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    189 views223 pages

    Understanding Comics

    Uploaded by

    Philipe Neves
    khgfdhfgh

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    ee 4 s+ r\ >) ts “A REMARKABLE NEW BAEDEKER OF THE TOONS.” ae ata aCe au Use 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 he 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 baok-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. 0g 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. SQ, SCOTT, WHAT'S YOUR NEXT PKQUECT GOING TO BE NOW THAT YOU'VE FINISHED INTRODUCTION WELL, IT'S A BIT HARD TO DESCRIBE, MATT. ITS SORT OFA COMIC BOOK’ Ie N_ABOUT COMICS! YOU MEAN LIKE A. 1\ HISTOR YZ, M a NOT EXACTLY, NO... ALTHOUGH THERE 1S SOME HISTORY 7 TT...1T’S MORE AN EXAMINATION OF THE ART-FOR/4 OF COMICS, WHAT IT’S CAPABLE OF, HOW IT WORKS. + YOU KNOW, HOW DO WE DEFINE COMICS, WHAT ARE THE BASIC ELEMENTS” OF COMICS, HOW DOES THE MIND PROCESS THE LANGUAGE OF COMICS==THAT SORT OF THING CLOSURE. CHAPTER ON ALL ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS SE7PVEEW THE PANELS, THERE'S ONE ON. HOW Z7ME FLOWS THROUGH COMICS, ANOTHER ON THE INTERACTION OF WORDS AND PYCTURES AND STORYTELLING. ne CREATIVE PROCESS: —] LEVEN PUT TOGETHER A NEW (PREHENSIVE THEORY | AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR COMICS AND FOR ART /N GENERAL IT AREN'T YOU KIND OF YOUNG 7O 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 W7ZE EISNER USES THE TERM TAKEN (INDIVIDUALLY, THE PICTURES BELO ARE MERELY 7Ha7-~ PICTURES. HOWEVE! R, NOTICE THAT MUCH HAS ALREADY EEN WRITTEN Of Tie Vazious Sovooes OF COMIC ART; ON PARTICULAR ARTISTS) PARTICULAR TITLES, PARTICULAR TRENDS. SURGER: AND SEPARATE FORTY FROM CONTENTS THE ARTFORM -~THE MEDIL/M-- KNOWN AS COMICS IS A VESSEZ WHICH CAN HOLD ANY MUMBER OF /DEAS AND IMAGES. Eases ie THE "CONTENT" OF THOSE IMAGES AND IDEAS 1S, OF COURSE, UP TO CREATORS, AND_WE ALL HAVE DIFFERENT a SWHEEEEZE (KAP! KAFI2 GLUGH- Gou THE TRICK IS TO NEVER MISTAKE THE MESSAGE AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER VIRTUALLY AZZ THE GREAT MEDIA RAVE RECEIVED CRITICAL EXAMINATION, IN_AND OF. THEMSELVES. FEISNER'S OWN COMNCS AWD SEGUENTIAL ART BEING A HAPPY EXCEPTION. 6 =-FOR THE MESSENGER. BUT. FOR COMICS, THIS ATTENTION HAS BEEN RARE * LET'S SEE IF WE CAN HELP REC7IFY THE SITUATION. EISNER'S, TERM SEEMS LIKE & GOOD PLACE TO SEQUENTIAL VISUAL ART cS I GUESS THE BASIC DIFFERENCE IS THAT ANIMATION IS, SEQUENTIAL IN TIME BT NOT SPATIALLY YUKTAPOSED" DS COMICS ARE. SED= AD.) GREAT ART SCHOOL We LETS SEE ARE A LOT OF \F_WE CAN EXPAND DIFFERENT IT_TO A PROPER KINDS. OF ART. DICTIONARY-STYLE HOW ABOUT DEFINITION SOMETHING A. THERE LITTLE MORE ISN'T ANIMATED. FILM JUST V/SUAL MEY, AR? ii Sequence MMATION?, WMIATION?? AM HMM. Soon Bown EACH SUCCESSIVE FRAME OF A MOVIE 1S PROJECTED ON EXACTLY THE SA/ME SPACE --THE SCREEN WHILE EACH FRAME OF COMM/CS MUST OCCUPY A DIFFERENT SPACE SP voes on Bones NT, SIDE-BY-SIDE ORD. 7 i C8 DOES IT HAVE TO SAY “AR7"7 DOESN'T THAT IMPLY SOME SORT OF MAKE IT A BIT VALUE JUDGMENT?) MORE SPECIFIC. JUXTAPOSED SEQUENTIAL VISUAL or OKAY, HOW ABOUT 729-7, JUXTAPOSED Iuxtaposen SEQUENTIAL aces STATIC DELIBERATE IMAGES BN asreuence OH, IT DOESN'T AVE TO CONTAIN WORDS TO BE COMICS. LETTERS ARE STATIC IMAGES, RIGHT? WHEN THEY'RE g a WE'LL JUST TYPE 77-UP, BOD ALITTLE BIT ON THE 28S: ‘OF COMICS, AND-- --AND IN MOST CASES, DEFINITION WE'RE LIKELY TO THIS 1S THE OMLY iS |SEQUENTIAL JUXTAPOSED PICTORIAL AND OTHER IMAGES IN DELIBERATE SEQUENCE WHAT ABOUT BATMAN ‘SHOULDN'T VT HAVE BATMAN paxtaroseo cron sno orner ‘cts No, 1 MEAN IT! AND WHAT ABOUT THE AMEN AND-- LOW! EHEYIHEY, LE7 GO oe A | Di 5 WELL, ANYWAY, THIS SHOULD DO FOR WOW. com-ies (kom'iks)n. plural in form, used with a singular verb. 1. Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to response BUT, WITH A SPECIFIC DEFINITION UNDER QUR produce an aesthetic in the viewer. Foetsta nibar =-PERHAPS WE CAN SHED SOME WEW LIGHT ‘ON THE A/S7ORY OF COMICS. I ADMIT, THIS ISN'T THE SORT OF THING THAT COMES UP A LOT IN CASUAL KCOMVERSATION- MOST BOOKS ABOUT COMICS BEGIN SHORTLY BEFORE THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, BUT I THINK WE CAN VENTURE A BIT FARTHER THAN eee | | ACTUALLY, ii T T eed sete} a HERE'S JUST A PIECE OF THE ERLE STORY CONTAINED THIS 36-FOOT LONG ERIGHTLY- COLORED, PRINTED Aue Te Re MANET SCREENFOLD TELLS OF THE GREAT "DISCOVERED" BY CORTES: MILITARY AND POLITICAL HERO AROUND 7579. S-DEER "TIGER'S-CLAW.”* 1S. IT Comics you BET IT 1S/ WE CAN EVEN 84D SOME! ‘OR"OCELOTS CLAW" DEPENDING: WHOSE BOOK YOU READ. ‘THIS SEQUENCE |S BASED ON A READING BYMEXICANHisToRIAN = 1 ‘AND ARCHAEOLOGIST ALFONSO CASO. FIRST, We SEPARATE | | THEN RAVERSE IT WORDS FROM PrcTuReS.| | AND STRAIGHTEN IT OUT CTHE ORIGINAL READ RIGHT-TO-LEFT BND ZIGZAGGED ) AND SEG/V- THE YEAR: JO AD (anawe) THE Date: nays tone, a Z TTHOUSE 12 MONKEY (A Date ) sop, Xipe's BUNDLE (aura FoR PLACE wHose NAME WE DONT KNOW) JHE FOLLOWING YEAR, B-DEER AND. B-DEER ALSO CAPTURES THE PRINCE'S OLDER C PROBABLY) HIS BROTHER, DISGUISED BROTHERS, /0-DOG "EAGLE COPAL BURNING | AND_6-HOUSE "ROW OF FLINT KNIVES” AND PUTS “EM ON ICE @-DEER KILLS THE OTHER PRINCE, 6 FLINT KNIVES” EIGHT DAYS LATER. SWE KNOW THE YEAR) I'M JUST OUESSIMG AT THE DATE REPRESENTED BY “12 MONKEY WW OF YEARS. BEGAN COLLECTING THIS 230 FOOT LONG HUNDRE) BEFORE CORTES TAPESTRY DETAILS THE COMICS, FRANCE PRODUCED THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF STRIKINGLY SIMILAR WORK WE ENGLAND, BEGINNING CALL THE BAYEUN TAPESTRY, IN 7066. PSBTy Be SSA BR? a PARCEL \ FAR FROM D/SQUALIEYING THESE AS COMICS, I THINK MODERN COMIC BOOK ARTISTS SHOULD 7AKE NOTE OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF SUCH WHOLE PAGE COMPOSITIONS AND HOW FEL ARTISTS HAVE MADE GOOD USE OF THEM SINCE JuxraPoseD SEQUENCE 2 AT FIRST GLANCE, EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS WOULD SEEM TO FIT OUR DEFINITION PERFECTLY. PICTORIAL BUT MUCH REPRESENT ONLY AND teen DEPENDS ON OUR USE NDS, Not | “YVW\ euserute CONE ALPHABET, - 7 Ss of, Bal PN zee ec PM, PERENNIAL EXCEPTION HULZ EVSNER, (7 FINDING, COMICS BEYOND ‘OUR OWN MUILLENNILA AC ISA BIT TRICKIER. USING IT. To INDICATE AT LEAST SOME RESEMBLANCE TO THE SUBJECT. BUT THESE GLYPHS 12 READING LEFT 70 RIGHT WE SEE TRE FYEW7S OF THE CONQUEST, IN DELIBERATE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER UNFOLD BEFORE OUR VERY AS WITH THE MEXICAN CODEX, THERE ARE NO PAWEL BORDERS PER SE, BUT THERE ARE CLEAR DIVISIONS OF SCENE BY SUBVECT MATTER. THUS, THEIR REAL DESCENDENT. 1S THE WRITTEN WORD AND NOT COMICS, ges fu batu abla, hennu-nek vatu amenta FOLLOW THEE, THE SOULS ‘OF THE EAST. PRAISE THEE, THE SOULS OF THE WEST.” EGYPTIAN PAINTING 1S ANOTHER, MATTER. SOME, LIKE THIS, MAY SEEM TO BE CONCERNED WITH SEQUENCE, BUT ARE ACTUALLY SHOWING. TWO. DIFFERENT LOCATIONS, EVENTS AND CASTS, GROUPED ONLY BY SUBLET. I. HAD BEEN TRYING TO FIND SEQUENCE IN EGYPTIAN PAINTINGS FOR Y£4KS_ WHEN I BEGAN THIS BOOK AND WAS READY TO CALL IT QUITS ~~ -UNTIL I DISCOVERED THE BOOKS I HAD BEEN USING AS REFERENCE-- ~-HAD. ONLY BEEN SHOWING ME FART OF THE THAT PICTURE! HERE'S THE | W COMPLETE SCENE* * PAINTED OVER SL TTC < CENTURIES. AGO FR THE TOMB OF “EW WA, | GOING AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN UP SCRIBE, THIS TIMES 7 AS WOULD BE === = DONE 2,700 YEARS — LATER IN MEXICO, THE EGOPTIANS READ treme COMICS ZIG-ZAG. he Tela * MORE EARLY COMPLETE, ANYWAY STARTING AT THE = THEN CARRYING IT IN BASKETS TO A 7HRESHING LOCATION, LOWER LEFT, WE CIN THE BACKGROUND TWO GIRLS FIGHT OVER BITS OF WHEAT LEFT BEHIND, AS TWO WORKERS SIT UNDER A TREE, ONE SLEEPING, REAPING WHEAT WITH] | ONE PLAYING THE AZU/7E/) THEIR SICKLES-- Pat SEE THREE WORKERS % \W \ v PAINTING RACED FoR BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION 14 THE SHEAVES ARE THEN RAKED OUT INTO A 7HICK CARPET OF WHEAT THEN OXEN TREAD KERNELS OUT OF THE HUSKS. \ RN, Rak NEXT, PEASANTS SEPARATE THE WHEAT| FROM THE CHAFF. OLD MENNA HIMSELF LOOKS ON-- * iz LeeMks) FA =- AS LOYAL SCRIBES. RECORD THE YIELD ‘ON THEIR TABLETS, NOW AN OFFICIAL USES A MEASURING ROPE TO SURVEY 7HE LAND MND DECIDE HOW MUCH WHEAT IS OWED IN TAXES. AND AS MENNA WATCHES, FARMERS LATE IN PAYING THEIR TAXES ARE BEATEN. TLL GLADL ADMIT THAT 1 HAVE VO IDEA WHERE OR WHEN COMICS ORIGINATED LET O7HERS: WRESTLE WITH THAT ONE. TIVE ONLY SCRATCHED THE SURFACE IN THIS CHAPTER. TRAJAN'S COLUMN, GREEK FAINTING, BLT THERE 1S OME EVENT WHICH LOOMS AS LARGE IN_COMUES HISTORY JAPANESE SCROLLS... ‘ALL THESE HAVE BEEN’ SUGGESTED AND ALL ‘SHOULD BE EXPLORED. AS TT DOES IN THE HISTORY OF THE WRITTEN WORD, VE. THE INVENTION OF FACE GQUGED OUT BY FLTURE GENERATIONS OFLFADERS WITH "THE INVENTION OF SAINT ERASIMUS,” CIRCA 1460. WORD HAS IT THIS GUY WAS A VERY, POPULAR CHARACTER, ART RESTORED FoR CLARITY ~ OTHERWISE UNCHANBED. THE SOPHISTICATION OF THE PICTURE-STORY DID y HOWEVER, REACHING GREAT HEIGHTS IN THE NIMBLE HANDS OF HERE. IS WILLIAM HOGARTH. A TINY Plece (ABOUT ONE TWENTIETH) OF THE SECOND PLATE FROM HOGARTH'S ‘SIX-PLATE PICTURE-STORY “A _HARLOTS PROGRESS” PUBLISHED IN 1731 DESPITE THE LOW “PANEL-COUT.” THESE LUSH, RENDEKED PICTURES TELL A STORY * MAYBE 1 SHOULDN'T SAY "INVENT" 16 were HOGARTH'S STORIES WERE FIRST EXHIBITED AS A SERIES OF PAINTINGS AND LATER SOLD ‘AS A PORTFOLIO OF ENGRAVINGS. BOTH THE PAINTINGS AND ENGRAVINGS WERE DESIGNED TO BE VIEWED SYDE-BY-SIDE =-IN SEQUENCES 1A HARLOTS PROGRESS AND ITS SEQUEL A RAKE'S PROGRESS” PROVED SO POPULAR, NEW COPYRIGHT LAWS WERE CREATED TO PROTECT THIS NEW FORM. UNFORTUNATELY, TOPFFER HIMSELF FAILED TO GRASP AT FIRST THE FULL POTENTIAL OF HIS INVENTION, SEEING TTAS AMERE DIVERSION, A SIMPLE HOBBY. THE FATHER QF THE MODERN COMIC IN MANY WAYS IDOLPHE TOPE FER , WHOSE LIGHT SATIRIC PICTURE STORIES, STARTING IN THE MID- 1800's, EMPLOYED CARTOOMING AND PANEL BORDERS, AND FEATURED THE FIRST INTERDEPENDENT COMBINATION OF RDS AND PICTURES SEEN IN EUROPE. Is ROE 1 FO! UTURE HE [TOPFFER] WOULD CHOOSE A LES’ FRIVOLOUS SUBJECT AND RESTRICT HIMSELF A LITTLE, HE WOULD PRODUCE INGS BEYOND ALL -PTION.” EVEN $0, TOPFFER'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF COMICS IS CONSIDERABLE, 1F ONLY FOR HIS. REALIZATION THAT HE WHO WAS NEITHER ARTIST NOR WRITER-~ TRANSLATION BY E. WIESE } =~ HAD CREATED AND MASTERED A FORM WHICH WAS AT ONCE BRITISH CARICATURE MAGAZINES KEPT THE TRADITIONS ALIVE AND AS THE ZO™ CENTURY DREW NEAR, THE COMICS WE CALL COMICS BEGAN TO APPEAR AND EVENTUALLY TO 7#R/VE IN A STEADY STREAM OF WAKING DREAMS THAT HAS YET TO ABATE. BUT EVEN IN TALIS. CENTURY, OUR DEFINITION CAN HELP TO ILLUMINATE THE WORKS OF SOME UNSUNG HEROES. JUXTAPOSED PICTORIAL AND OTHER IMAGES 18 DELIBERATE SEQUENCE SOME OF THE MOST /MSP/RED AND INNOVATIVE CONICS OF OUR CENTURY HAVE NEVER RECEIVED RECOGNITION AS COMICS, NOT SO MUCH 71V SP/7E OF THEIR SUPERIOR QUALITIES AS BECAUSE OF THEM. Shel Sil serd| FOR MUCH OF THIS CENTURY, THE WORD "Comics" oat HAS HAD SUCH t A] NEsATIVE connorarions \ Al] THAT MANY OF Comics MOST | DEVOTED PRACTITIONERS HAVE PREFERRED TO BE KNOWN AS ~ "ILLUSTRATORS," r A AensTsee. RT| (oe) . fairey | cares AT 8EST, (4) BT1g) |, “sees a “CARTOONISTS? alate} rH fae rar Gnas 5 HEART AND $0, COMICS’ LOW SELF-ESTEEM IS SELF-PERPETUATING!| THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE NECESSARY TO COUNTERACT CONICS’ NEGATIVE IMAGE IS OBSCURED BY THAT NEGATIVITY, Ta rear GODS MAN, WOODCUT ARTIST ZYVD WARD 1S ONE SUCH ANISSING LIVE. WARD'S SILENT “WOODCUT NOVELS” ARE POWERFUL MODERN FABLES, NOW PRAISED BY COMICS ARTISTS, BUT SELDOM RECOGNIZED AAS COMICS. ae ARTISTS LIKE WARD AND BELGIAN VW THEIR DEFINITION FRANS MASEREEL SAID MUCH THROUGH) OF COMICS, THEN AS THEIR WOODCUTS ABOLIT THE POTENTIAL OF ) WOWZ WAS’ SIMPLY TOO COMICS, BUT FEW IN THE Comics Community A MARZO TO INCLUDE OF THE DAY COULD GET 7HE MESSAGE. SUCH WORK FROM FRANK MASEREELS FASS/ONATE JOURNEY, 1919. QUITE A DEFERENT CASE IS MAX ERNST’S SURREAL “COLLAGE WOVEL? A WEEK OF KINDNESS. THIS 182 PLATE SEQUENCE OF COLLAGES (S WIDELY CONSIDERED A MASTERIIECE OF 20™ CENTURY ART, BUT NO ART HISTORY TEACHER WOULD DREAM OF CALLING IT “COMICS ‘YET, DESPITE THE LACK OF A CONVENTIONAL STORY, THERE 1S NO MISTAKING THE CENTRAL ROLE WHICH SEQUENCE PLAYS IN “THE WORK, ERNST DOESN'T WANT YOU 70 ROWSE THE THING, IF WE DON'T EXCLUDE PHOTOGRAPHY FROM, OUR DEFINITION, THEN MEANWHILE, PICTURES. HALF OF AMERICA IN SEQUENCE ARE FINALLY BEING HAS BEEN IN COMICS RECOGNIZED AS THE EXCELLENT ‘AT ONE TIME OR COMMUNICATION TOOL THAT THEY ANOTHER, ARE, BUT S77ZLL NOBODY REFERS TO THEM AS COMICS! “DIAGRAMS” SOUNDS MORE DIGM/FIED, I SUPPOSE. FROM SVAMED GLASS WINDOWS SHOWING BIBLICAL SCENES IN ORDER TO MONET'S SERIES PAINTINGS, 10 YOUR CAR OWNER'S MANUAL, CONICS TURN UP ALL OVER WHEN SEQUENTIAL ART 1S EMPLOYED AS A DEFINITION GS: COS IN SOME COUNTRIES, PHOTO-COMICS ARE, IN FACT, QUITE POPULAR. ‘com.ies (kom'iks)n. plural in form, SINGLE SUCH SINGLE PANELS i , MIGHT BE CLASSIFIED used with a singular verb. 1. (PANELS LIKE Ree AREF” Juxtaposed pictorial and other ZHIS ONE ARE Re arenas ieee images in deliberate sequence, IN WITH COMICS, THEY DERIVE PART intended to convey information YET THERE'S NO. OF THEIR VISUAL and/or to produce an aesthetic SUCH THING AS VOCABULARY = i ceonieNce FROM COMICS: ponse in the viewer. SeOWEr FOR ALL THE DOORS THAT aN OUR DEFINITION OPENS, C THERE IS ONE WHICH ¢ IT CLOSES. 2 c 5 s “Mommy, why ain't I tI \ “luxtapased?” BUT I SAY THEY'RE Brg, They ARE ENR oe CARTOONS, =- BUT THEY ARE NOT HUMPHREY BOGART | AS AMZ, THE SAME THING! ONE'S AN AND THERE IS A cone EERE es APPROACH TO PYCTURE-MAKING-- A S7YZE, 1F YOU LIKE --WHILE THE OTHER RELATIONSHIP: 1S A MEDIUM WHICH OFTEN EMPLOYS BETWEEN. THAT APPROACH. COMICS AND CARTOONS, MORE ON. THIS ZATER, THIS SAME SYWELE A GREAT MAJORITY OF MODERN COMICS OF COURSE, IF PANEL MIGHT ALSO DO FEATURE WORDS AND PICTURES IN ANYONE WANTS TO BE LABELLED Comics |_| COMBINATION AND IT'S A SUBJECT WORTHY OF| | WRITE A BOOK FOR ITS JUXTAPOSITION STUDY, BUT WHEN USED AS A DEFIV/77ON TAKING THE OPP0S/7¢ OF WORDS AND FOR COMICS, I'VE FOUND IT 70 BEA LITTLE VIEW, YOU CAN BET TLL BE THE FIRST IN LINE TO BUY A copy? TOO RESTRICTIVE FOR MY TASTE J\_Pecrures IF Col 4 AND 7H/S TIME, SPECTACULARLY VARIED THE SECRET IS NOT IN PAST \S_ANY INDICATION, WHAT THE DEFINITION comics. Cortes WL) oe SAYS BUT IN WHR I VIRTUALLY IO DO! " PREDICT USING THE ANT” SP: STANDARDS OF THE BUT OUR DEFINITION CAN OFFER US SOME CLUES. ar Bi a rr er ec) n iu fi i i é ING 7 0 7% OES. Oi . 