As I was drawing a page today, I was reminded about some thoughts I’ve had about timing in comics. I’ve had these ideas for a while and always meant to write them out, and I guess now is as good a time as any.

I was looking at the page and on it I have a number of repeating images, a technique that is used to imply a slow passage of time. I also remembered that Frank Miller once said that he likes to try to trick the reader into slowing down their reading pace by charming their eye, either by giving them additional things to look at or by giving them a really interesting/attractive/eye-catching drawing. Thus, we have two different approaches to reading time: perception and reading pace.

I don’t like to say someone can’t do something, but to make a generality, it’s very difficult to force a reader to slow down the pace of their reading. A person will read at whatever pace they want to, regardless of what you want them to do and the trickery you use to try and accomplish such a feat. It can be done, sure, but I think it’s usually by way of too much information or making a scene difficult to get through, at least in my experience.

So if a reader will read at whatever pace they want to, does that mean the artist should do away with the details, nuances, subtleties, etc. that make up their drawings? Absolutely not. The reader will look at the picture and, no matter how long they linger, whether for long moments or not long at all, the elements of the picture will convey a message as a whole and that whole is communicated to the reader. Hopefully, the original intention of the drawing will be perceived by the reader. If you change the elements by taking away or altering, the drawing will then be perceived differently.

But I digress…

Since it is more difficult to force a reader to slow down their reading pace, we should really look at the perception of time because, no matter how fast or slow a reader reads, they are still taking in the information displayed on the page. Therefore, whatever and however you communicate your message will hopefully be perceived by the reader as accurately as possible, depending on how clear, vague, ambiguous, or abstract the elements are on the page. It’s easier to influence the reader’s perception of time rather than make the reader change their reading pace. In this way, if the reader reads through a scene quickly, but your panels suggest that time is moving very slowly, then at least that comes across to the reader as they’re plowing through the scene.

For instance, the repeating images technique: repeating images, with perhaps slight alterations, suggests that time is moving very slowly, which can increase drama, suspense, or something else along those lines. Repeating images that are copied and pasted can convey not only a very slow passage of time but also the suspension of time – a pause. A reader can plow through these panels and still understand the sense of time that is being conveyed.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, a panel showing Character A punching Character B that is followed by Character A barreling through two other characters three feet away show a leap in time; the action skips of Character B’s fall to the ground, Character A’s advancement into more enemies, and his initial engagement into said enemies. A fast-paced action scene like this can be read slowly by the reader, but the reader will still get the sense that time seems to be moving very fast.

I think more about the perception of time rather than reading time. The perception of time deals more with the pacing of the story and enhancement of a scene, whereas attempting to control reading time doesn’t necessarily do much for the story’s pace or a scene’s enhancement. I let the reader read at whatever pace he or she wants. As long as they understand what it is I’m trying to convey, then I’ve done my job.