Are Online Comics "Real" Comics?

     While reading "The Right Number"  by Scott McCloud, I was immediately intrigued.  This type of story is not something I would normally be interested in reading.  It is an online comic that takes you from one frame to the next in a very unique way.  The only way to fully understand the uniqueness of the graphic novel is to actually read it.  Although the format is not what I am used to reading, the story was well written and kept me very interested.  Just the concept of the story made me want to find out what was going to happen next, regardless of how it was presented.  Since I have not read very many comics in my life at all, reading an online comic was not a much different experience from physically holding a comic book and reading it.  However, normally I enjoy being able to turn pages and be able to actually see the progress I have made on any book.  This was not true for "The Right Number" though.  My first thought was that the content was so intriguing and interesting to me that it did not matter the medium it was conveyed through.  Personally, it was very hard for me to distinguish whether I liked the form of online comics without reading more.  I felt that my decision solely based on this comic by Scott McCloud was completely biased because I genuinely enjoyed the story so much.  Therefore, I set out to read another online comic to better determine my actual thoughts on the topic.

"The Man of Many Shades" Graphic Novel

     As I began investigating other online comics, I soon discovered that I, in fact, do not like this type of medium.  I had a hard time finding a comic that even made sense to me.  One graphic novel I did read was called "The Man of Many Shades".  This story is about a man stuck in a young girl's drawing and actually had a pretty interesting story line.  The pictures were well drawn and appealing to the eye.  Like most of the other comics I looked at, this graphic novel followed the traditional idea of a graphic novel more than McCloud's novel.  Each page had several frames in a specific order, unlike "The Right Number", which followed a more untraditional approach to frame lay-out.  In fact, the only real noticeable difference from this story than a print graphic novel is the lack of a physical book.  Like I mentioned earlier, this does bother me.  Since McCloud's novel was so unique, the lack of a physical book was not as noticeable as the other novels I looked at.  In addition, from the graphic novels I browsed through, conveying a story in this manner appears much harder than a print graphic novel.  Thus, McCloud's story must have been pretty exceptional and his story telling is not even comparable to any other online comic I read.  McCloud's unique experience actually enhanced his story, even though it may not fall into the specific category of a graphic novel.  This may be due to the fact that McCloud is a professional graphic novelist and the other online comics I read could have been completed by anybody.  A lot of the online comic websites seemed to encourage nonprofessionals to submit their work to be displayed, which is actually a great way for anyone to display their work.  Overall, most online comics do tend to follow the traditional graphic novel rules and I would consider them as part of the graphic novel genre.

The Structure of Essex County

     The graphic novel "Essex County" is separated into three different books.  The first book, Tales From the Farm, follows the story of a young boy named Lester.  After Lester's mother passed away from cancer, he is sent to live on a farm with a relative.  Although Lester never truly connects with this man, he begins to form a close and unique friendship with another man who owns the local convenient store/gas station in the small town.  Together, the two play games and pretend to be super heros.  Also, it is revealed that Lester's friend, Jimmy, used to play hockey and can somehow easily and effortlessly relate to this young child.  The second book, Ghost Stories, is narrated by Lou Lebeuf, Lester's great grandfather's brother and Jimmy's grandfather's brother.  At this point in the story, though, Lester does not know that Jimmy is his father.  Lou is obviously a very senile older man and is living in the present, but paints a picture of his life through flash backs and memories.  At times, the story is even a little hard to follow because Lou is clearly not just living in the present.  In fact, it seems that he is better at remembering the past than the present.  His memories are clear and vivid, though.  He reveals much about his life during this book, including have relations with his brother's wife.  The final book of the graphic novel, The Country Nurse, follows the story of Anne Byrne, as she tries to take care of her son after her husband has passed away and visits Lou Lebeuf regularly.  This book also delves into the life of Anne's great grandmother, as she deals with losing her husband.

Family Tree

     Even though this graphic novel has three separate books that are about three separate people and are told in different ways, all of the books come together and interrelate.  The first book tells the story of the youngest member of the Lebeuf family and the second book tells the story of the oldest living member of that family.  A lot is learned about the dynamics of Lester and Jimmy's relationship.  He eludes to the fact that he knew his mother, but does not reveal the relationship between the family.  The second book solidifies the fact that they are related.  Also, the third book tells the passing away of Lou and even shows a family tree of the both families.  This makes all of the intricate relationships much easier to understand.  Jimmy never admits to being Lester's father; however, that conclusion can be drawn from other things that are said.  But, the family tree shows the relationship.
     Overall, "Essex County" is set up in a very strange and unusual way.  The entire novel has to be read to fully understand the complexity of the story.  Although the books discuss different people, all the people are related and these relationships are eventually demonstrated as the stories go on.  I believe that the book was set up this way to keep readers wondering and guessing.  The author could have easily just set up the novel revealing all of the information in the correct order.  However, I feel that the story would not have been as entertaining or rewarding to read.  For example, I knew Lester and Jimmy had to have a deeper connection than just friends.  Although Jimmy did not want to admit it,  clues were revealed.  The story almost was unraveled like a mystery.  Additionally, I think that showing the family tree with pictures was incredibly helpful and necessary to fully understand the graphic novel.  Any questions readers had would be answered after studying this page.    

Frame Usage in Essex County Book Two and Persepolis

A more typical page from Essex County

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Essex County, specifically Book Two: Ghost Stories, by Jeff Lemire are two popular graphic novels that use similar and different frame techniques to help tell their stories.  To begin the overall feel of Persepolis is very congruent and predictable.  All of the frames feel as if they are from the same story and flow very well together, which makes reading it very easy.  Most frames are about the same size, although at times, just one or two frames utilize the entire page.  Essex County, on the other hand, has frames that are somewhat unpredictable.  However, the frames still flow very well and feel like it is one story.  It is a little bit more interesting to read, though, because the frames are more intriguing and mixed up more.  Also, more is said with pictures and there is just less dialogue, while Persepolis focuses more on text (the pictures say a lot too, though).

A more typical page from Persepolis

     One difference in frames between the two graphic novels is the size.  It appears that on average, Essex County Book Two has about 4 frames on each page while Persepolis has about 6 or 7 on each page.  In addition to the size, Persepolis uses much more squared and typical looking frames.  They appear to be more symmetrical and even with one another.  On the other hand, Essex County uses much more unusual frames.  Many frames are in the shape of rectangles rather than squares.  In fact, some pages do not even have any frames!  In other pages, some pictures actually go out of the frame and are used as a background for the rest of the page.  Also, most pages do no feel symmetrical.  On average, the frames in Essex County are bigger than the frames in Persepolis.  In addition, Essex County utilizes the space in the frames very differently from Persepolis.  Many of Essex County's frames only have one person in the frame while Persepolis has 2 or more people in many of the frames.  Overall, their appears to be much more going on in the frames of Persepolis, while ideas and concepts are spread out more in Essex County.

A page without a frame in Essex County

A picture out of the frame in Essex County

A one page frame in Essex County

A one page frame in Persepolis

Although there are many differences between the frame usage in Persepolis and Essex County Book Two, there are also some similarities too.  One similarity between the two graphic novels is the use of full page frames.  However, Essex County uses this technique much more than Persepolis.  Another similarity is that the pictures in the frames are drawn in black and white.  This is an interesting technique and allows the reader to better associate themselves with a drawn picture.  Overall, these two graphic novels use similar and different techniques to display their stories.

The Characters of Vladek in Maus and Lester in Essex County

An example of a flashback in Maus

     Maus by Art Spiegelman is a popular graphic novel about a father, Vladek, who describes his tragic journey through the Holocaust to his son, Artie, who is eager to learn more about his tribulations.  Vladek's character, which is very complex and has many sides, is described in a very interesting way throughout the novel.  The majority of the novel is composed of conversations, sometimes between Vladek and his son and other times between Vladek and his wife, parents, friends, or fellow Jews trying to survive the Holocaust.  The conversations essentially give the reader an incredible insight into Vladek's character.  Along with the conversations, flashbacks are used quite frequently to show and reveal more of Vladek's character.  Experiencing the Holocaust and fighting in the war was a very trying and difficult time for Vladek and his character is tried and tried again.  Although Vladek's character may seem to be harsh and rigid during the present scenes, his true character is revealed during the flashback scenes, which is one of strength, love, intelligence, and passion.  The flashbacks also give an idea of why Vladek may be the person he is in the present.  Surviving the Holocaust tells a lot about his character, but his specific experiences revealed through the dialogue is telling as well.  He yearned to see his family again and came up with schemes to survive, such as hiding and posing as another person.  Overall, Vladek's character is revealed mainly through dialogue and the story that he tells his son, but also through present with other characters and past scenes and conversations.

