Michael Howell

Comic Book Lecture -- Spring 2003

Monsters 102-08

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/9925/glossary.html

http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/comics/t17-6000-e.html

Some terminology:

Foreshortening

To shorten the lines of an object in a drawing or other representation so as to produce an illusion of projection or extension in space.

Angle

Camera angle. In panel description, you might write "Angle on Jim", which just means that Jim is in the panel. There are lots of different (and more specific) camera angles. The ones covered in this glossary include High Angle, Low Angle, Two-shot, Establishing Shot, Long Shot, Medium Shot, Close-up, Extreme Close-up, Bird's Eye View, Worm's Eye View, Point of View, Over-the-Shoulder Shot, and Reverse Angle.

Balloons

In a comic, the bubbles filled with dialogue. These can be either thought balloons or dialogue balloons, and are differentiated by their relative shapes. Balloon shapes also affect the apparent loudness or tone-of-voice of the dialogue contained therein. Balloons generally have pointers to indicate which character they belong to (as opposed to captions, which do not have pointers).

Caption

In a comic, a box with text printed in it. Usually, these contain narration, or occasionally dialogue in quotation marks. Equivalent to Voice Overs in film.

Continuity

Keeping things the same, or avoiding contradictions. To fans, this generally means that the events of a story don't contradict previous events. To artists, continuity refers to keeping the characters looking the same from panel to panel.

Foreground

In a panel, the objects close to the viewer. Generally, people or things in the foreground are the main focus of the panel.

Background

In a panel, the part of the artwork "behind" the characters. Or, more generally, the part of the frame which is not the center of attention.

Layouts

The organization or the panels on a comics page. More specifically, rough sketches which outline the visual structure of a page. Similar to thumbnails.

Panel

On a comics page, the individual framed illustrations. In some comics, the divisions between the panels is not always clear; panels can be borderless, they can run together, they can be meta-panels comprised of smaller inner-panels . . . there are countless ways in which the layouts can avoid clear-cut panel divisions. Most comics, however, are not drawn with these kids of layouts -- most have clearly-defined, framed panels.

Sound Effects

In a comic, a sound which is written out, usually in a lettering style representative of the sound. (Large for loud sounds, small for quiet sounds, shattered letters for the sound of breaking glass, etc.)

Here I will put the main type of balloons!

http://www.blambot.com/balloons/index.html

The Dark Knight Returns

Pg. 15- Here in the scene with two-face, the panels contain one picture cut into two different halves, hinting toward a relapse of monstrosity.

Pg. 34- Notice the example of Foreshortening.  Batman’s lower body is drawn bigger to give the illusion that he is falling toward the reader.  The scroll downward of personal narrative helps add to this illusion.

Pg. 44- There is a scene about civil rights.  Notice how Batman shows a good example of his vigilantism by this scene. 

Pg. 46- Here is another example of foreshortening.  Batman is small compared to the cityscape to give the illusion of depth.

Pg. 55- Here, the panels slowly shift from normal Harvey Dent, to a monstrous Two-Face, also the same with Batman shifting to his “monster”

Pg. 70- This is a dramatic use of color to create a feeling.

Pg. 75- This is a glorified representation of Violence.

Pg. 94-95- This is a complete role reversal of color.  The good guy is colored with the blacks, whites, and grays usually reserved for villains, and the villains are colored vibrantly.

Pg. 132- In the upper left, we see the start of a blur between good and evil.

Pg. 142- Once again, we see a single image foreshortened and given “scrolling” dialogue to convey a whole scene. 

Numerous quotes from the end fight against Superman.  I plan to use a scene from page 39-40 to convey the idea that Batman being a monster is an opinion, as is the case with all other previous examples of monstrosity.