Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

The first interesting example of closure I found is located on the right page (pg 14). This page shows examples of scene to scene and subject to subject. I believe it is scene to scene because the first two panels take place during the night, which is evident by the usage of black and darker hues of grey. It then gets transitioned to day time, which is evident by the fact that the artist is no longer using the dark tones/hues. I also believe it is an example of subject to subject because you go from the first panel, a close up of a opened mouth to a panel of blood. The second interesting example of closure I found is located on the left page (pg 15). This is an example of aspect to aspect as well as subject to subject again. It is aspect to aspect because we go from a close up to the playing cards, to a panel showing the animals playing the cards, to then a zoomed out panel of the same animals still playing. It is also subject to subject because we go from the cards to the animals.

These pages were the most interesting example I found for time frames. I found them more interesting than other examples because as I was flipping through, page 148 (right page), was the only page that was set up and stylized this way. Even though this is a Japanese manga, usually read from right to left, the right page can be interpreted in different ways and it also engages the reader to identify which aspects to read first. Interpretation is also an interesting factor because of the different ways the wolf is drawn. On the right page he is drawn on a large scale using darker tones and hues, while the wolf that is seen throughout the manga is still drawn in lighter tones and hues. The use of drawing the wolf in a more scary and monstrous way is carried over to the left page as well as the reader sees him fighting himself. It could be interpreted as a Jekyll and Hyde trope (man vs self).

The graphic novel I chose is a new graphic novel RUST BELT by Sean Knickerbocker which was published on June 11, 2019. The closure I chose to show is an aspect-to-aspect closure. An aspect-to-aspect closure means nothing happens and it is used to establish a mood or a sense of the place of the frames of the comic. The reason why this scene shows an aspect-to-aspect closure is because it starts out with the kitchen and then there are two other panels which can give the idea of what it sounds like in the kitchen. The panel with a whisk and the pot provides a sound with the pot and whisk hitting each other. After that panel there is a panel with the guy cutting carrots on a cutting board which provides the sound of a chopping. All three of these panels make an aspect of how the kitchen is in the comic. Which is why I believe these frames show an aspect-to-aspect closure. 

These three frames are interesting time frames because the viewer can look at it either up to down or down to up and still get a similar idea of what is going on. If the viewer starts from the top they might see that the top frames are fast and trying to get Dave to open the door and for the last panel having it be big can show that Dave just sits there contemplating about something. But if the viewer starts from the bottom it looks like Dave is sitting there contemplating something for a long while because the size of the panel and then he gets interrupted to open the door. So, either way the viewer reads this page for the comic it will show Dave contemplating for a longer amount of time than the other panels. 

For My Graphic Novel I chose the first volume of the comic Slam Dunk by Takehiko Inoue.

1) For my example of closure I chose the top two panels from the image. This is an example of subject-to-subject as one character in the same team grabs the attention of the other character with the panel changing from one of the characters to the other. They are both different subjects within the scene.

2) I thought that the page to the right was a great example of time frames in comics. I though this was a good example because it goes from a waist up shot of the character to a panel of just his eyes. This causes the reader to pause a little before the action that happens in the next panel as the detailed eye shot keeps your attention for a little bit with no motion pictured making it feel drawn out.

I am choosing to read the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman. This book depicts the story of the lives of Jewish men and women during the Holocaust of WWII exept in this story, mice represent the characters who play those who are Jewish, and cats represent the Nazis. For the first interesting example, I found a scene where mice prisoners are being carted away in a train, forced to stand days on end, eat what little food they had, and eat the water on the train roof for water. These moments almost go scene to scene or aspect to aspect as there is no one movement showed in two frames, but rather different moments happening over time. The Nazis every few days would open the train, and then the next frame would be them traveling again in the train. These scenes are interesting because it definitely leaves room for interpretation as there is so much time that happens between each frame, and violence and death, that it almost seems the author wanted the reader to let the imagination take control. 

The second image I chose to depict an interesting example of time frames was closer to the beginning, when the main character is hoping to win back his love interest who believes he is not the man he claims to be, the page at first shows him talking with her, and then skips to them being celebrated for their marriage. These two separate panels are separated by years of time, which means the reader has to fill in that time gap with how they imagined their lives had gone. Their love story seems rather sudden, but because of the narrators input of time, each image carries a lot more weight as it is the substance the reader has to carry on the story in their mind. 

The graphic novel I am choosing to read is Persepolis, which tells the story of a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. The first scene I chose to depict an example of closure is a scene towards the end, pictured below showing a moment to moment action. Why this stuck out to me in particular is because of the panel layout, leading the reader to imagine more between each image, adding in our own interpretation to what happened. Adding the black image at the end especially leads to our own minds having to draw a conclusion of what is going on. Because of the violence this specific scene is leading to, it makes sense why the author would want to leave parts out. From having images zoomed out, then zoomed in, it shows the passage of time moment to moment, with senses of suspense as the character reaches down to look at the bracelet, then realizing the horror at her feet. All of these separate images leave for seconds of time between each action, almost acting as breaths, as we yearn to know what the character sees. 

When looking for an interesting example of time frames, I found one page that shows the passage of time in an interesting, jumbled manner. The photo below shows moments of panic, as the characters frantically run for cover away from the bombs. The first panel on the left shows movement, as the characters run for cover, but not on the same staircase, different staircases, different people, all doing the same action in different location. Then on the right side of the page, a black background with a bunch of floating heads makes for another moment of time where the other shows the lives of multiple people while they are at different locations. It definitely calls to the readers imagination, and is an excellent way to show movement and time through still imagery. 

The graphic novel that I am choosing to write about is A Wrinkle in Time. The reason that I chose this because I really enjoyed the way that the characters were drawn and I enjoyed watching the movie about this story.

One example of closure in the graphic novel is when the author has the house, wind, and moon up close and then after it goes to the panel with the word rattle, we can finally see that it is the girl in the bed scared in the house. The reason that I think that this is an example of closure is that McCloud defines closure as a “phenomenon of observing the parts but perceiving the whole” (p. 63). Before we see the girl we are no sure why there are such dark and scary pannels and then we can see more of the whole picture of the girl in bed. I think that it is also important for closure when there is more text to explain how you perceive the whole. I believe that this example is a scene to scene type of sequence because the amount of time in each panel jumps between short wording and illustrations and two that feel like you need to spend more time on them.

An example of time frames in this novel so far is when the main character has a flashback. In McCloud’s book Understanding comics, he explains that there is past present and future in comics and the way that the panel is shown and drawn and placed helps the reader understand this. In this novel, A Wrinkle in Time, the author shows that the character is flashing back by making a more cloudy drawing that has more muted dark colors.