In the following article, we will talk about how to read comics like never before. Did you know that the secret to great stories is to read great comics? With each different way of reading, you will find new ways to learn.
It is important that you know how to identify why you like what you like.
The first thing is to read the comics that you like the most, which is essential.
Do you think you have knowledge of a character because you have already read other comics of that character?
Reading is also writing, there is not much more to say, and maybe, you wonder if ever, you will be able to read comics again as before, as a simple reader. Continue reading!
LEARN TO READ COMICS
You’ve thought it many times, the secret to great comics is to read great comics, and you’re right, but have you ever thought that it’s just as important how you read them? After all, when you read one, you’re not just entertaining yourself, you’re learning.
With each different way of reading, you will find new ways to learn. Get ready to unlock new levels of knowledge!
IDENTIFY WHY YOU LIKE WHAT YOU LIKE
The first thing is, in case you didn’t know, you should approach the comics that you like the most, not necessarily, the ones considered, the great comics by the rest of the society. You should learn to detach yourself from urgencies, from all sense of duty, don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you must read such and such a story, that, you can’t miss such and such another one.
Don’t let it be relevant for you to be the only one who hasn’t heard about the latest great revelation in fashionable storytelling, this is not a sport, nor the news, you don’t care about who became famous writing what, or which graphic novel is about to be adapted into a miniseries.
Take care to identify what it is that you like, and once you have done so, and you are sure that you are reading for pleasure, ask yourself: Why? Why do I like this? What decisions did the people who made this story make to make me like it?
Think about the writer, the cartoonist, the inker, the colorists, and even the editor-in-chief. What decisions did they make that were the right ones, that resulted in you liking this? And also where do you think they got it wrong, or that it didn’t matter, but you liked it so much that it didn’t bother you?
By finding out what you like when you read a cartoon, you will be able to select which options to choose when you make a cartoon, so you’ll be making the right decisions!
PAY ATTENTION TO HOW ONE CARTOON IS CHAINED TO THE NEXT ONE
A comic page is a matrix, you could describe the position of each vignette, in X and Y coordinates, the position of each one, its content, affects the perception of the others, in fact, while a comic, has more than one page, this matrix, is actually three-dimensional, with the magazine closed, the vignettes all rest, one on top of the other, stacked, touching each other, in unions that would never be made by the thread of reading, waiting.
It is, through the power of social convention, and the skill of narrative resources, that we find the order, to read one vignette after another, when we open the magazine, or the book (Has it never happened to you to open a manga upside down, and discover, that you had to read it from right to left?) Resist a little, the next time you do it, and observe how it is, that you pass from one vignette to the next.
Are you reading the same text, which continues from one to the other? Does the look of a character lead you? Is it perhaps repeating a structure, a common form, which you have already seen in previous pages? Perhaps three pages ago, after a small square vignette, there is a large rectangular vignette, and you had not noticed it.
For this reason, pay attention also to the other vignettes, to those that do not seem to participate at this moment in the transition from the one you came out of, to the vignette you are arriving at. How do they support the vignettes you are reading?
The vignettes in the bottom strip How are they supporting them, if you are reading them now? Pay attention to them, remembering that you are not reading them right now. How are they designed to be interesting, but not distracting, so that you can wait to read them when their turn comes and not skip all the ones in between?
It’s good to ask yourself, while you’re reading, why am I here now and not there? The answers will be very valuable to you when it is your turn to guide a reader through the matrix of your pages.
FORGET ALL THE OTHER MEDIA THAT SURROUND THIS ONE.
You think you know a character because you have seen him on TV, because you have read other comics about him, but try to forget them. What do you find of this character, of this world, in the comic book in front of you? How much do you think it builds on your previous knowledge? Could you read this comic book to a person who did not know the character, and would he understand it anyway?
Look at this How much of the character, or the story, is recapitulated in the story to help those who don’t know anything? And in what ways, is the character truly different? Perhaps, a screenwriter has changed, and a character who was hitherto cruel, turns out in reality to be sensitive, reveals a lavish inner world, which hitherto we did not imagine
Should you assume then, that the character was always like this, only that it had not been said, or that the new scriptwriter is changing his personality to tell new stories? Is it possible that this sometimes happens with the same scriptwriter, without the need to change anyone on the team?
We propose you to go back to previous episodes and analyze: Is it possible that the scriptwriter, seeing what the cartoonists have done with their indications, has decided to rely on it to transform the characters and take better advantage of the potential of the other members of the team, the cartoonist or the inker?
You will discover that a character is never the same, that under the same name and the same image (which sometimes constitute, in fact, the same brand) there are in fact a multitude of characters that are specific to each story that is told with them.
Even if they are all called Captain Midnight Gunpowder, in uninterrupted publication in comics, press strips, radio theater, serials and television since 1931.
Conclusion
As we could observe during the course of the article, with all the above mentioned, you are approaching little by little, to one of the great secrets of the script, and of the comics in general, to read also is to write, engrave to fire this last mentioned.
It is important that you learn to read comics, and that you pay great attention to how the vignettes of the story in question are chained.
Reading comics is part of doing them, there is no turning back, and you may fear, because you may wonder, if you will ever be able to read comics as before, as a simple reader.
Relax, the reward is great, and the moral, is that, if you can read them, then also, you will be able to make them, or at least, you will be almost ready, look around you and observe, a world in which they do not exist.
In reality, simple readers, we are all potential cartoonists, so let’s draw!
We hope you liked the article, see you next time!
