How Comics Differ from Other Mediums

Since the advent of the modern comic book form in the early twentieth century, the medium has been largely misunderstood and misinterpreted. Critics have attempted to hold comics to the same standards as they might film, fine art, or prose. However, this assumption cannot be made, as it can be easily shown that comics are a unique medium that must stand apart from those aspects that distinguish film, fine art, and prose.

What makes a Comic?

First, it must be clarified that the words "comic" and "comics" shall hereafter refer to comic books and graphic novels. According to Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, a "comic" is "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or produce an aesthetic response in the viewer." While this is generally accepted as a well-respected definition of the medium, it is not the most concise. Merriam-Webster's definition covers only newspaper "funny" strips. So rather, I will offer my own definition:

Comic- (kom-ik); noun; a pop culture medium in which the story is told through sequential art and words, although the narrative should rely primarily on the art; not to be confused with illustrations or newspaper "funnies"

This definition should distinguish comics from three other forms which could otherwise be misconstrued as comics: dime novels, picture books, and newspaper comic strips. In the first two forms, although art is combined with prose, the narration relies on the prose, not the art, which generally serves only to enhance the story. The manuscript of a Dr. Seuss book will work and make sense without the illustrations. I will discuss this further in Comics versus Prose. In the third form, art and prose work equally. Without the art, the dialogue generally does not make sense, but without the dialogue, neither does the art. For example, in a Garfield strip, if one looked only at the prose, one has no context for the dialogue, and if one looked only at the art, one is left with three or four drawings of a cat and a man.

Comics versus Film

Of the three comparisons, that between comics and film has become the most relevant in recent years with the proliferation of so-called "comic book movies." Films such as Fantastic Four, Sin City, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Ghost World, and the Batman, Superman and X-Men franchises have led to a resurgence of both an interest in the medium and scholars who seek to mold it to film-like storytelling. Films and comics are similar in many ways, of course. Both mediums employ visually-driven storytelling and the dominance of dialogue over traditional narration. Both mediums also construct a suspension of reality. The similarities generally end there. In terms of timing, character development and financial/logistical aspects, the two mediums dramatically part ways.

In a film, the timing of the action is controlled entirely by the director, who can choose how long the viewer is allowed to linger on a scene, how long a conversation should be, how long the camera stays on a shot. A brilliant example of this is the 2000 Hungarian film, Werckmeister Harmonies. This film was comprised of only 37 shots in the entire 145 minute film. The director dictated the amount of time the audience lingers, in this case, presenting the story at a brutally slow, melancholic pace. In comics, such a construction would never work. No matter how slowly the writer may intend to pace the work, or how quickly the artist sets up a sequence, ultimately the reader determines the pace at which they progress through the story.

Character development is a challenge for filmmakers, as even the most talented actor can convey only so much of a character's inner thoughts. Comic book writers have the advantages of internal dialogue and soliloquy, conventions which have never caught on in film, as they are time-consuming and often too abstract for mainstream audiences. For a director, time is a precious commodity. The comic book writer can spread his story out over months, even years. Superman is a great example of this difference. The director, Richard Donner, had only two hours to develop a character that DC had had the luxury of spending the past 50 years developing.

Financial and logistical aspects are often the filmmaker's enemy. The amount of money a studio is willing to spend can dictate everything from which actors can be hired to the elaborateness of a set. Special effects have come a long way, but still require large amounts of expensive digital editing and green screen filming. The film adaptation of Frank Miller's 300 had a budget of $60 million, whereas the graphic novel would have cost considerably less to produce and could achieve far greater visual effects than the film. Frank Miller would have been limited only by his imagination and rendering abilities, while the filmmakers will be limited largely by the physical abilities of their actors and extras. A human in real life can only bend so far. A comic book human can be twisted and contorted into extravagant, Mannerist poses without the aid of digital touch-ups.

Comics versus Fine Art

Critics of the medium often cite the "artistic inferiority" of comic books in their arguments. While it must be admitted that early comic books were often drawn (and written) by men and women with little to no professional experience or training, and were usually primitive and anatomically incorrect, the comics of today are a far cry from those crude drawings. However, distinctions between comic book art and "fine art" can be made.

Generally, "fine art" is defined as art for art's sake, meaning that the artwork itself is the final product. Therein is the major difference between "fine art" and comic book art. The art in a comic is a means to an end (the conveyance of the story), and while it can stand alone, it is not generally considered a final product. The initial pencils must be sent through a series of processes before it can be presented to its audience, including inking, coloring, lettering, and printing.

