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 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 LEVG7HEN THAT PAUSE, HOW COULD HE OR SHE DO SO? ONE OBVIOUS SOLUTION WOULD BE TO ADD MORE PANELS, BUT IS THAT THE ONLY WAY? Zoek IS THERE ANY WAY TO MAKE A SINGLE SILENT PANEL LIKE THIS ONE SEEM ZOVGERZ HOW ABOUT WIDENING THE SPACE BETWEEN PANELS 7 ANY DIFFERENCE 7 WE'VE SEEN HOW TIME CAN BE CONTROLLED THROUGH THE CONTENT OF PANELS, THE MUMBER | OF PANELS AND. CLOSURE BE7WEEN| PANELS, BUT THERES| STILL OME MORE. Tey, t DEsERUE A Berree 208! AS UNLIKELY AS IT SOUNDS, THE PANEL SHAPE CAN ACTUALLY MAKE A D/FFEREWCE IN OUR PERCEPTION OF TIME. EVEN THOUGH THIS LONG PANEL HAS THE SAME BASIC “MEANING” AS ITS SHORTER VERSIONS, STILL IT HAS THE FEELING OF GREATER LENGTH! Tua MADONNA aN, Ses one Ho 101AS MENTIONED, PANELS COME IN MANY SHAPES AND. SIZES, THOUGH THE CLASSIC RECTANGLE IS USED MOST OFTEN. EVER NOTICED HOW THE WORDS “SHORT” OR “ZONG" CAN REFER EITHER TO THE FIRST DIMENSION OR TO THE FOURTH 7 IN A MEDIUM, WHERE TIME AND SPACE MERGE SO COMPLETELY, THE DISTINCTION OFTEN VANISHES! ‘THE PAWEL BORDER IS OUR GUIDE THROUGH TIME AND SPACE, BUT IT WILL ONLY GUIDE US SO FAR. MOST OF US ARE SQ USED TO THE STANDARD RECTANGULAR. FORMAT THAT A°BORDERLESS” PANEL SUCH AS THIS CAN TAKE ON A TIMELESS QUALITY. I) Mi WHEN THE CONTE? OF A SILENT PANEL OFFERS NO CLUES AS TO ITS DURATION. | CAN ALSO PRODUCE A SENSE OF TMELESSNESS. “V7 | BECAUSE OF ITS UNRESOLVED NATURE} SUCH A PANEL MAY LINGER \N THE READER'S MIND. AND ITS PRESENCE MAY BE FELT IN THE PANELS WHICH FOLLOW IT.TIME IS, WHEN “BLEEDS” ARE NO LONGER USED ~~ 1-E,, CONTAINED WHEN A PANEL By THE RUNS OFF THE FAMILIAR EDGE OF THE PAGE --THIS EFFECT IS. IORRHAGES. AND ESCAPES TIMELESS SPACE ONCE AGAIN, THIS IS_A TECHNIQUE USED MOST OFTEN IN JAPAN AND ONLY| RECENTLY ADOPTED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. Tut gust oo Sy Howe NOW. TU Just DAVE AROiIND RWI. HMA FORA: 40 Me ioe tS Tit VIDED STORE. THIS MAY, IN PART, BE THE INFLUENCE OF OTHER MEDIA LIKE F/M AND. TELEVISION WHERE VIEWER CHOICE HAS NOT GENERALLY BEEN FEASIBLE. 105 THE IDEA THAT THE READER MIGHT CHOOSE ‘A DIRECTION IS STILL CONSIDERED EXO7/C. WHAT ARE YOu DO vou Have, DOING HERE aenriae OF, soues> 3 “SUST KIDDING: WHAT CANS er CONDITIONED AS WE ARE TO READ LEFT-TO-RIGHT AND L/P-7O-DOWN, A MISCHIEVOUS CARTOONIST CAN PLAY ANY NUMBER OF 7R/CK®S ON US. THE] we enor [Favaoer ncRet@Le| The Monta... [Boneaw Sone 5 pore | lice mie some Foruge! Fry conrr MENTS Now t tant 3 fine eer mre Goo To DINNER! — Jean ziFOR OW, THESE QUESTIONS ARE THE TERRITORY OF GAMES AND STRANGE LITTLE EXPERIMENTS. BUT WEWER PARTICIPATION. 1S ON THE VERGE OF BECOMING AN ENORMOUS ISSUE IN OTHER MEDIA, COMICS READERS ARE ALSO CONDITIONED REAL TIME” OF EVERYDAY LIFE TO EXPECT A VERY. LINEAR PROGRESSION. JUST A_STRAIGHT LIVE FROM POINT AO POINT &. BUT IS THAT NECESSARY 7 HOW COMICS ADDRESSES THIS ISSUE -- OR FAS TO--COULD PLAY A CRUCIAL PART IN DEFIIVING THE ROLE (OF COMICS IN THE NEW CENTURY TIME Witt TELL.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 WAS TRYING TO “THROUGH. LAST QUARTER OF JHE MINETEENTH CENTURY MT SEEMED LIKE EVERYONE CAPTURE MOTION BY /BBO. INVENTORS THE WORLD OVER KNEW THAT "MOVING PICTURES” WERE JUST AROUND WAY 70 THE OBSOLETE BAH! PRAXINOSCOPE \S BETTE FOOLS! MY. A Xaver WILL SHOW YOUY, THEY ARE BUT THE MORE RADICAL wy 8 AS THE MOVING PICTURE BEGAN ITS SPECTACULAR RISE, A FEW OF PAINTERS OF THE DAY EXPLORED THE IDEA THAT MOTION COULD BE DEPICTED BY A SUMGLE IMAGE ON CAMVAS. THE FUTURISTS \N TALY AND MARCEL DUCHAMP IN FRANCE BEGAN THE SYSTEMATIC DECOMPOSITION OF MOVING IMAGES IN & STATIC MEDIUM. de Descending a ‘Starease #2 by Duchamp FRAUDS ALL” Wy ZOOPRAXINOSCOPE WiLL THE CORNER. EVERYONE WANTED TO BE A7RS7/ My S7ROBOSCOPE 'S SUPERIOR /N EVERY ZOETROIPE 7 RY HA! CHILDS PLAY! = EVENTUALLY THOMAS EDISON, THAT OLD SCALLYWAG, FILED THE FIRST PATENT ON A PROCESS USING STRIPS OF CLEAR PLASTIC PHOTOS AND FILM WAS OFF AND INI WASN'T A. BAD IDEAL IF YOU'RE GOING TO ~-FILLED PAINT A WITH WORLD->, MOTION-~ iS (COPIED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY EADWEAAD MUYBRIDG DUCHAMP, MORE CONCERNED WITH THE (DEA OF MOTION THAN THE SENSATION, WOULD & EVENTUALLY REDUCE ‘SUCH CONCEPTS AS. MOTION TOA DUCHAMP SOON MOVED ON, THE FUTURISTS 2087 INTEREST IN THIS OTHER TYPE OF “TAOVING PICTURE” BUT THROUGHOUT THIS SAME PERIOD ANOTHER MEDIUM, LESS COMSPYCUOUSLY, HAD BEEN INVESTIGATING THIS SAME AREA DISBANDED AND FINE ARTISTS GENERALLY 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 ATTEMPTS TO REPRESENT THE PATHS OF MOVING OBJECTS THROUGH SPACE. eer ee.) => \ Ez en) “POPEYE"AND “BRAGGO THE MONK” © KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, INC. OVER THE YEARS, THESE LINES BECAME EVENTUALLY, IN THE HANDS OF HERO/C MORE REFZVED AND S7YZ/ZED, EVEN FANTASY ARTISTS LIKE BLL EVERETT DPIAGRAMMATIC. AND JACK K/RBY-- ~-THOSE SAME LINES BECAME §'0 STYLIZED AS TO ALMOST HAVE A L/FE AND PHYSICAL PRESENCE ALL THEIR OWN”, ART (CENTER AND ABOVE RIGHT ©, COMICS. EFTANO 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 ASSUMPTION THAT IF BE JAPANESE ARTISTS, STARTING IN THE LATE 60%, BEGAN PUTTING THEIR READERS “7 THE DRIVERS SEAT” WITH PANELS LIKE 7#ASE: ARTISTS BEGAN TO ADOPT THE EFFECT IN THEIR OWN WORK, UNTIL BY THE EARLY’ MINETIES \T HAS BECOME FAIRLY ‘COMMON. ARE THESE THE OLY WAYS WE CAN PORTRAY MOTION IN A SINGLE PANEL 7, THINK ABOUT IT.INA MEDIUM WHERE TIME AND SPACE ROE: --THE “SUCH AS ‘STORYTELLER “THE POLYPTYCH, HAS SOME UNUSUAL WHERE A MOVING’ TOOLS AT HIS/HER FIGURE OR DISPOSAL-- FIGURES-- 0) |e Tg RUA RU RULES THAN IN MOST GRAPHIC ARTS. IF THE COMPOSITION OF A SINGLE PANEL, IS TRULY PERFECT, "| DOESN'T THAT IMPLY THAT IT CAN--OR EVEN SHOULD-- STAND ALO! BY INTRODUCING HERE, THE 1 INTO THE COMPOSITION OF EQUATION, COMICS THE PICTURE IS ARTISTS ARE JOINED BY THE ARRANGING THE COMPOSITION OF PAGE IN WAYS NOT CHANGE, THE ALWAYS CONDUCIVE COMPOSITION OF TO TRADITIONAL DRAMA -- PICTURE-MAKING. THE NATURAL WORLD CREATES GREAT BEAUTY EVERY DAY, YET THE ONLY RULES ‘OF COMPOSITION IT FOLLOWS ARE THOSE OF FLINCTION AND CHANCE, 1S IMPOSED OVER (4s 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 DOWN INTO 7#¥O SUBSETS: WORD BOTH TYPES ADD TO THE DURATION: OF A PANEL, PARTIALLY THROUGH THE NATURE OF SOUND /7SEZ© AND BY BALLOONS. AND INTRODUCING ISSUES OF AC7/OV AND SOUND EFFECTS. REACTION. ———— < MOTION ALSO. BREAKS DOWN INTO. TWO SUBSETS. THE FIRST TYPE-- PANEL-TO-PANEL CLOSURE -- WAS IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO MERIT ITS OWN CHAPTER. THE O7HER TYPE ~~ MOTION MITA PANELS --CAN BE FURTHER DIVIDED INTO SEVERAL DISTINCT S7HLES. I'VE COVERED THE ONES Z KNOW, BUT THERE MAY BE MANY O7HERS, TIME WILL TELL. 116 THE WORKINGS OF TME IN COMICS SHOULD BE AS SIMPLE AS~~ a0 18 cic -- 7HREE-- ~~ BUT THEY'RE NOT.I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT "] WHAT MAKES COMICS “7/CK"" FOR YEARS. AND J'M STILL AMAZED BY THE S7RANGENMESS OF IT ALL. RS ielgt 1: ? —Suee snr BUT NO_MATTER HOW BIZARRE THE WORKINGS OF TIME IN COMICS IS=~ =< THE FACE IT PRESENTS TO THE READER ~ ~~ 1S ONE OF SIMPLE ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR FRAME OF MIND.CAN OME SENSE SPEAK FOR )/” ALL PVE 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 OF COMICS, ONE FINDS CREATORS LIKE THE UNDERGROUND'S RORY HAYES, WHO ARE BLATANTLY EXPRESSIONISTIC, BUT SUCH ARTISTS ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. MOST HAVE WORKED IN A. FAIRLY S7RA/GHTFORWARD STYLE. ICONIC, MAYBE, BUT NOT FILLED WITH. THE EXPRESSIVE LINES OF A MUNCH OR THE COLORS OF A VANGOGH. @ [can we say, THEREFORE, THAT ONE OF THESE TWO CREATORS IS EXPRESSING MOOD AND EMOTION AND THE OTHER IS VO77 OR DOES THE DIFFERENCE LIE IN FYHAT. |S BEING EXPRESSED? PEANUTS IF THESE LINES ARE EXPRESSIVE OF FEAR, ANXIETY AND MADIVESS-- =: THEN COULDN'T THESE LINES BE SAID TO PORTRAY IN TRUTH, DON'T AZZ LINES CARRY WITH THEM AN EXPRESSIVE POTENTIAL? F B E i :BY DIRECTION. ALONE, A LINE MAY GO FROM PASSIVE AND TIMELESS ~~ --10 DYNAMIC ANI iD CHANGING S By ITS SHAPE, ST CAN BE LNVWELCOMING AND SEVERE-- By ITS CHARACTER. ‘AND TT MAY SEEM CONSERVATIVE. SAVAGE AND \ BEADLY-~ --OR WEAK AND UNS7ABLE-~ --OR HONEST AND D/RECT. 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.Now, IF PICTURES CAN, THROUGH THEIR RENDERING, PICTURES AND OTHER TYPES OF ICONS LIKE LANGUAGE WHICH PE CIAL TN THE INVISIBLE MAY SEEM A BIT SLURRY me SENSES-- TLL GIVE LET’ You ‘SAy_I WANTED EXAMPLE. TO SMOKE THIS PYPE-- IN FACT, WHAT WE'RE SEEING IN THE Z/VING LIVES. OF THESE PICTURES 1S 7HE PRIMORDIAL S7U/EF FROM WHICH A FORMALIZED LANGUAGE CAN EVOL,Bs (rx, NOW, LET'S SUPPOSE THAT My PIPE AND T HAVE GONE FOR A LITTLE WALR-~ DESPITE THEIR SUPERFICIAL RESEMBLANCE, THESE ARE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SETS OF LINES. ONE REPRESENTS A V/S7BLE PHENOMENON, SMOKE, WHILE THE OTHER REPRESENTS AN JVV/SIBLE ONE, OUR SENSE OF SMELL AND COME ACROSS AN OVERTURNED GARBAGE CAN. NOW, YOU'LL NOTICE =e Ce AHEM = ‘You'LL NOTICE A FEW WAVY LIVES. RISING FROM THE PIPE. NOT REALLY A PICTURE ANYMORE, THESE LINES ARE MORE A VISUAL METAPHOR -- A SYMBOL. THIS IS THE ARTISTS CARTOONY WAY OF TELLING YOU THERE'S SMOKE COMING FROM THE PIPE, YOU'VE ALL SEEN TT BEFORE, THE STRONG SMELL OF ROTTEN GARBAGE CAN'T BE SEEWV, YET HERE'S ANOTHER PRETTY SIMILAR SET OF WAVY AND. SYMBOLS ARE THE BASIS OF LANGUAGES,TAKEN OUT OF THEIR OR/GINAL CONTEXT, THEY CAN NOW BE APPLIED AVY WHERE AND THE READER WILL INSTANTLY KNOW WHAT THEY MEAN EVEN THE FZ /ES- HAVE OVER THE YEARS BEEN APPROACHING THE ABSTRACT STATIS| OF LINGUISTIC SYMBOLS. WHENEVER AN ARTIST INVENTS A NEW WAY TO REPRESENT THE INVISIBLE, THERE IS ALWAYS A CHANCE THAT IT WILL BE FICKED UP 8Y OTHER ARTISTS. IF ENOUGH ARTISTS BEGIN U/S/NG THE SYMBOL, IT WILL ENTER THE LANGUAGE FOR GOOD-- >-AS MANY. HAVE THROUGH THE YEARS. AI 129a, BUT WHEN SUCH IMAGES BEGIN TO DRIFT OUT OF THEIR VISUAL CONTEXT-~ a+ ve INDICATORS | IN DEALING THE CARTOON SOME INDICATORS WITH THE FACE FACE IS AN OF EMOTION ARE ITSELF, THE ABSTRACT, BUT IT ALSO VISUALLY LINE BETWEEN 1S BASED UPON BASED, SUCH AS THE VISIBLE AND) VISUAL DATA. THE FAMILIAR SWEAT BEAD. INVISIBLE WORLDS BECOMES EVEN ZESS << THEY DRIFT V7 THE IVV/SIBLE WORLD OF THE SYMBOL. pP 2 ~~ » © THIS DRIFT FROM VISIBLE TO JVVISIBLE HAS BEEN THE BASIS OF ALL WRITTEN LANGUAGES: ‘SINCE CIVILIZATION BEGAN. 