Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

Picture of Crazy men Go Wild taken at the MASC

When we went to the MASC on Tuesday there were a lot of options to chose from for line and interdependent text. For an example of line I looked at the comic Crazy Men go Wild. I chose this because the comic uses a variety of different types of lines to create the characters and narrative. I especially like how the comic has a road that winds through each page and leads you through the booklet. The characters themselves are also made up of very abstracted and unnatural lines compared to how normal human features look. This can give a sense of confusion and chaos.

Picture of the Nuremberg Chronicle taken at the MASC

For an example of interdependent text and word, I looked at the Nuremberg Chronicle. I chose this because of the page with the apostles on it, because they are labeled with their names on scrolls next to them. I found that this was a good example because without the names, many people may not know who the people in the image are. I also like this example because the artist blended the text and imagery together so the words look like they are a part of the image.

Image from “Trinity” – Infocom 1986

The first image to the right is my example of good use of line quality to convey emotion from the reader. To be more specific about where the good use is in the image is at the bottom right of the page. The illustration casts a shadow on the man giving the statement “We must be the first!”. The use of the shadow behind him gives off a serious tone to the reader and shows that the situation that the characters are currently in is a serious one. To me, the emotion that I felt from this was one that wanted me to feel a sense of urgency. This comic was about World War 2 and the construction of the first atomic bomb used by the United States. With this information, it became clear to me that the emotion of the comic was one that was a serious one.

Bat/Catman Comic

The next comic is my example of good use of interdependent. To be more specific, looking at the top of the comic shows that the entire first 1/2 of the page is dedicated to just one action taking place in the frames. The sound effects roll over frames and these words are needed in order to let the reader know what is going on. Without the words being used as sound effects, the reader would not know what they would be looking at. The use of these words gives the page a sense of action and how fast the object is coming towards Robin in the comic. When the combination of the words and the pictures comes together, it creates a sense of tone and structure when the reader is going form frame to frame. It lets the reader know that they should read the next frames faster than normal.

The comic that I chose from the MASC visit today that demonstrates line quality and how it conveys emotion is the 3D Batman comic. I chose this comic because the way that the lines are behind each other to make the figures three-dimensional is very interesting. Also, from McCloud, he stated that all lines hold “expressive potential” and I feel that the lines in this comic really do portray expressive potential. I have chosen the left page in this picture because the dragon in the biggest frame really pops out thanks to the effective use in line behind it and throughout its body. The rugged lines and shapes throughout the dragon’s body suggest anger/hostility and a rugged/scaly feel to its body. I think that this comic is a great example of how line quality conveys emotion in comics.

Cecil C. Addle’s poster comics are a great example of an interdependent word/picture combo. This comic uses mainly the characters in each scene with very little background or location detail. I feel that this is because the author wanted the viewer to strictly focus on the words and pictures depicted in the frames. This seems like a very traditional way of making comics, but I just feel that this poster comic in particular is a great example because of how the author made it so that the viewer had to mentally picture the environment with the information given from the words and drawings. To conclude, I think that this comic is duo-specific because of the equal-seeming amount of effort from both words and drawings. Regardless of the effort balance however, I feel like it is as long as the message/story was projected effectively, this comic will still have been successful. Also in this comic, the author modified the spelling of certain words and it seems like this was for kids to relate because some of the words are spelt in the way that kids pronounce them.

After reading Living of Line from. Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, I learned how lines can be used to show so many different things. Sound, emotions, weather (cold and hot). In many ways, Lines are used in many different ways to convene an idea or emotion in the mind of the viewer. With this in mind, looking at the different examples during our visit to the MASC, I have found that the best example of lines comes from an old two-page panel called Pantheon sive Idola Judeorum and from a panel from The Amazing Spiderman comic.

A panel from Pantheon sive Idola Judeorum. Grace Kannberg-October 15, 2019.

The Pantheon sive Idola Judeorum uses lines differently in each small section of the whole panel. Each one has a different emotion effect on a viewer. The lines in the first square, located in the top right-hand corner, show swirling fire. It not only has a warm effect but also creates the emotion of tension within the scene. Each square in the panel has its own use for line, creating a unique story when it is looked at as a whole. The line work and emotion used in this are more complicated from my next comic, The Amazing Spiderman.

The Amazing Spiderman- The Goblin Power. July’98. Grace Kannberg-October 15, 2019

When looking at the panel from the Spiderman comic, the linework here is simpler in comparison. The majority of the lines used in this comic are strongly horizontal or vertical. The lines that make up this exception are the ones in the ceiling framing the characters. These lines aren’t like the others, and this was deliberately done by the artist. They did this to emphasis on the attention to the characters. The emotion of urgency and anxiety is shown through these strong, uneven, lines.

Religious panel from the MASC. Grace Kannberg-October 15, 2019.

In addition to learning about the importance of lines from reading Scott McCloud’s book, I also learned how the combination of word and pictures are interdependent. This means that together both words and a picture show an idea that neither can show on its own. When exploring the MASC I found one example of this from one of the oldest printed books. In this one-page panel, Jesus is talking to Saints around him. The words used in this panel name each individual in the photo for the viewer to understand what is going on. Without the words, the viewer doesn’t fully understand or know what is going on.

Page from The Lightening Thief, originally by Rick Riordan, but adapted by Robert Venditti.

This page of The Lightening Thief shows aspect-to-aspect closure in my opinion. The shoes with wings are implied to be very important, but there is no text or explanation. The creator is requiring active participation by the reader to make a connection as to why the shoes are so important.  Having them like this makes the reader question if the shoes are ascending, meaning they are a good important, or if they are falling, and a bad important. They could be floating, which could mean they are going to be a permanent fixture of importance for the future of the story. There are no frames, which usually give the readers slight guidance as to importance, direction or time. One may infer that is because something of large importance of the story cannot be put into a frame, due to it squishing the significance.

Page from The Lightening Thief, originally by Rick Riordan, but adapted by Robert Venditti.

These frames are an interesting example of how creators control the time in a comic. The two frames on the top are starting in space, then an outside view of the house that the characters are sitting in, we presume. The following frames take place inside a house, which a reader assumes to be the house that was zoomed in on from space in the frames prior. The reader assumes that these images are all at the exact same time, and zooming in like in a movie, however there is no definite reason for that. A reader could argue these are meant minutes, hours or even days apart so the story of the hurricane from Poseidon hitting the home. There is text in the bottom frames that hints that they may be simultaneous, but they can still be inferred that they are not.