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English I: Reading Graphic Novels

Graphic Novels in St. X Libraray

Examples of Graphic Novels

What is a Graphic Novel?

The term 'graphic novel' (like the genre science fiction) is open to interpretation. The Oxford English Dictionary Online defines a graphic novel as a "full-length (esp.science fiction or fantasy) story published as a book in comic-strip format." Although Will Eisner is credited with the first use of this term for his A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories (1978) the origin of this artform may be considered as old as cave paintings which were used to tell stories in ancient times. But it was in the 20th century, particularly in the 1940's and 1950's, that authors and illustrators realized the potential of using pictures and words together to tell a story. After the appearance of A Contract with God, the term began to grow in popularity. However, some authors such as Alan Moore, author of Watchmen, have publicly objected to the term, suggesting that it is simply a marketing term dreamed up by publishers to sell comic books for a higher price. 

Based on/Adapted from Graphic Novels @ The Pitt Libraries http://pitt.libguides.com/graphicnovels

 

Graphic Novels/Comics Terms and Concepts (from ReadWriteThink)

How to Read a Graphic Novel

Graphic novel

This lesson introduces you to the terminology of comic books, also known as 'graphic novels'. Comic book artists have tools at their disposal, just as painters use different kinds of brushes and materials. What kind of 'tools' are we talking about?

First of all there are the structural features. These include the devices that you see in the image below. These are the kinds of 'nuts and bolts' of graphic novels.

Furthermore, this lesson introduces you to terminology that describes the 'mechanics' of graphic novels, such as 'transition' and 'closure', which refer to how meaning is constructed in the mind of the reader.

Finally this lesson includes an activity to test your application of this knowledge. You may want to print out  the hand out that accompanies this lesson and use it to discuss a graphic novel that you are working on in class.

The 'nuts and bolts' of graphic novels

Panel - Panel refers to the framed image. It offers the reader a perspective or point of view on the subjects also known as the camera angle. Sometimes panels do not have borders, creating a unique effect where the subject seems to stand outside the storyline.

Splash - Splash is a kind of panel that spans the width of the page. If it runs off the page entirely, it is known as a ‘bleed’.

Voice over - Narrators have the possibility to speak directly to the reader through a voice over. Usually this is done with a hard line separating the narrator’s speech at the top or bottom of a panel from the image within the panel.

Speech bubble - These are frames around the characters’ language, a kind of ‘direct speech’, where the characters speak for themselves. If these appear as clouds, they represent the character’s thoughts. If they appear in jagged lines, the character is shouting.

Emanata - This term refers to the teardrops, sweat drops, question marks, or motion lines that artists draw besides characters’ faces to portray emotion.

Gutter - This refers to the space between panels. Readers tend to ‘fill in the blanks’ and imagine what happens between panels, a process known as ‘closure’.

The 'mechanics' of graphic novels

Style - The artist’s drawing style can be discussed using several terms. Scott McCloud, inUnderstanding Comics, shows that there are four ‘scales’ of style: complex to simple, realistic to iconic, objective to subjective, specific to universal (see image).

Narration - Keep in mind that comic books allow the writer to show and tell at the same time, meaning there can be a combination of direct narration and indirect narration.

Color - The colors that an author uses will affect the reader’s experience as well.

Graphic weight– This term is used to discuss the amount of contrast in an image. Are blacks offset with whites? Are there many shades of grey in between? With regards to colour images, one can look for the degree to which colours are vivid or opaque.

Time - Graphic novels and comic books do not have to tell a story in a linear way. Besides the use of transitions between panels artists can explore multiple moments in one panel, like a collage (see image below).

Foreground - Where is the subject or the point of focus for the reader. If the subject seems closer to the reader, in the front of the scene depicted, it stands in the ‘foreground’.

Midground - If the subject stands in the middle of the scene that is depicted, thern there it is in the midground. Placing a subject off-centre can also be used to create visual tension.

Background - The objects in the background (not usually the subject) help add contextual information for the reader.

Camera angle - If the panel were a photograph, where would the camera stand in relation to its subject? How far away from the subject is the camera? Is it a long shot, medium shot or close up? At what angle is the camera pitched? Is it a bird’s eye view, a high angle, eye-level, or low angle? All of this will have an effect on the reader’s understanding of the subject.

Transitions - There are six types of transitions that artists use in comic books, all of which have a different effect on the reader. Transitions refer to the process of closure (where the reader mentally ‘fills in the gaps’) in the gutter, between panels. These sample images are taken from Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud.

1. Moment to moment 2. Action to action
3. Subject to subject 4. Scene to scene
5. Aspect to aspect 6. Non-sequitur

http://www.thinkib.net/englishalanglit/page/13891/graphic-novel