130SUMERIANS IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA GOT THINGS ROLLING OVER 5.000 YEARS AGO WHEN A NEED WAS FOUND 10 RECORD CERTAIN COMMODITIES. THE LONGER _ANY FORM OF ART OR COMMUNICATION EXISTS, THE MORE SYMBOLS IT ACCUMULATES BUT ‘WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A LANGUAGE EVOLVES IN MORE THAN ONE DISTINCT cuLTURE AT ‘A TIME? THESE FIRST SYMBOLS -- CARTOONS, REALLY-- GRADUALLY EVOLVED AWAY FROM AMY RESEMBLANCE TO THEIR SUBJECT, TOWARD THE HIGHLY ABSTRACTED FORMS OF MODERN LANGUAGES... “THE MODERN COMIC AND THIS VISUAL IS A YOUNG LANGUAGE,| | VOCARLILARY HAS BUTITALREADY HASAN | | AN QMZ/MITED WMPRESSIVE ARRAY | | POTEN7/AL FOR OF RECOGNIZABLE SYMBOLS. THE ANSWER, OF COURSE, IS THAT MORE THAN ONE SET OF SYMBOLS WILL EVOLVE! ONCE AGAIN, IN JAPAN WHERE COMIcS| DEVELOPED FOR YEARS: IN RELATIVE ZSOLATION FROM THEIR WESTERN COUSINS, AND EVENTUALLY TO OUR 7O7ALLY ABSTRACT SOUND- BASED SYSTEM. WITHIN A GIVEN CULTURE “THESE SYMBOLS WILL QUICKLY SPREAD UNTIL EVERYBODY KNOWS THEM AT ‘A GLANCE. NN SS ZiBACKGROUNDS CAN BE ANOTHER VALUABLE TOOL FOR INDICATING /MVIS/BLE (DEAS... PARTICULARLY. THE WORLD OF EMOTIONS. =—“ ‘Walt Whitman Facing West from California’s Shores Facing west, from California's shores, Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound, 1a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the A) tand of migrations, look afar Look off the shores of my Western sea the circle almost circled: For starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere, From Asia, #] trom the north, from the God, the sage, F{ and the hero, From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and the spice islands, Long having wandered since, round the earth having wandered, Now I face home again, very pleased and joyous; (But where is what I started for, s0 long ago? ‘And why isit yet unfound?) BUT THE MAI THRUST WAS A RETURN TO. FANING 'N ART, AWAY FROM. RESEMBLANCE, BACK TO THE REALM _OF IDEAS. RESEMBLANCE MEANING IN PROSE, “MEANING" WAS LANGUAGE WAS NOT ABANDONED BECOMING EVEN MORE | BY ANY MEANS, DIRECT, CONVEYING BUT AUTHORS MEANING SYMPLY WERE DEFINITELY AND QUICKL © MOVING LEF7-- MORE LIKE PICTURES. 147 AND HEADED FOR COLLISION’ RESEMBLANCE MEANINGPortrait de TRISTAN TZARA H'*tre per MISHEL “mg ff oP" suLuet as = par FRANCIS PICABIA Saonasive> iuusons DADA POSTER FOR THE PLAY FE BEARDED HEAPT 7 WHILE SOME ARTISTS ADDRESSED THE IRONIES OF WORDS ND PICTUI PAINTINGS INCREASINGLY TOOK ON PONY SYMBOLIC, EVEN CALLIGRAPHIC. a nt TE ONE rae a MEANINGS= AND IN FOFwZAR CULTURE 7 = NOWHERE IS THIS COLLISION BY THE Two FORMS COLLIDED MORE THOKOLIGHLY EXPLORED THAN ® | AGAIN AND AGAIN WITHOUT ANY PRETENSES OF GH” ART. THE MODERN COMIC. AND IT’S NOT A RECENT OBSESSION e LET'S 3 GO BACK TO THE EARLY (g00's! BEFORE ANY OF THIS HAPPENED, z WHEN WORDS AND as PICTURES HAD E DRIFTED AS FAR E APART AS POSSIBLE. Soe UP TO THAT POINT, EL/ROPEAN BUT AGAIN IT WAS KODOLFHE BROADSHEETS. HAD OFFERED REMINDERS TOPFFER WHO FORESAW THEIR ‘OF WHAT WORDS AND PICTURES COULD INTERDEPENDENCY AND BROUGHT DO WHEN COMBINED. THE FAMILY BACK TOGETHER AT LAST. = Mv eREow AOERTEES FOR A TUTOR, AUD MANU APPLY Bam THE SEB, I'M SURE THAT ~BUT THE FACT AND PERHAPS THIS. AN INSTINCT THESE IDEAS WERE THAT THE MODERN COMMON THREAD OF WHICH SAID THAT THE FURTHEST THING COMIC WAS BORN LNIFICATION WE HAD REACHED FROM TOPFFER'S JUST AS ART AND DID GROW OUT OF THE END OF A LONG MIND WHEN HE WRITING WERE A SHARED /NSTINCT JOURNEY AND PUT PEN 70 PREPARING TO OF THE DAY. ‘THAT |T WAS TIME FAPER-- CHANGE DIRECTION, AT LAST TO AEAD IS AT LEAST. FOR HOME, INTRIGLING. = < : i Ps jai i 149UNFORTUNATELY FOR COMICS, NO SOONER HAD I's A HOAX, T TELL WHAT THE AY MY TWO-YEAR-OLD THE FINE ARTS REDISCOVERED HECK IS. ATER CAN PAINT Joo ‘THE LINK BETWEEN WORDS THAT Z, BETTER THAN THAT, AND PICTURES —- a) = EOPLE p 27 --THAN 2 REALLY PAY MODERN ART MONEY FOR /TSELF BECAME THIS??: VIRTUALLY, INCOMPREHENSIBLE fi S ie TO THE AVERAGE /', - -§ Ss ea EWER! ty iN SA) I IN FACT, THE GENERAL PUBLIC'S PERCEPTIONS OF "GREAT" ART AND "GREAT" WRITING HASN'T CHANGED MUCH IN 150 YEARS." ANY ARTIST WISHING TO DO IN, OTHERS GREAT WORK IN A MEDIUM 297 WORDS AND ANB IN PICTURES WILL HAVE TO COW7END WITH THIS THEMSELVES. ul Thow still unravish'd brid Thow foster-child of sile Sylvan historian, who can: A flowery tale more sweetl What leaf fring’d legend h Of deities or mortals, or| In Tempe or the dales What men or gods are t What mad pursuit? What BECAUSE, DEEP DOWN INSIDE, MANY COMICS CREATORS STILL MEASURE ART AND WRITING BY DIFFERENT STANDARDS AND ACT ON THE FAITH THAT “GREAT” ART AND “GREAT” WRITING WILL COMBINE HARMONIOUSLY BY VIRTUE OF QUALITY ALONE. Ne eB sf Two EYES, SZ a -~ - . > ONENOSE ow Deep (a FACE ONE Moun. ona ont raw * NOT AS MUCH AS WE LIKE TO THINK TOMAS, ANYWAY. 150THE ART FORM OF COMICS IS MANY CENTURIES OLD, BUT IT'S PERCEIVED AS A RECENT INVENTION AND SUFFERS THE CURSE OF AZZ NEW MEDIA, THE CURSE OF BEING JUDGED BY THE STANDARDS OF THE OLD. ll il EVER SINCE THE INVENTION OF THE WRITTEN WORD, NEW MEDIA HAVE BEEN M/SUNDERSTOOD. CAREFUL, JACOBS IF YOU KEEP DOING THIS, YOU'LL STOP usiNG your /, FAR TOO MANY COMICS CREATORS HAVE NO HIGHER GOAL THAN TO MATCH THE ACHIEVEMENTS. OF OTHER MEDIA, AND VIEW ANY CHANCE TO WORK IN OTHER, MEDIA AS A STEP L/P 3 EACH NEW MEDIUM BEGINS ITS LIFE BY IMITATING ITS PREDECESSORS. MANY EARLY MOVIES WERE LIKE FILMED S7AGE PLAYS, MUCH EARLY ZELEVISION NAS LIKE RADIO WITH PICTURES OR REDUCED MOVIES. AND AGAIN, AS LONG AS WE VIEW COMICS AS A GEVRE OF WRITING OR A_S7YLE OF GRAPHIC ART THIS. ATTITUDE MAY MEVER DISAPPEAR. 