The Definition And Mechanics Of Comics And Sequential Art

"Something paradoxical had occurred in the five years he had worked on The Golem: the more of himself, of his heart and his sorrows, that he had poured into the strip - the more convincingly he demonstrated the power of the comic book as a vehicle of personal expression."
- Michael Chabon
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay¹

Judeo-Christian theology asserts that in the beginning, God created Man. Investing his personal divinity into a mere lump of clay. For centuries, Man has tried to emulate God. Crafting stories of automatons, golems, and Frankenstein's monsters, Man has developed a series of fables that serve as a reflection of the human spirit and our collective consciousness.

Just as God has infused us with his own divinity, Man infused God into everything we have touched. Karl Marx coined the term "homo faber" translated from the Latin it means: "We are what we make." Intertwined in a Gordian Knot with Campbellian laces, Man is one psyche sharing a dual existence in both the real world and the comic page.

What exactly defines comics? Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics defines comics as "Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in a deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or produce an aesthetic response in the viewer."² When these static images, are placed in a deliberate sequence they create what McCloud defines as a comic. "The medium we call comics," as he writes in his latest book "is based on a simple idea: The idea of placing one picture of another to show the passage of time."³ Comics abstract events (fictional or non-fictional) into frozen static images. These images are the only remaining tangible object from the event. When placed into motion, by the reader's imagination, these images produce a visual story.

"A picture sequence," as Uri Shulevitz writes, "is like a pantomime; it presents action such as a figure dancing or a face smiling; which can be readily and understood immediately."⁴ In simpler terms and regardless of specific form, comics are images arranged in a sequential pattern designed to impart an expression, meaning, or desire.

Naturally for McCloud's definition to work, a few distinctions must be made. As Will Eisner points out. "Comics' deal with two major communicating devices, words and images. Admittedly, this is an arbitrary separation, but since in the modern world of communication they are treated as independent disciplines, it seems valid."⁵ Moreover, Eisner continues, "Comics communicate in a 'language' that relies on a visual experience common to both creator and audience. Modern readers can be expected to have an easy understanding of the image-word mix and the traditional deciphering of text. Comics can be called 'reading' in a wider sense than that term is commonly applied."⁶ Words, composed of letters and signs, are symbols of language that represent a concrete form. As McCloud points out, "[Their] meaning is fixed and absolute. Their appearance doesn't affect their meaning because they represent invisible ideas."⁷

For example:

A = A = A

In the above figure, the change of lighting, shadow, and form doesn't change the meaning of the symbols. Each 'A' represents the exact same thing, regardless of any cosmetic changes. While one could argue that changing the form of the 'A' changes the meaning of the symbol - in fact, the symbol stays constant, and it is only cultural signifiers that affect the connotation.

Society has become more visually based. Images are everywhere, from billboards, to movies, to television, to video games, and the Internet. As the cliché goes, 'a picture paints a thousand words.' In a society with an intolerably low literacy rate⁸, images can convey ideas and thoughts across a wider demographic that the printed language cannot. For example, a photograph of a cat remains unchanged visually throughout cultures, and even though classified through language as 'a cat', 'el gato' or 'mao' it still remains a cat. Language does not change the image; it only seeks to define it within the context of society for the purposes of indirect communication.

"Languages," as suggested by Jean Aitchison, "are continually changing - their sounds, their syntax, and their meaning. This gradual alteration is mostly unnoticed by the speakers of a language, since the sounds and syntax in particular give a superficial impression of being static."⁹ To paraphrase the bard, 'Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?' Visual images are unchanging and static moments in time, while language is dynamic, always changing and evolving dependant on differing social factors.

All images and words are composed of lines. Lines give direction by moving the eye across the image. The human eye tends to connect two or more spots like a "connect the dots" drawing. The eye shifts back and fourth. If there are three or more "dots" suitably arranged the brain will develop shapes and patterns. They help create shapes when the eye completes a shape formed by a series of lines.

How does a picture communicate it's visual content? How does a line capture and portray an emotion or feeling?¹⁰

All lines have psychological overtones, and while open to interpretation, have demonstrated the ability to alter moods. For example, horizontal lines may suggest calm and tranquility, while vertical lines may hint at great strength of stature. Diagonal lines may indicate activity or motion, and zigzag lines suggest rapid motion, while curved lines imply a sense of grace or slowness. Such associations vary from person to person and are as much dependent on the subject as on any inherent quality in a line.

With pictures and images, minor changes in lighting, shadow and form, "meaning is fluid and variable according to appearance. They differ from 'real life' appearance to varying degrees," as McCloud contends. Thus:¹¹

In the above figure, the emotional impact of the panel is changed by the addition of shadow - and thus the implied meaning and context of the images are not equivalent. In the first panel, one may perceive that the man is begging for money - while in the second panel, one could perceive that the man is praying for Divine Intervention of some kind. With subtle line-work, one can 'read' each panel with a totally different meaning.

