Hi, all.
During class we briefly mentioned how Crime Suspenstories was heavily influenced by the suspense stories and mystery novels of the time. I just wanted to follow up with a few examples from the text about how the panel layout and plot development suggest a literary influence on the way in which the comics artists approached storytelling. As can be seen in High Tide and Murder May Boomerang, there is a self-referential relationship that exists between the first and last panels. In Murder May Boomerang, the panels are actually identical (see pp. 11 & 18), adding a cyclical nature to the story which - although simple - seems to be something we haven't seen in previous comics. This paralleled narrative is more in line with literary and cinematic devices than traditional comics storytelling approaches. Likewise, in High Tide, the narration on the last panel (pp. 41) is taken directly from the title page (pp. 35). Although the images presented are different (symbolic movement from day to night as suggested by the color of the sky in the reflection of the water), the typography of the phrase "HIGH TIDE!" and the sentences leading to it is consistent. This technique of juxtaposing the identical text with opposite images also seems rather symbolic or literary.
I also got a movie or cinematic feeling from these comics. It really placed the reader in the story, as an observer or "partner" in crime. Part of this is the persepective and panel layout, but I think color and size also contribute to this feeling; I'm thinking of Superman or Tintin, both the style, colors, and size of the panels make me feel like I have a bird's eye view of the stories. In Crime SuspensStories on the other hand, sometimes the characters look straight at the reader, the narrative talks directly to you, and the images are bright and draw you in.
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