An example of pictures in Essex County

     Essex County by Jeff Lemire is another popular graphic novel about a young boy, Lester, who is forced to live with his uncle after losing both of his parents, one to death and the other to abandonment.  Throughout the novel, Lester's character is revealed much through dialogue as well.  Although he does not say much to his uncle, which is revealing in itself, Lester seems to find it really easy to open up to another character, Jimmy.  Jimmy currently works as a gas station attendant after a brief career as a professional hockey player.  Lester seems to become so close to Jimmy so fast because he is somewhat simple and tends to be more on Lester's level than other characters like his uncle.  Additionally, flashbacks are used to help explain background information, but also reveals some of Lester's character.  However, Maus uses flashbacks to reveal Vladek's character much more than is used to reveal Lester's character in Essex County.  At times, pictures are also heavily relied on to reveal Lester's character.  Pictures are important in Maus as well, but they are used to assist the text in telling the story.  Essex County tends to use pictures more to tell parts of the story.  Some pages actually have no dialogue on them whatsoever, but the black and white pictures can be very telling.  For example, the pictures show Lester wearing a cape from the beginning, but is not mentioned by another character until later on in the story.  Right from the start it is obvious that Lester has a vivd imagination.  In conclusion, both graphic novels use pictures, dialogue, and flashbacks to reveal the main characters in the stories; however, each story has its own preferences as to which ones are used the most.

Transitions Used in "Maus"

     The book "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud examines the six different panel-to-panel transitions used in graphic novels.  The first transition is called moment-to-moment and requires little closure, which refers to understanding the whole picture by just observing parts of it.  When using this type of transition, frames literally transition from one moment to the next.  The next type of transition is referred to as action-to-action and features one subject who is completing some action, such as a car driving in one panel and the next panel the car has crashed into a tree.  Another type of transition is called subject-to-subject and refers to panels that remain in the same theme but move from different subjects.  Scene-to-scene is also a type of transition that refers to panels that travel across different settings or time.  A fifth transition is called aspect-to-aspect and shows different aspects of a setting.  Finally, non-sequitur transitions have no logical relationship. (McCloud, 70-72)

Photo by: mikefats

     "Maus" by Art Spiegelman is a popular graphic novel which uses some of these transitions explained by McCloud.  One example of a transition used in this graphic novel is scene-to-scene.  At one point in the story, the father is complaining to his son about the dinner they just ate.  In response, the son tells his father that he just wants to here more about his past, specifically when he was drafted in 1939.  After this scene, the next panel takes the reader right on the battlefield in 1939.  After one more panel, the son interjects to ask his father a question about his army training and the scene returns back to the present day.  Eventually, though, the scene is transformed back to the past. (Spiegelman, 44-46)
     Another example of a transition used in "Maus" is moment-to-moment.  In the story, the son and his wife are in bed when the phone rings.  From that point the panels show the son reach over to the phone, answer the phone, talk to into the phone with his father's dialogue coming out of the phone, hanging up the phone, and then speaking to his wife and getting out of bed.  There is very little movement of characters and closure between panels.  Most of the picture is drawn out for the reader. (Spiegelman,

Photo by: Virany

96-97)
     A final type of transition used in "Maus" is action-to-action.  At the very beginning of the story, the son is shown as a child roller skating home with his friends.  As he is skating, his skate becomes lose and he falls to the ground as friends quickly skate away from him.  In this scene, one subject is performing an action in one panel that leads to a consequence in the next panel. (Spiegelman, 5)  Overall, the author is effective in using different transitions to tell his story.  Although he tends to use many scene-to-scene transitions and moment-to-moment transitions, he mixes it up by using others at times as well.

Understanding Comics and Maus

By: MnGyver

     The popular graphic novel "Maus" by Art Spiegelman is the touching story of a Jewish father explaining his horrifying journey through the Holocaust in Europe to his son, who has never had the best relationship with is father.  However, as his son ages, he realizes the importance of family and makes an attempt to reconcile any negative feelings with his father by trying to understand his hardships throughout his life.

By: davidsilver

     The textbook "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud is an excellent reference for delving into comics on a deeper level to truly understand them as an art form, define them, and examine popular comic techniques.  Being a person who has never read many comics, this book is a valuable resource if you are interested in truly understanding any graphic novel.

     So, when I began reading "Maus" I found that the first several chapters of "Understanding Comics" is very helpful to help understand some of the styles that were used.  One concept that was expressed is the idea that simple images and styles can actually be used to better illustrate more complex, less simple stories (45).  This is a very prominent concept in "Maus".  For instance, "Maus" tells a very complex and dark story.  One man is essentially telling his son, and the whole world, his personal experience during a time that many cannot even begin to imagine.  However, the author chooses to illustrate the Jewish characters as mice instead of people.  Furthermore, the author illustrates the Nazi characters as cats.  From a young age, kids learn that cats hunt and chase mice.  Other cartoons, such as "Tom and Jerry" show us that cats have a rivalry with mice and are much bigger animals.  In a sense, they can be viewed as bullies.  Although the overall concept of "Maus" can be hard to understand or imagine, the concept of a cat and mouse rivalry is easier for most to fathom.  Overall, "Maus takes a very simple style to express a very complex idea.

By: Raios de Luz - Gláucia Góes