151WORDS AND PICTURES IN COMBINATION MAY NOT BE My DEFINITION OF COMICS, BUT THE COMBINATION HAS HAD TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE ON ITS GROWTH. form, com-ies (kom'iks)n. used with a singula Juxtaposed pictorigit ler images in deliberate & Ane: intended to conv $5) and/or to pro Tesponse in leet! AND /MDEED, WORDS AND PICTURES HAVE GREAT POWERS TO TELL STORIES: é WHEN CREATORS FULLY #ilefod tana EXPLOIT THEM 07H. la alg ALLEGORY ADAPTATIONS Sag ia Eta ART A HUGE RANGE OF HUMAN EXPERIENCES, CAN BE PORTRAYED IN COMICS THROUGH EITHER WORDS OR PICTURES HORROR eT ca NB HISTORICAL rotates.) to) Oana) EROTICA MYSTERY btm coed Brel decd OF CONSCIOUSNESS Ct AS CHILDREN, WE “SHOW AND TELL” W7ERCHANGEABLY, WORDS AND IMAGES COMBINING TO TRANSMIT A COMVETTED, SEKIES OF (DEAS. THE DIFFERENT WAYS IN WHICH WORDS AND PICTURES CAN COMBINE IN COMICS, IS VIRTUALLY UNLIMITED. 152 AS A RESULT--AND DESPITE ITS MANY O7HER POTENTIAL USES -- COMICS. HAVE BECOME FIRMLY IDENTIFIED WITH THE ART OF STORYTELLING. SO FAR, WE'VE ONLY SEEN THE TIP OF THE BUT LET'S TRY TO BREAK IT. DOWN INTO. SOME DISTINCT, CATEGORIES,“THE LIVITED STATES: CONSTITUTION WAS: INENTA WE STUMBLED BACK TO THE APARTMENT SHORTLY BEFORE CRS Nee DAWN, VOMITING EVERY 20 AND PUT INTO ER COMBINATIONS, WHERE PICTURES MLUSTRATE, BUT DON'T SIGNIFICANTLY ADD 10 A LARGELY COMPLETE TEXT. THEN THERE ARE PICTURE SPECHU COMBINATIONS WHERE WORDS DO LITTLE MORE THAN ADD A SOUNDTRACK TO A VISUALLY OLD SEQUENCE, AND, OF COURSE, SPECI BUT THE CARTAN BLOW MUSSES 178 INTENDED PANELS IN WHICH BOTH WORDS AND PICTURES SEND RGE LIFT! HIS LOLLYPOP. ss THOUGHT AMY.ANOTHER TYPE IS THE ADDITIVE COMBINATION WHERE WORDS AMPLIFY OR ELABORATE ON AN IMAGE OR VICE VERSA. IN FARALLEL COMBINATIONS, WORDS AND PICTURES SEEM TO FOLLOW VERY DIFFERENT ‘COURSES-- WITHOUT, INTERSECTING, STILL ANOTHER OPTION IS THE MONTAGE WHERE WORDS ARE TREATED AS INTEGRAL FARTS OF THE PICTURE, HOW DA LIKE MY NEW THREADS, My HEAD FEELS LIKE A SMASHED PLUMPKING 1S THIS THE SAME JUPITER OF My YOUTH ‘TALKED TO "SALLY DID. “THE 7ES7 RESULTS CAME BULL YET?" WHY?" BACK. ALL NEGATIVE.” FST REA "REALLY 7 THAT'S GREAT!” ‘WELL PEPPER. [© C joe CEREAL 4 Mick. || BuTTER. LIGHT BULBS. THA BYPERHAPS JHE MOST COMMON TYPE OF WORD/PICTURE COMBINATION IS THE IN7TER- DEPENDENT, WHERE WORDS AND PICTURES GO HAND IN HAND JO CONVEY ANIDEA THAT NEITHER COULD CONVEY ALONE. MEANWHILE... a ec) D4 = Al THIS SALLI NEED 10 $70 Za a I ASK you, DOES THIS GUY LOOK LIKEA C&O. TO "AND JUST GL/ESS WHO DROVE UP IN BOB'S TRUCK AN HOUR LATER!” “AFTER COLLEGE, J PURSUED A CAREER IN AIGH FINANCE” INTERDEPENDENT COMBINATIONS AREN'T ALWAYS AN EQUAL BALANCE THOUGH AND MAY FALL AVYWHERE ON A SCALE BETWEEN TYPES ONE AND TWO, GENERALLY SPEAKING, THE MORE IS SAID WITH WORDS, THE MORE THE PICTURES CAN BE FREED TO GO EXPLORING AND VICE VERSA. 155—— Sa rh) IN COMICS AT ITS BEST NE WORDS AND PICTURES ARE LIKE PARTNERS \N A DANCE AND EACH ONE TAKES TURNS ADING. WHEN SO7H PARTNERS TRY TO LEAD, ‘THE COMPETITION CAN SUBVERT ‘THE OVERALL GOALS... Oe THOUGH A LITTLE ALAYFUL COMPETITION CAN SOMETIMES PRODUCE ENJOYABLE RESULTS. BUT WHEN THESE PARTNERS. EACH KNOW THEIR ROLES-~ --COMICS CAN MATCH ANY OF THE ART FORMS IT DRAWS ‘SO MUCH OF ITS STRENGTH FROM ‘IWHEN PICTURES, can CARRY THE WEIGHT LET'S SAY IT SHOW YOU A OF CLARIT ‘SCENE, THEY FREE WOMAN WALKING ACROSS THE WORDS TO EXPLORE A WIDER AREA. || STREET IN THE RAIN, BUYING A | PINT OF ICE CREAM AND EATING IT IN HER APARTMENT-~ =>ALL IN PICTURES. AB BZ Zr mmr OT ee LLL LLL -_Zz eT U7 TTT ah 157WHEN A SCENE SHOWS YOU ALL YOU “WEED” TO KNOW, LIKE 7A/$ ONE, THE LATITUDE _FOR SCRIPTING GROWS EVORMOUSLY. PERHAPS SOMETHING WILDLY INCONGRUOUS 1 MAY BE ALONE LIKE THIS FOR A VERY LONG TIME. oe} BECOME AN INTERNAL MONOLOGUE. “MISS{ON CONTROL, MISSION. CONTROL, DO YOU READ MEF CINTERDEPENDENT)| PARALLEL) MAYBE IT'S ALL JUST A BIG Mavee rs ALL JUS) OR A CHANCE TO RUMINATE ON ERTK r BROADER TOPICS. MULE Ca | ak axesvmmsrmnemcauaiial INTERDEPENDENT > THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS. THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS INTERDEPENDENT) 158TW MT Wh | AN | 17 same ve Va i |{ SCENE Now, | BUT THis TIME ‘ALL IN WORDS ON THE O7HER HAND, IF THE WORDS LOCK IN THE “MEAIVING” OF A SEQUENCE, | ‘THEN THE PICTURES CAN REALLY TAKE OFF. i I CROSSED THE I FOUND THE STREET TO THE LAST PINT OF CONVENIENCE STORE. CHOCOLATE THE RAIN SOAKED. CHOCOLATE CHIP INTO MY BOOTS. IN THE FREEZER. THE CLERK TRIED TO PICK ME UP. I SAID VO THANKS. HE GAVE ME THIS CREEPY LOOK... T_WENT BACK TO JHE --AND FINISHED IT ALL IN AN HOUR. APARTMEN’ ALONE AT LAST. 159NOW, ONE COULD JUST COMBINE THE PICTURES FROM PAGE 157 WITH THE WORDS FROM PAGE 159 -- ~-BUT WHAT ARE SOME O7HER OPTIONS? IF THE ARTIST WANTS TO, HE/SHE AN NOW SHOW ONLY FRAGMENTS OFA SCENE T CROSSED THE Sieees ro He EONVENIENCE SroRE, The RAIN SoaKeD INTO MY BOOTS. WORD SPECIFIC) OR MOVE TOWARD GREATER LEVELS OF ABS7TRAC7/ON OR EXPRESSION. THE CLERK TRIED TO Pic iP. X SAID VO THANKS. HE GAVE ME Suasceeery 100K, AMPLIFICATION ) PERHAPS THE ARTIST CAN GIVE US SOME IMPORTANT EMO7/ONAL INFORMATION. I WENT BACK TO THE |/ /; APARTMEN’ INTERDEPENDENT ) OR SHIFT AHEAD OR BACKWARDS IN TIME. =-AND FINISHED IT ALL IN AN HOUR, ALONE ‘AT LAST. (WORD SPECIFIC) 160THE MIXING OF WORDS AND HOWEVER. PICTURES 15 MORE MUCH WE MAY ALCHEMY THAN CHART THESE ‘SCIENCE. THINGS, THEY'RE ALL ULTIMATELY BEST LEFT TO. THE CREATOR'S INSTINCTS. SOME OF THE SECRETS OF THOSE F/KS7T ALCHEMISTS MAY HAVE BEEN LOST IN THE ANCIENT PAST. Fs THIS JS AN EXCITING TIME