Categorizing Types of Illustrated Storytelling

GeneralTsom · Post by **GeneralTsom** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 11:48 am

A few of my friends and I have been debating how to categorize types of illustrated storytelling for a project. So I'm asking for help. Bare in mind that we are talking about 'types' as in Comic Strips, Comic Books, etc... and NOT categories like action, fantasy, sci-fi, shonen, etc.

So, what list of illustrated storytelling types would you use?

To get you started, here is what we started with: Comic Strips, Comic Books, and Graphic Novels. The question posed here is, where does manga fit into? It's more like a graphic novel but is it different enough to warrant it's own 'type'?

Killbert-Robby · Post by **Killbert-Robby** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:03 pm

Manga, my dear friend, is the art of drawing comics in the Japanese style, and doesn't really have to do with length.

Though I'd say they're pretty much graphic novels.

Guildmaster Van · Post by **Guildmaster Van** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:20 pm

Manga is manga.

Kris X · Post by **Kris X** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:29 pm

Killbert-Robby wrote:Manga, my dear friend, is the art of drawing comics in the Japanese style, and doesn't really have to do with length.

Though I'd say they're pretty much graphic novels.

Wrong-o. Manga is manga and given its large population of its kind, can be just manga.

Graphic novels (as I own several that are not "Japanese") are more or less novel sized books--except the story is told in form of comic panels and so forth. Also known as Picture Novellas.

Warofwinds · Post by **Warofwinds** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 1:03 pm

Manga is art style, not storytelling style. At least, that's what it become online. True manga had its own storytelling method originally, but I think for the majority it's safe to say manga is art, not story. So it doesn't fit into the above categories.

Killbert-Robby · Post by **Killbert-Robby** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 1:05 pm

Which is basically what I said.

So I'm right. End of story. Leave.

Qwanderer · Post by **Qwanderer** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 1:23 pm

Most Manga (the kind written in Japan that you can buy at Barnes & Noble in large volumes) has a storytelling style somewhere between the comic strip and the graphic novel. But it appears along a lot of the spectrum, and even some strips in newspapers have continued stories like graphic novels. So I would categorize a work by where it is on the spectrum than whether it is Manga or not. From serious story, to Ranma, to joke a day.

Are you interested in categories that don't revolve around the panel, such as illustrated books? I did my senior project on a similar subject. I focused on what I call artifact books, which try to appear as though they are an artifact from within the story, such as The Dragon Chronicles, Griffin and Sabine, and Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book.

GeneralTsom · Post by **GeneralTsom** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 1:45 pm

qwanderer wrote: Are you interested in categories that don't revolve around the panel, such as illustrated books?

Sure, any form of illustrated storytelling can be thrown into the mix. Although panel related types interest me more due to their higher popularity.

LibertyCabbage · Post by **LibertyCabbage** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 3:22 pm

Webcomic

Warofwinds · Post by **Warofwinds** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:17 pm

webcomic is a medium though, not a method. Some methods are easier pursued through it though, like infinite canvas and such.

Tellurider · Post by **Tellurider** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 8:24 pm

Just curious: does "illustrated storytelling" include animation? I know a lot of animations started out as comic books, but in some cases they didn't, for example, a lot of animated shorts. Hell, old-school disney movies as well.

But it does beg the question, what's the difference between a strip and a book in relation to storytelling? I mean, they run a spiderman strip in the newspaper, but that's based off the comic book, and if you put them together they'd make a book, yes?

ShardZ · Post by **ShardZ** » Mon May 01, 2006 7:01 am

Tellurider wrote:But it does beg the question, what's the difference between a strip and a book in relation to storytelling? I mean, they run a spiderman strip in the newspaper, but that's based off the comic book, and if you put them together they'd make a book, yes?

I think "strips" are more commonly (not always) used to encapsulate a certain situation, humorous or not, as a mini-storyline within a larger picture. "Pages" in comics are more often (but still, not always) used not for a punchline or cliffhanger, but as part of a sequence of events, and difficult to be taken as stand-alone. (These are just my humble opinions/estimations.) There are webcomics, etc. which use both strips and pages to tell their story; the format allows the creator to alternate between pure advancement of plot and the inclusion of a punchline or cliffhanger (until the next update).

The first time I heard of "Graphic Novels," it was in the context of Tiffany Ross' "Graphic Novels in Progress" which commonly used a comic accompanied by a body of text (which often provided more information than the comic alone). Thus, for a time I was under the mistaken impression that "Graphic Novels" were strictly a combination of text and pictures. (I was not experienced with comic books, which seem to also be given the "graphic novel" title. *shrug* Strict parenting.)

Komiyan · Post by **Komiyan** » Mon May 01, 2006 8:20 am

warofwinds wrote:webcomic is a medium though, not a method. Some methods are easier pursued through it though, like infinite canvas and such.

But single pages of webcomics are very different to single pages from comic books. Seems to me to be a different format of writing, panel layout, etc, which sets it apart far enough.

Skylark King · Post by **Skylark King** » Mon May 01, 2006 1:08 pm

But where, pray tell, does Jack Chick fit into all of this?

