“Step” by Rachel Lentz

Blog 5: Comics

The comic I have created, “Step”, follows Scott McCloud’s definition of a comic as it is a series of images in deliberate sequence. McCloud’s book Understanding Comics tells its readers how versatile and expansive comics can be. They present an art for that is neither pure pictures or pure writing, but instead a mixture of the two. In my comic I thought it best to combine the aspects of writing and pictures nearly evenly, to make a story that forms something completely unexpected when they are put together. The pictures and dialogue could possibly work alone yet when put together make a story that invites a reader into a new world. The dialogue references the old children’s rhyme of “Step on a line”, which is a rhyme that most people have grown up hearing about stepping on things and their consequences. While a fun childhood tune, as with many old songs, it has a cautionary side too. The pictures in this comic give life to a physical blob that represent the fears the “Step” rhyme of childhood seems to impress. The duality of these thing does as Scot McCloud describes, exploring how comics show and tell readers what is going on. This type of duality goes on into further aspects of life. Recent technology has made it possible to represent media in print and on the web. As such creators get to make artistic choices into how they want their work represented. Not only are writing and pictures combining to make new meaning, new mediums combine and change meaning as well. Offering works in print or on the web (or both) has its pros and cons. By presenting art on the web, layout can be changed to change reader experience. However, each website may download differently so how a reader consumes this media may be affected. In print the work is set in stone and reader experience is largely going to be the same, this structure allows for specific meaning to be conveyed. Print is limiting in access and restrictions on page size and amount can play a part into design concepts however. Each has its own benefits and downfalls. For this comic I wanted to create something that can be easily viewed on a screen. Access would be broader and a scrolling style of reading that cannot be achieved in print would be used to view is. This is so as it would slow readers down and add to the suspense of the story being told. The details in the work would be examined closely and more meaning taken from it.