Taking a page out of Art History, one will find that 'emotionalism' in art was an important stylistic feature of Baroque art, dating back to the late 1700s. "Emotionalism," as Marilyn Stokstad explains, "refers to the powerful and immediate emotional response that many … works were deliberately meant to evoke in the viewer: astonishment, horror, piety, and intense empathy."¹²

It was this era of art that began to change the role of the viewer from passive participant to active participant. This was accomplished by combining the Renaissance principle of composition with dramatic shadows, and elements of common experience

As Stokstad adds, "The work of art reached out in every direction physically and emotionally to draw the viewers into its orbit … not only was the physical connection between the artwork and the viewer desirable, but so was emotional and intellectual involvement. Horrifying scenes of martyrdom and moments of a mystics' ecstatic religious union with God were turned by artists into opportunities for the beholder's vicarious participation in emotional, often religious, drama."¹³

Emotionalism again became prevalent in the late 1800s with the development of Expressionism. Rejecting the realistic aesthetic of Impressionism, expressionists such as Vincent Van Gogh¹⁴ and Edvard Munch turned to painting the world as they really felt it - not as they truly saw it. By utilizing unconventional colors and line-work composed of waves and spirals, the expressionists took a subjective approach to portraying inner turmoil and anxiety that they could not repress, as seen in Munch's "The Scream":

In a journal entry dated January 22, 1892, Munch wrote of this painting that:
"I felt a breath of melancholy. Suddenly the sky turned blood-red. I stopped, and leaned against the railing, deathly tired - looking out across the flaming clouds that hung like blood and a sword over the blue-black fjord and town. My friends walked on - I stood there, trembling with fear. And I sensed a great, infinite scream pass through nature."¹⁵

As Stokstad contends, "The overwhelming anxiety that sought release in this primal scream was chiefly a dread of death, as the sky and the skull-like head of the figure suggest."¹⁶ The energetic lines and complimentary colors draw the viewer into the work by providing a psychic mirror in which, one sees our own human condition. Furthermore, the image suggests a mere snapshot in time - the middle of a story, with no beginning or end. The image of the primal scream forces the viewer to become more than just a spectator, but rather a participant, filling in the saga with the tools of their own imagination. Who is screaming? Why are they screaming? How does it all end?

NEXT WEEK: PART TWO: THE THEORY OF ILLUMINATION

¹ The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Michael Chabon. New York. Random House. Page 578.

² The definition encompasses: comic strips, comic books, picture books, storyboards, and pre-project film, as well as certain art forms. McCloud's definition is excerpted from Understanding Comics. New York: Kitchen Sink Press. 1993. Page 9.

³ Excerpted from Reinventing Comics. Scott McCloud. DC Comics. 2000. Page 1. My copy exists as a set of unbound proofs given to me by DC Comics, therefore, it may differ from the final publication.

⁴ Excerpted from: Writing With Pictures. Uri Shulevitz. Watson-Guptill. 1985. Page 19.

⁵ Excerpted from: Comics and Sequential Art. Will Eisner. New York. Poorhouse Press. 1985. Page 13.

⁶ Excerpted from: Comics and Sequential Art. Will Eisner. New York. Poorhouse Press. 1985. Page 57.

⁷ Excerpted from: Understanding Comics. New York: Kitchen Sink Press. 1993. Page 28.

⁸ Source: http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/illitera_WorldIlliteracyRates.asp

⁹ Excerpted from: Linguistics. Jean. Aitchison. NTC Publishing Group. 1992. Page 93.

¹⁰ "IS THIS ANGER?" Excerpted from: Understanding Comics. New York: Kitchen Sink Press. 1993. Page 118.

¹¹ Excerpted from: Comics and Sequential Art. Will Eisner. New York. Poorhouse Press. 1985. Page 15.

¹² Excerpted from: Art History: Volume Two. Marilyn Stokstad. University of Kansas: Prentice Hall. 1995. Page 753.

¹³ Excerpted from: Art History: Volume Two. Marilyn Stokstad. University of Kansas: Prentice Hall. 1995. Page 753.

¹⁴ To some extent, Van Gough is considered to be the forefather of Expressionism, and not a traditional Expressionist per se. Produced during a period of only 10 years, his work hauntingly forms the anguish of a mental illness that eventually resulted in suicide.

¹⁵ Personal Journal. Edvard Munch. January 22, 1892.

¹⁶ Excerpted from: Art History: Volume Two. Marilyn Stokstad. University of Kansas: Prentice Hall. 1995. Page 1038.