Blood In The Gutter

The article draws attention to the fragmented spaces in narratives that appear in comic strips. Although most people can argue that a piece of media such as a comic book is a less ‘intellectual’ form of reading. Maybe this is because some people feel that because a comic book is more visual, it is somehow a lesser form of narrative. However hard it may be to ‘read between the lines’ when reading a book, I believe the comic strip, like film, can be more intellectually stimulating than just text.
As Scott McCloud points out, the negative space between graphics in a comic strip suggests to the reader numerous things. This I think allows the reader to use their imagination and critical thinking a lot more and requires an active participation from the reader. Think about that. Just a fragmentation – a bit of space between two different graphics – can pull an audience and create suspense. That’s amazing.
I connect this with a concept that I read in my cinema studies textbook that I find very interesting. It said that the framing, mise en scene etc.  can suggest ‘offscreen space’. A director will lead the audience to the place they want to take them. A multitude of ideas can be suggested through what is not shown – less is more as they say – in creative mediums.