Brief History of Comic Strip

Hark a Vagrant

I’ve read these comics before and I always like the style of it. It is very loose and free handed in ink the faces and bodies are simple but the characters that appear are distinct from each other. One thing in this comic I find interesting is that there are no main characters; most strips (that I’m familiar with at least) strive for original characters or are circled around the characters. Hark a Vagrant depends on well-known references for its humor. For example, in one comic Kate Beaton shows a monk creating an Illuminated Manuscript. In the same strip another monk is writing a fanfiction. It’s hilarious; it’s farcical humor that pairs familiar situations with something unlikely. Many comedic shorts depend on this type of humor. When there is no main character it depends on the situation.

Calvin & Hobbes

Calvin & Hobbes follows the format of many comics you’d see on the “funny pages.” Main characters, simple style, short panel format. A cute childish comic, Calvin and Hobbes really focuses on Calvin’s imagination. This comic reminded me of the earlier reading of Understanding Comics when McCloud explained how the audience will see themselves as a character. Calvin is relatable to anybody who was ever a kid. The simple face also makes it easier for us to relate to. One thing I do admire about this comic is how the ongoing plots are treated. In May 1986 Calvin loses Hobbes and doesn’t find him by the end of the strip. It takes 6 strips to find him, roughly a week. With just 4 panels a day Watterson created a little ongoing plot. What I love is that each strip stood alone really well and each individual strip had humor.

Flash Gordon

I was never a fan of this type of comic. I like action comic books but a daily action comic that travels at the speed of 3 panels a day didn’t seem enjoyable. The comic usually ends with a cliff-hanger. Reading Flash Gordon as a collected work was entertaining but I imagine reading it in the paper would take some dedication. It is something different among the daily comics and I can appreciate that. I also have a lot of difficulty relating to this comic. This comic is very focused on the male gaze. While we see male characters that get to be heroes, villains, young, old, or even aliens the extremely few female characters are all eye candy. I don’t think I saw a single female character that wasn’t interested in Flash romantically. The comic is not realistic. It is fantasy. I guess it’s just not my fantasy.

Understanding Comics

Right off the bat I found it interesting when McCloud showed it was hard to explain comics in a basic way. He gives up at “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence.” Comics are hard to explain it’s a medium for story telling that is unlike any other, combining visuals with internal dialogue.

When McCloud was describing the appeal of cartoon, specifically cartoon faces. I really appreciated the way he described the faces as not merely simplified but focused. By simplifying the surface we are amplifying the meaning. I don’t think I’ve ever though of simplifying as amplifying before. We see faces in many faceless things because we are a “self centered” species, such as a car’s headlights. It’s really not that hard to show emotion when people interpret two dots and a line as a face. Some of the most basic shapes create the most memorable characters. It will most certainly affect how I create my own characters in animation.

I also enjoyed the explanation of the gutter. I notice that comics used a gutter to separate the panels instead of a line but I never wondered in depth why they were there. The gutter does more than separate panels for clarity is gives the comic a rhythm. What isn’t drawn still gives us our experience.

The apple, or the six steps of a sequence, really struck me.  Noticed that this goes beyond comics into visual storytelling in general. There are many gorgeous animated films or shows such as Mystery Incorporated or Tron: Uprising that are just hollow apples. The visuals are gorgeous and maybe the plot is strong but the treatment or script is too weak. Without the strong core you just try to avoid the story completely even if it is gorgeous. Visuals are still important, sometimes there might be a strong piece with weak visuals and people will just refuse to watch it. There are countless examples of visual storytelling where the image and story just don’t match up. Both the writing and the visuals are needed to tell the story together.