Deconstructing Comics

Academic Practise                                                                                                   19/01/2011

Lecture by: Roger Sabian                                                                                   

Context : Comics

Topic : Deconstructing Comics

What makes comics so special? Here are a few bullet-points I collected from this talk

-Public perception of comics can be either negative: “Geeky”, “for kids” or positive “brilliant pieces of art” “great media for education “etc…

-Public perception of comics depends on the cultural background of each country: In the UK and the USA, it isn’t perceived very well whereas in Europe and Japan, it’s a very well respected media.

-Comics are extremely diverse in their format, content, number of pages or narrative structure.

-American Comics such as Superman, Wonder woman are based on mythology and combat between Good and Evil

-Comics are meant to be collected, that is to say there is continuity within them.

-Comics respond to each other, a character can appear in other series such as Batman in Superman comics, this is called intertextuality.

-Oligopolistic companies publish comics, they make toys, films, around them. Indeed, Economics highly influences the making of comics.

-Comics are made collaboratively; there are often several cartoonists, colourists and copywriters.

-Comics have different subcategories such as Graphic novels, and e-comics, and have different names in other countries Bande-dessinnée, in Europe or Manga in Japan.

-E-comics offer new possibilities via I-pads, and computers, they are “infinite canvas”.

-Past and Future are combined, and coexist in Comics; that makes Comics a post-modern media.

-Camera movements, and angles were invented by cartoonists, and then used largely in the film industry; cinema and comics feed a lot from each other.

-Comics are built in panels and sequences and the space between to panels is called the gutter, and everything takes place in that gutter.

Conclusion

“Comics panels fractures both Time and Space offering a jagged staccato rhythm of unconnected moments. But closure allows us to connect these moments and mentally construct a continuous, unified reality” This quotation Roger gave us show that Comics are a special media, because it allows us to construct the story ourselves and be part of the narration, our at least, they make you believe so…

So in fact, let us ask ourselves this question who is telling the story?

Chloe Belloin

Info: c.abin@csm.arts.ac.uk