The Importance of Comics: Part IV - Creative Arts and the Imagination
- Luke Evans
- Dec 23, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 15, 2021
Comics and all fictional stories of all types can open a door into the windows of our emotions, our imaginations and our hearts.
Pic: From Secret War: Book 5 of 5, By Brian Michael Bendis and Gabriele Del'Otto.
© Marvel Comics, 2011.
Asking Creative Questions
Creativity. Expression. Imagination. Critical Thinking. Abstract thought. There are many places to learn how to access and develop these capacities. Reading widely is considered to be one of them. Branching out and creating something of your own is another. Comics have always provided this catalyst for me. In Marvel comics, they have a series that is set in alternate timelines and that asks the question, “What If…?”
-Pic: Wikipedia
-See Disney + Series "What If?" - Exclusive First Look on YouTube
That’s what they did for me:
They got me to ask “What If…?”
What would I write, if it was my job to make one of these stories?
And so I started writing and I haven’t stopped.
The thinking is what’s important. When you stretch your imagination, you learn to create, to think differently, to examine what is possible and what could happen.
And that’s just talking about the words. Comics are, at heart, a visual medium, and they are an art form.
The Art and the Artistry
Comics are a different form of expression. Three-quarters of the story can be told through the pictures and only the last quarter through the words. There is actually a running debate among comic fans and the original artists and writers as to which has the bigger job or deserves more credit. But at its essence, it’s a collaborative medium. People working together to produce an end-product. Now, the convention is that the original artist and writer get a shared credit as co-creators – but even this has caused trouble among the creators themselves.
My point in bringing this up is that, while I love the stories and the writing myself, a comic is nothing without the person drawing it. In many cases there are even more artists – there’s the person inking it and the person colouring it to produce a final product as well. All working together. There’s something wonderful in that. Most other forms of creative expression only have one of these modes – writing, art, performance. Comics role it all into one, just as a film or TV show does. The work of many combines to produce a wonderful final product.
Pic: From Secret War: Book 5 of 5, By Brian Michael Bendis and Gabriele Del'Otto.
© Marvel Comics, 2011.
A good comic is a work of art that should be respected for each individual picture and how they combine together to tell the story. Even the way that a page is subdivided can be a part of the story. You can have a single page picture called a “splash page”, which can be used to show lots of action of a moment of stillness:
-Pic: DCfandom.com, from the comic Batman: Hush, by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee. ©DC Comics, 2003
-Pic: Daredevil #8, pg 21, art by Joe Quesada and words by Kevin Smith. © Marvel Comics, 1999.
Covers are like this too - an action scene or a detailed moment of stillness:
-Pic: Previewsworld from The Flash #750. ©DC Comics, 2020
-Pic: Marvel.fandom.com - from X-Men #23, © Marvel Comics, 1993.
You can have pages that are divided into many smaller boxes to indicate a fast pace or longer, drawn-out boxes indicating a drawn-out or sweeping scene.
-Pic: DC Comics.com ©DC Comics
The panels can have clearly defined edges or none at all. They can blend into each over or be exploded out from with jagged edges.
-Pic: Deviant Art. ©SebasP
The artist decides how to divide up each page to best tell the story and then divides up the panels to segment the action further.
-Pic: Panel Layout - The Golden Ratio - An interesting way the artist can break up the page using geometry. © MakingComics.com, 2020
So, as an art form, comics are incredible. There are only a few of these collaborative mediums in the arts where so many people are involved in bringing something to life, including comics, magazines, websites, and other visual media such as films and TV - and there, again, comics are brought to life. All of these are important forms of collaborative art and creative expression, each valuable to our culture in its own way.
And that is the subject for another post... which I am yet to write... Hmm... Hopefully, we'll get there!
Join me for The Importance of Comics: Part V: Science Fiction and Science Fact
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Previous posts in this series:
NOTE: The pictures used here have been sourced from different internet sites, always linked to under the picture. In the case of comic panels, the original issue numbers and creators are listed, as well as the company that owns them. All rights remain with the original creators and have been used here for entertainment and educational purposes only.
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