First: Wow. That was probably the easiest essay to understand because I’m probably one of the few college kids that actually reads the comics, and gets excited for the ones that come on Sundays because they’re in color.
Second: I’ve never even thought about the connection between time and motion and panels within comics because to me, nothing in a comic happens in an “instant”. I just consider everything to take place in my time, how I’m reading it, because even though the artist expects and plans for it to only take a second, it takes the reader maybe 10 or 20 seconds to read just one bubble.
I thought it was really interesting how the different forms of motion can be portrayed in a comic strip is viewed differently between cultures. I’m not surprised that motion was a bigger deal in Japan because the differences between their comics, and even their cartoons, and American or European ones are just so phenomenal. Details play a big part in how a comic is perceived by a reader, and even when I read comics, if I feel like the artist was just trying to finish something quick, I won’t be willing to read it. If they won’t take the time to make things look neat, then I won’t take the time to read it.
Also, the connection with how many panels are in a comic strip can make a difference with how a comic is interpreted. I would rather read a comic with multiple panels instead of one big panel because with one big panel, I get overwhelmed and I sort of stress myself out over reading a comic strip. Kind of ironic, ya think? It’s a lot like reading a picture book, however, with more picture than book. Comic strips are meant to be broken up into smaller fragments so they are 1) easier to view, 2) easier to understand, 3) easier to read, and 4) easier to enjoy. The section on how artists are starting to sort of create a maze for their readers to use to read their comics is obnoxious to me. I would get so frustrated if on a comic strip I had to jump around to find the next panel. No, thank you, that’s just mean.
Overall, I liked this essay because it was easy to read and easy to understand. Comics make me happy, especially if reading one counts as an assignment. These readings usually take me 2 hours to read; this one was done within 20 minutes just because of the way it was set up.
I agree this piece was really fun! It’s comic layout really kept my interest and I found it really easy to read. Reading about how the different cultures use different methods was super cool. This piece sort of boggled my mind in that I always thought comics were so simple, but so much thought goes into just the layout!
I agree, this “essay” was definitely one of my favorites. The whole idea of time and motion have such an impact on the media reminded me of McLuhan when he talked about how “The Medium is the Message”. These comics need to have some sense of time and motion since their specific medium is condusive to the way that people think about what is being read. The idea of a comic with pictures allows the reader a better understanding of what the piece is actually saying. I think we can both agree that if this was just written in typical essay format, we would be a little lost, because the illustrations add so much more to the piece. I found it interesting how he describes the panels as the usage of time and that the words act as the symbol of sound. This makres sense because how else could you describe sound on a page other than words? Overall, I liked the way this was set up and am eager to discuss it in class!