Thanks for confirming Harpy is running late. I reamed out my comic book store for not getting it even through I had gone through all the steps they had for requesting it.
Ohhh no! I'm so sorry! Yeah there were issues with printing and distribution. Technical stuff that pushed the book back a few weeks! But it is on its way and should appear in the next week or so! Thanks so much for pre-ordering one, by the way!!! That's a huge help to get these books out there!
Narration... Not every comic needs it. I am reminded of some of the pages of Zapp underground comics from the 60's. Some of Victor Moscosso's work in those issues were amazing, with zero narration. Also very abstract.
I need to go check that out! I wasn't so difficult the last time I opened a Zap comix! I find very few comics need narration indeed. Let me know if you can think of an example of a comic that is better because of it though.
Narration can be hit or miss, i think that it needs to used sparsely, like setup a scene "person drove up the drive way with a pizza" and then have the character play out the scene. Sounds like everything is wrapped up nicely.
So you're saying that scene is made better from having it in text rather than just an image of it? I need to find examples of scenes that are really made better from having narration. This pizza scene, I think would be great as a simple image, with no text. I know you're trying to say that it can sometimes work, with narration but is it made better? I can't think of any examples. I'm so difficult !!
I would agree that if there is a narrative box it should be at the beginning and be minimal. I don't think that it would need to describe the action but rather to establish less tangible elements that would be hard to show in pictures and dialog. Like it may be easier to cover the political situation in a made-up sci-fi world with a short statement in a single box rather than burden the opening panels with a stilted conversation between two characters where they needless explain terms that they would already have internalized.
I recall a noir comic I read a few years ago (can't remember which at the moment) where it was all narrative boxes and very little dialog. But that was a choice to make the book feel more like a novella rather than a comic.
I also remember that I found the narrative boxes helpful in the comic "Elf Quest" to get a better idea what was going on in internally in the Characters' romantic relationships. But I was also 10 at the time and didn't have a lot of understanding of romance. :-)
I guess ultimately it's about efficiency, if you have enough space to organically give the reader information through visuals and dialog that's better than putting it in a prosy box but I don't mind it if it saves me from having to get through tedious dialog or ruin a moment by having characters announce their feelings in an unnatural way.
Okay, okay, Those are all great points. First, that Noir comic example sounds like the exception, when narration, only narration, could be a great choice. So this is a great example.
And the efficiency example, I still think most situations can be taken care of without narration but I can understand what you're saying. I have just been falling, overwhelmingly on narration that brings nothing but endless needless background or details to the story for the last few years.
And I find that all the gaps that narration could bridge in a story are often better left empty.
It depends on the solution, if your characters are able to tell/show everything, all the time then no, narration is not needed and it then would feel like a movie. But since your are working with drawn medium, it is not always possible to make or show expressions, body language or other things. As some examples give a look at Frank millers "Sin City" novel or Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido "Black sad". Here is a thought question: "What type of event would need narration it your character can not speak (etc. ) raining, howling winds, in space with no radio ?" (do not need answer for it )
Thanks for this. All great points. I guess I've been falling on narration that served no purpose other than fill us with needless details and background on a story. I find most of the narration I fall on adds nothing to the story that couldn't be done by story itself. And I've run across this kind of narration so often in comics that I can't imagine any that would benefit the story. But I'll go digging and do my homework. So many great stories out there!!
Thanks for confirming Harpy is running late. I reamed out my comic book store for not getting it even through I had gone through all the steps they had for requesting it.
Ohhh no! I'm so sorry! Yeah there were issues with printing and distribution. Technical stuff that pushed the book back a few weeks! But it is on its way and should appear in the next week or so! Thanks so much for pre-ordering one, by the way!!! That's a huge help to get these books out there!
Narration... Not every comic needs it. I am reminded of some of the pages of Zapp underground comics from the 60's. Some of Victor Moscosso's work in those issues were amazing, with zero narration. Also very abstract.
Enjoy
I need to go check that out! I wasn't so difficult the last time I opened a Zap comix! I find very few comics need narration indeed. Let me know if you can think of an example of a comic that is better because of it though.
Narration can be hit or miss, i think that it needs to used sparsely, like setup a scene "person drove up the drive way with a pizza" and then have the character play out the scene. Sounds like everything is wrapped up nicely.
So you're saying that scene is made better from having it in text rather than just an image of it? I need to find examples of scenes that are really made better from having narration. This pizza scene, I think would be great as a simple image, with no text. I know you're trying to say that it can sometimes work, with narration but is it made better? I can't think of any examples. I'm so difficult !!
I would agree that if there is a narrative box it should be at the beginning and be minimal. I don't think that it would need to describe the action but rather to establish less tangible elements that would be hard to show in pictures and dialog. Like it may be easier to cover the political situation in a made-up sci-fi world with a short statement in a single box rather than burden the opening panels with a stilted conversation between two characters where they needless explain terms that they would already have internalized.
I recall a noir comic I read a few years ago (can't remember which at the moment) where it was all narrative boxes and very little dialog. But that was a choice to make the book feel more like a novella rather than a comic.
I also remember that I found the narrative boxes helpful in the comic "Elf Quest" to get a better idea what was going on in internally in the Characters' romantic relationships. But I was also 10 at the time and didn't have a lot of understanding of romance. :-)
I guess ultimately it's about efficiency, if you have enough space to organically give the reader information through visuals and dialog that's better than putting it in a prosy box but I don't mind it if it saves me from having to get through tedious dialog or ruin a moment by having characters announce their feelings in an unnatural way.
Okay, okay, Those are all great points. First, that Noir comic example sounds like the exception, when narration, only narration, could be a great choice. So this is a great example.
And the efficiency example, I still think most situations can be taken care of without narration but I can understand what you're saying. I have just been falling, overwhelmingly on narration that brings nothing but endless needless background or details to the story for the last few years.
And I find that all the gaps that narration could bridge in a story are often better left empty.
It depends on the solution, if your characters are able to tell/show everything, all the time then no, narration is not needed and it then would feel like a movie. But since your are working with drawn medium, it is not always possible to make or show expressions, body language or other things. As some examples give a look at Frank millers "Sin City" novel or Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido "Black sad". Here is a thought question: "What type of event would need narration it your character can not speak (etc. ) raining, howling winds, in space with no radio ?" (do not need answer for it )
Thanks for this. All great points. I guess I've been falling on narration that served no purpose other than fill us with needless details and background on a story. I find most of the narration I fall on adds nothing to the story that couldn't be done by story itself. And I've run across this kind of narration so often in comics that I can't imagine any that would benefit the story. But I'll go digging and do my homework. So many great stories out there!!