On Ninjak 3.

 

                                                                      Fig 1.

Hi everyone, Javier here.

 The drawing above (fig 1) is the only cover I've ever done for a Ninjak comic, it was done in 2017.  This is an advance of next month's post, in which I'll talk about covers, among other things. 

 This time I'm starting with another comic-related matter. It is the first thing that the reader finds when the book is opened, and so many times it gets unnoticed, and rightly so. I'm talking a bit about the CREDITS.

 Let's take a look at actual credit. Easy, number 1: Parker & Pulido, no specific credit (although in issue # 1 a 'words and art' sign was added), number 2, Pulido & Parker, number 3 Parker & Pulido again, # 4 Pulido & Parker , etc. The word is 'vague', the issue seems not to have so much to do with defining what each one does as with what each one does not do. Instead of what we are, what we are not.

 It's simple, given the way that this book has been done, and in a writer/artist based industry, in which 'writer' is basically the person who tells the story and 'artist' ( in any of its denominations, be it 'storyteller', 'cartoonist', or directly 'illustrator') means 'illustrator', the no-credit can be a valid enough credit.

   At the left side of the screen, in this very blog, there's a small profile tag. In it, there's a drawing that does the job of the photo, right above it, there are some words: my name and what I really do. From this moment on, I'd really appreciate if that was the way my work is referred to.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                               Fig 2.

  Before getting into the analysis, I have a NOTE regarding the just released issue #3. Just as I feared, I commented it in the previous post, the first scene of the issue didn't come well in the final book. These images (fig 2 and 3) are the right version of pages 2/3, and 4. I don't think that those pages will ever be fixed, which, specially in the case of the double spread, is a real shame. 

 

                                                                         Fig 3.

 

 

 I might as well explain why. This part is a supplement to the original post.

 

 In these pages, the lettering, as it appears in the final book (fig 4 and 5 ), contains two kinds of mistakes. The first one is about the conversation that Ninjak and Myna are having and whether it's done through the communication devices or not. To start, the pages have been designed so readers have the right information about who's the one talking in every moment, so the correct reading is with the balloons with no tails. The tails are meant to be used only when the character(s), and we, are into the cockpit, as in panel 2 of page 1, or panel 4 of page 4 (fig 6).

 

                                                                        Fig 4.

 

                                                                           Fig 5.

 

                                                                                      Fig 6.

 

 As stated, a conversation happens between Ninjak and Myna, that has to be clear during the whole part, soldiers below aren't supposed to be hearing any of it, not any sound coming from Ninjak either. It's easy to see that, if Ninjak's balloons have a tail every time that he's into panel, every time that soldiers are also into panel it could read that they're also hearing the conversation. Not only that but the reader could think that they're part of it. Easy to check on the first panel of pages 2/3 (fig 7), and even easier in the last panel of page 1 (fig 8), in which, following the logic, the balloon should have a tail as well ( which, btw, shows the care put into the changes). In few words, the balloons with tails read as noise there, a noise that could be heard by the soldiers below.            

                                                                               Fig 7.

 

                                                                                       Fig 8.

 

 

  Besides this, the balloons’ tails are clearly bothering the correct reading line, which, in the case of those pages, is especially important (fig 9).

 

                                                                          Fig 9.
 

 

 The second mistake is the inclusion of a brand new balloon into the red panel, which is included into the big panel 3, that takes the entire page 3 (fig 10). This mistake is even more serious than the first one, let's examine why.

 

                                                                           Fig 10.
 

  Checking on the information that the double page contains, what actually happens in it, it starts with Ninjak falling from above/back. In panel one he's smashing on some soldiers, taking them by surprise. He catches one of the soldiers’ machine guns, in panel 2, and then he proceeds to kill them all, using the machine gun, in the big panel 3. It sounds simple, but there's a lot more to it, because Ninjak is hanging from a rope, which is hanging from an airplane, driven by an inexpert pilot, at the same time that he's doing the things that I enumerated before. The design of the double page is all about relating how all these movements work together, meaning, about depicting an impossible action scene.

 

 

 

                                                                         Fig 11.
 

  Coming from the last panel of the previous page, Ninjak is immersed into a circular movement, resulting from stopping his free fall from the airplane above (fig 11). In pages 2/3 he's coming from that movement, he strikes the soldiers and then keeps on the circular movement, while he gets the gun and kills the soldiers etc. But it's not only that, at the same time as maintaining the general movement, he's rotating over himself, taking advantage of the fact that he's still holding on to the rope, so he's holding the rope with one arm and shooting upwards with the machine gun in the other. How can such a combination of movements be depicted? It's impossible, if it has to be done realistically, but this is comics.

 

 

                                                                  Fig 12.
 

  Following the reading line of the spread page (fig 12), the general circular movement is clear: the shooting line depicts the exact movement, the sound effects reinforce it. At the same time we can see the Ninjak figures along the whole line, each figure is in a different position, depicting the rotation that the character is doing at the same time (fig 13). At the centre of the circle, there is the red panel (subpanel) in which we see the result of Ninjak's ‘work’, all the soldiers are being eliminated. The subpanel is placed there symbolically, they’re the centre of what Ninjak is doing, but they're not at the geographic centre. The subpanel is read at the same time that the eye keeps following the reading line. The whole third panel is a dinamic map of the movements set and actions that Ninjak is doing to kill all of the soldiers. The depiction of movement comes from the realistic, in panel 1, to the conceptual, in panel 3, with panel 2 working as a bridge.

