The comic I chose from Scott McCloud's website was from his "The Morning Improv" section, where he said he devoted one hour of time to whatever thought popped into his head. I selected "The Accidental Dentist" a 16-paneled comic view on President Bush. In the comic, Bill (a car repair man) and Pete (a dentist) are discussing work when George shows up. George (wearing a G.W.B. nametag) mentions that he missed Pete at dinner, when Pete tells him that there was a whole slew of problems that ACCIDENTALLY led him to administering novocaine and performing a root canal. Bill chimes in with a story about how due to the nature of the events, he ACCIDENTALLY had to perform all this extraneous work to a car while out with his wife at the Home Depot. George adds his story about how he ACCIDENTALLY ran for governor, ran for President, dismantled the Bill of Rights, started a war or two, pissed off America's friends and destabalized the Middle East. The next panel is wordless, followed by Bill offering "it's not like you MEANT to do it"
I think this comic offered a lot of insight into just how much can be said by one person in a contained amount of space. Sure, this was a funny way to present the author's view on George W. Bush and the job he is doing as President, but the amount of thought and the detail that went into the thought process and execution of this comic is really amazing. I liked this comic because the panel without any words is a good example of McCloud's chapter on time frames. He says "just as pictures and the intervals between them create the illusion of time through closure, words introduce time by representing that which can only exist in time--sound" (95) In a comic that uses many words per panel, one panel without any text really stands out and has a powerful effect on the reader.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
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