Assignment 4: Comic Book

Comics books are an interesting form of sequential art, as there can be a large variety of genres and art styles to explore. Compared to the comic strip, comic books have more lengthy narratives and are meant to stand on their own, and are sometimes meant to connect to other, longer story arcs.

Some of my favorites that I've sat down to read are Tin Tin by Herge and Batman by Bob Kane. They take the stance of a similar genre but manage to make them two very completely different approaches. They're adventure stories with sidekicks with an ultimate goal in the end, which usually has to do with solving a problem that arises at the beginning for the story. They also often have some fantasy elements that don't occur in real life in order to solve their problems.

I'm a really big fan of Tin Tin because of the art style, as well as the unique characters and how they interact with others in their story. This series also retains some of the comic strip humor and formatting, but fits it into a longer narrative. This not only only makes for an entertaining story with a punchline at the end, but approaches the reader from a more analytical standpoint. 

However, as far as formatting goes I think that Batman has a really unique style, and tends to use the entire page as a composition, rather than just leading the person from panel to panel. This creates a more visually engaging and exciting story.

A third comic that I think combines the best things about each of these comics is the Ducktales comics by Carl Barks.

They have a unique voice, appealing drawing style, and also entertaining content that not only relies on written storytelling but visual storytelling as well. These comics have more variety in what kinds of stories are being told, but it still remains believable in the world and the set of rules that have been set up for these characters. For instance, there was a comic that I read where Scrooge finds an object that allows him to see the future and he wishes to use it for stocks, but all he does is end up telling Donald he's going to get hit by something just before it happens. 

This incorporates some of the action, but fun dialogue that Tin Tin has, with interesting layout for pages.

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