4 FUNNY ANIMALS Nov BIOGRAPHY - HORROR . NOU, KAN TASII SCIENCE: bo Te Tem) FICTION OR READER AGE. peels HISTORICAL = Veet ]| FICTION a” aia ao a ‘ GENRES F OUR DEFINIT! SOCIAL ben aa EROTICA ‘ NO. TYPES O} ALLEGORY Loa -o4 g sussECT CNL NIT btm col EC} COP EES oF : rol dred 08 BAe OF CONSCIOUSNESS, Nl S SAID ABOUT PAPER NO PRINTING PROC TIONED. PRINTING 77SELE EVEN. SPECIFIED / NOTHING (5 SAID ABOUT TECHNICAL PENS OR BRISTOL BARD OR WINDSOR & NEWTON FINEST SABLE 3 SERIES 7 NUMBER TWO BRUSHES mareriacs Ti Be ‘ Niel ARE RULED OUT 5 h 8Y OUR DEFINITION. Sea Bate f ey lane NO 7OOLS ARE PROHIBITED. THERE 1S NO MENTION OF BLACK LINES AND FLAT COLORED INK. NO. CALLS FOR EXAGGERATED ANATOMY FOR REPRESENTATIONAL ART OF ANY KIND. No SCHOOLS OF ART ARE BANISHED hs ae BY OUR DEFINITION, a y NO PHILOSOPHIES, NO MOVEMENTS, NO WAYS OF SEEING ARE OUT OF BOUNDS / THOSE OF YOU WHO MAKE COMICS FOR ‘A LIVING ~~ OF WOULD 2728 10, SOMEDAY-- PROBABLY KNOW THAT KEEPING UP WITH ALL THE ADVANCES \N TODAY'S COMICS 1S A FULL-7ME YOR. THERE ARE $0 MANY COMICS IN PRINT TODAY THAT IT WOULD TAKE AN ARMY OF READERS TO STUDY THEM ALL ATTEMPTS 10. DEFINE COMICS ARE AN ON-GOING PROCESS: WHICH WON'T END ANYTIME ‘SOON HOWEVER MUCH WE MAY TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD OF COMICS AROUND US, A 74z7- THAT WORLD WILL ALWAYS LIE IN SHADOW--A MYSTERY. Many POSSIBLE WORLDS/” A NEW GENERATION WiLL NO DouBT REJECT| WHATEVER THIS ONE FINALLY DECIDES TO E MORE TO REINVENT comics. Z'LL DO My BEST IN THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS TO SHED Z/GHTON THAT UNSEEN SIDE, BUT AS WE FOCUS ON THE WORLD OF, COMICS AS /T-AS: TT SHOULD BE KEPT’ IN MIND AT AZZ TIMES THAT THIS WORLD IS ONLY ONE-- HERE'S TO THE HERE'S A PAINTING : THE INSCRIPTION 1S IN By MAGRITTE CALLED “7HE FRENCH. 7RANSZA7ED, \T MEANS TREACHERY OF IMAGES.” THIS 1S NOT A PIPE!” JhIs Is A FAINTING OF A PIPE ‘SEE PAGE 216 FOR MORE INFORMATION 24 web Tu TTS. ING OF A PIPEY TRIS 1S RAVING OF KYBINTING A PIPE. eat ING AGAIN. wero! 1s PRINIED COPY OF A DRAWING OF A PAINTING OF A PIPE. 7X, IF YOU. FOLD THE PAGES COPIES, ACTUALLY, — Chk es jas he pape ia =r SAYING? A Coos 0 rs we ape IF YOU DO, HAVE YouR, EARS CHECKED, BECAUSE NO ONE SAID A WORD. EEE 25 ASDHIMA gle THESE ARE NOT IDEAS. THIS 1S NOT SEAS THESE ARE NOT PEOPLE. WELCOME TO THE STRANGE AND WONDERFUL OED eS THIS 1S NOT\ [my voice. THIS IS NOT SOUND. THIS 15 NOT LAW. ZOE. THIS IS NOT A CAR. sis 1S/NOT FOOD. Lh & TUNDRA CTH ios THESE ARE NOT SEPARATE THIS Is NOT A MOMENTS: ‘THIS 1S NOT A. ‘COMPANY. 26 NOW, THE WORD 7CON MEANS MANY THINGS. THs 13 PAPER z HATS A BIT BROADER ‘THAN THE DEFINITION IN MY DICTIONARY, BUT IT'S THE CLOSEST THING TO WHAT I NEED HERE. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS CHAPTER, I'M USING THE WORD ‘7CONV" TO MEAN ANY IMAGE USED 10 REPRESENT A 4 PERSON, PLACE, THING OR IDEA. "SYMBOL" IS A BIT T00 LOADED FOR ME. ‘THE SORTS OF IMAGES WE USUALLY CAZL SYMBOLS ARE ONE CATEGORY ‘OF ICON, HOWEVER, THESE ARE THE IMAGES WE USE TO REPRESENT CONCEPTS, (DEAS SND PHILOSOPHIES. THEN THERE ARE THE ICONS OF LANGUAGE, |] SCIENCE AND COMMUNICATION. AND FINALLY, THE ICONS WE CALL P/C7URES: IMAGES DESIGNED TO ACTUALLY RESEMBLE THEI SUBJECTS. AS RESEMBLANCE VARIES, SQ DOES THE LEVEL OF ICONIC. CONTENT. OF THE PRACTICAL REALM. 08 70 PUT IT SOMEWHAT CLUMS/LY. ‘SOME PICTURES ARE JUST MORE ICONIC THAN OTHERS, 27 IN THE VOWV- PICTORIAL ICONS, MEANING 15 F7XED AND ABSOLUTE. THEIR APPEARANCE DOESN'T AFFECT THEIR. MEANING BECAUSE THEY REPRESENT INVISIBLE MWDEAS. IN PICTURES, HOWEVER, MEANING IS FLUID AND VARTABLE ACCORDING TO APPEARANCE. THEY DIFFER FROM “REAL-LIFE” APPEARANCE TO_VARYING DEGREES. WORDS ARE TOTALLY ABSTRACT \CONS. THAT IS, THEY BEAR NO RESEMBLANCE AT ALL TO THE REAL MECOY. BUT IY PICTURES THE LEVEL OF ABSTRACTION VARVES. SOME, LIKE THE FACE IN THE PREVIOUS PANEL SO CLOSELY RESEMBLE THEIR REAL-LIFE COUNTERPARTS BS TO ALMOST ZRICK™ OTHERS. LIKE YOURS TRULY, ARE QUITE A BIT MORE ABSTRACT AND. IN FACT, ARE VERY MUCH LIVE KE ANY HUMAN FACE ‘YOU'VE EVER SEEN/ LET'S SEE IF WE CAN PUT THESE PICTORIAL /CONS: IN SOME SORT £2) OF ORDER. & 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 am rata bxscone mo seven nasa Ss ZGLAS| FerncgS i ei seer [8 MEANING YP RESEMBLANCE Yj EA RETAINED. |) GONE. PHEAD rey rca sd p sinaran bom feo mask farts Cuocounry ee E, a d Fs == AND "GOOD" COMICS AS THOSE IN WHICH THE COMBINATION OF THESE VERY DIFFERENT FORMS OF EXPRESSION 1S THOUGHT TO BE HARMONIOUS. WRITING AND DRAWING SEPARATE. DISCIPLINES, WRITERS AND ARTISTS AS. “PARATE GREED -- ARE THE ULTIMATE ABSTRACTION. BUT JUST HOW " DIFFERENT’! ARE THEY e LON MOST AMERICAN COMICS, NOTABLY COMIC BOOKS, HAVE DIFFERENCES Pod BETWEEN WORDS AND PICTURES. 1G EMPHASIZED THE OTHE! es on) Lust WORDS, PICTURES AND VOCABULARY oF THE LANGUAGE CALLED| COMICS. ICONS ARE THE on, ‘A SINGLE UNIFIED LANGUAGE DESERVES A SINGLE, UNIFIED VOCABULARY, WITHOUT. 17, Comics witl CONTINUE 10 LIMP ALONG AS THE "BASTARD CHILD" OF ‘WORDS AND PICTURES. SEVERAL FACTORS HAVE CONSPIRED AGAINST comics RECEIVING THE UNIFIED. IDENTITY ITMEEDS. OUR VERY AND AMONG THEM LIE SOME OF 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. B-©- 0-9. ©-FAack. Bes - Se “wn 6s, USUALLY THE WORD “ABSTRACTION” REFERS TO THE NON-(CONIC NARIETY, WHERE NO ATTEMPT IS MADE 70 CLING TO RESEMBLANCE OR MEANING. EARNING THE REPLY “IT MEANS” WHAT IT THE TYPE OF ART WHICH OFTEN PROMPTS THE QUESTION: “WHAT DOES IT MEAN" --INK ON PAPER 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 MOST OF THE PRECEDING EXAMPLES WERE PLACED ON OUR CHART BASED ON THE DRAWING STYLES USED ON SRECIFIC. CHARACTERS. EACH CREATOR EMPLOYS A RANGE OF STYLES, THOUGH, AND MANY OCCUPY SEVERAL PLACES ON THE CHART DURING A GIVEN PROJECT. CYNICALMAN, KEEP TO ONE CONSISTENTLY, SOME, LIKE MATT FEAZELUS AREA JHE COMBINATION OF EXTREMELY /COMIC CHARACTERS. AND EMVIRONMENTS, N\IXED WITH SIMPLE, DIRECT LANGUAGE AND A SOUND EFFECT OR TWO WOULD GIVE US ‘A SHAPE SOMETHING LIKE 74/5" WE'VE ALREADY DISCUSSED THE _ RANGE OF HERGE AND OTHERS WHO CONTRAST COMIC CHARACTERS. WITH REALISTIC BUT OTHERS RANGE CONSIDERABLY FROM ONE END OF THE CHART /* 10 THE OTHER, 4 } 5 HERGE STRETCHES Sound on! | NEARLY FROM LEFT 70 RIGHT-— FROM REAL/SM TO CARTOONING- BUT VENTURES VERY Z/77LE INTO THE UPPER WORLD OF WON- {CONIC ABSTRACTION, ® = 5 & S Rg ‘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 HOLE THROUGH ONLY REVEAL A WORLD ‘THE EXPERIENCE OF OUR THAT IS FRAGMENTED SENSES. AND /NCOMPLETE EVEN THE MOST W/DELY OUR 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. >) “e AS IVFANTS, WE'RE UNABLE THE GAME FPEEK“A-B QO" PLAYS TO COMMIT THAT ACT OF FAITH. ON THIS IDEA. GRADUALLY, WE ALL, IE 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 7HERET MOMMY REMAINS. — Peek-A-Boo! OF © )) J Lis 4 GC CI XS H \ i] ‘ TY | pat 62 THIS PHENOMENON OF OBSERVING THE PARTS BUT PERCEIVING THE WHOLE HAS A VAME. IT's. CALLED CLOSURE. SOME FORMS OF CLOSURE ARE DELIBERATE INVENTIONS OF STORYTELLERS TO PRODUCE SUSPENSE OR 10 CHALLENGE 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 WORLD, MUST DEFEWD ON CLOSURE FOR OUR VERY SURVIVAL. ers 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 iM, AKI = UEC ONN IN AZM, CLOSURE TAKES PLACE CONTINUOUSLY- Off twenty-four TIMES PER SECOND, IN FACT-- AS OUR MEDIA, CLOSURE MINDS, AIDED BY THE PERSISTENCE OF VISION, ICANT fo) TRANSFORM A SERIES OF $7722 PICTURES. INTO = 7 ERING A STORY oF. CONTINUOUS. MOTION. O Sc EOROROROS Om OR S| o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A MEDIUM REQUIRING EVEN (MORE CLOSURE 1S TELEV/S/ON, WHICH, IN REALITY, IS JUST A SINGLE POINT OF LIGHT, RACING ACROSS THE SCREEN SO FAST THAT IT’S DESCRIBED LMY FACE WUVEREDS OF 7/MES BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN SWALLOW THAT CORN CHIPIZ* BETWEEN SUCH AUTOMATIC