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Caleb M. Edmond
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 May 2006
Location: United States
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| Posted: 29 March 2015 at 9:27am | IP Logged | 1
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JB,What are thoughts on the use of captions as opposed to 'thought balloons'? I noticed that very few writers/letters use thought balloons any more.
Would you consider them "a thing of the past' or i all depends on ones preference?
What do the rest of you think? Which do you prefer seeing? And Why?
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 29 March 2015 at 10:38am | IP Logged | 2
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I stopped using thought balloons, generally, when I was doing FANTASTIC FOUR, and have mostly continued since. I've also tended to steer away from narrative captions. It goes back to what I've said about a big part of the artist's job being to make the writer redundant. And the artist me does this as much as he can with the writer me. If the Art is doing its job, thought balloons and captions should be mostly unneeded.
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Wallace Sellars
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Joined: 01 May 2004
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| Posted: 29 March 2015 at 11:30am | IP Logged | 3
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I like thought balloons when they add something to the scene.
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Brad Krawchuk
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| Posted: 29 March 2015 at 11:59am | IP Logged | 4
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Thought balloons can be effective character builders, but often get overused since they merely describe the action in the scene. The best kind are the ones where they contrast what's happening - a character in a heated battle wondering what she's going to have for dinner, a character smiling at another while thinking 'jerk' - things of that nature.
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Peter Hicks
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Joined: 30 April 2004
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 30 March 2015 at 8:48am | IP Logged | 5
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Last week's Multiversity featured a self aware comic book character who thought "These thought balloons make me look old fashioned. I will switch to first person narrative text boxes instead."
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 30 March 2015 at 9:16am | IP Logged | 6
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One of my favorite narrative captions approaches was in the early days of IRON FIST. "You are Iron Fist, and you are doing something. . . ."Chris got rid of this not long into our collaboration. Pity, really. I thought it gave the book a distinctive "voice."
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Chris Basken
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| Posted: 30 March 2015 at 9:21am | IP Logged | 7
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Thought balloons are going away partly (or mostly?) because they're not cinematic. David Lynch's Dune aside, when was the last time you watched a movie where you heard a character's direct thoughts in a kind of "dialogue-y" sense?
But I agree with most. Thought balloons are a good tool when used appropriately, but it's easy for them to become a crutch to cover for poor visual storytelling.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 30 March 2015 at 9:26am | IP Logged | 8
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Thought balloons are a good tool when used appropriately, but it's easy for them to become a crutch to cover for poor visual storytelling.•• That, yes. But there is a greater danger of writers just writing. Especially with the plot/pencils/script approach. Rare is the writer who can leave a page, or even a panel, "silent." (Close cousins are many writers to those colorists who do not seem to understand that WHITE is brighter than any color!)
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Joie Simmons
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| Posted: 30 March 2015 at 9:45am | IP Logged | 9
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I liked when thought balloons were actually "real time" inner monologue, not narration. I'm tired of comics where the captions are the character telling the story of what happened while we are watching it happen.
Denny O'Neil did a great job with captions in Sword of Azrael, you think you're reading someone's thoughts then it circles around to a character telling a story. I can't remember much about that series but I remember really liking that storytelling idea.
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Bill Collins
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| Posted: 30 March 2015 at 11:01am | IP Logged | 10
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No they are not cinematic,but they are great for inner monololgue.To me it`s more realistic for a character to think `I`m gonna get my ass kicked here` than say it out loud and give their opponent a clue to their lack of confidence.
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Doug Centers
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| Posted: 30 March 2015 at 11:22am | IP Logged | 11
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"One of my favorite narrative captions approaches was in the early days of IRON FIST. "You are Iron Fist, and you are doing something. . . ." Chris got rid of this not long into our collaboration. Pity, really. I thought it gave the book a distinctive "voice." " ... Agreed. In reading thru the Essentials currently I find that format enjoyable, almost like your reading Daniel's journal as your moving thru the story.
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Peter Martin
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| Posted: 30 March 2015 at 12:03pm | IP Logged | 12
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David Lynch's Dune aside, when was the last time you watched a movie where you heard a character's direct thoughts in a kind of "dialogue-y" sense?------------------------------ Not a movie, but I was just watching an episode of Friends this weekend where Chandler is stuck in an ATM 'vestibule' with Jill Goodacre after a blackout. Nearly all the humour comes from being able to hear Chandler's interior dialogue and know what the other character does not.
In comics, it felt I shared something with the hero to be able to hear, for example, Spider-Man's hopes and dreams and fears without him having to tell another character in a piece of dialogue.
Edited by Peter Martin on 30 March 2015 at 12:03pm
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