Week 4 - Action-Oriented Comics

The selection of books assigned this week was all action-oriented. Scott McCloud dedicated a section of his book on panel transitions, and it’s really cool to be able to distinguish each of them clearly while reading different types of comics.

I didn’t know a woman drew Miss Fury until I studied the villain of the episode. The villain was very handsome, but the way his eyelashes were drawn had a subtle, effeminate gesture. For some reason, I thought, “There’s no way a man would draw another man with eyelashes with such care”, and I had this instinctive feeling a woman might have drawn this! It’s such a treat to see a feminine perspective in a male-oriented genre.

I used to love reading Tin Tin, but I mainly read them because I had a crush on him years ago. Truth be told, I was never a fan of the action genre to begin with, so I never really found the plots engaging. Aside from that opinion, everything else about the Tin Tin series is lovely; the character designs are made up of soft shapes, the environments have a touch of realism, the dialogue is diverse, the warm dynamic between characters, etc. Herge never composes an illustration where props lie flat or dull. He just has this innate understanding for interesting compositions. What makes Herge stand out is his attention to detail in each moment-to-moment shot; how the characters shift their weight slightly, even when they aren’t responsible for any dialogue. Each page is so enriching; even the smallest details that lay in the background are fleshed out.


The last graphic novel I read was “The Fifth Beatle” (a graphic novel about Brian Epstein), and I couldn’t fathom how lazily Andrew Robinson put together his moment-to-moment shots. In fact, they were literally just copied and pasted. Herge had spoiled me with such enriching panels, that I couldn’t help but shake my head in disapproval.

Despite the action genre being my least favorite, I do think I have a newfound respect for it. I’ve realized that action-based storytelling is heavily dependent on how a character uses his/her charms to carry the action. As long as you enjoy how the protagonist carries himself/herself, you may find yourself following him/her through multiple adventures.

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