What I word see if I knew what to look for

Comics. A largely under-rated art form. I think one of the reasons is we think, “comics are so easy to understand.” And we think, compared to a high level novel or text book, that reading comics is so effortless and shouldn’t be taken seriously. 

But think for a second, why IS IT that we understand comics so well? Why does a comic strip get across a message that even the best film cant portray from the book, and the message that cinematography can say that a book cant? 

The reason? Words working in unison with images. The Gestalt principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts is never better used than to describe the relationship words have when used in conjunction with images. Brian Fies, a cartoonist who has published two comic books, uses this power in one of his works to help his reader understand the hardships of someone in the family having cancer. I think of it as, a picture is worth a thousand words, but that picture says fewer and more specific words when it is paired WITH words. The words help narrow down the picture of the language, and the pictures help say what the words cannot. It is the same way body language is a huge component of human communication, it is not just what you say, but HOW you say it, and comics allow us to put that third variable of communication, combining the visual and verbal aspect of understanding, and putting it on paper. If I say “nice to see you again,” I could be honest or sarcastic and you wouldn’t know with just words. I would have to tell you, that Im saying it sarcastically. But if I drew some pictures of someone rolling there eyes and slouching and with a disgusted look on their face, you would understand quicker and more clearly that I meant it in a certain way.

That is the power of comics and its unacknowledged powerful use of images and words.