Comic Primary Research

I got some comics to look at both the visual style, layouts and to get a general idea of what i should be producing at the end of this project. I have read a lot of comics as well as manga which is a Japanese form of Comics. Im used to seeing how a comic reads but i am not used to seeing why each is comic was done in the way it is.

The chosen comics i am looking at are: Black Panther, Marvel Zombies 2 and The Invincible Ironman/DoctorStrange.



Now most are used to the panelled way that comics display there art as a story but the layout is an effective way of telling a story so drawing images to selective panels can make more out of an image. After reading through The Invincible ironman I have noticed that wide panel images are mostly used to show environment as you can fit more of the area in a wide panel than a thin one. Tall panels in this comics are generally used to help show character with most of the body fitting in the panel, some do used tall to help show large tall rooms in this book but it kinda feels like its more on detail overall so they want to you to see more stronger imagery. Panel sizes also depend on the amount of text that will be scene as in this comic the texts are the same size so if there isn't enough space i wouldn't think they would change the size of the text as it would then not match.

Page layout from Invincible Ironman:




Now at the end of this comic part there is a sudden change, Images overlap each other and are not in alined panels, also the background page was white but now it is black. I remember a lecture we had during our first year about comics and how manga artists used black backgrounds instead of white to automatically show its a flashback instead of having to draw it or write it. Now taking that into consideration it could be flash back, when comparing that to the images it does appear to be more like memories, the overlapping of images appear to be showing a tight sequence of events that are being remembered. This is important to remember to help improve my work if i go into more graphic novel work or comic book work. Because my current story area doesn't cover a flash back i don't need to use overlapping panels or a black background.

Flashback page:



The Marvel Zombies 2 comic appears to have a lot more square panelled images and not wide or tall. I feel that its because there is a lot of focus on different characters as there is a lot of them. Each small square or panel focuses on a characters face. I also have noticed that there is a lot of Large art that show a action or environment that then get a bunch of panels overing it so you get some of the art and then some of it as a background.

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Typically adverts are used to help to show the change of pace and setting but as we are not looking at or would place advisement in our project its not reliant to focus on. Another interesting piece in this comic is a page of panels that have no text show a sequence of actions by characters all in the same sized panels making each image equal. Its also easier to just look through as you don't have to follow any text. As i don't plan to have much let a lone any text in my chosen part its useful to know that its easier on the eyes to view the art like this.

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