, WORKING MOSTLY. IN BLACK AND WHITE, STAYED 10 THE RIGHT OF MAINSTREAM COMICS ART WHILE COVERING A BROAD RANGE OF WRITING STYLES. THIS FOLLOWS THE LEAD OF THE POST-KURTZMAN GENERATION OF UNDERGROUND CARTOONISTS WHO USED CARTOONY STYLES TO PORTRAY ADULT THEMES AND SUBJECT MATTER, IRONIC THAT THE TWO BASTIONS OF CARTOONY ART ARE UNDERGROUND AND CHILDREN'S COMICS £ PRETTY AR APART AS GENRES GOS FOR COPYRIGHT INFORMATION. SOME ARTISTS, SUCH AS THE OTHERS, SUCH AS DAVE AISKEAN, IRREPRESSIBLE SERGIO ARAGONES, ARE FOREVER OW THE MOVE, STAKED THEIR CLAIM ON A PARTICULAR EXPERIMENTING, TAKING CHANCES, AREA LOVE AGO AND HAVE BEEN NEVER SATISFIED. QUITE HAPPY SINCE ‘SERGIO AND GROO © SERGIO ARAGONES, ABT (LEFT) © DAVE MeKEAN, (RIGHT) © 0.6. COMICS. 56WHEN AN ARTIST IS DRAWN THOSE WHO APPROACH THOSE TO ONE END OF THE CHART OR THE LOWER LEFT, AT THE 70P ANOTHER, THAT ARTIST MAY BE FOR EXAMPLE, ARE By THE REVEALING SONETHING ABOUT HIS PROBABLY ATTRACTED BEAUTY OF ‘OR HER STRONGEST VALUES AND BY A SENSE OF THE ART. LOYALTIES IN ART. BEALITY OF MATURE) FOR COMICS TO MA7LRE AS A MEDIUM, \T MUST BE CAPABLE OF EXPRESSING EACH ARTISUS /WNERMOST WEEDS AND IDEAS, BUT EACH ARTIST HAS DIFFERENT INNER NEEDS, DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW, DIFFERENT PASSIONS, AND 80 NEEDS TO FIND DIFFERENT FORMS OF EXPRESSION. * AND. THOSE ON THE RIGHT By THE BEAUTY OF DEAS. THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF VISUAL ARTS AND NEARLY BELONGS IN THIS SPACE. EVERY MOVEMENT OR MONET SET UP HIS EASEL MANIFESTO PLANTED ITS ALONG THE ZEF7 FACE, FLAG AND LOUDLY PROCLAIMED MONDRIAN AT THE 7OF, THE DISCOVERY OF THE REMBRANDT LOWER LEFT ONLY PRICK OF GROUND MATISSE RIGHT ABOVE ‘WORTH BUILDING ON, WHERE 1’M STANDING, * CHECK OUT WASSILY KANDINSKY'S TERRIFIC 1912 ESSAY, "ON THE PROBLEM OF FORM! 57By DRAWING BORDERS AROUND THE VOCABULARY OF COMICS, I HOPE I HAVEN'T MADE IT ‘SEEM SMALLER THAN IT 15. ARTISTS HAVE A UMVERSE OF ICONS TO CHOOSE : g) ours Is aN INCREASINGLY | SYMBOL-ORIENTED CULTURE, 1S EXPANDING ALL THE TIMES AS THE 7HENTY- FIRST CENTURY ‘APPROACHES, V/SUAL JCONOGRAPHY N\KY FINALLY HELP US REALIZE A FORM OF UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION, SOCIETY 1S INVENTING WEW symeo.s Reovzarzy, \ IS JUST AS comics ARTISTS DO.DEMAND OUR THERE 1S NO LIFE HERE FARTICIPATION EXCEPT THAT WHICH YOU TO MAKE THEM GIVE TO IT. ‘WORK, IT'S YOUR JOB TO IT’S BEEN OVER TWENTY YEARS SINCE AS IT HAPPENS, ONLY CREATE AND RECREATE] | MELUHAN FIRST OBSERVED THAT THOSE PEOPLE| 7/7 POPLILAR MEDIA ‘ME MOMENT By GROWING UP INTHE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY | | WERE IDENTIFIED BY MOMENT, NOT JUST DIDN'T WANT GOALS SO MUCH AS THEY MSLUHAN AS ‘COOL’ THE CARTOONIST'S, WANTED ROLES,” AND THAT'S WHAT VISUAL MEDIA-- THAT IS, ICONOGRAPHY 1S ALL ABOUT, MEDIA WHICH =z COMMAND AUDIENCE INVOLVEMENT THROUGH ICONIC FORMS. =-AND FOR BETTER OR WORSE, ALTERED THE COURSE OF THE FATE HUMAN AFFAIRS OF THE FROM HERE “TIL OTHER ONE, DOOMSDAY. comics-- ONE OF THEM, TELEVISION, HAS REACHED INTO. THE LIVES OF EVERY HUMAN BEING ON paar Bu‘WHEN I WAS VERY YOUNG, T HAD A RECURRENT DAYDREAM THAT THE WHOLE WORLD WAS JUST A SHOW PUT ON FOR MY BEWEFI7, THAT UNLESS I WAS PRESENT 10 SEE THINGS, THEY JUST--I'VE NEVER BEEN IN THE HOUSE: ACROSS THE STREET, YET I ASSUME IT HAS AN /N7ERIOR, THAT IT ISN'T JUST SOME BIG MOVIE SET LATER WN LIFE, L FOUND NONE OF US EVER REALLY PASCIMATED BY THE FACT THAT THEY Ct QULD NOT BE DA EVEN 7ODAY, AS T WRITE AND DRAW THIS PANEL, T HAVE MO GUARANTEE THAT ANYTHING EXISTS OUTSIDE OF WHAT My FIVE SENSES REPORT 10 ME* IN THIS PANEL YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE MY LEGS, YET you ASSUME THAT THEY'RE THERE. ERS. WHO HAD SIMILAR. DAYDREAMS AS CHILDREN. —] SELIEVED THESE THEORIES, BUT WE HAD ALL BEEN (SPROVED,” TVE NEVER BEEN TO MOROCCO, BUT TAKE IT ON FAT" THAT THERE JS’ A MOROCCOL sey SM. IVE NEVER SEEN THE EARTH FROM SPACE FIRSTHAND, YET I TRUST THAT THE EARTH 1S ROUND. EVEN THOUGH THEYRE NOT? *NOT_TO SAY QUR SENSES ARE ANY KIND OF GUARANTEES 61ALL OF US PERCEIVE THE YET OUR SENSES CAN WORLD AS A J2AIOLE THROUGH ONLY REVEAL A WORLD ‘THE EXPERIENCE OF OUR THAT IS FRAGMENTED SENSES. AND /NCOMPLETE LL EVEN THE MOST WIDELY QUR PERCEPTION OF TRAVELLED MIND CAN ONLY "REALITY" IS AN ACT OF SEE SO MUCH OF THE WORLD FAITH, BASED ON MERE IN THE COURSE OF A LIFE FRAGMENTS. ys a AS IVPANTS, WE'RE UNABLE THE GAME PEEK-A-BO0" PLAYS TO COMMIT THAT ACT OF FAITH. ON THIS IDEA. GRADUALLY, WE ALL, IF WE CAN'T SEE IT, HEAR IT, LEARN THAT EVEN THOUGH THE SYGA/7 , SMELL IT, TASTE IT OR TOUCH IT, OF MOMMY COMES AND GOES, IT ISN'T 7HEREZ MOMMY REMAIVS. : Py a aD py a (\\ cs Hee MBA | (A . 