HOW-TO... DO AN ANALYSIS:
LINKED UNIVERSE: EXAMPLE 1
So I said I'd do another example in my "How To... Do An Analysis" post, so here I'll dig into two pages of an early LU comic: Likelike
As a refresh, we'll be going over this in steps as outlined in the original post so I'll throw all of that under the cut. I'm not really aiming to do the most detailed, amazing or fascinating work here -- I'm just trying to demonstrate the steps involved in picking out what's interesting from what's there.
(As with the other, click to the original in case I did any edits to this after the fact.)
So, two pages from the comic Likelike this time:
(Remember: link to the original source so other people can pull it up and confirm what you gave them!)
So let's start:
1. What is our OVERT (clear and obvious) information?
We're outside in a forest here. On all but the last panel, the background is faded out or barely visible: it's not important or unusual until the very end.
There is action! The first four panels are a sequence of movement and combat that ends and transitions into people talking.
After the first four panels, everyone is actively not moving except for Four, whose items were affected. Time has a weapon out last we see, as he was the one fighting.
Only one character speaks.
We see everyone in the Chain except for Warriors between these two pages.
2. What are our INTERACTIONS?
Nobody engages with the environment here, except for the way in which the panels shift to highlight it in the very last part of the second page we grabbed.
Four and Time are in combat with a monster in the first four panels. The monster does not return, as it was killed, but Four is still engaged with the aftermath on the second page (his shield is still sticky.)
Time killed the monster. This directly leads into him speaking to the others about the situation that just happened. He is the only one who speaks.
The rest of the Chain (except for Warriors, who is not present in this update at all) do not answer Time. The comic makes a point of emphasizing this: they are all shown, but do not speak.
3. What ACTIONS or EVENTS happen here?
Time kills a monster that was going after Four's shield. He addresses the others about the fact that nobody else present bothered to step in.
Nobody else present is willing to speak up to defend themselves in response to this. This reaction is drawn out across multiple panels and into a second page: the amount of time spent on it is important.
The reactions fade into a transition in the physical environment: this is a comic page way to do a scene change. We are moved from one event to another by a visual change in scenery.
4. What is IMPLIED by the information here?
(Remember: you cannot cover everything a scene contains at once. You need to choose what you focus on in any given moment, in order to be able to write something comprehensible in a given space.)
Time is the only character who speaks across these two pages. He kills the monster, which frees Four's shield (and, by extension, Four) from the assault and once done turns on the others.
"What are you boys doing?" -- His speech is direct, blunt and targeted. It ends with the admonishment: "I expect better from Heroes of Hyrule."
We do not explicitly see who he was looking at in each panel, but there is a feeling of movement to the fact that he's in a different position, with notably different head angle every time: you can infer that he's looking at each of them.
Jojo chooses to show Twilight, specifically, as the first reaction after Time finishes speaking. There's a starburst of white behind his expression, which draws the eye to his face and the fact he looks hurt or stunned by the scolding.
The next page is entirely going over the rest of the Chain's reactions: Legend looks very uncomfortable; Twilight has closed his eyes and turned away. Wild and Four are preoccupied with the shield over Time's anger, but Sky, Hyrule, and Wind are all also uncomfortable.
5. How does this CONNECT to previous or subsequent information?
Bringing in the first pages of this comic, we know that immediately before this everyone but Time and Warriors were present and sparring when they discovered the Likelike. They spent an entire comic page laughing at Four struggling to save his shield before Time showed up.
When Time did show up, he immediately killed the likelike with no fanfare and turned on them: Time's priority was Four's safety, and the safety of his equipment. We can infer as well that Warriors would have had the same priority although we don't know that without locating another comparable instance. The fact that Jojo did not draw him in the scene with the others is suggestive, but that is not an answer in itself.
We also know that Jojo has spent much of the subsequent comics on the way in which Twilight looks up to and admires Time. As such the fact that Twilight's reaction comes first, and strongest (we get two panels of his reaction to Time's scolding, not just one) makes sense for the prominence their relationship has within the comic's story.
(Including additional links to information you claim about material outside your main focus let's people see and analyze for themselves what they think. I chose Sunset part 13, because it's the update in which Twilight speaks directly to Time about his grief over his legacy and the Hero's Spirit. This emphasizes my point here: Twilight highly values Time's opinion, because we know in text he brought it up while dying.)
But Twilight is not the only one who, in this moment, looks up to Time. Legend and Hyrule have vivid reactions to his scolding: they are avoidant and obviously ashamed, looking away and raising arms and shoulders defensively. Wind and Sky are stiff and awkward. Only Four (who is preoccupied with his shield) and Wild (who is likely about to offer to help him) are ignoring Time, due to a much more immediate problem.
None of this had much relationship to the environment, except for the fact that they are outside. The change in environment comes after the scene, in which the Chain reacts to Time's scolding, ends -- and it ends by means of switching from unremarkable, often blurred forest background to defined trees now lit by purple light. The transition is clear: something sinister is brewing while the Chain plays, and we know from this panel alone to expect more evidence of it in the page(s) to follow.
I hope that was a helpful second look at how this works! I may yet do more, and will link them on the main post (to spare my sanity digging them all up in turn to cross-reference.)
All the best!
