That’s a movie, this is a comic book.
And would you technically call some of those seques flashbacks in Inglourious Basterds? Yes, they were flashing back to things in the past, but it was more like you were being quick fed information…
…you know what, those were flashbacks.
I don’t know what I am typing here. You can do anyhting if you do it right. If you are just introducing someone you shouldn’t be introducing 30 other things to complicate their intoduciton.
their talking about the girls mom…its relevant to the plot since the moms not actually alive. the girls having a conversation with her principal.
the original flashback is introducing us to the girls life and what was happening the previous day that led to the moment we meet her.
Yes, comics are fully capable of drawing from the same pool of visual narrative devices that movies thrive upon. And, just as with movies, there can be comics for which the stylistic conventions are the entire point. I seem to remember one… Watch-something…
Just find a way to get your characters moving. E.g. A walk-and-talk with little things happening in the backdrop. Keep it from turning into a series of talking heads delivering plot info.
There was a looooong flashback in One Piece to introduce Franky. We learned about a lot of characters during that flashback, too. If possible, try to roll everything up into one flashback. you might have to alter your story some, but if it makes the story simpler in the end it may be worth it. :tup:
You mean Stormwatch.
Stormwatch was awesome.
PS - Don’t use One Piece as an example of getting something across in a concise manner.
Billy Budd. The entire novel is huge fucking flashback. :tup:
i’ll write out both and see which one i like better…we’re gonna get a flashback of her eventually. but maybe ill delay it a couple arcs.
i would never ever use one piece plot devices…at least not on purpose. nor would i use naruto…flashback=you’re gonna die nigga
jeez…alerts have straight up tapped out on working these days
Only good flashback ever was Berserk’s.
I agree with everyone that said to skip it and just give the information out in other ways.
Goody has the right idea. People just sitting there talking is boring for your eyes because nothings happening. Have them walk around the campus with the principal while they talk or something instead of sitting in his office.
I don’t think flash backs are a problem as long as the current time narrative continues to move forward. It’s when the plot stops in order to go backwards that it’s a problem.
Who walks across campus with the principal? You could get it done in like 3 panels if you do it Bendis style. Just throw all that information out there at once SUCKA. Or do a one page montage if your art is good and can express stuff without words.
PS - And Berserk flashback was the best.
you ask me, their character isn’t balanced.
-Starhammer-
Octuple flashback.
Nobody walks across campus with the principle, but that’s not the point. In fiction, you occasionally do stuff that isn’t exactly realistic, because it works for the storytelling.
A few things that fuck up the comics page:
Know why formulaic TV dramas use the walk-and-talk conversation all the time? Because it works. You get to get your information out there without bringing everything to a grinding halt, and, as a bonus, you reinforce the sense of geography and atmosphere of the location. It keeps it from turning into an infodump, and turns it into a scene.
But who walks across a campus with a principal? Is this principal going to be chewing someone out while getting their cardio workout in? So they are just going to be walking and then the girl says “Hey let me tell you a story about my mom before you continue telling me whatever and lets just keep walking along this serene campus”
Yes, you are describing something that is screenwriting 101. But with comics you can draw people talking because it’s just a storyboard. Get out your damn Wally Wood panels that work page and draw a damn conversation.
You got a lot of information to get out there, composition the shit out of that shit and make it so the reader can easily get the gist of whatever is so important it needs to be word walled to your audience.
Exactly. You want a string of scenes not chunks of info dump and static images. That’s boring.
he’s telling a story to the girl about her mom within the first flash back. the second one would be about her mom, the students mom not the principals.
the idea their walking around actually makes alot of sense for the story because its about her time in the school.
Comics are no less susceptible to a loss of momentum/growing overly talky.
Or maybe you’d like me to start trotting out the dreaded Jeph Loeb panels and show you what happens when comics really do become a storyboard crossed with an infodump.
I am not disagreeing with you in anyway.
You are saying “When people have to talk, make them move around. Don’t have people give enormous speeches”
I am saying “Yes, you can draw them moving around and talking. Yes, don’t have people filibustering”
Why would I want 3 pages of people debating each other. But if you are concise and get to the point you can get a page and a half conversation done easily. Get the information you need to the audience to know out there.
And Rock, from what Maxx typed, I thought they were the same thing, but if it’s just one flashback AKA story the guy is telling her about her mom, and then a WHOLE other flashback about the mom again, that is not good writing to just have them back to back.
Especially if we have no idea who the girl is, let alone her mom.
im kinda having trouble explaining without actually revealing the important plot.
basically its laid out like this:
the girl basically got caught in an explosion. she’s going over what happened over the past day that led up to the explosion, which is a setup to introducing all the important characters for the moment. within this first flashback she is having, she gets in a trouble with her teacher and gets sent to the principle. they are having a heart to heart about stuff and to relate the principle begins to talk about the young students mom. who he knew and was friends with in school when they were in this girls age. this is where the second flashback comes from.
its not 2 flashbacks bout the mom…just 1 specifically about the mom.
I’m just gonna assume that it’s bad because you are writing it.
HATE HATE HATE HATE.