FRIDAY NEWSPOST - Inner Turmoil in Comics

Comics are a great medium for action-heavy stories, but showing inner conflict without massive walls of text can be difficult. The other day I picked up a very disappointing graphic novel version of "Frankenstein" - it read like an illustrated summary of the book, not reflecting any of the angst and terror present in the original. Truth be told, very little actually happens in the original Frankenstein; the story is largely based on characters who are torn apart inwardly.

I got to thinking about some of my favourite dramatic comics. How do they depict inner turmoil without resorting to massive speech bubbles, or long speeches expressing their emotions to other characters? One method seems to be the use of atmosphere. I have some great illustrated Edgar Allen Poe and Kafka stories that use dark, distorted illustrations to give the story a certain 'feel.' What the original authors used words to describe, these illustrators capture perfectly through drawings.

One advantage of comics is that a creator can force an experience on a reader, often to an even greater extent than they could do through words alone. If a character is horrified at something, that thing can be shown in all its terrifying reality. The creator projects a certain emotion onto the reader, instantly allowing them to empathize with the character.

What are you favourite angsty comics? What techniques do they use to show inner turmoil? Comment below!


QUACKCAST

Contribute to the Halloween Quackcast! Ozoneocean wants to know about your favourite 'lost soul webcomics' - comics that were abandoned before their time.
Contribute in the forum thread: http://theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/176584/


MILESTONE



Stellar has just finished her comic Lucid Haze, and has begun a new one called Ink!

From Stellar:
"Lucid Haze began as a nightmare, and became a practice comic influenced by MCR. It's a lesbian apocalyptic romance. Four years later, I'm proud of it's completion.
I have a new project, Ink. Lovecraftian inspired horror. It's far better planned out and will be given much more attention than LH was."

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Have a comic milestone, a community project or some comic-related news that you'd like to see here? Do you have original art for our newspost image database? Send it to me via PQ or at hippievannews(at)gmail.com, or leave a comment below!