 

                                                                      Fig 13.
 

 

 Panel 3 also contains title & credits, with an extra Ninjak image, allusive to the series. They're placed in a way that keeps on the general design of the page, so the circular reading line continues, to read the title and image in a new round (fig 14).

 

                                                                         Fig 14.
 

 

 Everything together makes for a whole lot of information, all of it packed into visuals. It is a demanding read, because the comic reader is not used to extract so much information just from visuals. But, at the same time, it's the fact that all of it is integrated into the visuals that makes it work, because visuals, and this is a big simplification of a much more complex process, don't read the same way when they're near of a balloon. The inclusion of the new balloon breaks the delicate balance of hierarchies.

 

 

                                                                            Fig 15.
 

  Balloon placement is always powerful, our comic-reader-eyes are trained to look for them, they're, then, very important in defining the reading line. When the balloon is included there, the reading line divides in two (fig 15), and the eye doesn't know which one should be followed. The reading could start on line 1, and then go soon to the red panel (fig 16), or start in line 2, and, from the panel, read the rest of the large panel by browsing it (fig 17). The general situation is one of indecision, the reader has to stop there for a few seconds to understand what the deal is about, which, in this case, is nothing but confusion.

 

 

                                                                         Fig 16.

 

                                                                                    Fig 17.

 

 The text itself is not helpful either, it is clear that the guys in the red panel are being killed, it adds nothing new to it. The balloon is the repetition of a balloon from panel 1, it just reads like the meaning of the balloon is simply to be. Coincidentally, the content of the balloon reflects the feeling of the reader when in this situation: WHAT--

 

 

                                                                                  Fig 18.
 

 As a result, a large part of the information contained in the visuals, in fact, does not exist ( fig 18), it has been deleted by the inclusion of a new balloon in what is a 'more is less' situation. A type of situation that, by the way, is standar in the comic-book industry.

 

 The first scene of a book sets the direction of what follows, it works as door to the episode. A now unreadable scene invalidates the storytelling used in the issue. Most likely, the reader does not want to continue reading the book from here.

      
 

   

 

 

 And now, the proper analysis, this time is not about one page or scene, but about the whole third issue. Analysis will be about how LAYOUT builds on CONTEXT.

 The general structure of this issue is the opposite to the previous one. Issue #2 was mainly about an action scene thirteen pages long, the other seven pages were mostly about exposition, while in issue #3 we have a short action scene, that comes from the last pages of the previous issue and occupies the first four pages. The remainder of the twenty-page book deals largely with exposition: characters that go from one place to another while mostly talking and controlling the enviroment.

 Let's check on plot and reading line, page by page :

 

 -Page 1, Ninjak is falling, hanging from the airplane, this is the moment in which he stops the fall right on time to swing over the bad guys on the ground. The reading line is very mostly about the circle that Ninjak draws on the air while swings from the rope (fig 19).

 

                                                                    Fig 19.
 

 

  -Pages 2/3, Ninjak manages to strike on the guys at the same time stealing a machine gun from them, he then shoots them down, all while he keeps swinging around. The reading line reflects both movements: the circular, general one (fig 20), and the moves Ninjak makes over himself while shooting (fig 21).

 

                                                                       Fig 20.

                                                                                   Fig 21.
 

 

  -Page 4, Ninjak starts to go up, still swinging from the rope, back to the airplane, gets into the cockpit, sits in pilot's seat, and proceeds to land the airplane. The reading line swings around the page, making a knot in the center and then goes down, following the airplane that then lands (fig 22).

 

                                                                         Fig 22.
 

 

 

 Let's check also on the last pages of issue #2, as they're part of the same scene:

 -Pages 18/19, Ninjak and Myna fly around the island, and upon moving closer, see some guys running in the direction of an old house, Ninjak prepares to leave. The line reading comes from the previous post (fig 23).

 

                                                                          Fig 23.
 

 

 

  -Page 20, Ninjak has jumped out of the airplane, the rope behind him draws the convolute course of his flight (fig 24).

 

                                                                           Fig 24.

 

 

 As said, from page 5 the issue goes deep into exposition. Let's make a quick look to a bunch of reading lines:

 

 - Page 5 (fig 25).

 

                                                                       Fig 25.
 

 

  - Pages 6/7 (fig 26).

 

                                                                       Fig 26.
 

 

 - Page 8 (fig 27).

 

                                                                             Fig 27.
 

 

   -Page 9 (fig 28). 

 

                                                                              Fig 28.
 

 

  Let's now confront the reading lines of both scenes: action ( fig 29) and exposition (fig 30).

 

                                                                             Fig 29.

 

                                                                         Fig 30.

 

 

  The layout clearly reflects the general nature of every scene. While the airplane is flying and Ninjak is killing, reader's eyes travel around the page, as soon as the plane lands, the eyes land as well, and the reading line tends to horizontality. Just by looking the pages through the layouts, we get a direct picture of the nature of every part of the book, be it 'action-based' or more expositive. Context generates layout, and then layout makes context visible.

 

  Also, as I've said before, the book is built over a 4x4 basic structure, it's interesting to check on how the same structure allows so many different approaches to layout. It's also further proof that a predetermined structure doesn't necessarily mean repetitive layouts.

 

 These now visible choices give shape and direction to what really matters, the experience of reading the comic.

 

 ON NINJAK will be back, probably a bit later than usual, but in time to talk about the next issue.