The Graphic Novel

Over the course of this last semester, we’ve learned not only how to construct and draw a comic, but also how to analyze their components. Broad themes address ‘is it a comic?’ and ‘what does it communicate?’ I thought I’d apply this to a random webcomic to see the results of my learning in action. I selected an XKCD comic from a few days ago.

Firstly, I wanted to make sure this fit Scott McCloud’s definition of a comic, which is that they are “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer."[1] This particular comic is a single panel picture that has been overlaid with text in the form of dialogue. The text is intended to convey information on the character’s thoughts while the picture conveys an alternate truth to the words. This is designed to produce a humorous response in the viewer based on the ironic juxtaposition of information.

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References

The graphic novel currently being discussed in class is Asterios Polyp.[1] While we discussed the idea of duality, I want to look at Asterios’ duality in conjunction with color. There is a chapter in the novel that is preceded by a page showing one philosopher’s view of what humans should have looked like, circular with four arms, four legs, and two faces, one male and one female.

The chapter then shows the duality in human life in terms of male and female. While Asterios is looking for the “counterpart” to himself through the years, the author uses the colors of red and blue to portray the duality of the sexes. Asterios is always blue, while the women in his life that he interacts with on an emotional level are constantly portrayed in red.

Asterios' Early Partners

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References

While talking about lettering and inking in class, based on our book "Drawing Words and Writing Pictures" by Abel and Madden,[1] I wondered how I’d ever be able to reproduce some of the shadings and lines shown in the examples. The black shading gave depth and reality to the images, making me imagine them in real life, complete with color. The book did not mention much on using color yet though. While many comics I’ve seen are black and white, several have been colored in, such as Calvin and Hobbes book compilations and web comics. I wondered how this happened, if the color selectors were different than the illustrators, and what aid computers might be in this situation. So I did a little research…

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References

In class today we did the comics jam session from “Drawing Words and Writing Pictures” by Able and Madden.[1] This exercise not only gave us the opportunity to see the strengths of our other web comic group members, but also to test our skills drawing under constraints.

The constraints fell under two categories: creative and time. Creatively, we had to abide by the rules the original author had chosen and the characters and setting that had been depicted in the first panel. We also had about 20 minutes to complete four 9-panel comics. The creative challenge was a thrill, giving us the opportunity to explore routes that the story may not have taken without said constraints. By limiting word count or illustrating another person’s narration etc., we were forced to look at the comic from a different angle. We also had to improve our artistic skill by replicating the images drawn by other group members in the panels before. This provided a jump-start to coming up with ideas for our web group comic. Did other groups find this exercise as helpful to your creativity?

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References

As we read in Alan Moore's Watchmen, there are often topics addressed in comics that are not considered “family-friendly” or PG rated, per se. In Watchmen, we see this in terms of sexuality, possible insanity, and death. While looking through other comics, I also came across topics of a serious nature that are not widely discussed in polite society, but unlike in Watchmen, these were addressed in a humorous way.

Death by way of suicide seemed an unlikely topic to draw about, and yet there are comics available that address just that. In the comic below, entitled “Suicide Commercial,” the artist portrays a depressed character that is looking for an easy way out of life.

(seen here: http://www.funs.co.uk/comic/22.html)

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We discussed in class how certain illustrated characters remind us of real life celebrities, based on LittleMeat’s blog entry “The Sandman Band…?” This helps give us an extra comparable persona to bring the characters to life in our minds. The characters’ doppelgangers help identify characteristics and personality traits based on what we know of them in the real world. These then transfer in our minds to applicable traits for the drawn character.

In class, we then reversed this thinking, saying also that celebrities are drawing their physical images from comic book characters. The rock star, or whoever they may be, then assumes part of the persona or image from the drawn character in a symbiotic manner, lending both a second layer of character traits. This got me wondering, where else do we see manifestations of drawn character’s physical attributes in our world today? Very few people walk around wearing Death’s ankh from Sandman anymore or Superman’s red cape on a daily basis. In fact, apart from conventions, the only time us non-celebrities take on the physical traits of a comic book character is at Halloween.

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Akin to modern slang, the language used in the XKCD comic above is vernacular to today’s generation. To start with, the reference to the internet, especially in terms of the internet as an addictive stimulant, would not be understood to someone from a different time period or sometimes from a different culture where the internet is not a prevalent thing in society. Even a small variation in location, belief system, language, or time period can alter the way a word or phrase is understood. Similarly, when the characters at the end are discussing a LiveJournal entry, this term can be understood by today’s regional culture because of its common and daily use in the majority of our society. In another thirty years, there is a possibility that LiveJournal’s use will have become discontinued and the term obsolete. A future reader would not necessarily understand why this comic would be seen as humorous.

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