4 aS va" b 62THIS PHENOMENON OF OBSERVING THE PARTS BUT PERCEIVING THE WHOLE HAS A AME. IT's CALLED, CLOSURE. SOME FORMS OF CLOSURE ARE DELIBERATE INVEV7/ONS OF STORYTELLERS TO PRODUCE SUSPENSE OR TO CHALLENGE AUD) IN RECOGNIZING AND RELATING 70 OTHER PEOPLE, WE ALL DEPEND HEAVILY ON OUR LEARN ABILITY OF CLOSURE IN OUR DAILY LIVES, WE OFTEN COMMIT CLOSURE, MENTALLY COMPLETING THAT WHICH IS INCOMPLETE BASED ON PAST EXPERIENCE. OTHERS HAPPEN AUTOMATICALLY, WITHOUT MUCH EFFORT... PART OF BUSINESS AS USUAL IN AN INCOMPLETE wo FOR OuR very SURVIVAL.CLOSURE CAN TAKE MANY FORMS. SOME SIMPLE, SOME COMPLEX. penton a” oa, * 0 2 SOMETIMES, A MERE SHAPE OR OUTLINE \S ENOUGH TO TRIGGER CLOSURE. THE MENTAL PROCESS DESCRIBED IN CHAPTER TWO WHEREBY THESE LINES BECOME A FACE COULD BE CONSIDERED CLOSURE EVERY TIME WE SEE A PHOTOGRAPH REPRODLICED IN A NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE, NE COMMIT CLOSURE: QUR EYES TAKE IN THE FRAGMENTED, BLACK-AND-WHITE IMAGE_OF THE “HALF-TONE* --AND. our MINDS, TRANSFORM IT =-OF THE INTO THE PHOTOGRAPH, “REALITYo_9 0 0 00 0 000006 IN IN FULM, CLOSURE TAKES PLACE CON7INUOUSLY-~ ELECTRONIC Off twenty-four TIMES PER SECOND, IN FACT-- AS OUR MEDIA, CLOSURE MINDS, AIDED BY THE PERSISTEWCE OF VISION, INST, TRANSFORM A SERIES OF S77LL PYCT“/RES INTO e 7H NONE DA STORY OF COM7IMUOUS MOTION. 0) OLOROMO2O Om S| oo 0 00 0 000 A MEDIUM REQUIRING EVEN MORE CLOSURE 1S TELEV/S/ON, BETWEEN SUCH WHICH, IN REALITY, IS JUST A SINGLE POIVT OF LIGHT, AUTOMATIC RACING ACROSS THE SCREEN SO FAST THAT IT'S DESCRIBED ELECTROMICE MY FACE HUNDREDS OF TIMES BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN SWALLOW CLOSURE AND THE THAT CORN CHIPYT* SIMPLER CLOSURE OF EVERYDAY LIFE --THERE LIES ‘A MEDIUM WHERE THE AUDIENCE IS A MEDIUM OF A WILLING AND CONSCIOUS COLLAGORATOR COMMUNICATION AND CLOSURE IS THE AGENT OF CHANGE, AND EXPRESSION TIME BND MOTION. WHICH USES CLOSURE LIKE WO O7HER. A MEDIA GURU TONY SCHWARTZ DEscaises THs 65 AT LENGTH IN HIS. BOOK MEDIA, THE SECOND GOD, ANCHOR BOOKS, 1983,Ei PANELS ¥ TH: SEE THAT SPACE AV THE WHAT COMICS. AFICIONADOS HAVE THE NAMED GUITER” AT'S AND DESPITE ITS UNCEREMONIOUS. TITLE, THE GUTTER PLAYS HOST TO MUCH OF THE MAGIC AND MYSTERY THAT ARE AT THE VERY HEART OF COMICSS ~—a —— I —— ———— ———— — a ¥ VINNOTHING IS SEE7/ BETWEEN THE TWO PANELS, BUT EXPERIEVCE TELLS YOU SOMETHING MUST BE THERES Peek-A-Boo! COMICS PANELS FRACTURE BOTH TIME AND SPACE, OFFERING A AifOCED, STACCATO RHYTHM OF LINCONNECTED MOMENTS. ae Vek BUT CLOSURE ALLOWS US TO COMWET7 THESE MOMENTS AND MENTALLY CONSTRUCT & CONTINUOUS, LIVIFIED REALITX. If WSUAL AND SINCE OUR -- THEN, IN A THE COMICS I$ COMICS, CLOSURE 1s IRRANGEMEN7 11S GRAMMAR. CLOSURE? ICONOGRAPHYJHE CLOSURE OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA 1S CONT/NUOUS, LARGELY INVOLUNTARY AND VIRTUALLY (MPERCEPTIBLE. BUT CLOSURE IN COMICS 1s FAR FROM CONTINUOUS AND ANYTHING BUT INVOLUNTARY’ I MAY HAVE DRAWN AN AXE BEING. EVERY ACT COMMITTED TO PAPER BY THE COMICS ARTIST 15 AIDED AND ABETTED BY A SENT ACCOMPLICE. RAISED IN THS EXAMPLE, BUT IM ALL OF YOU ‘AN EQUAL NOT THE ONE WHO LET It DROP PARTICIPATED Hi PARTNER OR DECIDED HOW HARD THE BLOW, IN THE MURDER: IN CRIME KNOWN AS 68 7HAT, DEAR READER, WAS YOUR SPECIAL CRIME, EXCH OF YOU COMMITTING IT IN YOUR OWN S79ZE OR WHO SCREAMED, OR WHY. ALL OF YOU HELD THE AXE AND CHOSE YOUR SPOT.PARTICIPATION 1S A POWERFUL FORCE IN ANY MEDIUM. FILMMAKERS LONG AGO. TO KILL A MAN BETWEEN PANELS 15 TO CONDEMN FIM TO A REALIZED THE IMPORTANCE THOUSAND OF ALLOWING VIEWERS * TO USE THEIR IMAGINATIONS. | nF BUT WHILE F/ZAZ MAKES. USE OF AUDIENCES’ IMAGINATIONS, FOR OCCAS/ONAL EFFECTS, COMICS MUST USE IT FAR MORE Q°7EV7 FROM THE 7ASSIVG OF A BASEBALL TO THE DEATH OF A PLANET, THE READER'S DEL/BERATE, VOLUNTARY CLOSURE |S COMICS’ PRIMARY MEANS OF SIMULATING 77ME AND MOTION. cLosuRE IN COMICS FOSTERS AN INTIMACY SURPASSED ONLY BY THE WRITTEN. WORD, SILENT, SECRET CONTRACT BETWEEN CREATOR AND AUDIENCE, LETS TAKE A LOOK AT THE CRAFT HOW “THE CREATOR i HONORS THAT CONTRACT = IS AMATTER OF BOTH ART AND CRAFT. Tis 69MosT. PANEL-7O-PANEL TRANSITIONS IN COMICS CAN BE PLACED IN ONE OF SEVERAL DISTINCT uN ; SUBJECT IN DISTINCT ACTION-TO-ACTION ‘PROGRESSIONS,THE NEXT DEDUCTIVE TYPE TAKES US FROM REASONING |S. 7-3 7 OFTEN REQUIRED IN WHILE STAYING WITHIN A READING COMICS SUCH SCENE OR IDEA. NOTE AS IN THESE SCEWME- -70-SCENE TRANSITIONS, ‘WHICH TRANSPORT US ACROSS SIGNIFICANT DISTANCES OF IME AND SPACE.A FIFTH AND TYPE OF TRANSITION, FINALLY, THERE’S. THE MON-SEQUITUR, WHICH OFFERS NO LOGICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PANELS WHATSOEVER? DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF A PLACE, IDEA OR MOOD,THIS LAST CATEGORY SUGGESTS AN INTER- ESTING QUESTION. IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ANY SEQUENCE OF PANELS TO BE TOTALLY UNRELATED) TO EACH OTHER? PERSONALLY, 1 DON'T 7K’ SO. NO MATTER WHILE INTHE FIFTH TYPE, BY DEFINITION, NOTHING “HAPPENS” AT ALLI AND, OF COURSE, NON-SEQUITURS ARE UNCONCERNED WITH EVENS OR ANY NARRATIVE PURPOSES OF ANY SORT. 123456 ‘SOME EXPERIMENTAL COMICS, LIKE THOSE OF ART SPIEGELMANS EARLY PERIOD, EXPLORE BUT BEFORE WE CONCLUDE THAT TYPES 2-4 HAVE A MONOPOLY ON SZRAIGHIFORWARD TEZUKA IS AFAR CRY FROM THE EARLY SPIEGELMAN. HIS_ STORYTELLING ‘A FULL RANGE OF STORYTELLING, LET'S IS CLEAR AND TRANSITIONS ~~ TAKE ANOTHER LOOK | | STRAIGHTFORWARD. AT OSAMU TEZUKA! | BUT LOOK ATHOW FROM JAPAN. HE CHARTS’ THOUGH GENERALLY IN THE SERVICE OF 123456 EQUALLY RADICAL STORIES AND — ‘STORIES FROM SPIEGELMAN'SN. SUBJECTS. ANTHOLOGY BREAKDOWNS: “DONT GET AROUND INTRODUCTION “MAUS: MUCH ANYEIORE” Contemac) = “SKINLESS. PERKINS” "CRACKING YOKES" FRONT AND "ACE-HOLE,.MIDGET "REAL BACK COVERS = DETECTIVE” = DREA/T"1975. JUST WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? “VaZAL AAWYSO 8 LEN 77ACTION- -70-ACTION TRANSITIONS, STILL DOMINATE IN TEZUKA'S WORK, BUT TO A LESSER DEGREE. wava a pawawasa LY BUT, MOST STRIKING OF ALL 1S THE SUBSTANTIAL PRESENCE OF THE FIFTH 7YPE_OF TRANSITION, A TYPE RARELY SEEN IN THE WEST. [ART © OSAMU TEZUKA OUR FIRST EXAMPLES OF MOMENT-T0-MOMENT_ IN FACT, SUBJECT-70- SWEJECT TRANSITIONS ‘ACCOUNT FOR NEARLY AS MANY AS ACTION. “THOUGH THE LATTER TYPE ONLY ACCOUNTS FOR FOUR PERCENT OF THE TOTAL, SUCH SEQUENCES CONTRAST] STRIKINGLY WITH THE WESTERN TRADITIONS EXEMPLIFIED 8Y KIRBY AND HERGE. HERE ALSO WE SEE TRANSITIONS. 78(ART © OBAMU TEZUKA ASFECT- 7O- ASPECT TRANSITIONS HAVE BEEN AN INTEGRAL PART OF JAPANESE MAINSTREAM COMICS ALMOST FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. TIN NEOUS LY MOST OFTEN USED 70 ESTABLISH A 4000 OR A SENSE OF PLACE, TIME SEEMS 0 STAND S7/LL IN THESE QUIET, CONTEMPLATIVE COMBINATIONS. VEQUENCE WHILE STILL AN ISSUE, SEEMS FAR LESS IMPORTANT HERE THAN IN OTHER TRANSITIONS. RATHER, THAN ACTING AS A BRIDGE BETWEEN SEFARATE MOMENTS, THE READER HERE MUST ASSEMBLE A SINGL: MOMENT USING SCATTERED FRAGMENTS, ‘c1vs HOLY WoCr mei 79IN EXAMINING. SEVERAL JAPANESE ARTISTS) WE FIND SIMILAR, PROPORTIONS TO TEZUKA'S, INCLUDING A HIGH INCIDENCE OF THE AVFTH TYPE. AMER @ SON wor Rev wry? avast Rosina FONE £ oD TT et SROTARD Soren esaing eEuK LENGTH MAY BE ONE OF 7 WHEN INDIVIDUAL FEATURES ARE THE FACTORS AT WORK HERE. MOST COLLECTED, THEY MAY RUN FOR JAPANESE COMICS FIRST APPEAR IN THOUSANDS OF PAGES. ENORMOUS AN7HOLOGY TITLES WHERE THE PRESSURE ISN'T AS GREAT ON ANY ONE INSTALLMENT TO SHOW ALOT "HAPFEMIVG” BUT I DON'T THINK LONGER STORIES ARE THE QVLY FACTOR, I BELIEVE THERE'S SOMETHING A OR EVEN THE MOST BIT MORE ALMZAMEWTAL TO THIS JMPORTANT ONE PARTICULAR EAST/WEST SPLIT. AS SUCH, DOZENS OF PANELS CAN BE DEVOTED TO PORTRAYING SLOW CINEMATIC MOVEMENT OR TO SETTING A MOOD.JAPANESE COMICS MAY BE HE/RS TO THIS TRADITION, IN THE WAY THEY SO. OFTEN EMPHASIZE BEING THERE OVER GETTING THERE. TRADITIONAL WESTERN ART. AND LITERATURE DON'T WANDER MUCH, ON THE WHOLE, WE'RE A PRETTY GOAL-CRIENTED CULTURE. THROUGH THESE AND OTHER STORYTELLING FOR TECHNIQUES, THE IN JAPAN JAPANESE OFFER A MORE THAN VISION OF COMICS. ANYWHERE VERY DIFFERENT ELSE, comics }. IS AN ART-- / * FROM OUR OWN i = 81 BUT, IN THE EAS7- THERE'S A RICH TRADITION OF CYCLICAL AND LABYRINTHINE WORKS OF ART.KL IN THE GRAPHIC ARTS THIS HAS MEANT A GREATER FOCUS ON FIGURE/GROUND RELATIONSHIPS AND "WEGATIVE SPACE” THE GREAT WAVE OFF KANAG'AWA" By HOKUSA 1629) N THIS PICTURE UPSIDE DOWN TO SFE Te OER WAVE of NEGATIVE SPACE. NATURES YIN AND YANG) IN THE LAST CEW7URY OR TWO, AS WESTERN CULTURAL INFLUENCES SWEPT THE EAST, SO TOO HAVE EASTERN AND AFRICAN IDEAS OF FRAGMENTATION ‘AND RHYTHM SWEPT THE WEST. “THE IDEA THAT ELEMENTS OMITTED FROM & WORK OF ART ARE AS MUCH A PART OF THAT WORK AS THOSE /VCLUDED HAS BEEN ASPECIALTY OF THE EAST FOR CENTURIES. IN MUSIC TOO, WHILE THE WESTERN CLASSICAL TRADITION WAS EMPHASIZING THE CONTIWUOLS, CONNECTED WORLDS OF MELODY AND HARMONY, EASTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC WAS EQUALLY CONCERNED WITH THE ROLE OF SENMCES FROM DEBUSSY TO STRAVINSKY TO COUNT BASIE, WESTERN MUSIC HAS GRADUALLY INCORPORATED A STRONG AWARENESS OF THE POWER OF FRAGMENTATION AND IVTERVALS. SMIN THE VASU/AL ARTS, THE IMPACT OF EASTERN IDEAS WAS BOTH POWERFUL AND LASTING, THE TRADITIONAL EMPHASIS IN WESTERN TT ART UPON THE PRIMACY OF FOREGROUND 1] SUBJECTS AND | CONTINUOUSNESS OF ZONES. GAVE WAY TO. FRAGMENTATION AND A NEW AWARENESS OF THE PICTURE PLANE, ‘WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS PAINTING BY AL HELD IS CALLED? * FACSIMILE oF FIGURE” BY PABLO PICASSO 1948 IN THEATRE, THE IDEA THAT THE MASTERY OF AVY MEDIUM "LESS 13 MORE” WAS REAL PRACTICAL USING MINIMAL ELEMENTS HAS IMPLICATIONS. ONE OF THE MOST LONG BEEN CONSIDERED A NOBLE SUCCESSFUL SHOWS IN HISTORY 1S ASPIRATION. THE FANTASTICKS-~ A PLAY WHOSE ENTIRE SE7 CAME IN THREE PIECES-- ‘A TATTERED BANNER, A STICK ‘AND A CARDBOARD MOON. / [ | | LN ee [BEE PAGE 216),Ge) a ees “ad |DING-DoNGr A * -s ele RIES veTHE ART OF COMICS IS AS SUBTRACTIVE 7 WON'T DRINK AND DRIVE, CARL FINDING THE BALANCE BETWEEN 700 MLICH AND 700 LITTLE \S CRUCIAL TO COMICS CREATORS THE WORLD TO STRIKE THAT BALANCE, CREATORS REGULARLY MAKE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT sae THEIR READERS’ EXPERIENCES, BHT Al 21 TAHT TW230q 33M3IGUA ‘SOME SEEM PRETTY SAFE, OV AWOA A397 LIKE_ THE ASSUMPTION THAT SRA THIS WILL BE PERCEIVED By AUDIENCES AS AN EYE OS) 85WE KSSUME AS READERS THAT WE WILL KNOW WHAT ORDER TO READ PANELS IN, BUT THE BUSINESS OF ARRANGING THOSE PANELS IS ACTUALLY QUITE COMPLEX. SO COMPLEX, IN FACT, THAT EVEN SEASONED PROS WiLL ‘SOMETIMES BLOW 17. AS CLOSURE BETWEEN PANELS BECOMES MORE INTENSE, READER INTERPRETATION BECOMES FAR MORE EZAS7/C. AND MANAGING JT BECOMES MORE COMPLICATED FOR THE CREATOR, | SOME ARTISTS CAN BE DELIBERATELY AMBIGUOUS. OF COURSE, AND OFFER US NO STRICT INTERPRETATION TO GO ON 2 CLOSURE CAN BE A POWERFUL FORCE WITHIN PANELS AS WELL AS BETWEEN THEM, WHEN ARTISTS CHOOSE Ff TO SHOW ONLY A SMALL ECE OF THE PICTURE. COMICS By CAN BE SHOWING MADDEWINGLY LITTLE OR VAGUE ABOUT NOTHING WHAT IT SHOWS us. OF AGIVEN SCENE-- v7 rT ~THE ARTIST CAN TRIGGER ANY NUMBER OF IMAGES IN THE READER'S IMAGINATION, OFFERING ONLY CLES 10 THE READER--READERS FACED WITH PANELS LIKE 7HESE WILL HAVE SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFEREN? INTERPRETATIONS, ciaK! CLAK clak! UH-- JUST READERS COMPLETE BS ASTION ol BY CONSTRUCTING WHOLE MAGES BASED ON THESE FRAGMENTS, READERS ARE PERFORMING C2 DAHEML 1 eaves COMPLETE ~~ --AN ACTION OR-- OW OWS 87 HAF opalWHATEVER THE MYSTERIES PYTHIN EACH PANEL, IT'S THE POWER OF CLOSURE BETWEEN PANELS THAT I FIND THE MOST INTERESTING. STRANGE AND WONDERFUL THAT HAPPENS IN THIS BLANK R/BBON OF PAPER. “THERE'S SOMETHING | WE ALREADY KNOW THAT COMICS ASKS THE MIND TO WORK AS A SORT OF IN-BETWEENER -- FILLING IN THE GAPS BETWEEN PANELS AS AN ANW/MA70R" MIGHT-- BUT I BELIEVE THERE'S STILL MORE TO IT THAN THAT LET'S TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE F/ETH TYPE OF TRANSITION, THE ONE SO POPULAR IN JAPAN HERE'S, A FOUR-PANEL ESTABLISHING SHOT OF AN 123456 OLD-FASHIONED KITCHEN SCENE THK «Ti f)Now, MOST OF YOU SHOULD HAVE NO TROUBLE PERCEIVING THAT YOU'RE IN A KITCHEN FROM THOSE FOUR PANELS WITH A AGH BUT THE SCENE YouR DEGREE OF MIND CONSTRUCTS CLOSURE, YOUR MIND |_| FROM THOSE Foe 1S TAKING FOUR PANELS IS A VERY PICTURE FRAGMENTS | | DIFFERENT PLACE AND CONSTRUCTING FROM THE SCENE AN ENTIRE SCENE CONSTRUCTED FROM OUT OF THOSE OUR TRADITIONAL FRAGMENTS. ONE-PANEL ESTABLISHING SHOT/, LOOK AGAIN YOU'VE BEEN IN KITCHENS BEFORE, YOU KNOW WHAT A POT ON THE BOIL SOUNDS LIKE; DO YOU ONLY HEAR IT IN THAT A757 PANEL? AND WHAT ABOUT THE CHOPPING SOLIND ? DOES THAT ONLY LAST A PANEL OR DOES IT PERSIST 7 CAN YOU SMELL THIS KITCHEN? FEEL IT? ZAS7E IT? i, li WE REPRE: yD THY AS BUT ALL IN ALL, IT IS, AN EXCLUSIVELY VISUAL REPRESENTATION. COMICS IS A_MONO-SENSORY MEDIUM, IT RELIES ON ONLY ONE OF THE SENSES TO CONVEY A WORLD OF EXPERIENCE SS BUT WHAT OF THE OTHER FOUR F WITHIN THESE BUT BETWEEN PANELS, WE CAN PANELS, NONE OF ONLY CONVEY OUR SENSES ARE INFORMATION REQUIRED AT ALL VISUALLY. WE REPRESENT SOUND THROUGH DEVICES SUCH AS WORD BALLOONS. WHICH IS way AZZ OF OUR SENSES ARE ENGAGED!SEVERAL TIMES THEN CALGH7~ CAUGHT QUICKLY | BUT IS IT POSSIBLE ON EVERY PAGE BY THE OUTSTRETCHED] | SO AS NOT TO LET | | THAT CLOSURE CAN THE READER 1S ARMS OF THE EV@@-| | THE READER ALL | | BE SO MANAGED IN RELEASED--UKE A| | PRESENT WEXT INTO CONFUSION ‘SOME CASES-~ TRAPEZE ARTIST PANEL! OR BOREDOM. INTO THE OPEN AIR OF MAGINATION. . se IN