The "Lost" Comics Devices

[Michael P]

Since today's column talks about some devices that have fallen into disuse, and how it might be time to take them down out of the attic, plug them in, and see if they still work, I thought it'd be a good idea to try to catalogue some of them, and see where, if at all, they're still in use.

Steven brings up thought balloons, omniscient captions, flashbacks, and footnotes. I can't think of too many places I see these today; Fabian Nicieza gets some mileage out of the first two in New Thunderbolts, but really, he never stopped using them. Flashbacks only show up when the story's plot hinges around an unrevealed event of the past (C.f. Identity Crisis and Sins Past, the former of which, now that I think about it, sort of echoes the rape scene in Watchmen), and I've heard no less than Joe Quesada himself say that the practice is heavily discouraged at Marvel these days. And footnotes are indeed extinct; I recall how, towards the end of Busiek's Avengers run, when nearly every page contained some sort of reference to a past issue in the current storyline or larger Avengers continuity, they started putting annotations on the letters page. (Hey, there's another one.) Even Invincible, which many would call the most old-school book on the stands, uses none of these devices (and I would argue that the occasional footnote wouldn't hurt this book at all), with the exception of heavy flashbacks in the zero issue, all taken verbatim from previous panels of the series.

As to the interstitial text panel (I just came up with that name on the fly, and anyone who can think of a better one is welcome to do so), pretty much the only artist I've ever seen use it in my lifetime is Will Eisner. No shock there, he was Will Eisner, but it goes to show how little-used this one is as well. It showed up often in the Duck comics I read as a kid, but those were all reprints from Barks' heyday in the '50s and '60s. Anyone know if the current Gemstone stuff uses them?

My knowledge of old comics is spotty at best, so I can't immediately think of any other devices. What about you? (Points toward the camera)

[Charles RB]

I've actually noticed the omniscient narrative captions in use a lot in 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine, mainly because the strips only have a limited number of pages to work in. Narrative captions help get in more story per page.

F'r instance, first page of the latest Dredd has the arrival of an assassin in Mega-City One (who we first met last issue). Narrative captions are used to let us known he's arrived, that he's undergone a face-change operation and that he'd had one in use the first time we met him, and that having two ops so soon together is painful but he's not using painkillers in case it throws off his edge, all while he's shown getting through Immigration. Add up the narration w/ the action and we learn in one page that this new guy we're seeing is the same assassin from last issue, that he's a habitual face-changer which'll make him harder to catch, that he's paranoid and one well-hard bastard, and that he's good at acting on the spot. All in one page. Not to be sneezed at when you've only got six to work with each week.

Have seen the interstitual panel in use over in the Megazine's "The Simping Detective", to get in large quantities of exposition in a first-person film noir pastiche, using the space economically to tell us info, giving the character a distinct voice and creating the noir atmosphere easily. The use of black-and-white also shows up for that, with the actual page being completely black instead of the usual white background. Works pretty well.

The use of techniques and experimentation with them does seem more prevelant in comics that don't have many pages to work in, since they're needed to get as much of a satisfying story into as few pages as possible.

[Steven Grant]

If you pick up a copy of the current ESCAPIST (#6), you can see the "interstitial text panel" in action.

[fumetti]

...when did it become SOP to introduce characters (in an issue if not the entire series) WITHOUT mentioning their names?

I hate it when the writer fails to remind me what the characters' names are. Y'know, I don't study this stuff like it's homework (and faces aren't as consistently drawn as they used to be). Sometimes I forget, especially if I'm new to the series.

I'll put effort into figuring out the story, but don't make me labor over the little stuff like who's who.

[Aaron King]

Hellboy uses interstitial panels. I've always wondered about the whole thought balloon/narration block shift. They serve the exact same purpose. I think it's just an aesthetics thing. As for letters pages, check out the latest issue of Legion of Super-Heroes. It's one of the greatest letters pages I've ever seen.

Great column, by the way.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

If you pick up a copy of the current ESCAPIST (#6), you can see the "interstitial text panel" in action.

I read the article yesterday and was trying to think of the last time I'd seen one, I thought it could be quite an intresting device when used correctly, and then I sat down to read Swamp Thing vol.6 and Rick Veitch had put one in the first Swamp Thing issue he wrote.

The character, one of the New Gods, was telling the story to someone, and his head appeared at the top of the page with a block of narration.

