There are many things you can do in comics that you can’t really do in other media. But there are also many things you can do in other media that don’t really work in comics.
Which is why it would be pretty interesting to create a comic where the plot really plays on these things.
For example: Comics don’t have sound. What if you create a comic where one of the things the heroes talk about all the time is how the villain has such a squeaky, silly voice? And everybody makes fun of him for his voice? Or you have a sequence where the hero is navigating through the dark and has to identify a nearby voice to be able to proceed?1
Or, let’s say that you make a black-and-white comic, and you have a sequence where the characters being able to tell colors apart is really important.2
By doing something like this, you have created something your characters know about, but that the reader has no knowledge of. He knows that the voice is sounding very familiar, but he hasn’t heard it, so he’s left in the dark when it comes to recognizing it. Or he can watch the characters laugh at the knight in pink armor, but he can’t see that it’s pink, so he can’t really laugh himself.
There are tons of ways to do this, but I think that if it’s done right, it could be pretty amazing.
98 down. Two to go.
- Okay, I know that the amazing Tore Strand Olsen already made an Ørn Bjørn & Jørn page which played on this. [back]
- I actually did this for humor once: The characters were headed for “The Blue Gate”, and they came to a magnificent looming gateway. The one who hasn’t been there before heads towards the gate. “Where are you going?” the other one asks. “Isn’t this The Blue Gate?” “Don’t be silly, that one’s not even blue! We’re headed towards that [much less impressive] door over there!” [back]