No Seriously, it's the Wording

While everyone is busy admiring the "french style" panels, wonderful use of colors, and the sophisticated (yet super confusing) plot line of the Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, what really interested me (or gave me interest) in the story was Tardi's use of words. No. I mean the use of WORDS. Like the word WORD.

I found humor reading through the comics. There was the TAP TAP TAP on the first two pages, the WHAT IN HADES IS GOING ON HERE?, and the HA HA HA throughout the entire story. They may not seem that important, but oh, they really are.

Let's start from some of the pages in the beginning that we didn't mention in class on Tuesday. Page 8, third row second panel with the strange looking fellow biting his hand: The "Oh no! No!" seems so much less stressful than the "OH NO! NO!" with squiggly outlines. It really gives the reader a sense of tension and frustration. Also in the second episode, on page 57 throughout the first row and second row first panel, the "AARRR AHH AAR AAAARG" with the little G hanging from the foot of the R, it just shows how increasing annoyed that Albert is with the entire situation. As the panels pass, his grunts, in lettering, becomes bigger and bigger as his frustration grows. Tardi does a really good job at portraying the inner feelings of the characters. In comparison, the "WHAT IN HADES IS GOING ON HERE?" and the newspaper headlines on page 9 all gives an aura of authority. While the president's speech was in super bold, it gives you the feeling of absurdity and stun. I could almost hear his deep, strong voice saying those words. But not until the next pages with the "AAAA." Again with the squiggly lines. Another thing to mention, is the shape of the "word balloons." It's very obvious on page 62 and 63, for the "CREE" in the last panel in the last row on 62 and the "AAAA" on the fourth panel in the first row on 63. They are much more abnormally shaped than the speech  balloons. And they are sometimes even no in a shape- page 69 third row fourth panel "CLAC!" Tardi really does put every little detail to use.

But hey, I know that some people would oppose me and say, "but there are also words in there with the same kind of font, but don't express the same ideas!" And yet they are right. I must say, Tardi has his own wits. If you look closely to the comics (or any comics), like page 18 second row middle panel, the alphabet characters are not exactly in line. And the "o" might even be lower case. Another example, page 68 first row both panel with the man singing, the font might be similar- straight, bold, and thin (like the newspaper people shouting headlines on page 9), yet with the crooked posture of the letters, we can tell that the man might even be off tone, and seem very funny. Which is very different to the chanting on page 73 first two third panel and second row first panel. It's the positioning of the lettering that all makes a difference.


This sort of relates to the activity that we did in the beginning of Tuesday's class: where the professor, instead of asking us how we were doing, asked us to draw a speech bubble or thought balloon? Each and every piece of paper had our "signature style" on them (Ugh, do not get me started with the magazine at school).  We present the way that we think either in speech or in image. In the same way, Tardi indicates the sense of atmosphere in his scenes with the imagery of the words. Did you notice what he did there?  Its so plain, yet so powerful. This is something that I can definitely incorporate in my future comics. It's something that we can all learn from.