Which brings us to our second key difference: "fine art" is, as a rule, created by (or at least credited) to one individual, whereas comics are created by and credited to a team of artisans. For example, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is credited only to Michelangelo, even though its execution required the participation of half a dozen artists, whereas the credits page of Age of Apocalypse, the major comic event of the nineteen-nineties, includes credits for the writer, artist, inker, colorist, letterer, book design, reprint editor, assistant editor, and editor in chief.

Finally, social consensus separates "fine art" and comic book art. Society and academia have a favorable view of "fine art" in general. While some pieces may cause controversy, as a whole the fine arts are given a certain amount of respect and academic clout. Comics, on the other hand, have been given a less flattering image in our society. While certain characters have broken into other mediums and gained cultural prominence, comics are generally portrayed as the hobby of either children or, more often, thirty-something men living in their mothers' basements. This cultural perception is usually traced back to Frederic Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, the senate hearing of the early 1950s, and the adoption Comic Code, which served to push the industry out of the popular cultural sphere.

Comics versus Prose

Comics are confused with prose more often than with any other medium. Some websites, such as the internet retail giant Amazon.com, even classify 'graphic novel' or 'comic book' as a genre, rather than its own medium. Graphic novels and comics are, however, as varied as prose books, covering non-fiction (Understanding Comics, The 9-11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation), memoirs and biographies (Pedro and Me, Maus, Pyong Yang) action (Superman, Avengers, Teenagers From Mars), science fiction (Black Hole, Darkminds, Iron West), horror (30 Days of Night, The Last Temptation, Spawn), slice-of-life (Grey Horses, Ghost World, Paul Has a Summer Job),mystery (Batman), political/social commentary (War Fix, Watchmen, Contract With God), romance (Strangers in Paradise), fantasy (Sandman, Bone), and comedy (Great Lakes Avengers, Prison Funnies).It is important to remember that comics differ from prose in several basic ways, though, especially storytelling, character and scene development, and engagement of the reader.

First and most obvious is the differences in the conveyance of the story. Prose relies, of course, on words. Any pictures that may accompany the words serve only to add flavor and as a rule do not contribute to the storytelling. This is where dime novels and children's picture books part ways from comics, for although they combine pictures with words, the prose may exist and make sense independently of the illustrations. In a comic, the words cannot stand alone. Prose also relies on traditional narration and description to convey ideas, whereas comics employ dialogue, soliloquy, and very little narration. In the early days of comics, it was common for the writer to employ an omnipotent narrator, but this convention fell out of prominence sometime in the mid nineteen-eighties.

The comic writer has a distinct advantage over the prose writer when taking on the challenge of character and scene development. The adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" comes to mind, as the comic writer can do in a single establishing panel what authors have spent pages trying to describe. The visual storytelling relieves the comic book writer of the duty of describing scenes, characters, and events. To illustrate this, one may compare the novel and the graphic novelization of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Stoker presents the reader with lengthy descriptions of the castle and the characters, which leads some to find the text rather difficult to read. The graphic novelization establishes the same within a few panels.

The final key difference is, of course, reader engagement. Comics can both fall short of and exceed prose in this category. Comics engage the reader visually and give them control over the pace of the story. Prose engages the reader intellectually, putting their imagination to work, even as it takes the control of pacing out of the reader's hands. This distinction is one that has contributed to comics' poor reputation. However, visual storytelling can still be comics' advantage. The 9-11 Commission Report was an immense volume covering the events leading up to, during, and following the attacks on September the 11^th, 2001. It is full of names, dates, times, and figures, and makes for an extremely dry read. The graphic adaptation, by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon, is about one fourth of the size of the original, and presents the same information in a clear, easy to interpret format.

In examining these differences, one can achieve a better understanding of the comics medium and how it compares and relates to the other major popular mediums, and a greater appreciation for how it must be analyzed and qualified.

Bibliography

Understanding Comics; Scott McCloud; c.1993

Wizard Magazine #131; c. August 2003

Dracula; Bram Stoker; c.1897

Bram Stoker's Dracula; Gary Reed and Becky Cloonan; c. 2006

9-11 Commission Report; National Commission on Terrorist Attacks; c. 2004

The 9-11Report: A Graphic Adaptation; Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon