Comics are defined by McCloud as juxtaposed pictorial images arranged in deliberate sequence; though words are not required by his definition, they are an essential part of the media. While a comic book cover lacks juxtaposition, it often contains words and images working together to intrigue, entice, and sell. Comics have a lot of competition - a good cover can mean the difference between having your book picked up and read, and having it sit on the shelf ignored while the children go read something more appealing, like Superman or Spider-man.
In Brian Fies' guest lecture in Design 1 last week, he spoke to this very issue, describing comics as being words and images combined together in a way that transcends both. Each works together, and the message is incomplete without either element. Further, contrast becomes possible, as we can be shown one image and have it described very differently; the image of men robbing a jewelry store, while the narrator describes his foray into "high finance," for example.
The image above was chosen for one reason; by every decent definition available, it does a terrible job of balancing this out. The words repeat the message of the picture, muddling the whole of the issue - rather than reinforcing anything, it merely leaves us with the notion that the characters shown are somewhat dense. Why don't they just move aside, rather than stand there and describe the tower in vivid detail as it falls toward them? The plain purple jumpsuits do little to defeat this idea; even ordinary clothing would be more visually engaging, but as this is a space comic, ordinary clothes are out of the question. Apparently jumpsuits are space-age? The word bubble is the most laughable part of the piece, though to be fair, it was the silver age. Characters were known for being able to make absurdly long speeches in ridiculously little time.
Images can be worth a thousand words; a few words added in can make them more powerful. In the next part of this series I'll be taking a look at an image that does this right. Stay tuned.
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