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THE LANGUAGE OF COMICSIt Takes Two to Tango
How do we read comics?
“The thing that comics do that no other graphic art does is to weave word and picture together to achieve a narrative purpose . . . Not a simple coupling of the verbal and the visual, but a blend, a true mixture."
~R.C. Harvey
Image & Text
•describe/reinforce •clarify/amplify•contrast•counterpoint•contradict
Image is primary . . .
•pace•characterization•setting•tone•perspective
Objective
Subjective
Reality
Abstraction
Abstraction
•symbolic = universal•emphasizes fiction•emphasizes artist's distorted view• lines = distortion• less distortion = less universal
Poetry = Time
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
Ezra Pound, "In a Station of the Metro"
Painting = Space
Comics = Space & Time
•convey images and objects in space
•communicate impressions & psychological states via language
Which do you read first?
How long do you “read” a panel?
What if there is no text?
Dialogue controls time
Single Panel = A Moment in Time & Space
Two Panels = A Gap in Time
Gutter = The Pregnant Moment
Panels + Gutters = Space & Time
Panels + Gutters = Space & Time
The Reader = The Co-Author
•panels circumscribe space, not contain it
•comics omit more than they include• require leaps of imagination on behalf of the reader
Artwork(in order of appearance)
• Dorothea Lange: Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California
• David B.: Epileptic• Jan Vermeer: The Milkmaid• Peter Kuper: Give It Up• Andrew Wyeth: Christina's World• Alex Ross & Mark Waid: Kingdom Come• Chris Ware: Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
• Alan Moore & Brian Bolland: The Killing Joke• Skottie Young: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz