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Post by grahamthomson on Aug 2, 2010 8:14:44 GMT
Like every storytelling technique, there's a time and a place.
Of course, to my mind, everything employed should surely only be there as long as it enhances the experience of the story.
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 2, 2010 8:34:13 GMT
Decompression is the worst thing to ever happen to comics Decompression doesn't work because it removes the tools that make comics comics (ie narration, thought bubbles, interesting things with panels to suggest time/action you can't do in other media) so all you have are storyboards for a cartoon. Which is not a satisfying experience and means it takes a minute to read a comic. The irony is that decompression came in as comic prices went beyond cheap into expensive luxury items. So you pay more for less. Strangely, an argument for decompression is that it makes for better trades. But, speaking for myself, if I spend £10-15 on a book that takes 10 minutes to read and has little story nor any reason to read it again that pisses me off even more than the same experience in a single issue comic. I can spend a fiver and get a good novel that will keep me engrossed for days. Sadly, IDW TF is increasingly decompressed. Very little happens in the ongoing title (compare to the first 9 issues of Marvel US, or G2 or even Dreamwave's ongoing G1 title). And now instead of spotlight single issues, character specific storylines are thinly spread across four issue minis. I am voting with my wallet. -Ralph |
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Post by blueshift on Aug 2, 2010 9:06:37 GMT
Oh, I don't disagree that decompression CAN be an effective tool, just that 99% of times it is used not for dramatic effect but as an excuse for boring padding.
When you start to decompress the mundane as well as the dramatic, it all seems astonishingly slow. Personally I'm a huge fan of 'done in one' comics
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 2, 2010 9:41:41 GMT
I just find it absurd that comics which cost around £3 take less time to read then when comics were 27p!
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Aug 2, 2010 12:10:34 GMT
Strangely, an argument for decompression is that it makes for better trades. But, speaking for myself, if I spend �10-15 on a book that takes 10 minutes to read and has little story nor any reason to read it again that pisses me off even more than the same experience in a single issue comic. -Ralph I have never really bought into that reasoning either. There seems to be this mindset with some writers and editors that all trades must be six issues long, and must contain one, and only one, story. So we end up with stories that don't warrant the length being stretched out to six issues just so that they fit into the trade program. I for one would rather read a trade that contained five issues with three stories with lots of content between them than 1 story that is supposedly "better" because it has been made six issues long whether it has enough content for six issues or nay. As to the Akira and Watchmen examples, I'm not sure that those are decompression so much as they are pacing and structure. Two things that I think are distinct in nature. As to IDW's stuff, this is exactly why I have already voted with my feet and my wallet. After the amount of content that Furman managed to get into the four Revelations spotlights the opening issue of AHM felt dissappointingly sparse, so I stopped buying it. Same with the opening issue of the ongoing. I actually think that comics changing from disposable mass entertainment to a luxury item for a small fanbase has done far more harm than good in all honesty. Karl |
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Post by grahamthomson on Aug 2, 2010 12:14:51 GMT
I remember a full Bob Budiansky 22 issue taking about an hour to read when I was a kid!
Ironically, the Revelation issues are deemed too cramped by a lot of fans, yet the pacing feels fine to me.
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 2, 2010 12:15:40 GMT
Decompressed comics are the equivalent of cutting feature films down to 30 mins and charging you a higher ticket price. Cinemas would die.
-Ralph
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Post by grahamthomson on Aug 2, 2010 12:18:07 GMT
Or a 30 minute film played back in slow motion to fill two hours!
Say, maybe all this decompression is supposed to signify slow motion in comics?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2010 8:01:17 GMT
Or a 30 minute film played back in slow motion to fill two hours! Mission Impossible 2? |
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 3, 2010 8:48:50 GMT
I remember a full Bob Budiansky 22 issue taking about an hour to read when I was a kid! Ironically, the Revelation issues are deemed too cramped by a lot of fans, yet the pacing feels fine to me. I think a lot of readers have been trained that 6 issues = only way to tell a story in comics and a lot of the people who post online on TF sites just read Transformers comics rather than comics in general (which is fine, of course). So from that perespective I can understand the complaints re: pacing even if I have an entirely different view. I've seen complaints, for example, that Wreckers or Ironhide should have been 6 issues. -Ralph |
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Post by Benn on Aug 3, 2010 11:41:52 GMT
Ironhide seems to be suffering from slowdown though. I havent read it myself yet, but the feedback on the IDW boards seems to be heading that way.
I thought Wreckers was fine, myself. Possibly could have done with an extra page of fallout at the end to tidy up the few loose ends, but nothing to get annoyed over.
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