Western Comics

Oh did you think I'd given up on sharing some of my favourite picture books with you guys?
Nah nah just got caught up at work. It happens from time to time.

So where did we leave off? Oh right, the huge wide world of Archie. Well, hopefully no one minds if I take a bit of a break from that behemoth and chat about something a bit different this post.
If you do mind, well, too bad! You can't stop this trainwreck from rolling!

Today I wanna share with you what I think is really special about this medium. Not just Western Comics, but really this applies to manga, European comics and any other kind of comic-booky type media.
One of the first rules in comics is "show, don't tell."
It's pretty simple, but really sets up the first divide between visual mediums like comics and television, vs say songs, novels or radio plays and it's a rule that novice comic creators often ignore, which can say volumes about the quality of what you're about to get into.
For those that don't fully understand the concept, it's essentially saying that all this:

Quote:TheHobbit
Instead there was a very old-looking dwarf on the step with a white beard and a scarlet hood; and he too hopped inside as soon as the door was open, just as if he had been invited. "I see they have begun to arrive already," he said when he caught sight of Dwalin's green hood hanging up. He hung his red one next to it, and "Balin at your service!" he said with his hand on his breast.

"Thank you!" said Bilbo with a gasp. It was not the correct thing to say, but they have begun to arrive had flustered him badly. He liked visitors, but he liked to know them before they arrived, and he preferred to ask them himself. He had a horrible thought that the cakes might run short, and then he-as the host: he knew his duty and stuck to it however painful-he might have to go without.

"Come along in, and have some tea!" he managed to say after taking a deep breath.

"A little beer would suit me better, if it is all the same to you, my good sir," said Balin with the white beard. "But I don't mind some cake-seed-cake, if you have any."

"Lots!" Bilbo found himself answering, to his own surprise; and he found himself scuttling off, too, to the cellar to fill a pint beer-mug, and to the pantry to fetch two beautiful round seed-cakes which he had baked that afternoon for his after-supper morsel.

When he got back Balin and Dwalin were talking at the table like old friends (as a matter of fact they were brothers). Bilbo plumped down the beer and the cake in front of them, when loud came a ring at the bell again, and then another ring.

"Gandalf for certain this time," he thought as he puffed along the passage. But it was not. It was two more dwarves, both with blue hoods, silver belts, and yellow beards; and each of them carried a bag of tools and a spade. In they hopped, as soon as the door began to open-Bilbo was hardly surprised at all.

"What can I do for you, my dwarves?" he said. "Kili at your service!"

said the one. "And Fili!" added the other; and they both swept off their blue hoods and bowed.

"At yours and your family's!" replied Bilbo, remembering his manners this time.

"Dwalin and Balin here already, I see," said Kili. "Let us join the throng!"

"Throng!" thought Mr. Baggins. "I don't like the sound of that. I really must sit down for a minute and collect my wits, and have a drink." He had only just had a sip-in the corner, while the four dwarves sat around the table, and talked about mines and gold and troubles with the goblins, and the depredations of dragons, and lots of other things which he did not understand, and did not want to, for they sounded much too adventurous-when, ding-dong-a-ling-' dang, his bell rang again, as if some naughty little hobbit-boy was trying to pull the handle off. "Someone at the door!" he said, blinking. "Some four, I should say by the sound," said Fili. "Be-sides, we saw them coming along behind us in the distance."

The poor little hobbit sat down in the hall and put his head in his hands, and wondered what had happened, and what was going to happen, and whether they would all stay to supper. Then the bell rang again louder than ever, and he had to run to the door. It was not four after all, it was FIVE. Another dwarf had come along while he was wondering in the hall. He had hardly turned the knob, be-x)re they were all inside, bowing and saying "at your service" one after another. Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, and Gloin were their names; and very soon two purple hoods, a grey hood, a brown hood, and a white hood were hanging on the pegs, and off they marched with their broad hands stuck in their gold and silver belts to join the others. Already it had almost become a throng. Some called for ale, and some for porter, and one for coffee, and all of them for cakes; so the hobbit was kept very busy for a while. A big jug of coffee bad just been set in the hearth, the seed-cakes were gone, and the dwarves were starting on a round of buttered scones, when there came-a loud knock. Not a ring, but a hard rat-tat on the hobbit's beautiful green door. Somebody was banging with a stick!

In comic form, would be better expressed as:



And it's no random choice that I chose to use The Hobbit for this example. It was this exact comic book found at my local library at a young age that made Tolkien accessible to me and as I got older and became a stronger reader I devoured the novels as well. Which is why I always sing the praises of "show, don't tell." for it's sheer accessibility, and allowing for a more immersive world as facial expressions, movements and set pieces tell the story just as well (and occasionally better) than verbose prose.
There's a reason the saying goes "A picture is worth 1000 words."

So okay, comics have that, but so does television, so do movies, so do video games. So let's divide move on to the next point.

Visual Pacing.
The interesting thing about fictional, visual media is that you only ever see what the creators/designers want you to see.
This is best summed up with the principle known as "Chekhov's Gun" which is used and purposely subvertedin all forms of media.

Quote:Anton Chekhov
Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter is absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there.

This, of course, is not a hard and fast rule. You'll often see set pieces thrown in just to fill space with no rhyme or reason (see the spoons in photo frames in the movie The Room), or ones that tell you a bit more about the character or the ever popular red herring specifically built around using this trope to misdirect viewers.
But generally when you're creating a fictional world you want to put your time and effort into what's important for the viewers to see in order to make deadlines, stay within budget or what have you.
So here's what I like about comic books and (some) video games that I find it greatly lost in television and movies: The ability to sit back and see more than just what you're meantto see.

Let's look at this awesome scene from Cabin in the Woods for instance (spoiler warning for a movie from half a decade ago I guess)


That's A LOT of references flashing by VERY quickly, and that's fun and adds a lot to the world, but if you want to take it all in, well, better find yourself and HD copy and go in frame by frame.
It's something very cool, but very "blink and you'll miss it".
Whereas, by contrast in the comic book Top Ten we have this page:


You can skim the images and get the gist of what kind of world they're in and read the dialouge, flip the page and progress the story but let's just linger here a moment. Do me a favour, just really look at the pictures themselves.
Is that...The Beatle's yellow submarine? And flying monkeys? And the friggin Knight from Joust??
Hold on hold on scroll back up, yep, that's Thomas the Tank Engine, aaannnd the is definitely Thor's chariot being pulled by his weird edible goats.
I LOVE this kind of stuff. I love just sitting on a page and soaking everything in. It doesn't even have to be detailed and full of references, maybe it's just a quiet moment between two characters your like before the inevitable drama storm, or maybe it's a particularly fun fight scene. I love not being pushed ahead before I want to, or being forced to linger on something I find boring.

So to end this long winded ramble I wanted to give you guys today a comic that I think encompasses both these ideas nicely, making it a story that would be much harder to appreciate in any other medium.

Here's Jordan's Tale