I also found the article intresting because my flat mate and I were discussing old techniques in comics the other day (this came from the first trade of Astonishing X-men, which we felt had bad sequntial storytelling - Cassaday, who does widescreen comics so well, showed the weaknesses of them).
We were discussing how little happened on each page, and how quick the read was - and how confusing some bits were, and maybe some "old school" techniques would've come in handy (especially as the story constantly referenced Claremont and the art Paul Smith).
Then my flatemate mentioned that his girlfriend couldn't read comics (Permenant Damage has had several columns on the skills needed to do it) because she only read the words.
This actually got us discussing were the thought balloons explaing what was going on in a panel such a bad thing?
Painful for comic readers fluent in Sequntial Storytelling, however - could it be somthing needed to get kids back into comics?

Did the disaperance of these techniques have any effect on the sales?
Did their dissaperance stop new readers coming in?

[Steven Grant]

I've always wondered about the whole thought balloon/narration block shift. They serve the exact same purpose.
If done properly, they don't.

Though balloons are intended to convey immediacy, an intimate connection to the goings on.

First person narrative captions are intended to be reflective, creating a tension and cognitive schism by separating the reader a step (or more) from the immediate action.

That many comics writers use them interchangeably only says something about many comics writers...

[blast_front]

And it's even worse when first-person narration captions get used as substitutes for the old narration boxes. There's nothing quite like a character speaking/thinking/sounding like an Encarta entry.

[bartl]

First person narrative captions are intended to be reflective, creating a tension and cognitive schism by separating the reader a step (or more) from the immediate action.
One of the problems with first person narrative is the implication that the hero is going to get through OK, although there is the cliche of the narrative being done post-mortem.

If one looks at one of the many analysis sites of Watchmen, one realizes that the series took major advantage of the fact that it was done in comic form; while there has been much talk of a Watchmen movie, I'm not sure it could be done as a movie, or a novel.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

One I miss is the first page being used as a splash/introduction page.

Marvel used to have it down that the top of the page would be a text piece on the character ie "When mobsters killed his family..." then there'd be a pic of the character to set up the story - usually showing their powers.
That way the first time reader would know what was going on as soon as they started - and the regular reader usually got a good bit of art to look at it.

This also stopped what seems to be a current trend - used often in both widescreen and decompressed styles - of having panels with just pictures and the credits being done like on a movie - ie a credit a panel.
Global Frequency often did this, though it usually had action in the panels.
I've seen a few where two pages were wasted with nothing major happening except for creator credits.


One of the problems with first person narrative is the implication that the hero is going to get through OK, although there is the cliche of the narrative being done post-mortem.


Cliche now yes, but didn't it blow your mind the first time you read it?

[dancj]

One of the problems with first person narrative is the implication that the hero is going to get through OK, although there is the cliche of the narrative being done post-mortem.

Not always. In The Dark Knight Returns it's clear that Batman's captions are his thoughts at the time the action is happening.

I'm thoroughly sick of narrative captions these days thanks to Geoff Loeb. (he showed so much promise in Challengers of the Unknown)

I did once have omniscient narrative captions written off as an out and out bad thing at one stage, but I have since then read a few stories where they worked very effectively. In Dark Knight Returns (again coincidentally) they were used a few times to tell the story of someone in a page, like the woman who has a grenade stuck in her handback. Warren Ellis also used them in a similar way in Stormwatch.

[TheBattyman]

Yes, you can read people's thoughts in movies, sort of. Voiceover narration on "Magnum, P.I." and others, for example. And you often encounter a character's thoughts in reading a book. So it could be seen as an advantage of print, at least if not overused.

It seems like replacing thought balloons with first-person narration is supposed to be noirish, even though they had thought balloons in the noir era.

[fumetti]

...treated each issue as somebody's first issue.

I picked up a bunch of the Jim Lee Superman issues from last year (#205-209). Those issues are full of storytelling techniques (or the lack thereof) that are almost impenetrable to a new reader. Obviously, writing for the TPB is seriously detrimental to selling installments by the month.

The preacher friend, the "vanishing", Lois being gone, and other elements are not explained in any way. No refresher panels or dialogue at all. I'm reading this thing almost blind. Interesting stuff is happening each issue, but I haven't the foggiest idea why or why it's important.

It's approaches like this that keep comic readership limited to the already-initiated or those who have friends who will initiate them. Anybody jumping into modern comics cold is going to have a terrible time making heads or tails of what he/she's reading.