a discussion topic

March 2, 2006

1. A comic-book reader should be able to follow:
   a. the entire story, frame by frame, without words
   b. the gist of the story, frame by frame, without words
   c. very little of the story, frame by frame, without words

2. The first pages of a first-issue comic book should:
   a. start with a bang of action and get to the backstory later
   b. start with the backstory and work up to the bang
   c. work the bang into the backstory as much as possible

3. “The first pages” means:
   a. 1 page
   b. 3 pages
   c. 5 pages

Discuss, please. This is a topic of some interest to me at the moment. :)

7 thoughts on “a discussion topic”

  1. Assuming you’re talking about a Superhero-y comic (for good reason) and not something like Sandman, I’d say:

    1. b. The gist of the story from the art. Although it can work really well to have dissonance between the words and pictures, unless you’re going for that, the art should usually have a lot of storytelling. But unless your story is very simple, the text is going to be essential too.

    2. A. Start with the bang. You’re going to get a fair number of browsers reading the first few pages, and you have to immediately show them something interesting. Backstory is nice, but it usually isn’t as grabbing as a nice little action scene.

    3. b, 3 pages. I think this is how much you can rely on curious people to glance at. It doesn’t need to end there, but there needs to be something bold, and something unexpected, in those first three pages, to convince you that you want to know more.

  2. 1) B: Images should have a ~lot~ of impact since there are usually few words and a lot of picture per page–and since a picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words. But a few words here and there, especially dialogue, are good too.

    2) C: I rarely read comic books, but I don’t mind starting with a back story, as long as it’s an interesting premise. I would like ~some~ bang withing the first three pages.

    3) B: For the reasons Kirby said.

  4. 1.b.
    2. It depends. Mostly, I like a. If it’s well written, I like b. (Which usually ends the story with a cliffhanger, so I want to get the next issue.)
    3. c.

  5. B
    A
    B

    Need to be able to follow the story, even if you’re illitterate and speak another language but you don’t have to get all the little details that dialog provides.

    Always start with a bang if you can

    and

    First page and the following spread had better be freaking cool. After that, the panels can get smaller and we start stepping into the “meat of the story”.

  6. Don’t read comic books now, but use to when my sons were small. So I agree with Kirby.

  7. I haven’t read ’em since junior high (X-Men all the way!), so I can’t really say. I did ask the hubby, however, what with his Batman obsession ‘n all.

    He said he likes a combo of word-image impact.
    He thinks they should start out like a movie – bang bang bang! – which counts as the first 5 pages (with the caveat that he likes long comics).

    He also made some /hysterical/ comment about ‘girls’ and comics, from which I will spare you.

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