English

Reading (and watching) Questions #2

1. What is a symbol?

2. How does my definition of “icon” differ from McCloud’s?

3. What is a pictograph?

4. List the four basic ways pictures interact with words.

5. Which of these ways are used in graphic novels?

6. What is closure?

7. Where does most closure take place in comics?

8. What are the six types of panel-to-panel transitions in comics?

9. Who does McCloud credit with introducing the storytelling techniques used by most American comics creators?

10. Which type of panel-to-panel transition is used in Japanese comics but not in Western comics?

[Note: McCloud’s term “word balloon” is the same thing as “speech bubble.”]

11. How can a single-panel cartoon show time passing?

12. What is comics’ most important icon?

13. How can a comics creator make a panel seem to last longer in time?

14. How do comics portray sound?

15. What are bleeds?

16. How do comics show motion?

17. What is a polyptych?

18. Why do Addison and Lexa live alone?

19. Who is Vespertine?

20. Why does the National Guard maintain checkpoints around Poughkeepsie?

21. How does Addison make a living?

22. How did Addison manage to miss the Spill event?

23. List Addison’s rules of survival.

24. What agreement does Mrs. Vandersloot make with an agent of a foreign country?