Adventures in Graphica How to read a graphic novel How do you define the medium of graphica? • Are they comics? Graphic novels? Cartoons? • I’m confused!!! There are many ways to define this particular medium… • Sequential art in book form • Tell a story with words and drawings and have identifiable beginning, middle and end • Stories told in both pictorial and word form • Arrangement of pictures or images and words to narrate a story or dramatize an idea • Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence Perhaps we shouldn’t define it. • Why? • Because it is an ever-evolving medium with a wide range of possibilities. Graphica • NOUN A deium of literature that integrates pictures and words and arranges them cumulatively to tell a story or convey information;often presented in comic strip, periodical, or book form; also known as comics. Graphica is LITERATURE • The pictures and the words in graphic merge to produce a unique reading experience. Formats • Comic Strip • Comic Book Graphic Novel • Trade paper Backs • Manga Comic Strip • Usually 3 – 8 panels, newspaper funnies • Peanuts is an example Graphic Novel • Book length • Sturdier durability Manga • Japanes-style • Stylized drawings • Some read back to front Trade Paperback • Anthology of previously Printed comic books or story lines Why Graphica? What is the appeal? • Comics can be perceived as a forbidden pleasure to many students. • Reading a comic in class is like allowing students to chew gum in class, or use their cell phones! • Graphic appeals to students from a myarid of different backgrounds, cultures and personalities. • There are no socioeconomic boundries • They also deal with current, relevant, often complex social issues (prejudice, social injustice and personal triumph over adversity) • Boys!!! • Stereotypically it’s more challenging to get boys to read. Guess what, they’ll read comics! • The girl readers are gaining numbers. • Why? Manga craze Things to consider: • Layout • Panels • Speech Bubbles • Narrative Boxes • Lettering • Directionality • Importance of the pictures • The Gutter Layout • The layout breaks all the rules. It’s all about visual attendance • The reader needs to divide their attention among a whole bunch of things going on across the page Panels • The progression of the information or story occurs through a series of panels, kind of like paragraphs in a traditional text. Speech Bubbles • Dialogue in comics is mainly represented using speech bubbles. This is the most recognizable feature in graphica Narrative Boxes • These appear as narrow text boxes near the top or bottom of the panel. • Used when character is narrating the story or if the story is told in third person. • Used to alert the reader. For example, “Later that same day in Metropoli…” • They usually summarize one or more panels. Lettering • Lettering in graphica is used to create mood or to offer the reader assistance with phrasing or intonation. • BOLD! Directionality • Graphica is read from left to right and top to bottom, just like traditional texts. If the reader takes a wrong turn on the page, the meaning immediately begins to break down. Importance of the Pictures • Traditional text has a division between pictures and text. NOT WITH COMICS! • The artwork in graphica is important to the piece as a whole and plays an intricate part in the delivery of the text’s content. • The words are ingrained in the pictures. • The two are INSEPERABLE!! The Gutter • “The gutters are essentially the veins through which the life of the comic flows.” • The gutter is the white space in between the frames. • There is a lot happening to the plot of a comic within that white space that the reader is left to infer (figure out on their own)! .