TO BE MAKING COMICS, AND IN MANY WAYS I FEEL VERY LUCKY TO HAVE BEEN BORN WHEN I WAS. BUT WE HAVE SOME POWERFUL MAGIC. RIGHT HERE IN THE 2O™ CEWTURY, TOO/] <| THE RICHNESS OF MODERN LANGUAGE IS AN /RREPLACEABLE Ji) COMmoDiTy? Al --AND TO SHOW WAS TO 7éZZ= ABC ‘COMICS IS JUST QVE OF FORMS OF ‘SELF-EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION AVAILABLE TO US. 162SO FAR, WE'VE MOSTLY DEALT WITH THE SNIQUE PROPERTIES OF COMICS. BUT ARE PROPERTIES THAT COMICS SHARE WITH ALL O7HER ART FORMS. THOUGH IT SEEMS INNOCLOUS ENOUGH WOM THERE WAS A TIME WHEN SUCH A SIMPLE IDEA WAS RIDICLLED, EVEN TODAY, THERE ARE THOSE WHO ASK THE QUESTION, "CAN COMICS BE ART?" BUT IF WE MUST. ANSWER IT, THE ANSWER iS YES. I'M SORRY-- AREALLY STUPID QUESTIONS, ESPECIALLY IF YOUR DEFINITION OF ART IS AS BROAD AS MINES 163ART, As ACTIVITY WHICH GROW OUT OF EVTHER OF OUR SPECIES’ fas TWO BASIC INSTINCTS: SURVIVAL AND REPRODUCTION? aE I SEE IT, IS ANY HUMAN DOE: EXAMPLE: HERES — A PREHISTORIC BN) THE? \LE--AFRAID FOR HER CHASING A RIC FEMALE. (AL -- MANAGES TO HIDE. {i ony ove ING NOW, DEAMIVED Or FIs GOAL THe ON HIS MIND -- MALE STANDS /DECISIVE. REP NOW ALL OF HIS "THOUGHTS AND PSCUSES ON THA THAT OTF TAL HUMAN INSTINCT-~ SURVIVAL! AGAIN HIS LEGS PROPEL HIM. FORWARD WITHIWS A HAPPY FACT OF HUMAN EXISTENCE THAT, WE SIMPLY CANT SPEND QUREVER: HOUR EATING AND HAVING SEX/ NO MATTER HOW FRANTICALLY WE PURSUE OUR GOALS, THERE WILL /VEV/7ABLY BE TIMES WHEN WE JUST. DONT HAVE A THING 70 DO! —-WHAT MAY LOOK LIKE A TRIBE OF BORED, INACTIVE CAVE-DWELLERS BELOW US IS, IN FACT, A 7HRIVING ART COLONY S AND OVER THERE NEARBY, A BOY A MAN BEATS A KICKS UP PEBBLES SIMPLE RHYTHM AND DIRT AND WITH A PAIR OF FUMMELS THE AIR STONES. HE DOESN'T WITH HIS F7ST KNOW WHY, BUT THE SOUND AZEASES HIM. SEE THAT OLD WOMAN WITH THE STICK? NOVICE THE LINES. SHE'S MAKING IN THE DIRT? TODAY SHE HAS A STOMACHACHE AND HER LINES ARE 77GH7 AND. ANGULAR, YESTERDAY SHE FELT BETTER AND_HER LINES WERE OPEN AND CURVED. BECAUSE OF ITS INDEPENDENCE i FROM OUR EVOLUTION-BRED INSTINCTS, Yi ART IS THE WAY WE ASSERT OUR IDENTITIES. BS INDIVIDUALS AND @REAK OUT OF THE WARROW ROLES NATURE CAST US IN. TODAY HE LOST A FIGHT WITH HIS BROTHER. NOW ALL HE CAN Bo IS DANCE AWAY HIS FRUSTRATION, OF COURSE, THE GENIUS OF MOTHER MATURE” \S SUCH THAT EVEN THESE THINGS DO HAVE THEIR USES FROM AN] EVOLUTIONARY STANDPOINT. WHILE OVER HERE, A LITTLE GIRL SINGS HER SONG OF YOUTHS Peace RRooon, Pe Bu? Brees) p? GREEEGAM: WUK! Wak! THREE, IN FACT.FIRST, THEY PROVIDE] | SECOND, THEY THIRD AND PERHAPS “210 USEFUL EXERCISE FOR MINDS: PROVIDE AN OUTLET MOST /MPORTANTZY DISCOVERIES! AND BODIES NOT FOR EMOTIONAL TO OUR SURVIVAL AS RECEIVING OUTSIDE MMIBALANCES, AIDING ‘A RACE, SUCH RANDOM STIMULUS. IN THE RACE'S MENTAL, ACTIVITIES OFTEN. SURVIVAL. _ LEAD-- THIS FUNCTION WOULD ALSO BE PERFORMED IN LATER CENTURIES BY SPORTS AND GAMES. ART AS SELF EXPRESSION, THE ARTIST AS HERO; FOR MANY, ITS HIGHEST PURPOSE. ‘ART AS DISCOVERY, AS THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH, AS EXPLORATION; THE SOUL OF MUCH (MODERN ART AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF ZANGUAGE, SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. ALOT HAS CHANGED IN HALF A MILLION YEARS, BUT SOME THINGS WEVER CHANGE TMM on NOL I'M GONNA BF LATE FoR SHAT JOB /VTERVIEWS, THE PROCESSES ARE MORE COMPLEX NOW! BUT THE INSTINCTS*REMAIN THE SAME. SURVIVAL AND REPRODUCTION STILL HOLD THE UPPER HAND. (Aw * ALONG WITH THEIR MANY RELATED 167 FEELINGS AND CUSTOMS.— OR THE PERSONAL OR JUST THE WAY STYLE OFA WE S/GN OUR BICYCLE MESSENGER YET IN ALMOST EVERYTHING WE DO THERE 1S AT LEAST AN ELEMENT OF ART. PERHAPS A LITTLE UNNECESSARY. CHOREOGRAPHY ON THE ASSEMBLY IN SOME OCCUPATIONS, THE LATITUDE FOR SELF-EXPRESSION |S GREATER. SURVIVAL --\MAKING A LIVING-~ GOES HAND IN HAND WITH CREATIVE DESIRE. L THINK IT’S FAIR LIFE IS A SERIES OF TO SAY THAT SOME | | MUMUTE DECISIONS, ACTIVITIES HAVE ‘SOME MOTIVATED BY MORE ART JV THEM| | SURVIVAL, SOME N07, THAN OTHERS. AND PROPORTIONS. DO VARY. SUT 10. RARE IS THE ‘ss AND RARE IS PROCLAIM, ASSO THATS. PERSON IN ANY THE AR7/S7 WHO MANY SO OFTEN 4 OCCUPATION WHO CARES. NOTHING 20, THAT-- NOT AR7) EXPRESSES, FOR SUCCESS, NOTHING. LE, SURVIVAL, @ =~ PRESUMES THAT |_| ART IS AN E/7HER/OR PROPOSITION. I DON'T f THINK IT IS.BUT THE DEAL OF THE LATTER IS ALIVE THE FIVE ARTIST"--THE PURE IN THE HEARTS OF MANY ARTISTS WHO ARTIST-~ SAYS TO THE WORLD: "I MAY HOPE FOR SUCCESS, BUT WON'T DIDN'T DO THIS FOR MONEY! T DIDN'T ALTER THEIR WORK TO G&7A//V IT. DO THIS TO MATCH THE COLOR OF YOUR COUCHES? “I DIDN'T DO THIS TO GET ZAIDI I DIDN'T DO THIS FOR FAME OR POWER OR GREED OR AMYTHING ELSE? T DID THIS FOR ARTS” IN O7HER WORDS: “MY ART HAS NO ‘AND SOMETIMES |PRACTICAL VALUE 7s, THOUGH WHATSOEVER’ IT MIGHT TAKE A CENTURY OR TWO FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD TO FIND OUT! THIS IS AS TRUE IN COMICS. AS IT 1S IN FA/NTING, WRITING, THEATRE, FILM, SCULPTURE, OR AMY O7WER FORM.. “PURE” ART IS ESSENTIALLY TIED JO THE QUESTION OF PURPOSE -- OF DECIDING WHAT YOU WANT OUT OF ART. BECAUSE THE CREATION OF ANY WORK IN ANY MEDIUM WILL ALWAYS FOLLOW ‘A CERTAIN PATH. 1692 4 ea’ || FORM structure] | cRAFT | | SURFACE PURPOSE eo sf || ow < [ IDEA/ PURPOSE wel aa FIRST? THE /MPULSES, THE IDEAS, THE EMOTIONS, THE PHILOSOPHIES, THE PURPOSES OF THE WORK... THE WORK’S ON: [ 4 | STRUCTURE FOURTH: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER... WHAT TO MELUDE, WHAT TOFIETH: CONSTRUCTING ‘THE WORK, APPLYING SKILLS, PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE INVENTION, PROBLEM-SOLVING, GETTING THE YOR” DONE CRAFT VALUES, FINISHING... THE ASPECTS MOST. APPARENT ON FIRST SUPERFICIAL EXPOSURE 10 THE WORK, 6 SURFACE IN ALL THE ARTS IT’S THE SURFACE THAT PEOPLE APPRECIATE MOST ZAS/Z>7 LIKE AN APPLE CHOSEN FOR ITS SHINY SKIN. SURFACE THE LATEST “FAN FAVORITE” OFTEN LOOKS BETTER AT A GLANCE THAN THE OLDER ARTISTS WHO HAD THE /DEAS: AND CREATED THE /DIOMS, BUT WERE LESS INTERESTED IN SURFACES. BUT OFTEN IF WE BYTE INTO THAT ‘SHINY NEW APPLE ~~ 5° ( zi TSA CYCLE AS OLD AS ART ITSELF. 171IN COMICS, THE CYCLE BEGINS Add OVER THE. YOUNG READERS J/SCOVER COMICS FOR THE FIRST TIME AND IN A FEW CASES, BEGIN TO DEVELOP A LOVE FOR COMICS THAT WILL LAST A LAE7IME/ IN THIS EARLY STAGE, THESE READERS ARE EXPERIENCING THE CHARACTERS, IDEAS, EVENTS AND EMOTIONS OF THE STORY DIRECTLY COMICS 1S ACTING AS AN INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN STORYTELLER AND AUDIENCE, BUT IN SOME, AN AWARENESS OF THE FORM BEGINS TO DEVELOP, AN AWARENESS THAT ALL COMICS ARE JUST INK ON PAPER -~ ~, [eur waen ‘SHE SHOWS HER WORK TOA SEASONED < YOU'RE A SKILLED. SCRPTERY AND DRAFTSPERSON, BUT YOUR S7ORY7ELLING ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH, YOU HAVE NO SENSE OF PACING... THESE LAYOUTS ARE VERY MUDDY... YOU HAVE TO COMPOSE YOUR STORIES...) HER SKILLS CAM GET HER WORK AT THIS POINT, BUT ONLY AS AN ASS/STAVT ‘TO OTHERS. UNTIL SHE UNDERSTANDS THE STRUCTURE OF COMICS BENVEATH THE CRAFT, THIS IS AS FAR AS SHE CAN GO.BUT MAYBE THIS 1S ENOUGH FOR THIS PARTICULAR ARTIST, ENOUGH TO JUST BE PART OF THE ART, BUS/VESS,AND MUNITY OF COMICS WITHOUT NECESSARILY CALLING THE SHOTS Za = BUT ELSEWHERE, ANOTHER CREATOR HAS BEEN THROLIGH THE SAME SORT OF PROCESS AND HE SPENDS HIS EVERY WAKING HOUR WORKING OUT THE DIFFICULT PRINCIPLES OF COMICS COMPOSITION AND STORYTELLING) THE KIND THEY DON'T TEACH IN BOOKS/* HE DISCOVERS THAT HIS FAVORITE ARTIST WAS ACTUALLY JUST A WATERED-DOWW VERSION OF AN OLDER, LESS“POLISHED ARTIST WHOM HE HAD ALWAYS TAKEN FOR GRANTED. HE LEARNS TO SEE EWEATH THE CRAFTS OF DRAFTSMANSHIP AND SCRIPTING "10 SEE THE WHOLE PICTURE-- FACING, DRAMA, HUMOR, SUSPENSE, COMPOSITION, THEMATIC DEVELOPMENT, IRONY —— SOON THEY'RE ALL AT HIS CuMMAND * WELL, OKAY, ONE BOOK! EISNER’'S, AGAIN,AND LET'S SAY IT WORKS! HE DOES LAND HIS OWN BOOK AND SOON IS ESTABLISHED AS A CREATOR OF GREAT SKILL. HE UNDERSTANDS COMICS STORYTELLING BETTER THAN MOST. CO if BUT ANOTHER AR7787_HAS MADE IT THROUGH THE SAME SORTS OF HURDLES AND REACHED THE SAME LEVELS OF SUCCESS AND S772 /SW’T SATISFIED HIS WORK ISN'T PARTICULARLY OR/GIVAL, THE CRITICS DON'T PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO HIM, BUT HE MAKES A DECEIT LIVING FOR HIMSELF AND HS FAMILY AND THAT'S ENOUGH FOR HIM ENOUGH THAT FO! ‘WHAT HE DOES, HE'S ONE OF THE BEST. SHE WONDERS IF HER SUCCESS REALLY MEANS ANYTHING WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY OTHERS DOING THE SAME 7H/NGS IN THE SAME WAYS. SHE WANTS AN FDENTITY. SHE BELIEVES THAT THERE'S SOMETHING -- SOME FIECE OF THE PUZZLE -- THAT SHE S77LL HASN'T FOUND. SURFACE SHE BEGINS TO INVENT WEW WAYS _OF SHOWING "7WE SAME OLD THIVG.” SHE DEVELOPS WNOVATIVE NEW TECHIV/QUES. AND STARIS ZOIVG AWAY WITH “THE SAME OLD THING” AL7OGETHERS RasyAS SHE CREATES HER OWN PERSONAL /DIOM OF COMICS, SHE FINDS THE WHOLE OF HER WORK CHANGING TO SZ/7 THAT IDIOM. YOUNG ARTISTS BEGIN TO /M/7A7E HER STYLE, BUT MOST OF THEM ONLY SEEM TO APPRECIATE THE “SURFACE.” LET'S SAY THAT FIVANCIAL SUCCESS AND THE RESPECT OF HER PEERS SOON FOLLOW.* I WANT TO THANK ALL OF THOSE WHO HELPED. ME TO ACHIEVE aN POSSIBLE, OF COURSE AND MAYBE SHE'LL BE SAT/SF/ED WITH THAT KIND OF SUCCESS, SECURE IN THE. KNOWLEDGE THAT WHATEVER SHE DOESI'7 | KNOW, SHE'S ON THE RIGHT PATH TO FIND OUT. BUT ELSEWHERE, ANOTHER CREATOR HAS. MADE IT 10 THIS SAME PLACE AND STILL FEELS DISSATISFIED. WE FEELS THAT SOMETHING VERY /MPORTANT HAS BEEN NEGLECTED.,. SOMETHING FUNDAMENTAL, SOMETHING AT THE CORE OF WHO HE IS AS AN ARTIST. WITH THESE THOUGHTS ON HIS MIND, IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF 7/ME BEFORE HE ASKS THAT ONE SIMPLE QUESTION1 IDEA/ PURPOSE AND NOW, THE BIGGEST QUESTION OF ALL: DOES THIS ARTIST WANT TO SAY OR DOES HE WANT TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT ART /7 SELF 7 SOMETHING ABOUT LIFE ZHROUGH HIS ART ]/ DO 1 HAVE ANYTHING. TO SAY AT ALL? PERSONALLY, I THINK WE AZZ HAVE SOMETHING To SAY TO THE WORLD. THE REAL QUESTION IS "WILL ANYONE LISTEN?” AND UNFORTUNATELY THERE'S NO WAY - TO KNOW THAT IN ADVANCE. 178 ASSUMING HE DOESN'T LET 7/47" STOP HIM, HERE'S WHAT THESE TWO CHOICES COULD MEAN...AND HIS ART WOULD NOT LACK FOR (DEAS OR FOR A PURPOSE: By CHOOSING FORM, HE'D BE SETTING UP TO_BECOME AN EXPLORER. 4 tev | rom | loom fstructure) omer | sunrice HIS GOAL TO DISCOVER ALL THAT THE ART FORM IS CAPABLE OF HIS ART WOULD JUST BECOME HIS PURPOSE AND THE IDEAS WOULD ARRIVE IN TIME TO GIVE IT SUBSTANCE CREATORS WHO TAKE THIS PATH ARE OFTEN PIONEERS AND REVOLUTIONARTES-- ARTISTS WHO] WANT 10 SHAKE THINGS UP CHANGE THE WAY PEOPLE 7H/NVK, QUESTION THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS THAT GOVERN THEIR CHOSEN ART. CIN O7HER ART FORMS: STRAVINSKY, PICASSO, VIRGINIA WOOLF, ORSON WELLES, ETC.