Do tracts fall into any particular catagory or are they thier own? There's this one that tells of a young girl named Elfstar who played AD&D and began to learn real magic. She cats some spells and got her dad to buy her a bunch of D&D stuff but then she wanted to change her name to Debbie.. I dunno...

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue May 02, 2006 10:30 am

GeneralTsom wrote:A few of my friends and I have been debating how to categorize types of illustrated storytelling for a project. So I'm asking for help. Bare in mind that we are talking about 'types' as in Comic Strips, Comic Books, etc... and NOT categories like action, fantasy, sci-fi, shonen, etc.

So, what list of illustrated storytelling types would you use?

To get you started, here is what we started with: Comic Strips, Comic Books, and Graphic Novels. The question posed here is, where does manga fit into? It's more like a graphic novel but is it different enough to warrant it's own 'type'?

I think you've stepped on a completely wrong foot there. Comic strips, comic books and graphic novels aren't different types of illustrated storytelling, they are all the same type: comics. The only thing different is the format in which they're published: Comic strips usually one strip in each daily issue of newspapers, comic books in 20 or so pages long books, graphic novels in larger books usually over 100 pages. To that you can add European form of comic albumc (A4 format, usually around 40 pages), webcomics or a veriety of manga formats (for instance graphic novels of over 1000 pages). But comic strips can be collected in collections that resemble graphic novels, comic books can be published as graphic novels, graphic novels can be serialized in books, etc etc. The point is, they are all the same form of graphic narration, they all utilize the same means (for instance speech baloons, panels, reader's ability to fill the time gap between panels) and though there is some difference in approach to camera angles, action or themes, that's not enough to classify them as different types of narration.
If you are looking different types of graphic narration laid on paper, I can only think of comics, picture books and storyboards laid out as preparation for films. You could add to that interactive comics that sometimes appear on web, which utilize sound and movement too, while keeping still images as basis. Of course as someone mentioned, animation, and even games, can be considered illustrated storytelling too.

Caduceus · Post by **Caduceus** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:15 pm

Manga means comic. It's a medium, not a format.

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Tue May 02, 2006 7:37 pm

*nods* people assume Manga is a style but its not. It is a japanese comic. calling manga a style is like calling "comic" a style of drawing and looping everythingg from Superman to Archie into a style.

diffrent illustrated formats, I could see where comics (laid out to tell a story in 30 pages) is diffrent than say a graphic novel (that is created as a graphic novel not a collection) is created as a longer story telling style.

there are also things like MCD mentioned, picture books, and storyboards, we also have linear paintings, which tell stories, Poster Comics which is a comic one one gigantic sheet of paper that can go on for several feet. There's also illustrated stories, which is stories that feature artwork on every few pages. And errm.. there's a lot more of em too. telling stories through a visual medium, has continually evolved since the cave painting days.

MixedMyth · Post by **MixedMyth** » Tue May 02, 2006 7:44 pm

Here's where it gets difficult. Yes, manga technically means comic. Certainly in Japanese. However, it has also come to have a coloqueal meaning- one of association with a number of related styles that stem from Japan. In that sense, it does also mean a style. By dint of assocciation/inspiration rather than by technical definition.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue May 02, 2006 9:49 pm

I agree with MM. "Manga" means comic in Japanese. However, we are speaking English, in which manga has a different, more narrow meaning: comics that come from Japan or is influenced by Japanese comics, which share some of stylistic characteristics. I think that style is acceptable expression, if not the most precise. I think that more precise would be "comic school", relating to distinctive European or American comic schools, but not many people use term "school" in that sense.

But manga is not a medium; Comics, film, literature, they're mediums, as they employ different physical means to communicate their story to reader. If we want to make more distinction, we could say that digital comics are different medium from published comics, or even that markers are different inking medium from brush or dip pen. But manga only employs different stylistic characteristics, while it's created and transhered to audience using same mediums as other types of comics.

phactorri wrote:there are also things like MCD mentioned, picture books, and storyboards, we also have linear paintings, which tell stories, Poster Comics which is a comic one one gigantic sheet of paper that can go on for several feet. There's also illustrated stories, which is stories that feature artwork on every few pages. And errm.. there's a lot more of em too. telling stories through a visual medium, has continually evolved since the cave painting days.

Icons in churchs... cave paintings... They also have narrative told through pictures.

Ideal Comics · Post by **Ideal Comics** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:14 pm

I think most of my points have already been mentioned (curse me for waiting to respond), But I must chime in to agree with McD and others. Comics, in all there incarnations, are part of the same medium (medium defined as entertainment medium, eg film, live theatre, music, etc, as opposed to oil, pencil, acrilyc, tile, etc) There are many schools, styles, methods, but the same medium: comics and sequential art

Other media include, I would think, illustrated stories (pulps and story books) and sequenced works (paintings (such as the Peaceable kingdom) et al)

The difference, l think, lies herein: in comics, multiple sequential images are all part a a single work, whether page, strip, or infinite canvas. In the other forms (word-and-picture or picture alone), each image is a seperate work

I don't think that moving pictures really count as illustrated storytelliing, but I could Be wrong!

Rhys

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Categorizing Types of Illustrated Storytelling

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