Hey all. It’s Dane this time. My style is significantly different from my dad’s, I think. If I got to
TRULY embrace my personal style there would be very few capital letters here, but gotta
keep up appearances.
I’ve had a solo cup of wine and I’m feeling pretty good, so I think I’m gonna ramble about
why I like the comics medium so much and why it’s grabbed my heart. So, to start, what’s
a medium? Well, my not-very-well-educated definition is just the way in which something
is presented. For the sake of this article, I’m primarily going to be talking about
entertainment mediums.
So then, hypothetical reader who conveniently serves to perfectly guide this article,
what are the notable forms of entertainment medium? I’m glad you asked! So, there are
the very obvious ones, like movies, television, and books. There are less obvious ones,
such as plays, live readings, comics, poetry, and a bunch of other neat stuff. The primary
difference between these mediums is simply HOW the story is presented. For the sake
of simplicity, I’m going to focus on only fictional and nonfictional stories, and not something
like a history textbook, though there’s a real argument that that would belong in this
conversation.
In being an artist, simply the choice of medium is a statement as each medium has its
own merits and flaws. For this section, I’m going to use examples, because I’m trying to
simplify this as much as I can and not write an absurdly long article with way more
background information than necessary. Recently, I’ve been on a Black Mirror kick.
The second episode of the first season, “Fifteen Million Merits,” utilizes the form of film
in a way that is genuinely impossible for a book to properly imitate. Now, it’s not like this
episode does anything particularly groundbreaking in terms of film, but it makes a good
example. While characters are making significant speeches on a public stream, the camera
cuts to several different characters to show their reactions as the speech continues. Writing
this in prose, or even poetry, would be very difficult to follow. However, perhaps as a result
of it being a frequently used technique, it made perfect sense as I first watched it. This
paragraph was kinda pointless, but I committed to using that example in my head about
fifteen minutes ago so there we go.
Solo cup number two, here we come.
Now, on to comics as a medium. One of the many assets I feel that comics have is the
ability to do something like the above example, panning to different characters while action
unfolds, while being a written medium. Additionally, the huge amount that the art adds to
a comic is often greatly overlooked. I myself am an offender in this regard, especially in my
younger days. As I’ve grown older, I’ve had to force myself to make an effort to look and
concentrate on the art before I turn the page. My instinct, which I assume is shared by
many, is to read all the text on the page as quickly as I can then turn it. This is conditioned
from years of reading standard novels I assume, but it regardless is a bad habit. Honestly,
focusing on and appreciating the immense amount of work someone like Mike Mignola
(my very favorite artist) puts into each page makes the experience far better. Also, the
wide range of styles present in comics is simply awesome. The difference between the
aforementioned Mike Mignola, George Pérez, Jack Kirby, and Dustin Nguyen is very
obvious even to an untrained eye. Personally, my taste lies with those who break stylistically
from the norm, but the fact that I even can have that preference shows the breadth of the
medium as a whole.
So, what do I have so far? The visual aspect, mainly. Well, also, the ability to bounce
between perspectives seamlessly is super interesting. It’s simply inimitable in any other
form. Most novels adhere to a single narrator, whether omniscient or first-person, and plays
reject any narrator and have the audience interpret all the information solely through
speech from the characters. In a comic, though it may make for a slightly dense reading
experience, it’s not unfathomable to switch between a third-person, omniscient narrator,
dialogue between a dozen or so characters, and the direct thoughts of five different
characters all within a 32 page issue. It’s incredible, and often overlooked. I feel most
regular comics readers (including me) are so accustomed to the form that they don’t notice
these small differences that make the form so unique.
Finally, I just wanna write about Homestuck, because it’s the most interesting blend of form
I’ve ever experienced. Homestuck could best be defined as a webcomic, and can be read
at https://www.homestuck.com/. I have not finished reading Homestuck, as it is VERY long,
but so far, it’s proven to be dense, funny, and heartfelt. It balances a truly large cast of
characters and makes an effort to develop all of them. The most basic summation of the
form is that the author presents a character in a situation, then forum readers suggest what
the character do next. I believe the comic started as a genuine forum game, though I think
this was abandoned after a short while and the style simply maintained. On a simple level,
this allows for shenanigans, like one of the very first gags: the character the reader is first
introduced to grabbing a pair of fake arms because the art style does not show arms unless
they are necessary. Where I find Homestuck gets really interesting are the spaces where
this style is shifted or abandoned. An enormous amount of the story is delivered through
text chat logs between the characters. Actually, almost all of the dialogue is delivered in
this manner. There are also animated sequences for large story events, accompanied by
some great music. Finally, there are FLASH GAMES, where the reader controls a character
and can interact with other characters as they choose. The conversations are scripted and
can’t be interacted with much, but it feels a lot like a choose your own adventure book. I
really need to read (?) more of Homestuck, and I recommend you do as well, whoever may
be reading this!
Anyway, that’s all I have to ramble about. I’ve got more wine to drink. Thanks if you made it
this far. Peace, Dane.