> NOW “7ELLING THE STORY” COR IN THE ON THE CASE OF NON-FICTION, “DELIVERING THE OTHER HAND, IF MESSAGE") TAKES PRIORITY OVER HE CHOOSES THE INVENTION. FIRST STEP AS HIS GOAL, THEN HIS ART BECOMES A 17/273/74/]5/6 7006. DEAL FORM DIOM STRUCTURE] CRAFT | SURFACE AND THE POWERS OF THAT = ~ ART WILL RELY ON THE POWERS OF THE IDEAS WITHIN. 1 iS BUT TELLING A STORY. AS EFFECTIVELY AS POSSIBLE MAY wy REQUIRE SOME INVENTION. IT OFTEN DOES. 179THIS 1S THE PATH OF GREAT STORYTELLERS, CREATORS WHO HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY THROUGH COMICS AND DEVOTE ALL THEIR ENERGIES TO COWZKOLLING THEIR MEDIUM, REFINING ITS ABILITY TO CONVEY MESSAGES EFFECTIVELY (IN OTHER ART FORMS: CAPRA, DICKENS, WOODY GUTHRIE, EDWARD R. MURKOW, ETC.) FORTUNATELY, THIS CHOICE NEVER HAS TO BE PERMANENT. CAN CHANGE AS OFTEN AS. AN ARTIST CHANGES PROJECTS. THIS IS A PROBLEM IN MANY. x ‘ASSEMBLY LIVE” COMICS WHERE \Z =| CREATIVE SPECIALIZATION HAS o| SCRIPTERS? "PENCILLERS" AND IVKERS” ALL WORKING AT CROSS: PURPOSES IN THEIR ATTEMPTS TO GET NOTICED. rl ———————— fi (VO WORK OF ART CAN BE 7o7ALLY WITHOUT "CON7EWT™ ANY MORE THAN IT CAN EXIST WITHOUT A FORM! BUT ~IT DOES HELP TO SET SOME PRIORITIES. NO, 24 DRIVING’, A NOT THAT WE “CREATOR/WRITER/ARTIS7” TYPES NEVER RUN INTO THIS PROBLEM. DAMN, NEEDED 10 HAVE SOME MORE DIALOGUE HERE, BLT T REALLY WANT TO DRAW THAT SNAZZYTHE MORE AN ARTIST DEVOTES ART SPIEGELMAN'S AGGRESSIVELY HIM/HERSELF TO EITHER OF THESE TWO EXPERIMENTAL WORK OF THE SEVENTIES FOCAL POINTS, THE MORE DRAMATIC THE 4 AND EARLY E7GW7/ES' LEFT NO ONE PREPARED] CHANGE IF HE/SHE DECIDES TO SH/7CH/ FOR THE UNASSUMING "REPOR7~ STYLE OF HIS LANDMARK BIOGRAPHY MAUS” 1 IDEA/ PURPOSE [ART AND SCRIPT © ART SPIEGELMAN PERHAPS IF STRIPPED DOWN FAR ENOLIGH, AND WHEN ART BECOMES A JOB MOST ARTISTS’ ULTIMATE GOALS ARE NOT OR A MATTER OF SOCIAL STATUS ‘THAT DIFFERENT FROM ANYONE ELSE'S. ‘THE POTENTIAL FOR CONFUSING ONE'S EVEN FOR THOSE WITH A/GH /DEALS, BASIC GOALS GOES LP CONSIDERABLY. INSTINCTS EXERT A POWERFUL ATTRACTION SURVIVAL —» REPRODUCTION BUT EVEN IF WE TAKE LIFE'S. QF COURSE, NOT EVERYBODY TAKES THE DISTRACTIONS. INTO ACCQUNT, IT'S ZOMG WAY AROLIND. SOME ARTISTS HAVE ‘STILL AMAZING HOW MUCH 7/ME NO TROUBLE SETTING GOALS AND ACHIEVING AND EFFORT IS SPENT BY COMICS THEM WITHOLIT ANY DETOURS. CREATORS TRYING TO GET WHAT THEY WANT QUT OF COMICS ~~ ~ BEFORE THEY, 7 ASTORY I EVEN KNOW DREW ABOLIT MY DOG THEY WANT/ ss ESPECIALLY IF THEIR GOALS ARE MODEST ONES. 1811 IDEA/ PURPOSE 4 STRUCTURE NY ART/ST CREATING, ANY WORK IN AMY. MEDIUM WILL ALWAYS FOLLOW THESE S/A SERS: WHETHER THEY REALIZE IT OR WOT ALL. WORKS BEGIN WITH A PURPOSE, ALL BELONG TO AN (DIOIA CEVEN IE IT'S ALL REQUIRE SOME CRAFT; ALL PRESENT A SURFACE, BUT THE MORE A CREATOR LEARNS TO COMMAND “ERY BSPECT OF HIS/HER ART AND TO UNDERSTAND HIS/HER RELATIONSHIP 70 IT, THE MORE “AR7/S7/C" CONCERNS ‘ARE LIKELY TO GET THE UPPER HAND. HOWEVER ARB/7RARY\ ALL TAKE SOME FORM; AN IDIOM OF OVED; ALL POSSESS A S7RUCTORE; AND ALL ASPECTS OF COMICS HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR SELF-EXPRESSION, EVEN WHEN ECOWOMIC SURVIVAL IS THE ARTIST'S MAIN CONCERN THERE'S, ALWAYS KOOM FOR A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF ART.” THE ORDER OF THE SIX STEPS 18 /MNATE. LIKE THE ARRANGEMENT OF BONES IN A DINOSAURS SKELETON, THEY CAN BE DISCOVERED IN ANY ORDER, BUT WHEN SROUGHT TOGETHER, THEY WILL ALWAYS FALL INTO PLACE ned se) ‘ Vi Mh p 182IN PRACTICE, ANY ASPECT OF COMICS MAY BE THE ONE WHICH FIRST DRAWS ‘AN ARTIST INTO ITS ORBIT. FROM SURFACE TO CORE. STILL, THE LEARNING PROCESS FOR MOST ARTISTS IS A SZOWAND STEADY JOURNEY FROM END TO BEGINNING, 4 srmuctuRe < AND IT'S AT THE CORE OF ART THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION IS FINALLY ASKED FORM avg PURPOSE "WHY AM Z DOING THIS 7” imal WHEN FORM RULES THE WORK, IT MAY SEEM SOMEWHAT ART7F/C/AL AT THE CORE, LIKE A SEEDLESS FRUIT. 183 BUT SUCH WORKS DON'T TAKE THE SHAPE OF ART FOR GRANTED AND BY QUESTIONING OUR FUNDAMENTAL ASSUIPTIONS =~WHILE IF (DEAS RULE THE WORK AND TTS ‘SHAPE, COMICS CAN HELP PZANT THOSE IDEAS FAR AND WIDE,AWORD ABOUT COLO! IN CHAPTER FIVE WE DEALT WITH THE EXPRESSIONISTIC POTENTIAL OF LIVES AS ANTICIPATED BY ARTISTS AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, BUT FS OF COURSE IT WAS COLOR WHICH J>| MOST CAPTIVATED ARTISTS: OF THAT ERA. OTHERS, LIKE KANDINSKY, BELIEVED THAT COLORS COULD HAVE PROFOUND PHYS/CAL AND EMOTIONAL EFFECTS ON PEOPLE, COLOR CAN BE A FORMIDABLE ALLY FOR ARTISTS IN ANY VISUAL MEDIUM. ee THROUGHOUT ART HISTORY, COLOR HAS BEEN A POWERFUL, EVEN PREDOMINANT | CONCERN OF FINE ARTISTS EVERYWHERE YET IN COMICS THE CAREER OF COLOR HAS BEEN, WELL... A BIT SOME, LIKE GEOROES| SEURAT, DEVOTED THEIR Z7VE$ TO ITS ‘STUDY. THERE ARE MANY REASONS FOR THE (STORMY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMICS AND COLOR, BUT MOST CAN BE SUMMED UPNOW AZZ ASPECTS BUT COLOR IN THE TECHNOLOGY OF COLOR REPRODUCTION OF COMICS HISTORY COMICS HAS ALWAYS WAS FIRST ANTICIPATED IN /&6/ WHEN HAVE BEEN AFFECTED| | BEEN UNUSUALLY SCOTTISH PHYSICIST S/R JAMES CLERK - BY COMMERCE. MONEY SEMS/TIVE MAXWELL |SOLATED WHAT WE NOW CALL HAS A TREMENDOUS | | TO THE SA/E7ING THE THREE ADDITIVE PRIMARIES, EFFECT ON WHAT 1S TIDES OF 3 AND /SW’‘7 SEEN. TECHNOLOGY. $ " THESE COLORS -- ROUGHLY, RED, BLUE AND) | THEY WERE CALLED GREEN--WHEN PROJECTED