CHAPTER TWO, WE DISCUSSED ss it os VARIOUS TYPES OF ICONIC AND NON-ICONIC eottes : DRAWING STYLES. ==THAT THE READER MIGHT LEARN ORLY . DO THESE AFFECT SINCE CARTOONS ALREADY EXIST AS CONCEPTS FOR THE READER, THEY TEND TO FLOW EASILY THROUGH THE CONCEPTUAL TERRITORY BETWEEN PANELS, PERHAPS WE'VE BEEN TOO CONDITIONED BY PHOTOGRAPHY TO PERCEIVE SINGLE IMAGES AS SIVGZE MOMENTS. AFTER ALL, IT DOES TAKE AN EYE 7/ME 10 MOVE ACROSS SCENES IN REAL LIFES AND TANGLES UP TIME BEYOND ALL RECOGNITION! Janis gwAP EACH FIGURE IS IN SOME RESPECTS THIS PANEL BY ITSELF ACTUALLY F77S OUR ARRANGED FROM DEFINITION OF COMICS! ALL IT NEEDS IS A FEW GU77ERS: LEFT TO RIGHT \N THROWN IN TO CLARIFY THE SEQUENCE. THE SEQUENCE WE re WiLL READ" THEM, ia on gener -\ | Ve EACH OCCUPYING A nu oa cane DISTINCT 77ME , sLo7,--BUT, IN AN OTHERWISE SILENT CAPTIONED PANEL, THE SINGLE MOMENT CAN ACTUALLY BE HELD. ALL EXCEPT ONE NOT AZZ PANELS ihe IF SOLD ARE LIKE THAT, : - IS INTRODUCED, ‘OF COURSE HE'S GIVING THIS. CEASES TO BE THis AZZ, TRUE-- A SILENT PANEL ‘SUCH AS THIS COULD INDEED 8€ SAID 10 DEPICT A SIVOLE MOMENT? ‘THESE VARIOUS SHAPES WE CALL PANELS HOLD IN THEIR BORDERS ALL OF THE ICONS THAT ADD UP TO THE VOCABULARY OF HE WAS GIVING IT HIS Adz, WHEN-- FOR JUST AS THE BODY'S LARGEST ORGAN ~- OUR SKIA/-- IS SELDOM 7#0U0H7| OF AS AN ORGAN-~ =-SQ TOO IS THE PANEL /7SELE OVERLOOKED AS COMICS’ MOST IMPORTANT /COM,THESE ICONS WE NOR 15 THEIR CALL PANELS OR MEANING AS ZWD “FRAMES” HAVE AND MALLEABLE NO F7XED OF as SOS, OF ‘MEANING,| | ICONS WE CALL LIKE THE ICONS OF 7 PICTURES. THE DURATIONS OF THAT 77VE AND THE DIMENSIONS OF THAT SPACE ARE DEFINED MORE BY THE CO/ oF, THE PANEL THAN BY THE PANEL /7SEZ= * HE Was vcr HS 222 Se PANEL SHAPES VARY COMS/DERABLY THOUGH, AND WHILE WHICH BRINGS US DIFFERENCES OF SHAPE DON'T AFFECT THE SPECIFIC "“#sasvivas” | | TO THE STRANGE OF THOSE PANELS VIS-A-VIS TIME, THEY CAA AFFECT THE RELATIONSHIP READING EXPERIENCE. BETWEEN TIME 7ED IN AS DEFIC; COMICS AND TIME Seen HEINER DSCASES THIS UNDER THE HEADING “FRAMING THE 99THE PROBLEM |S THERE'S NO IN LEARNING TO READ COMICS. WE ALL LEARNED TO PERCEIVE TIME SPATIALLY, FOR IN THE WORLD OF COMICS, TIME AND SPACE ARE OME AND THE SAME. “THE FEW CENTIMETERS WHICH TRANSPORT US FROM SECOND 70 SECOND IN ONE SEQUENCE COULD TAKE US A PIUNDRED MILLION YEARS IN ANOTHER. SO, AS READERS, WE'RE LEFT WITH ONLY A VAGUE SENSE THAT AS OUR EYES ARE MOVING THROUGH SPACE, THEY'RE ALSO) MOVING THROUGH TIME--We JUST DON'T KNOW BY HOW MUCH YS. TAtwavs Flounes IN MOST CASES IT’S NOT HARD TO MAKE AN EDUCATED GUESS AS TO THE DURATION OF A GIVEN SEQUENCE, SO LONG AS THE £¢ FMEWTS OF THAT SEQUENCE ARE FAMILIAR TO US. FROM A L/FETIME OF CONVERSATIONS, WE CAN BE SURE THAT A “PAUSE” PANEL LIKE THIS LASTS FOR NO MORE THAN SEVERAL SECONDS. 100BUT IF THE CREATOR OF THIS SCENE WANTED TO ZEVG7HEN THAT PAUSE, HOW COULD HE OR SHE DO SO? ONE OBVIOUS SOLUTION WOULD BE TO ADD MORE PANELS, BUT IS THAT THE ONLY WAY? Ya hank THe sox cond Fmaler bo SIP 2S Ze IS THERE ANY WAY TO MAKE A WE'VE SEEN HOW SINGLE SILENT PANEL LIKE THIS ONE TIME CAN BE SEEM ZOVGER > HOW ABOUT WIDENING CONTROLLED THROUGH| THE SPACE BETWEEN PANELS 7 THE CONTENT OF ANY DIFFERENCE 7 PANELS, THE WUMBER OF PANELS AND. CLOSURE BE7WEEN| PANELS, BUT THERE'S) STILL OME MORE. Wey, DESERVE A eTrex 208) r cous] Be Ape seat AS UNLIKELY AS IT SOUNDS, THE PANEL SHAPE CAN ACTUALLY MAKE A D/FFERENCE IN OUR PERCEPTION OF TIME. EVEN THOUGH THIS LONG PANEL HAS THE SAME BASIC "MEANING" AS [TS SHORTER VERSIONS, STILL IT HAS THE FEELING OF GREATER LENGTHS 101‘THE PAWEL BORDER EVER IS OUR GLNDE THROUGH NOTICED HOW THE TIME AND SPACE, BUT WORDS “SHORT” OR IT WILL ONLY GUIDE US SO FAR. "LONG" CAN REFER EITHER TO THE FIRST DIMENSION OR TO THE id IN A MEDIUM WHERE TIME AND SPACE MERGE SO COMPLETELY, THE DISTINCTION OFTEN VANISHES! AS MENTIONED, PANELS COME IN MANY SHAPES AND SIZES, THOUGH THE CLASSIC RECTANGLE IS USED MOST OFTEN. MOST OF US ARE $O USED TO THE STANDARD RECTANGULAR FORMAT THAT A°BORDERLESS” PANEL SUCH AS THIS CAN TAKE ON A TIMELESS QUALITY. WHEN THE CONTENT | OF A SILENT PANEL OFFERS NO CLUES AS TO ITS DURATION, 'T ‘CAN ALSO PRODUCE A SENSE OF TMELESSNESS. mh Ta | BECAUSE OF ITS AND ITS PRESENCE UNRESOLVED NATURE) | MAY BE FELT IN SUCH A PANEL MAY| | THE PANELS WHICH ZINGER \N THE FOLLOW IT. READER'S MIND.RUNS OFF THE EDGE OF THE PAGE --THIS EFFECT IS. COMPOUNDED, TIME IS NO LONGER CONTAINED BY THE FAMILIAR HE ala AND ESCAPES. INTO TIMELESS SPACE, ONCE AGAIN, THIS. IS A TECHNIQUE USED MOST OFTENIN COMICS, Hh A ANY PANEL ASIN FILM, WS, \BB