Comic Book Pacing and Flow
Comic Book writers have to think about more than just the story, the dialogue, and what scenes the artist should draw in the panels when they are writing their stories.
They also have to think about the pacing and flow of their story.
Flow is the order the reader experiences the art and dialogue inside the panels.
Pacing is the speed at which the reader experiences each panel.
Think of pacing and flow the same way you think of the direction of a river and the speed of the current. The river bends, and the currents go fast to slow
Because in a way that is how the reader’s eyes guide them through the page, what they focus on first, and then next, and next, and so on.
How Comic Books Are Read:
We all know how to read comic books, left-to-right, and top-to-bottom, but did you know that there are three different reading styles a reader might enjoy each panel?
Reading Style 1: Art First Then Text
Some readers first look at the art and the details within the panel, before they focus on the text within.
Reading Style 2: Text First Then Art
While other readers read the text first and then the details in the art.
Reading Style 3: Both at the Same Time
Then there are the readers who take both the art and the images in at the same time like they’re watching a foreign movie with subtitles.
FLOW
Below are two Comic Book pages.
The one on the left from Superman © DC Comics, and the one on the right from Spiderman © Marvel Comics, even though these two characters come from two rival comic book companies, they still follow the same rules.
Look at these images again, but this time focus on the FLOW, the way the characters move and how the art and the story guide you through the panels, from one panel to the next, and finally they both move to the right.
In Western comic books characters move left to right, and the reason they do is because the reader reads left to right, and the character (and writer) subconsciously wants the reader to turn the page to continue the story.
*Pro Tip: When there are two characters in the scene and they are done interacting, the one who is leaving flies/walks/moves off to the right (or down or up).
PACING
Pacing is the speed at which the reader reads a particular panel or page.
Two main things help control the pacing.
The text and the art.
How much or how little text you have in each panel controls the pacing of each panel.
The more dialogue you have determines how little room you have for art, but it also slows down the reading pace of the reader.
In correlation, the more details the artist puts in the art, the slower the pace the reader will take to examine all those details.
So, it’s up to the writer to determine the pace and flow that is best for their story, by balancing the ratio of art and dialogue in each panel and page.
But, there is another thing that can speed up the Pace and Flow of a reader, and you should do everything you can to avoid it, and that is the lazy reader.
The Lazy Reader
The lazy reader is a direct result of boring dialogue and uninteresting comic art panels.
If your dialogue is boring the reader will skip parts of it, and that will affect the pace you are trying to establish.
Also, if you ask your artists to draw mundane, boring, or repeated panels the reader will also skip those and that will also affect the pace you are trying to establish.
When I wrote SNARL I was constantly thinking about pacing, flow, and not creating a lazy reader. Because SNARL is set in modern times, and it is about detectives trying to solve multiple murders, there are a lot of two things.
Conversations and driving, and many times the conversations took place while driving.
SNARL is 42 pages long, and on those 42 pages, there are 35 panels in which dialogue occurs in or around a car.
But, if you look closely you will notice that the artist (& Co-Creator) Nathan Kelly and I ensured that none of the 35 panels were duplicated. We did this to ensure that we didn’t create a lazy reader, and you should do your best to avoid creating a lazy reader as well.
Pacing and Flow Example:
Take a look at the first page and 9 panels of DC COMICS Batman: The Killing Joke, written by the great Alan Moore, and drawn by the amazing Brain Bolland.
- Panel 1 shows rain falling onto the ground and forming puddles.
- Panel 2 shows the same rain puddles but zoomed back a bit, showing they are next to a brick column.
- Panel 3 shows the same puddles on a road and there is a car driving towards them.
- Panel 4 is a side-angled shot, showing the front of the car racing through the puddles (we can see the speed of the car in the puddle splash) and on the column, we can see a sign that reads: Arkham Asylum
- Panel 5 shows the back of Batman as he is getting out of the car.
- Panel 6 shows Batman entering the gates of Arkham Asylum.
- Panel 7 shows Batman walking towards Arkham Asylum and we can see that he is walking fast (by the distance between him and the gate).
- Panel 8 shows Commissioner Gordon drinking a coffee next to a police officer as Batman enters the frame.
- Panel 9 shows that Batman is in such a rush that he doesn’t acknowledge Commissioner Gordon, and Commissioner Gordon gives his coffee away because he knows he won’t need it.
The page also establishes the mood (rainy and dreary), and the location (Arkham Asylum), and introduces the key characters in the story (Batman and Commissioner Gordon).
But there is something more at play here, and it is the pacing and the flow of this page.
The pacing is intentionally slow.
The Author (Alan Moore) intentionally has slow pacing here, like each panel is a beat. Tap. Tap. Tap. Or more precisely. Each panel is a drop of Rain… Drip. Drip. Drip.
Which is why he starts with that very first panel.
But, while everything in these panels is slowed down, Batman is rushed, he moves with purpose, and he is focused.
The other interesting thing about this comic book page is there are 9 panels on this page.
If the author wanted this page to have faster pacing, he could’ve established the mood (rainy and dreary), and the location (Arkham Asylum), and introduced the key characters in the story (Batman and Commissioner Gordon), in 4 panels.
However, the author (Alan Moore) intentionally wanted to have a slower pace and have the reader focus on each panel, setting up the overall story, the tension, and the flow.
Summary
It’s the writer’s job to maintain the pace and flow of your story, by always being aware of how much (or little) dialogue and art are in each panel on each page, and by doing so you will avoid lazy readers, and write better stories.