TOGETHER ON | | ADDITIVE BECAUSE | / LATER, FRENCH PIANIS A SCREEN IN VAR/OUS COMBINATIONS, | |“ THEY LITERALLY EIGHT YEARS LOUIS DUCOS DU COULD REPRODUCE EVERY COLOR IN THE ADDED UP 10 PURE) | HAURON * DEVISED VISIBLE SPECTRUM. WHITE LIGHT. THE IDEA OF THREE SUBTRACTIVE, PRIMARIES. yyi0M 2 2ay7 Have A 186 Wee 27 HHTHESE SOLORS =— CxAM. MAGENTA YELLOW *--CAN ALSO MIX TO. PeOpuee ANY HUE IN Tae VISIBLE SPECTRUM, BUT RATHER THAN ADOING LIGHT, THESE THREE DO IT BY AYLTERING IT OUT! COLOR COMICS HIT COLOR BOOSTED AND THE Se iE PAPER BUTT AIO BCOSTED “FOUR INDUSTRY LIKE AN COSTS MEASURES Process 7 700K ATOMIC BOMB! ‘. COST-EFFECTIVE. THIS PROCESS RESTRICTED THE INTENSITY OF THE THREE PRIMARIES TO ‘SO, WHILE THE EXPRESSIVE ART OF £/VE WAS SUBJECTED TO THE SUB7RACTIVE Gee EA ee eye ae ICS, WAS SUBJECTI FILTERS OF BOTH COMMERCE AND TECINOLOGY 2 ue IN) FOK THE LINE WORK. a *TOR OPMOUE PIGMENTS: RED, YELLOW AND BLUE KNOW, IT'S TOTALLY WEIRD. 187JO COUNTERACT THE DULLING EFFECTS OF NEWSPRINT AND TO STAND OUT FROM THE COMPETITION, COSTUMED HEROES WERE CLAD IN BRIGHT, PRIMARY COLORS AND FOUGHT IN A SRIGHT PRIMARY WORLD! 2 aS < ps S eae oF =) : q WITHOUT THE -- WAS OFTEN AS ALWAYS, THE COLORS WERE PICKED FOR S7KEW7H | | EMOTIONAL IMPACT| | CANCELLED OUT THERE WERE SOME AND CONTRASTED OF SINGLE-COLOR TO AN EXCEPTIONS, BUT STRONGLY WITH ONE | | SA7Z/RA7/ON, THE EMOTIONAL THIS WAS THE ANOTHER, BUT ON EXPRESSIVE POTENTIAL) GREY. OVERALL TREND, MOST PAGES NOONE | | OF AMERICAN COLOR, COLOR DOMINATED ANOTHER PROPERTY GF FLAT COLORS 1S THEIR TENDENCY TO EMPHASIZE THE SHAPE OF OBJECTS, BOTH AMMATE AND INANIMATE -- HOWEVER, WHILE COMICS COLORS WERE LESS. MANY SEE THE SUPERHERO AS A THAN ZXPRESSIONISTIC, THEY WERE FIXED WITH A NEW /COM/C POWER. BECAUSE FORM OF MODERN COSTUME COLORS REMAINED EXACTLY THE MYTHOLOGY. WF SO, SAME, PANEL AFTER PANEL, THEY CAME TO | | THis ASPECT OF COLOR SYMBOLIZE CHARACTERS IN THE MIND MAY PLAY A PART. OF THE READER. SYMBOLS ARE [ea] OBO THE STUFF OF WHICH GODS ARE =) HULK MADE, So0 2” Gi 188=-AS ANY CHILD THESE COLORS OBJECT WHO HAS EVER THEIR SUBJECTS. WE BECOME ‘ORED-BY- NUMBERS MORE AWARE OF THE AHYSICAL KNOWS INSTINCTIVELY, FORM OF OBJECTS THAN IN BLACK AND WHITE. ‘THE WORLD TAKES ON THE CHILDHOOD | REALITY OF THE PLAYGROUND ‘AND. RECALLS A TIME WHEN SHAPE PRECEDED MEANING. OBLONG SWING SETS. CYLINDRICAL JUNGLE GYMS. THE WONDER OF 7A/MGS/ FROM STEVE DITKO 0 CARL BARKS CRAIG RAIG RUSSELL, THAT LOVE OF SHAPES PERSISTS iN WOR! LDS. FAIRLY GLOWS WITH THE MYSTERY IF FURST ENCOUNTERS.IN, EUROPE HERGE™ CAPTURED THE MAGIC OF SUCH FLAT COLORS WITH UNPRECEDENTED, SUBTLETY. The signora’s room. Ravishing HERGE CREATED A KIND OF DEMOCRACY OF FORM IN WHICH NO SHAPE WAS ANY LESS IMPORTANT THAN ANY O7HER-~ A COMICS PRIVTING WAS SUPERIOR IN EUROPE AND FOR HERGE, FLAT COLORS WERE A PREFERENCE, NOT A NECESSITY, BUT OTHERS SUCH AS CLAVELOUX, CAZA AND MOEBIUS SAW IN THEIR SUPERIOR PRINTING AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES THROUGH A MORE INTENSE SUBIECTIVE PALETTE SOME OF THIS WORK BEGAN REACHING AMERICA IN THE 70%| INSPIRING MANY, YOUNG ARTISTS TO LOOK BEYOND THEIR FOUR-COLOR WALLS. ‘SUDDENLY. IT SEEMED POSSIBLE FOR COLOR TO TAKE ON A CENTRAL ROLE. COLORS COULD TONES EXPRESS A AND MODELLING DOMINANT COULD ADD Moo. DEPTH. WHOLE SCENES COULD BE VIRTUALLY ABOUT COLOR,COLOR AS SENSATION, COLOR AS COLOR AS, A COLOR/ THE NEW. FORMA REQUIRED THE CREATION ‘OF NEW IDIOMS! UNFORTUNATELY, COLOR 1S STILL AN EXPENSIVE OPTION ‘AND HAS HISTORICALLY] BEEN IN THE HANDS OF LARGER, MORE CONSERVATIVE PUBLISHERS. SINCE THE LATE 70'S, MORE AND. MORE “CRSCALE” COLOR PROJECTS HAVE BEGUN APPEARING IN AMERICA. WHEN MODELLING AND MORE SUB7LE HUES WERE APPLIED, THOUGH, THEY SEEMED OUT OF PLACE ON THE OLD SHAPE-SENSITIVE LINE DRAWINGS. SOME PUBLISHERS AT THE BEGINNING TRIED APPLYING THE TRADITIONAL “FOUR-COLOR” PROCESS. TO BETTER PAPER WITH GAR/SH RESULTS. THE SURFACE WAS CHANGING, BUT NOT THE CORE. FOR ALL THEIR SUBTLE HUES, COMICS WERE STILL BEING WRITTEN IN PRIMARY COLORS!) THIS 1S BEGINNING TO CHANGE AS I WRITE THIS, BUT IT’S STILL THE EXCEPTION, NOT THE RULE, COMIC) ZA ARTISTS WANTING 70 CONDUCT 5027 MEW EXPERIMENTS IN COMICS ART- 191 HAVE TO LEARN IN MOST CASES: TO BE GOLD IN BLACK AND WHITESIN BLACK AND WHITE, IN FLAT COLORS: THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE IDEAS BEHIND FORMS 7HEMSELVES: BLACK-AND-WHITE AND COLOR THE ART ARE TAKE ON MORE COMICS ARE VAST AND PROFOUND, COMMUNICATED MORE | | SIGNIFICANCE. THE AFFECTING EVERY LEVEL OF | | DRECTLY. MEANING |_| WORLD BECOMES A. THE READING EXPERIENCE. “TRANSCENDS FORM.) | PLAYGROUND OF ART APPROACHES SHAPES AND LANGUAGE. SPACE. AND THROUGH MORE THE SURFACE QUALITIES OF COLOR WILL, WE LIVE IN A EXPRESSIVE COLORS,|_ | CONTINUE TO ATTRACT READERS MORE. WORLD OF CoLaRs, COMICS CAN BECOME | | EASILY THAN BLACK AND WHITE, AND THE NOT JUST BLACK AND. AN INTORICATING STORY OF COLOR WILL NO DOUBT CONTINUE | | HH/7E. COLOR COMICS: ENVIRONMENT OF JO BE INTERTWINED WITH THE FORCES OF WILL ALWAYS SEEM SENSATIONS THAT COMMERCE AND ZECHNOLOGY. MORE “ZEAL” AT ONLY COLOR CAN FIRST GLANCE. BUT COMICS READERS ONE THINGS FOR LOOK FOR MMAWY THINGS | SURE, THOUGH BESIDES "REAL/7Y" WHEN USED WELL, + AMOUNT TO AND, TECHNOLOGY COLOR IN COMICS FAR MORE THAN NOTWITHSTANDING, | | CAN--LIKE COMICS: THE SUM OF COLOR WILL NEVER ITSELF-- ITS PARTS. REPLACE BLACK AND WHITE ENTIRELY. 192