Comics!

1.-Read the following article and answer the small questionnaire below. Do not forget to check your answers.

2.-Discuss with your answers with your classmates.

3.- Share with your classmates on a comment below which kind of comics do you like reading and why.

A Comic Book is defined as a booklet of words and pictures integrated into a flexible and powerful printed format (Witek 1989:3). According to the definition of comics at the DC's web page, "Variously referred to as comics, comic strips and comic books, the comics format as we know it today is a unique art form and literary medium that originated in the U.S. in the late 1800s.... At its simplest, a comic is a series of words and pictures that is presented in a sequential manner to form a narrative."

Comic books are mass-produced inexpensively and quickly (Bender 1944:230).  Comic books are considered a visual piece of art in sequence (McCloud 1993:48).  Comics combines art and writing.   According to some (McCloud 1993:50; Feury), there is a comic literacy that is needed to interpret what goes on between the panels.

Comic books uses everyday language in dialogue balloons to communicate a point quickly and directly (Frank 1944:221). By using a series or sequence of pictures, a cast of characters that the audience can relate to, and lots of dialogue and text within the picture, the creators of comic books draw their readers to their creation (Lee 1971:21). Writers and Illustrators tend to use stereotypes of basic characters and clichés to express their meaning (Gerberg 1983:38).

Even though the comic book picture emphasizes the words and dialogues of the characters, it’s the relationship between the words and the pictures that says so much more (McCloud 1993:47; Faust 1971:195). Writers will use idioms, puns and slang to relate to the everyday individual. Comic Books are a form of narrative fiction and so they have a plot, characters, setting, dialogue, and symbolism.

The pictures in the comic book control the reader's interpretation of the words. The picture forces the reader to see what the writer wants him/her to see. Action lines and dialogue balloons allow the reader to hear the messages in their heads, thus inviting the reader into the make believe world of comic books.

 

Comics

Answer the following questions according to the reading above.

1. A definition of a comic would be:

A short story with some images.
A series of sequential illustrations that serves to tell a short story.
A short story that may or may not have illustrations


2. Language in a comics is:

Formal
Informal and authentic
Difficult to understand.


3. In a comic....

Images give sense to the dialogues and not the other way around.
Images are the most important part.
Dialogues are the most important part.


4. A comic is a type of

Descriptive story
Literary story
Narrative story


5. Comics origin's is....

China
Mexico
Us


6. Comics include....

none of the parts of a story.
all of the parts of a story: plot, characters, setting, dialogue,etc.
some of the parts of the story.