Comics and Sequential Art
Comics & Sequential Art is an academic overview of the principles of sequential art (focussing on the comics form) by Will Eisner. The expanded edition includes short sections on the print process and the use of computers in comics. Examples are drawn from Eisner's own work, including several complete stories featuring The Spirit (listed below). It is a companion to </small>
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!bgcolor="#ffc0c0" colspan="2"| Bibliographic data
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! Edition || Expanded edition
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! Author
(and Illustrator) || Will Eisner
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! Publisher || ISBN || 0-9614728-1-2 (Expanded edition)
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! non-fiction, comics
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Comics & Sequential Art is based on a series of essays that appeared in The Spirit magazine, themselves based on Eisner's experience teaching a course in sequential art at The School of Visual Arts, New York City. However, it is not presented as a teaching guide, but as demonstrations of the principles and methods Eisner highlights.
The book is well-regarded in the community of comics professionals, garnering praise from the likes of Michael Chabon, Neil Gaiman, Jeff Smith, and referenced and expanded on by Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics.
Book contents
Foreword
"Traditionally, most practitioners with whom I worked and talked produced their art viscerally. Few ever had the time or inclination to diagnose the form itself... As I began to dismantle the complex components... I found that I was involved with an 'art of communication' more than simply an application of art."
Chapter 1: 'Comics' as reading
In the first chapter Eisner demonstrates that comics have a vocabulary and grammar in both prose and illustration. (He refers to an article by Tom Wolf in the Yogi.
Chapter 3: "Timing"
Compositional and internal timing are demonstrated in the complete Spirit story, Foul Play, originally published March 27, 1949. Compositional timing is used to determine when to reveal events in the story for maximum effect (eg, surprise), whereas internal timing is used to suggest short or long periods of time within a panel (eg, using a dripping faucet). This establishes a "time rhythm".
Chapter 4: The Frame
This is an extensive chapter devoted to the use of one of the basic tools of the comics artist: the frame. As well as many extracts, including examples of splash pages (an Eisner trademark), this chapter includes several complete stories and chapters:
- the Spirit story, The Amulet of Osiris, originally published November 28, 1948, demonstrates the use of frame shapes and open frames, in an adventure starring the bumbling officer, Sam Klink
- a chapter from Life on another planet (Chapter 7: The Big Hit), originally published August 1980, demonstrating the use of the page as a metapanel, in this case supporting the narrative in following different threads in the story
- the Spirit story Two Lives, originally published December 12, 1948, demonstrating the super-panel as a page in the parallel stories of Carboy T. Gretch and Cranfranz Qwayle
- the Spirit story The Visitor, originally published February 13, 1949, demonstrating the use of perspective (where the panel is oriented in relation to the subject) for dramatic effect (in this case not going "hog-wild" before revealing the twist in a science fiction story)
Chapter 5: Expressive Anatomy
This chapter covers gesture, posture and the face. Hamlet On A Rooftop, originally published June 1981, demonstrates the use of all three, casting Shakespeare's famous soliloquy from Hamlet in a modern urban context.
