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My friend told me I was reading Watchmen wrong for years
He said stop focusing on the plot and look at the panel layouts instead, and after I spent an hour going back through issue 4 I saw the whole mirroring thing he was talking about and now I get why people call it a masterpiece.
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emmam677d ago
I mean, if you need a diagram to appreciate a comic, maybe the storytelling just isn't that strong to begin with.
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the_alice7d ago
Have you ever tried to explain a genuinely layered joke to someone and had to draw it out because the setup relies on visual timing or cultural references that don't land immediately? Some comics are built on density, not simplicity, and a diagram can actually be a sign the artist put a LOT of thought into the panel layout. I've seen strips where the geography of the setting matters to the punchline, like a character moving through different rooms, and without mapping it out, the humor just flies past you. It's not weak storytelling to require a second glance, it's respecting that the audience might want to unpack the joke instead of having it handed to them. If anything, a comic that makes me reach for a pen and paper to work through the layers is WAY more rewarding than a surface-level gag I forget in two seconds. So I'd say a diagram isn't a failure, it's an invitation to engage with the work on a deeper level.
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kim_martin1d ago
Invitation to engage"? More like an invitation to do the artist's job for them.
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