SEFORE THis—- TELEVISION BND PANEL AND THAT LAST ONE, "REAL LIFE” | 775 PANEL FOR INSTANCE-- ITIS ALWAYS. ALONE REPRESENTS THE NOW. | \ REPRESENTS THE FAST. Nin 1) \ Re SEnZ TTT || , HN n | | ( Hy G LIKEWISE, ALL BUT LIVLIKE BOTH WHEREVER YOUR PANELS S7/2Z 70. OTHER MEDIA, IN PAST AND EYES ARE FOCUSED, COME--THIS NEXT | | COMICS, THE PAST FUTURE ARE THATS VOW. BUT PANEL, FOR INSTANCE--|_ | IS MORE THAN JUST REAL AND AT THE SAME TIME REPRESENT THE MEMORIES FOR VISIBLE AND YOUR EYES TAKE IN FUTURE. THE AUDIENCE AND THE SURROUNDING AROUND | i } THE FUTURE IS. | ws? NO | | Moke THAN JusT | ( POSSIBILITIES © NM LANDSCAPE OF LIKE A S7ORM FRONT, THE EYE MOVES OVER THE COMICS PAGE, PUSHING THE WARM, HIGH-PRESSURE FU/‘TU/RE AHEAD OF IT, LEAVING THE COOL, LOW-PRESSURE PAST IN ITS WAKE ‘WHEREVER THE EYE HITS WA LAND, WE EXPECT ITTO BEGIN. F MOVING FORWARD. BuT EYES, LIKEONE BEER WON'T pe ORT. THE IDEA THAT THE READER MIGHT CHOOSE ‘A DIRECTION IS STILL CONSIDERED EXO7IC. YET selbom DO CHANGE DIRECTION, EXCEPT TO) REREAD 14 REVIEW. PASSAGES. TS LEFT- 0-RIGHT, UP-T0- DOVIN, FACE OW MY GOD/TM) JUST KIDDING. INTHE WRONG WHAT CANT oer HOUSES your sosttaust | [ po younave wanted 10 Rent | | caeMnac Or, ANOTHER VIDEO. SOULS? HIM. A FORK. OC) [waarare your JO Wie RIGHT IS BOING HERE” THE VIDED STORE, 3 THIS MAY, IN PART, BE THE INFLUENCE OF OTHER MEDIA LIKE F/M AND. TELEVISION WHERE CONDITIONED AS WE ARE TO READ LEFT-TO-RIGHT AND L/P-70-DOWN, A MISCHIEVOUS CARTOONIST CAN PLAY ANY NUMBER OF 7R/CKS ON US. VIEWER CHOICE THE THE END oF Trt Jusr HAS _NOT GENERALLY WHEREDNELE) THEMONTH:._[boteoel SoM BEEN FEASIBLE. BROKE | |nasece in THE som FUTURE! < ae hed Toxtol \ Newt Caw Soavr ro DhWeR! 105ASTRAIGHT LINE FROM POINT AO POINT &. BUT IS THAT NECESSARY 7 COMICS READERS ARE ALSO CONDITIONED BY OTHER MEDIA AND THE S “REAL TIME” OF EVERYDAY LIFE TO EXPECT A VERY LINEAR PROGRESSION. JUST | TT 3 a FOR NOW, THESE BUT WEWER HOW COMICS QUESTIONS ARE THE] | 24R7/C/PAT/ON. ADDRESSES THIS TERRITORY OF 1S ON THE VERGE ISSUE -- OR FALLS TIME GAMES AND OF BECOMING AN | | TO--COULD PLAY A WILL STRANGE LITTLE | | ENORMOUS /SSUE | | CRUCIAL PART IN TELL. EXPERIMENTS. IN OTHER MEDIA) | DEFINING THE ROLE OF COMICS IN THE NEW CENTURY + Teo o> (ELT 106AS MENTIONED EARLIER, TIME AND SPACE INTHE WORLD OF COMICS ARE CLOSELY LINKED. AS DISCUSSED IN CHAPTER THREE, MOTION IN COMICS 1S PRODUCED BETWEEN PANELS BY THE MENTAL | PROCESS CALLED CLOSURE--] DESPITE COMICS’ 7#@EE THOUSAND YEAR HISTORY, \T WASN'T UNTIL TOPFFER'S MM/D-/8008 DOODLINGS THAT SREC/A/C MOTIONS WERE PORTRAYED IN COMICS IN THE NOW FAMILIAR PANEL-70-PANEL FORM. AS A RESULT, Ba : AND MOTION. —-USUALLY By TRANSITION TYPES ONE, 7WO...BUT LET'S NOT GET INTO THAT WAIN WITHIN ‘A FEW YEARS, HOWEVER, MOTION WAS A. HOT TOPIC INDEED! 107IN THE LAST QUARTER OF JHE MINETEENTH CENTURY MT SEEMED LIKE EVERYONE WAS TRYING TO CAPTURE MOTION “THROUGH, WAY 70 THE OBSOLETE. | KINEM WILL SHOW YOUY, MOVING IMAGES INK STATIC MEDIUM. AS THE MOVING PICTURE BEGAN ITS SPECTACULAR RISE, A FEW OF THE MORE RADICAL PA/ATER'S OF THE DAY EXPLORED THE IDEA THAT MOTION COULD BE DEPICTED BY A SYWGLE IMAGE ON CANVAS. THE FUTURISTS \N \TALY AND MARCEL DUCHAMP IN FRANCE BEGAN THE SYSTEMATIC DECOMPOSITION OF de Descending a ‘Staease #2 by BAH!’ PRAXINOSCOPE \5 BETTERT HAL CHILDS PLAY! THEY ARE BUT Duchamp RE TOYS NEXT TO THE AWESOME BY /B8O. INVENTORS THE WORLD OVER KNEW THAT "MOVING PICTURES” WERE JUST AROUND THE CORNER. EVER YOME WANTED TO BE F/RST/ My S7ROBOSCOPE \S SUPERIOR IN EVERY ¥ ZOETRIPPE! = EVENTUALLY THOMAS EDISON, “THAT OLD SCALLYWAG, FILED THE FIRST PATENT ON & PROCESS USING STRIPS OF CLEAR PLASTIC BAD IDEAL TF YOU'RE GOING TO ~-FILLED PAINT A WITH WORLD=+ MOTION-> é y Si (COPIED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY EADWEAAD MUYBAIDG ~—THEN BE PREPARED 2087 INTEREST IN THIS OTHER TYPE “TNOVING PICTURE” BUT THROUGHOUT THIS SAME PERIOD HAD BEEN INVESTIGATING THIS SAME AREA DUCHAMP SCON MOVED ON, THE FUTURISTS DISBANDED AND FINE ARTISTS GENERALLY ANOTHER MEDIUM, LESS COMSPYCU/OUSL Y. OF I'M SURE YOU CAN ALL GUESS WHICH MEDIUM T. MEANS DUCHAMP, MORE CONCERNED WITH THE (DEA OF MOTION THAN THE SENSATION, WOULD EVENTUALLY REDUCE ‘SUCH CONCEPTS AS. MOTION TOA. SINGLE LINE. 108 109AND FROM ITS EARLIEST DAYS, THE MODERN IN COMIeS COMIC HAS GRAPPLED WITH THE PROBLEM. UNLIKE” OF SHOWING MOTION IN A S7A7IC MEDIUM. PAINTINGS IT WAS MORE THAN, JUST A THEORETIAL HOW DO YOU SHOW THIS ASPECT OF TIME IN AN ART WHERE 77ME STANDS S77LL,7 THOUGH SEQUENTIAL ART SURVIVED FOR MANY CENTURIES #77HOL/T- DEPICTING MOTION, ONCE THE GENIE WAS OUT OF THE BOTTLE IT WAS PERHAPS MEVITABLE THAT MORE AND MORE EFFICIENT MEANS WOULD BE SOUGHT. AT FIRST, THIS SEARCH CENTERED ON (MLZ 7/PLE IMAGES IN SEQUENCE BUT JUST AS A SINGLE PANEL CAN REPRESENT A SAV OF TIME THROUGH SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE FUTURISTS” ‘SO TOO. 2YNAMIC MOVEMENT AND DUCHAMP’S CAN A SINGLE DIAGRAMMATIC CONMCEPT OF MOVEMENT PANEL REPRESENT LIES COMICS’ MMO77ON LINE.” AS Gre THROUGH PICTURES!, mung ECO See ze 110INTHE BEGINNING, MOTION LINES-—- OR “Z/P-R/BBOMS" AS SOME CALL THEM-- WERE WILD, MESSY, ALMOST DESPERATE RTTEMPTS TO REPRESENT THE PATHS OF MOVING OBJECTS THROUGH SPACE. OVER THE YEARS, THESE LINES BECAME EVENTUALLY, IN THE HANDS OF AERO/C MORE REFIVED AND S7YZ/ZED, EVEN FANTASY ARTISTS LIKE BLL EVERETT 4 DIAGRAMMATIC. AND JACK KIRBY ~~ =~THOSE SAME LINES BECAME §Q STYLIZED AS JO ALMOST HAVE A L/FE AND PHYSICAL PRESENCE ALL THEIR OWN,” ARTGENTER AND ABOVE RIGHT €1.0, COMMS. EFT AND FHT CHMGVEL ENTENTANMENT ORDO? WwWIN THIS APPROACH, BOTH THE MOVIVG OBJECT AND THE BACKGROUNDS ARE DRAWN INA CLEAR, ARTICULATED STYLE, AND THE HATH OF MOTION iS IMPOSED OVER THE SCENE, BECAUSE OF THEIR ABILITY TO DEPICT CTION WITH DRAMA, SUCH Ne 7.\ CONSPICUOUS ACTION LIVES HAVE BEEN AN AMERICAN SPECIALTY FOR YEARS, w OTHER ARTISTS TRIED DITIONAL EFFECTS SUCH AS MULTIPLE IMAGES OF THE SUBJECT, ATTEMPTING TO INVOLVE THE READER MORE Am \- IN THE ACTION." STILL OTHERS, SUCH AS MARVEL'S GE/VE COLAN, BEGAN INCORPORATING PHOTOGRAPHIC STREAKING EFFECTS WITH SOME INTRIGUING RESULTS IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES. “ MULTIPLE IMAGES CAN BE FOUND IN THE ‘WORK OF KRIGSTEIN, INFANTING AND. OTHERS,COLAN, WHO WAS ALSO A_F/LM-BUFF WAS OF COURSE AWARE THAT WHEN A CAMERA'S SHUTTER SPEED IS TOO SLOW TO FULLY FREEZE A MOVING OBJECT'S IMAGE, AN INTERESTING BLURRING EFFECT OCCURS BUT \t THE CAMERA MOVES IV/TH THE MOVING OBJECT, ARTISTS TOOK THAT OBJECT WILL REMAIN FOCUSED WHILE THE LITTLE OR NO INTEREST BACKGRO:! UND WILL NOW BE STREAKED. IN THIS KIND OF. PHOTOGRAPHIC TRICKERY. AND IN EUROPE BUT IN /APAN, ONC SSS WHERE MOTION AGAIN, A PG DIFFERENT LINES WERE USED ~ COMICS CULTURE EMBRACED ONLY SPARINGLY THIS VERY DIFFERENT CONCEPT OF MOTION AS IT WAS LIKEWISE oaues OS ON eS 113“SUBSECTIVE MOTION: AST CALL IT, OPERATES ON THE BE MORE SO. JAPANESE ARTISTS, STARTING IN THE LATE 60%, BEGAN PUTTING THEIR READERS “WV THE DRIVERS SEAT” WITH PANELS LIKE 7#ESE: ARTISTS BEGAN TO ADOPT THE EFFECT IN THEIR OWN WORK, UNTIL BY THE EARLY MINETIES. \T HAS BECOME FAIRLY ‘COMMON. ARE THESE THE OWLY WAYSINA MEDIUM WHERE TIME AND SPACE MERGE-- FOLLOWS A VERY DIFFERENT SET OF RULES THAN IN IF THE COMPOSITION OF A SINGLE PANEL IS TRULY PERFECT,*| DOESN'T THAT IMPLY THAT IT CAN--OR EVEN SHOULD--STAND ~THE SUCH AS. ‘STORYTELLER “THE POLYPTYCH, HAS SOME UNUSUAL WHERE A MOVING’ TOOLS AT HIS/HER FIGURE OR DISPOSAL FIGURES: ~ 0) |o RUS BY INTRODUCING HERE, THE TUME INTO THE COMPOSITION OF EQUATION, COMICS THE PICTURE 1S ARTISTS ARE JOINED BY THE ARRANGING THE COMPOSITION OF FAGE IN WAYS NOT CHANGE, THE ALWAYS CONDUCIVE | | COMPOSITION OF TO TRADITIONAL DRAMA -- PICTURE-MAKING. —I8 IMPOSED OVER AL AND THE COMPOSITION THE MATURAL WORLD CREATES GREAT GEAUTY EVERY DAY, YET THE ONLY RULES OF COMPOSITION IT FOLLOWS ARE THOSE OF FLINCTION AND CHANCE. 115 COMICS, AT ITS BEST, ‘SHOULD DO NO LESS.AS WE'VE SEEN, THE INTERACTION OF 77/1 AND COMICS GENERALLY LEADS US TO ONE OF TWO SUBJECTS: SOUND OR MOTION. SOUND BREAKS BOTH TYPES ADD TO THE DURATION MOTION ALSO DOWN INTO. 72V0 OF A PANEL, PARTIALLY THROUGH THE BREAKS DOWN INTO SUBSETS: WORD NATURE OF SOUND /7SEZ& AND BY TWO SUBSETS, BALLOONS AND INTRODUCING ISSUES OF AC7/OV AND THE FIRST TYPE-- SOUND EFFECTS. REACTION. PANEL-TO-FPANEL CLOSURE -- WAS IMPORTANT ENQUGH TO MERIT ITS OWN CHAPTER. ~A_| THE O7HER TYPE -- MOTION A7ZA/V PANELS --CAN BE FURTHER DIVIDED INTO SEVERAL DISTINCT STYLES. I'VE COVERED THE ONES Z KNOW, BUT THERE MAY BE MANY O78. TIME WILL TELL THE WORKINGS OF TIME IN COMICS SHOULD BE AS SIMPLE AS-~ THREE) un ~~ BUT THEY'RE NOT. 116Latte Lb a) >] eo, a NO_MATTER HOW BIZARRE THE VWiE~ WORKINGS OF TIME O) IN COMICS IS-- ad [ofA A if fe OR THE /LLUSION OF IT, ANY WAY. —- 1S ONE OF SIMPLE NORMALITY. ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR FRAME OF MIND.CAN OME MO? SENSE SPEAK FOR )// ALL FIVE 7THE IDEA THAT A PICTURE CAN EVOKE AN EMOTIONAL OR SENSUAL RESPONSE IN THE VIEWER 1S VITAL TO THE ART OF COMICS. IN CHAPTERS TAREE AND FOUR WE INVESTIGATED THE VARIOUS WAYS TIME AND Rao outs Be PORTRAYED, BOTH BEF WEEW PANELS, THROUGH CLOSUR WE'VE TOUCHED UPON THE FO} BUT WHAT ABOUT THE LATTER? IDEA APPLY TO COMICS 7. PORTRAYED EITHER BETWEEN OR WITHIN PANELSIN THE WORKS OF EDVARD MUNCH AND VINCENT VAN GOGH, THE OBJECTIVE STUDY OF LIGHT SO PRIZED BY THE /MPRESSIOMIST MAINSTREAM WAS BEING ABANZOVED IN FAVOR OF A NEW, FRIGHTENINGLY SUSECTIVE ‘APPROACH =| MIVETEENTH AND NO SOONER HAD THE /MPRESSIONISTS| FINALLY CONVINCED IN THE ZA7E EARLY TWENTIETH | CENTERIES, THEIR PEERS THAT SOMETHING KIND | | THE WORLD 7#EY oF SCARY ‘SAW WAS THE WORLD. AS IT IS 7RULY WAS GOING GN., been -=THAN ANOTHER UNSEEN WORLD BEGAN TO MAKE ITSELF VISIBLE. EXPRESSIONISM, AS IT CAME TO BE CALLED, DIDN'T START AS A SCIENTIFIC. ART, BUT RATHER AS AN HONEST EXPRESSION OF THE! INTERNAL TURMOIL THESE ARTISTS JUST COULD NOT REPRESS. THE SC/EMCE OF IT WASN'T FAR BEHIND. THOLIGH/AS THE VEW/ CENTURY GOT UNDER WAY, COOLER HEADS SUCH AS WASSILY KANDINSKY TOOK GREAT INTEREST IN THE POWER OF Z/IVE, SHAPE AND COLOR TO SUGGEST THE INNER STATE OF THE ARTIST AWD TO PROVOKE THE F/VE SEVSES. ANGRY REDS. PLACID BLUE: ANXIOUS ZEXTURES... LOUD SHAPES... QUIET Z/NES. COLD GREENS... THESE WERE STRANGE IDEAS KANDINSKY AND HIS PEERS WERE SEARCHING FOR AN ART THAT MIGHT SOMEHOW LIWITE THE SENSES-- not suxprisive, |"Art does not THEN, THAT SIMILAR IDEAS WERE reproduce the EXPRESSED BY CREATORS IN O7HER FIELDS SUCH _AS RICHARD WAGNER ‘AND THE FRENCH POET SAUDELAIRE. it, wakes PAUL KLEE PAINTER, TEACHES, CARTOONIST: \ Vibes) f \ | \ \ visible; rather, visible.’ « \ \ 123 =- AND IN DOING $O, UNITE THE DIFFERENT ARTFORMS WHICH APPEALED TO THOSE DIFFERENT SENSES ART HISTORIANS HAVE GENERALLY HELD THAT WHILE PAINTERS, MUSICIANS AND POETS HAVE GRAPPLED WITH SUCH IDEAS, PRACTITIONERS OF THE “LOW” ART OF COMICS HAVE REMAINED SZ/SSFULLY /GWORANTIN SURVEYING A CEW7URY MOST HAVE WORKED IN A. OF COMICS, ONE FINDS CREATORS LIKE FAIRLY S7RA/GHTFORWARD STYLE. THE UNDERGROUND'S RORY HAYES, WHO ICONIC, MAYBE, BUT NOT FILLED WITH. ARE BLATANTLY EXPRESSIONISTIC, THE EXPRESSIVE LINES OF A MUNCH OR BUT SUCH ARTISTS ARE FEW AND THE COLORS OF A VANGOGH. FAR BETWEEN. #@ CAN WE SAY, THEREFORE, THAT ONE OF THESE TWO CREATORS 1S EXPRESSING MOOD. AND EMOTION AND THE OTHER 1S VOT OR DOES THE DIFFERENCE LIE IN WHAT |S BEING EXPRESSED? PEANUTS IF THESE LINES = THEN COULDN'T ARE EXPRESSIVE OF | | 727ESE LINES BE FEAR, ANXIETY SAID TO PORTRAY IN TRUTH, ‘AND MADWESS-- | | CALM, REASON AND| DON'T AZZ LINES 3 CARRY WITH THEM AN EXPRESSIVE POTENTIAL? A\O Ae 124BY DIRECTION. ALOME, ® LINE MAY GO FROM --10 DYNAMIC AND By ITS SHAPE, IT CAN BE PASSIVE AND CHANGINGS UNVWELCOMING TIMELESS ~~ AND SEVERE-- --OR By ITs --OR WEAK WARM CHARACTER, AND UNSTABLE -- AND GEW7LE-- ‘AND TT MAY SEEM CONSERVATIVE. SAVAGE AND | DEADLY --OR HONEST AND DIRECT. ‘THE MOST BLAND EAPRESSIOMLESS” LINES ON EAR7#/ CAN'T HELP BUT CHARACTERIZE THEIR SUBJECT IN SOME WAY. AND WHILE FEW COMIC ARTISTS MAY CONSIDER THEMSELVES EXPRESSIONISTS, THAT DOESN'T MEAN “THAT THEY CAN'T TELL OWE LINE FROM ANOTHER 125IN DICK TRACY, FOR EXAMPLE, CHESTER GOULD USED BOLD LINES, OBTUSE ANGLES AND HEAVY BLACKS. TO SUGGEST THE MOOD OF A GRIM, DEADLY WORLD OF ADUL7S~~ ~~ WHILE THE GENTLE CURVES. Ole Bis ve SCROOGE CONVEY ‘A FEELING OF WHIMSY, YOUTH AND /MNOCEWCE. IN: CRUMBS. WORLD, THE CURVES OF NMOCEIVCE ARE BETRAYED 8Y THE NEUROTIC QUILL-LIMES OF MODERN ADULTHOOD. AND LEFT PAIWFLILY OUT OF FLACE-- THILE_IN KRYSTINE KRYTIRE'S ART, THE CURVES OF CHILDHOOD AND THE MAD LINES OF A MUNCH CREATE A CRAZY TODDLER IN THE MMD-/960s WHEN THE AVERAGE MARVEL READER WAS PREADOLESCENT, POPULAR INKERS USED DYMAMIC BUT FRIENDLY LINES ALA KIRBY/SINNOTI. BUT WHEN MARVEL'S READER BASE GREVY INTO THE ANATETIES OF | wi ENCE, THE HOSTILE; JAGGED LINES OF A ROB LIEFELD STRUCK A MORE, RESPONSIVE CHORD. FOR DECADES OF COLOR COMIC BOOKS, THE SIGVATURE STYLES OF INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS LIKE VICK CARDY WAVE INFUSED PERSONAL EXPRESS{O INTO EVERY STORY -— == WHILE JULES FEIFFER'S UNEVEN LINES DID BATTLE WITH THEMSELVES. IN A PANTOMIME QF THE (WNER STRUGGLES OF MODERN LIFE. IN JOSE muvoz’s WORK, DENSE PUDDLES OF INK AND PRAYING LINEWORK) COMBINE TO EVOKE AWORLD OF DEPRAVITY AND MORBID DECAY-— WW J HN io \ \ \ \ Fi a ws, ve (\ Ws f WHILE /OOS7 SWARTE’S. CRISP ELEGANT LINES AND JAZZY DESIGNS: SPEAK OF COOL SOPHISTICATION IN SPIEGELMAN'S | ARISONER ON THE HELL PLANET,” DELIBERATELY. EAPRESSIOMISTIC LINES. DEPICT A TRUE-LIFE HORROR ‘AND_IN EISNER’S MODERN WORK. AFULL OF LINE STYLES CAPTURE A FULL RANGE OF MOODS AND EMOTIONS.