Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Internal Thought in Crime SuspenStories

Taking a step away from superhero and young boy adventure stories, we have now begun to explore a new genre, the genre of horror comics, and I couldn't be happier. When I was younger the only movies I watched were classic films from the 1940s and 1950s. I loved Alfred Hitchcock movies, the extreme shadowing in All About Eve, and the femme fatales of film noir such as Gene Tierney and Barbara Stanwyck. I couldn't put Crime SuspenStories down because it seems to capture the drama and the romance of that era of film.

The story that I enjoyed the most from this collection was "The Corpse of the Crematorium" (62-68). Although it is one of the few stories in which the person in danger escapes death, I found it to be the most suspenseful thanks to the artwork.

Take for example the bottom left panel on page 65.


We see Jane (the epitome of the Alfred Hitchcock girl), hands holding her head in both frustration and worry. But it is the background behind her figure that really intensifies her horrific situation. The orange background and the red letters contrast strongly with all the other panels on the page. Our eye is drawn to the bright colors, colors that seem to signal the danger of Al's fate. 

This is also, I think, the first time someone's internal thoughts are "vocalized" on the pages of a comic sans thought bubble. The floating words, and the numerous question marks  overpower the panel just as the thoughts and worries completely overpower poor Jane.

By adding internal dialogue, not only does the story focus on the suspense of someone faced with physical violence, but it also focuses on the psychological. We worry just as much for Jane as she frantically storms the city looking for her fiancé as we worry for Al as he sits in the morgue in preparation for cremations.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with you on this interesting point about internal dialogue. While comparing it to Hitchcock's films, this is something that can't be done - overwhelm the reader with the swimming thoughts of Jane's internal dialogue. It allows the reader to attempt to interpret what exactly is going on in her head but the reader can choose how to approach her mind -chaotic with words simultaneously being thought, or read line by line and question by question. It also allows the viewer to empathize with desperate Jane even more because we are quite literally "inside her head" which is a nice, humanizing touch given to this story.

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