While Urusawa's an excellent example of this due to his drawing ability, I have to agree with another commentor that this sort of technique is pretty common in manga throughout, maybe excepting those that have greater influence from Western comics. Each beat in a dialogue scene is typically given room to breathe and creates much more flowing and engaging conversaions that tend to be more dramatic as a result. A couple examples off the top of my head: Bloom Into You and Yokohama Shopping Log. They have very different styles of storytelling but the same basic traditions of manga are consistent. Another cool thing these two titles have that the page you showed doesn't, is dialogue bubbles that aren't restricted to the panels so they float around the page.
For sure- ive been working my way through a few recently, and you see a lot of the same traits, certainly a format and storytelling background approach that differs between manga/western comics. I chose to highlight Urasawa here because a) that’s mostly the format of the series, but also b) from much of what I’ve read, Urasawa seems to have that balance well because of how strong the acting work is. Again- just my limited reading experience, and highlighting one creators approach isn’t a knock on anyone else’s for SPN!
Oh yeah, his acting work is excellent, and he is one of the best manga authors out there so he definitely makes a great case study. Just pointing out how his work relates to broader trends in manga.
@@StripPanelNaked its a great choice to highlight urasawa. his skills in pacing and acting both are wonderful. coming from someone whos read hundreds and hundreds of japanese comics.
Urasawa has a very keen cinematic sense in his panelling and dialogue ever since he wrote Monster. He's said that he views his approach to manga similar to storyboarding a film, with layouts similar to what fellow mangaka Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) was trying to establish in his work.
Dialogue as motion is an inspired revelation. I recently read through all of Frank Miller's Dark Knight series of books and the flow of his stories is noticeably slowed down as soon as Brian Azzarello joins as co-writer. It may be more an element of the writer and less of the craft of the lettering in that instance but it is worth noting that Miller is heavily inspired by manga. Another example of superb manga-esque pacing is Mike Mignola. To me, his pages resemble a manga page more than most western comics with a three tiered page layout, short snappy dialogue and accented by dramatic "empty" or dialog-less panels. Great observation. Subscribed.
This is truly a case-by-case basis, I think, but also a difference in release schedules, formats, cultural storytelling differences, etc. I do think that was a writer and separate artist, from a writers perspective, your control is almost somewhat limited, so the only thing you have entire control over is the words that appear on the page. I think we see that in western comics more, certainly. Again, that can come down to format, too, but as writer/artists, I definitely think across the board you see more instances of comics that write through the art.
I love throwing one or two of these on when I'm in a creative mood, or creative rut, to have a thoughtful person break down the mechanics of comics and get me imagining what can be.
I love Urasawa's faces. A big portion of his stories are dialogues pannels with many faces and he's so good at drawing appealing expression and diverse features ! Especially kids
This is something I wanna do in my comics. Balance dialog and pictures. A genius doing that is Warren Ellis. He may not be my favorite comic book writer, but that's the kind of writer I want to be.
I've been reading Powers by Bendis and Oeming and there are a lot of interesting choices in that book. It'd be cool to hear your thoughts on it. Specially how Oeming uses negative space and repetition
Thank you for this in depth discussion on my favourite comic artist, Urasawa! I only read his other work 'Monster' and I'm absolutely going to get PLUTO after this review.
