Comics are a unique medium. Nothing else features words and images combined in quite the same way as in comics, each reinforcing the other. Little else comes close to the power of the comic's iconography. In the space between word and image, magic happens.
Part of that comes down to the old rule among writers, 'show, don't tell' - except in comics, this is much more vivid. Showing is, after all, what the pictures are for.
I chose this set of panels from All Star Superman, drawn by Frank Quitely and scripted by Grant Morrison, because they capture a lot of things perfectly. They show the essence of Superman; and they show the essence of good design.
In this case, by showing us what the words cannot tell us, and using the minimum number of words to move the scene forward. Four sentences, five panels.
The result is far more than the sum of its parts.
This kind of scene is tremendously hard to capture in word or image alone, but here we see the human side of a character who spends so much time flying above his city, looking down from above like a modern day god - but still has the time to step in and change the course of a life. A man who knows the right words to say, and thanks to Grant Morrison, when to be silent.
No comments:
Post a Comment