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Explaining Decompression in Comics

heysawbones:

bigbigtruck:

rosalarian:

Man, I didn’t even know stuff like this was a “controversy” in comics. Very interesting.


This is a really good post.

The “Western vs. Japanese” bent of the article bothers me a little, because “decompression” is something often found in Western independent work, and I somehow suspect it’s not something every single one of those creators derived from manga. Decompression is a style of panelling and writing that comes naturally to people who prioritize particular certain aspects of narrative over (or at least as much as) the plot elements described as endemic to “Western superhero comics” by the article.

Oh god, decompression. On the one hand, it leads to some really beautiful and haunting imagery that really gives a sense of time, and I really like that. But my first experience (and I guess at this point only) experience with actually making a comic was in the format of a one-page-a-week webcomic, and I found myself compressing the content more and more as time went along so that the plot and dialogue I wanted to communicate actually got across to people. I’ve since come to the conclusion that “which is better” isn’t really a viable question, since it depends so much on the media through which the comic’s distributed and the quantity of pages released at a time. For a big tpb with a lot of room to tell a story and what amounts to an assurance to the reader that there is always more to come in the pages they have yet to read and that they can read it all in one go if they so choose, compression is a great way to build suspense and drama. In a monthly 20-page floppy, at least some degree of compression is required in order for the reader to feel satisfied with the comic they hold in their hands and make them willing to wait for more. With that in mind, it’s hard to say either one is wrong. It’s like comparing apples to oranges.

Tagged: #oops #I have a lot of feelings about comics

9:42:50 @ 9/24/2011
208 notes
Reblogged from heysawbones-deactivated20120206
Posted by rosalarian

  1. professorcolorblind reblogged this from pennsylvania6-5000
  2. calla-snyder reblogged this from nofna
  3. paredolia reblogged this from rosalarian
  4. badrowboatcop reblogged this from kaeferlein
  5. warlike reblogged this from minato-rise-up
  6. novazembla reblogged this from rosalarian
  7. schompie reblogged this from doublecross-comic
  8. iandsharman reblogged this from srgrgerg and added:
    “The average American comic book features acres of text, and incredibly dense story telling.” Wuh…? “I rarely touch...
  9. srgrgerg reblogged this from themarionettequintet
  10. locutieofborg reblogged this from bigbigtruck and added:
    It’s all about balance. I don’t like reading American comics because they seem heavy and cluttered to me, but it is...
  11. sufliso reblogged this from nofna
  12. impossibleastronaut reblogged this from bigbigtruck
  13. ogiuemaniax reblogged this from rosalarian and added:
    Reblogging my own blog post to create
  14. razmattack reblogged this from bigbigtruck and added:
    Really interesting stuff! I ignore the east v. west set up though. That slant...mostly...
  15. geewhathappensnext reblogged this from rosalarian and added:
    Hmm, i think they mean meandering or poor pacing more than compressed or not. Part of the reason I dropped manga was the...
  16. angfdz reblogged this from rosalarian
  17. wispus reblogged this from nofna and added:
    leans out of the way of conversation
  18. nofna reblogged this from escapefromsuicidewolf and added:
    I’ve always thought of it as storyboarding for animation. The reader has a “frames per second” count and I need to...
  19. nonvieta reblogged this from bigbigtruck and added:
    While the East versus West slant is somewhat legitimate, it’s not universally applicable. What I find interesting about...
  20. fangshinobi reblogged this from bigbigtruck and added:
    How about ten chapters in a manga dedicated to battles? Twenty chapters? Thirty chapters? I don’t even make sense.
  21. f-l-o-i-p-o-i-d reblogged this from escapefromsuicidewolf
  22. escapefromsuicidewolf reblogged this from buttastic