The following rant is from today at about 2AM.
I learnt a LOT about comic-making reading Marionetta and my falling asleep brain kept going over what I'd learnt and focused on a specific teaching that I'd like to put into words.
I'm unsure if this happens earlier in the comic - just checked! It does happen - but whenever Míriam wants to surprise us or create a lot of tension in one scene, she does it by slowing down the pace of the scene. And how does she do that? By making panels significantly longer than they'd usually be.
Think about the scene in which Jathar gets shot. Remember how sudden and unexpected the "BANG" of the shot comes across? You couldn't see that coming, because you LITERALLY couldn't SEE it coming, because it came after a long panel that took up your entire screen.
Want a more recent example? Let's revisit this scene (Episode 86, Panels 36-42):
The build up here is INCREDIBLE. Most panels here are long and take up all of the space in your device's screen, regardless of where you're reading the comic from. Consequently, it takes you longer to get from one panel to another. There's a pause between each text balloon. And that pause works WONDERS to build tension here. It works WONDERS to scare the readers.
It took me about a minute to move on from this panel on my first read. My heart dropped to my feet. Because the panel composition here works perfectly. It is meant to scare you. To make you pause. To worry you. And it DOES. And notice how the balloon that says "cut off his arms" is separated from the panel it comes from and kind of acts as its own panel? Not only does that move the time forward, but it also causes you to stare at it. The words sink deeper, because there is no image to distract you from them. And so, the thought swarm begins! The composition is so damn good ohmygosh <33 It causes you to linger on it.
What's even better, the following panels are ALSO long. One is silent, the following two are extremely loud. By the time you get to the scene's release, your mind is already swarming with thoughts. You've already anticipated what's gonna happen. You've accepted Sahed will be armless from now on. You've accepted the scientists have won, they've got his seals, and they're gonna use them to their advantage. And Sahed's done for. You've lost.
Then, Míriam hits you with this:
The composition here is AMAZING too!!! Because it keeps the tension up. What do your eyes see first? Sahed's fearful text balloons. Followed by the machete (I think) his arms will be cut off with. AND THEN YOU READ AMALIA'S LAUGHTER and the tension wears off.
But yeah that's it!!! I think it's neat that the length of a panel can determine how long it'll take you to get to the next panel, thus giving the story a sense of time. Shorter panels will be read faster, longer panels will make you pause.
I've been trying to imagine it on paper though and it doesn't have the same impact, since printed comics show you two pages at once. They aren't read at the same pace as webcomics are read and neither do they follow the same techniques, so I wonder how Míriam will translate the Jathar and Sahed scenes to paper once Marionetta gets printed.
I know the first volume will be out considerably soon, so she's probably either already translated the pages into paper or in the process of doing so. I'm pretty eager to see what solution she's come up with!!
But yeah that's it!! :D comics are fascinating!!
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