Understanding Comics: The Compex vs the Simple

Understanding Comics is a graphic novel that discussed the basics of comics through the use of many ideas.  One of the ideas that is discussed in Understanding Comics is the use of complex, artfully done images in complement with a more simply done, cartoony image in a way to express ideas.  This use of different degrees of images are quite prevalent in most comics, from the TinTin comics in Europe to the Japanese works where they pretty much have photographic backgrounds with a simple cartoon as the characters.  This practice has not just been limited to comics but it is the style that was very common in Disney Movies.  An example of a graphic novel that uses this concept to help to emphasize its point is the graphic novel Maus, by Art Spiegelman.  Maus is about the Spiegelman’s Jewish father and his survival during the Jewish Holocaust in WWII.  In many instances, such as when Spiegelman’s father talks about the depression his wife felt after the birth of his first son, the artist would show a simpler image and then the next from would be a bit more serious so he would add extra line and shading to give a feel of more depth.  Another instance of this is when a frame shows a character by the name of Miss Stefanska in prison for being in possession of documents that another character had given her without an explanation.  The scene shows a very dark, heavy lined and shaded jail cell with Miss Stefanska being drawn more simply which in a way portrays her as simpler and innocent but stuck in this heavy, constricting jails cell.  So in the end, this type of illustration is quite popular in the present day and can be quite useful to emphasis an artist’s ideas a bit better.