Tell Us What Happened, Mike. Again! Again!
In Todays’ For Better or For Worse, we get to see Michael tell his side of the story of the fire to Josef Weeder and a mute-until-Thursday, Carleen Stein. A comic strip is a visual medium and so many details can be told in pictures much more effectively than words, and yet with an exciting storyline like a house fire and burnt downstairs neighbours, Lynn has chosen to tell the story once again using the method of having someone in the strip tell someone else in the strip what happened. Panel 3 in today’s strip is particularly laborious, with the panel dialogue literally taking 2/3 of the panel. I have seen this happen with comic strip writers before, when they become too dialogue-heavy. It is usually a sign the writer really wants to write and not draw. In Lynn’s case, it is a sign she is ready to be done with this strip.
Producing a story with words is much, much faster than drawing, particularly when the artist has physical problems which make the art difficult. Taking Panel 3 as an example, we have a picture of Mike talking in a side view; with essentially no time taken to show the emotion on his face which would normally go with someone saying, “I was never so glad to see someone in my life!” His face is blank and he is talking. The artist is trying to show his emotion with what he is saying and not how he looks. A person’s emotion shown in his body or his face can carry so much of the story without having to say anything, but it takes time to get the picture right, when you are drawing semi-realistically, as is done in this strip. Drawing facial expressions was one of those things Lynn Johnston did very well in her younger years, and the lack of detail here shows how little effort she is putting into the strip these days.
Using the telling and not showing style, then we get the fire story in this fashion:
Monday: Deanna tells us Michael is OK and the fire was started by Melville Kelpfroth smoking in bed and disabling the fire alarm.
Tuesday: Mike visit Weed and Carleen where we find out Lovey and Weed’s places were essentially untouched and the Kelpfroths are in serious condition.
Wednesday: We learn Josef Weeder found out about the fire through the fire trucks, and Mike was pulled out by the firefighters.
Thursday: We learn where everyone is staying. Mike is staying with his parents. Weed is bunking at the studio. Lovey is staying with friends.
Friday and Saturday: These days will probably put Mike back at home, and with any luck, we will see the “Deanna hissing at Mike” scene. OR, given the style of story-telling, we will have Mike telling Elly that Deanna hissed. Oh, and lest I forget, we will have some kind of "beginning a new year" platitude.
Producing a story with words is much, much faster than drawing, particularly when the artist has physical problems which make the art difficult. Taking Panel 3 as an example, we have a picture of Mike talking in a side view; with essentially no time taken to show the emotion on his face which would normally go with someone saying, “I was never so glad to see someone in my life!” His face is blank and he is talking. The artist is trying to show his emotion with what he is saying and not how he looks. A person’s emotion shown in his body or his face can carry so much of the story without having to say anything, but it takes time to get the picture right, when you are drawing semi-realistically, as is done in this strip. Drawing facial expressions was one of those things Lynn Johnston did very well in her younger years, and the lack of detail here shows how little effort she is putting into the strip these days.
Using the telling and not showing style, then we get the fire story in this fashion:
Monday: Deanna tells us Michael is OK and the fire was started by Melville Kelpfroth smoking in bed and disabling the fire alarm.
Tuesday: Mike visit Weed and Carleen where we find out Lovey and Weed’s places were essentially untouched and the Kelpfroths are in serious condition.
Wednesday: We learn Josef Weeder found out about the fire through the fire trucks, and Mike was pulled out by the firefighters.
Thursday: We learn where everyone is staying. Mike is staying with his parents. Weed is bunking at the studio. Lovey is staying with friends.
Friday and Saturday: These days will probably put Mike back at home, and with any luck, we will see the “Deanna hissing at Mike” scene. OR, given the style of story-telling, we will have Mike telling Elly that Deanna hissed. Oh, and lest I forget, we will have some kind of "beginning a new year" platitude.
posted by howard at 9:12 PM
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