No doubt Urusawa came to this conclusion on his own, but this was something that Eisner tried to use as a rule. Only one dialog volley per panel. Character A can say something and Character B can respond, but character A's response has to be in Panel 2
Thanks for another great one. And a welcome tip on where to start with my deep dive into Manga. The first bit about what kind of action to reveal reminded me a bit of what Eisner said about this in his Comics and Sequential arts book (Eisner again? yeah sorry). He calls it encapsulation I think: "In visual narration the task of the author/artist is to record a continued flow of experience and show it as it may be seen from the readers's eye. This is done by arbitrarily breaking up the flow of uninterupted experience into segments of "frozen" scenes and enclosing them by a frame or panel" (page 40). Really love how powerfull the 'two balloons per frame" is, especially when pacing an emotional kinda dialogue. Though I'm also reminded of your video about 'showing a crowded fight scene' (sorry, forgot the title, but I mean the one where you talk a bit about the deathstroke fight among other things), where if you show everything at once it kinda turns into a still frame that is LESS dynamic. Also see McCloud's Understanding Comics about lengthening pauses (p100/101) (sorry for trying to look smart and adding footnotes)
Yeah big moments I think are artistically exciting, and I think from a readers perspective they stop you in your tracks, but the nature of them means that really you're only seeing one big thing. It can be a good pacing choice, and certainly it can create a lot of impact, but in terms of progression, it can tend to be somewhat limited. The default state ends up being lots of panels=slowing the pace because a reader has more to absorb, but when you combine that with a limited approach to dialogue, it ends up being the reverse. Quite interesting (I think)!
@@StripPanelNaked It's definitely not an easy read, so I completely understand. His current series may be more accessible and still have a lot to dissect, despite the ridiculous title, Dead Dead Demon's DeDeDeDe Destruction.
hey Hass, do you happen to have a reading list of classic comics/mangas? I really enjoyed Alan Moore's swamp thing run and also the omega men series. (if you had a really good read lately, feel free to share it with me!)
That's exactly why I don't like when in western comics I see dialogues between two or more characters condensated in one single panel. You read different emotions and you feel kind of stuck with the same visual and the same expressions on the characters face. For me that approach kills the immersion in the story.
Well done Hass. I have to agree, that’s how I do it (or try too). Each moment to moment emotional beat of character acting and conscious use of how dialogue and character expression “beats” work. Also fits the amount of information a read can absorb in a beat. And it’s why I don’t generally favour the long soliloquy of a character in a single panel. More here if anyone wants to read more www.artofadamlumb.com/publishing
Reading his work in Master Keaton, which was written by other people, reveals na interesting approach to the monologue issue. When it happens, it tends to be away from the scene the characters are engaged in, a caption overlaid with an image from another place/time, which removes the temporal aspect of it. Found that quite interesting!
Strip Panel Naked that makes sense. Since a soliloquy will usually contain a number of emotions and meanings that need conveying to the reader, I support use of more than one image. An image for every idea and intonation. If the character is in panel then facial expressions do this. “Cutting” away to other images that convey meaning and “anchorage” as you describe would also work. I’ll have to look out that example you referenced. Thanks
American comics need to start doing dialog this way. I barely touch American comic books anymore because dialog usually consists of one large panel on a page with a string of text bubbles all connected, descending down the page as two characters to back and forth. But it doesn't look right to me. You don't get the reactions.. It's just so static
I much prefer this, though American monthly comics come with their own set of problems that I don 't think managing dialogue like this would solve, in many cases. I think it's probably less a style thing than it is a value for money/packing story in kind of thing. There's a lot of variables with that, ultimately.
While Urusawa's an excellent example of this due to his drawing ability, I have to agree with another commentor that this sort of technique is pretty common in manga throughout, maybe excepting those that have greater influence from Western comics. Each beat in a dialogue scene is typically given room to breathe and creates much more flowing and engaging conversaions that tend to be more dramatic as a result. A couple examples off the top of my head: Bloom Into You and Yokohama Shopping Log. They have very different styles of storytelling but the same basic traditions of manga are consistent. Another cool thing these two titles have that the page you showed doesn't, is dialogue bubbles that aren't restricted to the panels so they float around the page.
For sure- ive been working my way through a few recently, and you see a lot of the same traits, certainly a format and storytelling background approach that differs between manga/western comics. I chose to highlight Urasawa here because a) that’s mostly the format of the series, but also b) from much of what I’ve read, Urasawa seems to have that balance well because of how strong the acting work is. Again- just my limited reading experience, and highlighting one creators approach isn’t a knock on anyone else’s for SPN!
Oh yeah, his acting work is excellent, and he is one of the best manga authors out there so he definitely makes a great case study. Just pointing out how his work relates to broader trends in manga.
@@StripPanelNaked its a great choice to highlight urasawa. his skills in pacing and acting both are wonderful. coming from someone whos read hundreds and hundreds of japanese comics.
Urasawa has a very keen cinematic sense in his panelling and dialogue ever since he wrote Monster. He's said that he views his approach to manga similar to storyboarding a film, with layouts similar to what fellow mangaka Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) was trying to establish in his work.
He his just a great artist and writer. Love his manben series..
I've been waiting for you to cover Urasawa for years. I'm glad the day has come
Haha! Yeah I quickly fell in love.
Urasawa's set style is so unique and beautiful. I haven't seen anything like it, especially in manga, before.
My manga reading is pretty limited, but yeah, through Pluto you could tell quickly it was something special.
Dialogue as motion is an inspired revelation. I recently read through all of Frank Miller's Dark Knight series of books and the flow of his stories is noticeably slowed down as soon as Brian Azzarello joins as co-writer. It may be more an element of the writer and less of the craft of the lettering in that instance but it is worth noting that Miller is heavily inspired by manga. Another example of superb manga-esque pacing is Mike Mignola. To me, his pages resemble a manga page more than most western comics with a three tiered page layout, short snappy dialogue and accented by dramatic "empty" or dialog-less panels. Great observation. Subscribed.
This is truly a case-by-case basis, I think, but also a difference in release schedules, formats, cultural storytelling differences, etc. I do think that was a writer and separate artist, from a writers perspective, your control is almost somewhat limited, so the only thing you have entire control over is the words that appear on the page. I think we see that in western comics more, certainly. Again, that can come down to format, too, but as writer/artists, I definitely think across the board you see more instances of comics that write through the art.
Pluto is a masterwork.
I love throwing one or two of these on when I'm in a creative mood, or creative rut, to have a thoughtful person break down the mechanics of comics and get me imagining what can be.
Yes Urasawa is the best. It's really easy to get addicted to his work and his way of designing intrigue and twist in his work.
You’re covering one of my favourite manga! This is a dream come true!
Haha!!!!!
I love Urasawa's faces. A big portion of his stories are dialogues pannels with many faces and he's so good at drawing appealing expression and diverse features ! Especially kids
Yeah, his acting is especially brilliant!
Yes more manga breakdowns please, will also help you get more manga experience too. Win-win for everyone. Diversify even more
That’s the plan :)
Your insight into comic book design is amazing Hass!
This is something I wanna do in my comics. Balance dialog and pictures. A genius doing that is Warren Ellis. He may not be my favorite comic book writer, but that's the kind of writer I want to be.
I just read all of Monster and you really nailed how his comics work
Thanks! Monster is up next on my list!
I've been reading Powers by Bendis and Oeming and there are a lot of interesting choices in that book. It'd be cool to hear your thoughts on it. Specially how Oeming uses negative space and repetition
Thank you for this in depth discussion on my favourite comic artist, Urasawa! I only read his other work 'Monster' and I'm absolutely going to get PLUTO after this review.
It's great! Very tight in terms of plotting, too.
Urasawa definitely in one of the top Mangaka in the Manga world
Man achievement of making Pluto, 20 century boys, and Monster and etc
This is all good research for me, picking up hints and tricks and refining my eye.
Monster aswelllllll
Haven't read it yet, but on my list!
No doubt Urusawa came to this conclusion on his own, but this was something that Eisner tried to use as a rule. Only one dialog volley per panel. Character A can say something and Character B can respond, but character A's response has to be in Panel 2
Thanks for another great one. And a welcome tip on where to start with my deep dive into Manga. The first bit about what kind of action to reveal reminded me a bit of what Eisner said about this in his Comics and Sequential arts book (Eisner again? yeah sorry). He calls it encapsulation I think: "In visual narration the task of the author/artist is to record a continued flow of experience and show it as it may be seen from the readers's eye. This is done by arbitrarily breaking up the flow of uninterupted experience into segments of "frozen" scenes and enclosing them by a frame or panel" (page 40).
Really love how powerfull the 'two balloons per frame" is, especially when pacing an emotional kinda dialogue. Though I'm also reminded of your video about 'showing a crowded fight scene' (sorry, forgot the title, but I mean the one where you talk a bit about the deathstroke fight among other things), where if you show everything at once it kinda turns into a still frame that is LESS dynamic.
Also see McCloud's Understanding Comics about lengthening pauses (p100/101)
(sorry for trying to look smart and adding footnotes)
Yeah big moments I think are artistically exciting, and I think from a readers perspective they stop you in your tracks, but the nature of them means that really you're only seeing one big thing. It can be a good pacing choice, and certainly it can create a lot of impact, but in terms of progression, it can tend to be somewhat limited. The default state ends up being lots of panels=slowing the pace because a reader has more to absorb, but when you combine that with a limited approach to dialogue, it ends up being the reverse. Quite interesting (I think)!
@@StripPanelNaked very!
Amazing video, Hass! You should read Goodnight Punpun.
I've read a few, but had to pause as it was bumming me out too much. Will be back on it at some point...!
@@StripPanelNaked It's definitely not an easy read, so I completely understand. His current series may be more accessible and still have a lot to dissect, despite the ridiculous title, Dead Dead Demon's DeDeDeDe Destruction.
hey Hass, do you happen to have a reading list of classic comics/mangas?
I really enjoyed Alan Moore's swamp thing run and also the omega men series.
(if you had a really good read lately, feel free to share it with me!)
One of my favorites. Thanks for this video.
Thanks for checking it out!
A really great video thank you!!!
The amazing guys from iFanboy recently released a podcast episode on Pluto's first volume.
You should read Monster, it's his best work!
Next on my list! (Although now I'm getting into Master Keaton, haha)
@@StripPanelNaked Keaton is great too, everything by Urasawa is great!
I just really think you need to cover more manga Hass, lol
Trying to!
Love your videos.
Thanks!
That's exactly why I don't like when in western comics I see dialogues between two or more characters condensated in one single panel. You read different emotions and you feel kind of stuck with the same visual and the same expressions on the characters face. For me that approach kills the immersion in the story.
Insightful
Glad you got something from it!
where can I find this book in digital form?
did you read Monster? one of my favourite works ever
Not yet, but on the list!
Well done Hass. I have to agree, that’s how I do it (or try too). Each moment to moment emotional beat of character acting and conscious use of how dialogue and character expression “beats” work. Also fits the amount of information a read can absorb in a beat. And it’s why I don’t generally favour the long soliloquy of a character in a single panel. More here if anyone wants to read more www.artofadamlumb.com/publishing
Reading his work in Master Keaton, which was written by other people, reveals na interesting approach to the monologue issue. When it happens, it tends to be away from the scene the characters are engaged in, a caption overlaid with an image from another place/time, which removes the temporal aspect of it. Found that quite interesting!
Strip Panel Naked that makes sense. Since a soliloquy will usually contain a number of emotions and meanings that need conveying to the reader, I support use of more than one image. An image for every idea and intonation. If the character is in panel then facial expressions do this. “Cutting” away to other images that convey meaning and “anchorage” as you describe would also work. I’ll have to look out that example you referenced. Thanks
American comics need to start doing dialog this way. I barely touch American comic books anymore because dialog usually consists of one large panel on a page with a string of text bubbles all connected, descending down the page as two characters to back and forth. But it doesn't look right to me. You don't get the reactions.. It's just so static
I much prefer this, though American monthly comics come with their own set of problems that I don 't think managing dialogue like this would solve, in many cases. I think it's probably less a style thing than it is a value for money/packing story in kind of thing. There's a lot of variables with that, ultimately.