ELECTROME CLOSURE AND THE SIMPLER CLOSURE OF EVERYDAY LIFE --THERE LIES A MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION AND EXPRESSION WHICH USES CLOSURE LIKE WO OTHER... A MEDIUM WHERE THE AUDIENCE IS AWILLING AND CONSCIOUS COLLABORATOR AND CLOSURE IS THE AGENT OF CHANGE, head are | © ft A MEDIA GURU TONY SCHWARTZ DEscaisEs THs 65 AT LENGTH IN HIS. BOOK MEDIA, THE SECOND GOD, ANCHOR BOOKS, 1983, Ei PANELS ¥ TH: SEE THAT SPACE AV THE WHAT COMICS. AFICIONADOS HAVE THE NAMED GUITER” AT'S AND DESPITE ITS UNCEREMONIOUS. TITLE, THE GUTTER PLAYS HOST TO MUCH OF THE MAGIC AND MYSTERY THAT ARE AT THE VERY HEART OF COMICSS ~—a —— I —— ———— ———— — a ¥ VIN NOTHING IS SEE7/ BETWEEN THE TWO PANELS, BUT EXPERIEVCE TELLS YOU SOMETHING MUST BE THERES Peek-A-Boo! COMICS PANELS FRACTURE BOTH TIME AND SPACE, OFFERING A AifOCED, STACCATO RHYTHM OF LINCONNECTED MOMENTS. ae Vek BUT CLOSURE ALLOWS US TO COMWET7 THESE MOMENTS AND MENTALLY CONSTRUCT & CONTINUOUS, LIVIFIED REALITX. If WSUAL AND SINCE OUR -- THEN, IN A THE COMICS I$ 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: pe 1S POWERFUL FORCE IN AMY MEDIUM 18 TO CONDEMNN FILMMAKERS ZONG AGO quent REALIZED THE IMPORTANCE sey ‘OF ALLOWING VIEWERS . TO USE THEIR IMAGINATIONS. BUT WHILE AZZAM MAKES USE OF AUDIENCES’ IMAGINATIONS FOR OCCASIONAL EFFECTS, COMICS MUST USE IT FAR MORE OF7EN/ FROM THE 7OSSIVG OF A BASEBALL TO THE DEATH OF A PLANET, THE READER'S DEL/BERATE, VOLUNTARY CLOSURE |S COMICS’ PRIMARY MEANS OF SIMULATING 77ME AD MOTION. 3 cLosuRE LETS IN COMICS FOSTERS TAKE A LOOK AN INTIMACY SURPASSED AT THE ONLY BY THE WRI7TEW CRAFT WORD, SILENT, SECRET CONTRACT BETWEEN CREATOR AND AUDIENCE. HOW JHE CREATOR HONORS THAT CONTRACT IS AMATTER OF BOTH ART AND CRAFT. TRANSITIONS IN COMICS CAN BE PLACED IN ONE OF SEVERAL DISTINCT CATEGORIES. THE FIRST ‘CATEGORY —~ WHICH WE'LL CALL MOMEN 7-70 MOMENT--REQUIRES: VERY L/77LE CLOSURE NEXT ARE THOSE TRANSITIONS, FEATURING A SINGLE 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-SEQUITUIR, WHICH OFFERS NO LOGICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PANELS WHATSOEVER ai 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 123456 TEZUKA IS AFAR CRY FROM THE EARLY SPIEGELMAN. HIS STORYTELLING SOME EXPER/MENTAL COMICS, LIKE THOSE OF ART SFIEGELIVANS. EARLY PERIOD, EXPLORE BUT BEFORE WE CONCLUDE THAT TYPES 2-4 HAVE A MONOPOLY ON STRAIGHTFORWARD ‘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 SUBJECTS. —=_-_ STORIES FROM SPIEGEL MAN'S ANTHOLOGY BREAKDOWNS: Er "DONT GET AROUND INTRODUCTION “MAUS (UCH ANYIORE” (nrcinacy “SKINLESS “PRISONER ONTHE "CRACKING PERKINS” HELL PLANET” = JOKES” FRONT AND "ACE-HOLEMIDGET "REAL ok AN mW BACK COVERS = DETECTIVE” = DREA/T"1975. JUST WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? VaRZaL ASO OLE 77 BaWaWesa 10 z3va BIOL LO T34L\ ACTION- IN FACT, SUBJECT-TO- -7O-ACTION. SUBJECT TRANSITIONS TRANSITIONS, ‘ACCOUNT FOR NEARLY STILL DOMINATE AS MANY AS ACTION. IN TEZUKA'S WORK, BUT TO A LESSER DEGREE. HERE ALSO WE SEE QUR FIRST EXAMPLES OF MOMENT-T0-MOMEN?, TRANSITIONS. THOUGH THE LATTER TYPE ONLY ACCOUNTS, FOR FOUR PERCENT OF THE TOTAL, SUCH ‘SEQUENCES CONTRAST| STRIKINGLY WITH THE WESTERN TRADITIONS EXEMPLIFIED BY KIRBY AND HERGE, [ART © OSAMU TEZUKA BUT, MOST STRIKING OFAZL |S THE SUBSTANTIAL PRESENCE OF THE FIFTH TYPE OF TRANSITION, A TYPE RARELY SEEN IN THE WEST. AAT © OBAMAS TEZUIRA, ASFECT- 7O- ASPECT TRANSITIONS HAVE BEEN AN INTEGRAL PART COMICS ALMOST FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. MOST OFTEN USED 70 ESTABLISH A 2400D OR A SEMSE OF PLACE, TIME SEEMS TO S7AND S77LL IN THESE QUIET, CONTEMPLATIVE COMBINATIONS. EVEN VEQUENCE WHILE STILL AN ISSUE, SEEMS FAR LESS IMPORTANT HERE THAN IN OTHER ‘TRANSITIONS. THAN ACTING AS A BRIDGE BETWEEN SEPARATE MOMENTS, THE READER HERE MUST ASSEMBLE A SINGLE MOMENT USING SCATTERED FRAGMENTS, qd Wow 79 ‘c1vs HOLW 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. THROUGH THESE AND OTHER STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES, THE JAPANESE OFFER A VISION OF COMICS VERY DIFFERENT FROM OUR OWN TRADITIONAL WESTERN ART AND LITERATURE DON'T WANDER MUCH. ON THE WHOLE, WE'RE A PRETTY GOAL-ORIENTED CULTURE. A FoR IN JAPAN MORE THAN ANYWHERE ELSE, comics }. IS AN ART-- / ~ 81 BUT, IN THE EAS7- THERE'S A RICH TRADITION OF CYCLICAL AND LABYRINTHINE WORKS OF ART. THE IDEA THAT ELEMENTS OMITTED FROM A WORK OF ART ARE AS MUCH A PART OF THAT WORK AS THOSE /VCLUDED HAS BEEN A SPECIALTY OF THE EAST FOR CENTURIES. IN THE GRAPHIC ARTS THIS HAS MEANT A GREATER FOCUS ON FGUREZGROUND RELATIONSHIPS AND "“WEGAT7/VE SPACE” “TWE GREAT WAVE OFF KANAG'AWA By HOKUSAI 1629) CHURN This PCTLIRE UPSIDE DOWN TO SEE THE OER WAVE OF NEGATIVE SPACE. NATURES. Y/N AND YANG) IN MUSIC TOO, WHILE THE WESTERN CLASSICAL TRADITION WAS EMPHASIZING ‘THE CONTIVUOLS, CONNECTED WORLDS OF MELODY AND HARMONY, EASTERN CLASSICAL, MUSIC WAS EQUALLY CONCERNED WITH THE ROLE OF SZENMCES easr, IN THE LAST CEW7URY OR TWO, AS WESTERN CULTURAL INFLUENCES SWEPT THE EAST, SO TOO HAVE EASTER AND AFRICAN IDEAS OF FRAGMENTATION AND RHYTHM SWEPT THE WEST. FROM DEBUSSY TO STRAVINSKY TO COUNT BASIE, WESTERN MUSIC HAS GRADUALLY INCORPORATED A STRONG AWARENESS OF THE POWER OF wd FRAGMENTATION BND INTERVALS. IN THE Y/SUAL ARTS, THE IMPACT OF EASTERN IDEAS WAS BOTH POWERFUL AND LASTING, THE TRADITIONAL EMPHASIS IN WESTERN ART UPON THE PRIMACY OF FOREGROUND SUBJECTS AND CONTINUOUSNESS OF ZONES. GAVE WAY 70. FRAGMENTATION AND A NEW AWARENESS OF TE PICTURE PLANE. FACSIMILE oF FIGURE” BY PABLO PICASSO ; 5 IN THEATRE, THE IDEA THAT Z ; : "LESS 1S MORE” HAS REAL PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS. ONE OF THE MOST ‘SUCCESSFUL SHOWS IN HISTORY 1S THE FANTASTICKS-~ A PLAY WHOSE ENTIRE SET CAME IN 7HKEE PIECES-- ‘A TATTERED BANNER, A STICK ‘AND A CARDBOARD MOON. “ANSWER: “THE BIG > [BEE PAGE 216] 83 WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS PAINTING BY AL HELD JS CALLED? * THE MASTERY OF ANY MEDIUM USING MINIMAL ELEMENTS HAS LONG BEEN CONSIDERED A NOBLE ASPIRATION. Ge) a ees “ad |DING-DoNGr A * -s ele RIES ve PROWISE ME YOU WON'T DRI AND. PROMISE ME YOU WON'T DRINK AND HERES DRIVE, CARL. STORY, HERE'S A STORY, TPM SORRY. CARL, CANT SO Out Wath you TONIGHT TUL Buy SOME LO seees. FINDING THE BALANCE BETWEEN 700 MLCH AND 700 LITTLE \s CRUCIAL TO COMICS CREATORS THE WORLD OVER, THE ART. OF COMICS IS AS SUBTRACTIVE AN ART AS IT IS : ADDITIVE. PROMISE ME YOU WON T}DRINK AND DRIVE, CARL. RIP. care 77 oNeh WZ 4 TPROMSE EST’ «iz, NDI — i 10 STRIKE THAT BALANCE, CREATORS REGULARLY MAKE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT ae THEIR READERS’ EXPERIENCES, BHT A 21 TAHT Tw230q 333/UA ‘SOME SEEM PRETTY SAFE, OV WO GAIA LIKE THE ASSUMPTION THAT SSA THIS WILL BE PERCEIVED BY AUDIENCES AS ANEYE CLOSING. 85 WE BSSUME AS READERS THAT WE WILL KNOW WHAT ORDER TO READ PANELS IN, BUT THE BUSINESS OF ARRANGING THOSE PANELS IS ACTUALLY QUITE COMPLEX. 80 COMPLEX, IN FACT, THAT EVEN SEASONED PROS WILL ‘SOMETIMES BLOW I7. hv AS CLOSURE BETWEEN PANELS BECOMES MORE INTENSE, READER INTERPRETATION BECOMES FAR MORE EZAS7/C. AND MANAGING 11 BECOMES MORE COMPLICATED FOR THE CREATOR. SOME ARTISTS CAN BE DELIBERATELY AMBIGUOUS. OF COURSE, AND OFFER US NO SiRICT INTERPRETATION TO GO ON CLOSURE CAN BE A POWERFUL FORCE WITHIN PANELS AS WELL AS BETWEEN THEM, WHEN ARTISTS CHOOSE TO SHOW ONLY A SMALL PYECE OF THE PICTURE, COMICS

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