Building Worlds

While traditional novels and comics certainly share many similarities as story telling narratives, the image-reliant nature of graphic novels provides for clear advantages in communicating certain elements of a story. The main area in which comics are typically better than written novels lies in scene creation, particularly with respect to atmosphere. The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words holds particularly true for graphic narrative, as authors can circumvent paragraphs of descriptive language simply by showing readers the scene. Furthermore, comic authors can easily adjust their scenes, like the alternating shades of panels in chapter 5 of Watchmen, without taking away from the narrative pacing to do so.

Conversely the absence of descriptive language limits the reader's immersion in the world. While readers can visibly see the objects and actions occurring, in order for readers to better understand the nature of the experiences being portrayed, the author must allot valuable panels space to describing the various characters reactions to events. In a written novel, authors can simply take more words to describe the various experiences present in the narrative.