Comics aren’t film… a letter to Wizard

Printed in Wizard 0

This is a letter I wrote to Wizard on 5-20-2003. Why to Wizard? Despite their pushing of trends and their never-ending crusade to cater to the mainstream instead of to the art (is that a harsh thing to say?), Wizard is a widely read periodical by both industry pros and fanboys (and girls). This makes Wizard the perfect arena for getting a message across to a mass body of people.

This letter addresses the issue of comics as film on paper. Comics are not film on paper and to see industry pros treat the medium as such is disappointing.

… I haven’t even gotten around to talking about Hollywood, yet…

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Hello.

While I tend to think that most trends are bad (why comics and other industries never learn from past over-saturation of the market, I’ll never know), I wanted to address one particular trend that isn’t a recent one, but one that has permeated the comics medium for a long number of years:

Comics are not film.

While I enjoy a good comic book-based movie as much as the next fanboy, I get this vibe from the industry that the goal of mainstream creators is to either make comics more like film on paper, or to make comics more viable for Hollywood.

I’m sorry, but not all comics make good movies, and comics itself certainly does not function like a film.

It is very disappointing to hear creators speak of how they try to make their comics more film-like. While I think that it is very beneficial to have influences outside of the medium one works in, I would never go so far as to attempt to make the medium something it is not. While most, if not all, artistic mediums have something in common (i.e. music must have good pacing, much like a written story), each medium is unique unto itself and that is what makes that medium able to accomplish things that others cannot. Film and comics have commonalities, but each medium’s use of symbolism, time, motion, and use of composition and camera angles (among other properties) are different due to the intrinsic natures of each medium. We all know the unique properties of comics, so why try to make the medium more like something else?

When a comic creator tells a young aspiring artist to study film, it may seem harmless at first because, yes, film is a good influence. But that “advising” creator never thinks of the consequences. To tell a young artist to study film is to imply that comics are more film-like than anything else. Let’s add to that; the same creator says that the young artist should shy away from comics as an influence. Do we see the pattern? Comics use sequential images differently than film. Comics use time and imagery differently than film. And sound? Different. Why shy away from comics as an influence?

I have always asserted that one should be influenced but not become the influence, and this is certainly true here. When an artist uses a wide panel, it shouldn’t be done because it makes the panel like a widescreen picture. It should be done because it offers a certain visual effect, or because it helps to slow down the read of the page. If an artist is going to use a cinematic effect, it shouldn’t be done because it will make the comic more film-like. It should be done because it will create/provoke/evoke an element that other techniques cannot do as well.

Do you see the fine line here? Films are a great influence, as are many other mediums. But creators need to make sure that they are adapting the influence of film for comics, and not adapting comics to be more like film.

Thank you

Phillip Ginn

Sacramento, CA

Wizard’s response, by Bryan Hitch

Is it a valid point or splitting hairs? We went to the “widescreen” master himself for answers.

“Comics and movies are not the same, true, but they are very closely related,” says Ultimates penciler Bryan Hitch. “Think of them as kissing cousins: Both are a visual storytelling medium and therefore much of the language is similar and cross-pollination exists between the two. Watchmen is a movie on paper employing a storytelling technique similar to movie storyboards and ‘Matrix’ is a comic book on film even down to the storyboards being done as a comic book. I feel a closer relationship with music, though, when it comes to telling a story as one needs to use pages, panel shapes and composition to dictate the speed a story is read offering rhythm, tempo and volume to the anrrative. Inspirations and techniques are freely interchangeable and absolutely nothing exists in a vacuum.”

Read my response… will it get printed? We’ll have to wait and see.