Comic+Creation





__**Nuit Blanche Escapades: Narrative**__

In the comic strip, Nuit Blanche Escapades features a female character named Hilary and her friends. She travels to Toronto to experience Nuit Blanche, a celebration event of visual art display in downtown that takes place from 6 pm to 6 am.. She is anxious to see what Nuit Blanche is really about. Hilary walks downtown on her way to see visual art displays when she suddenly sees a mini carnival across the street. She approaches it and notices cotton candy and a carnival ride called “Avalanche”. Hilary then takes a cotton candy. She is excited to it again since she never had eaten one for a long time. Before eating her cotton candy, she mentions her excitement to ride the Avalanche carnival ride after eating. She finishes her cotton candy really quick to line up for the Avalanche. Hilaryʼs friends also show excitement, especially the minor male character Wilfrido. He describes that the Avalanche carnival ride is a “sick” ride, a slang term for an amazing or fun ride.

Hilary and her friends entered the Avalanche ride, excited for the ride to start. However, Hilary seems to be still excited for more cotton candy because she is still craving for more of the cotton candy while she is waiting for the ride to begin. She has become hyper throughout the waiting period for the ride since she would keep on talking to her irate friend beside him. On the other hand, Wilfrido who was over excited is now scared because the ride has elevated. He is scared of heights and would not want to look down. Also during the ride, Hilary continues to be excited, enjoying the Avalanche Carnival ride whereas Wilfrido is feeling sick about the ride. The Nuit Blanche Escpades ends at the beginning point of Hilary and her friendʼs adventure for a long night to come.

__**Nuit Blanche Escapades: Analysis**__

A new media, such as a web comic is an effective tool that exclusively uses imagery to communicate message to its target audience. As Scott McCloud explain that comics is “a medium where the audience is willing and conscious collaborator and closure is the agent of change, time and motion,” (Scott, McCloudpg. 65). Nuit Blanche Escapades utilizes some of the theories that Scott McCloud explained in Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. The theory of motion within frames is used to communicate the authorʼs message and it supports Scott McCloudʼs explanation that comic is a medium where the audience is an active participant of the comicʼs story.

Nuit Blanche Escapades supports McCloudʼs explanation that “Comic panels fracture both Time and Space offering unconnected moments but closure allows us to connect these moments and mentally construct a continuous unified reality,” (ScottMcCloud, pg. 67). Nuit Blanche Escapades uses Action-to-Action frame progressions to allow its readers to mentally construct time and space within the comic strips. In the comic strip, actionto- action is used to show the progression of Hilary, the main character in the story. This is depicted through the change of action from her walking to the Avalanche carnival ride to the time where she is about to eat her cotton candy. The comic does not specify the length of time but it uses detailed transition of action movements to demonstrate a rapid time movement when Hilary is eating the cotton candy, for example. This action to action frame progression bridges the missing time and space not explained by the comic literally but described through the use of detailed images.

Movement in a comic strip is shown through motion within frames connected with other frames in the comic strip. Scott McCloud also states that “motion breaks down into subsets, first type is panel-to-panel closure and the other type is motion within panels,” (Scott McCloud, pg 116). The use of frames is an effective way to communicate to the readers the motion and action within the story. Motion is effectively used through the use of similar backgrounds and motion within the frame. This supports the motion of the comic because it allows the reader to understand that this particular action is happening at a small fraction of time. The comic becomes consistent with space also because the comic shows the transition of space through the frames of the comic (an example in the comic such as the movement from the street, to the waiting area of the carnival ride to the ride itself). Movement is communicated effectively because having similar backgrounds allow the reader to see characterʼs actions within each single frame. Thus, motion is effectively demonstrated through the collection of frames with similar backgrounds.

Nuit Blanche Escapades uses frames to communicate motion effectively by using theories explained by Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. The comic uses action to action frames to show progression to tell the story of the comic. The reader connects these frames to understand movement by mentally constructing the action happening within the story. In conclusion, Nuit Blanche Escapades uses and supports Scott McCloudʼs explanation that comic is a medium where the audience actively participates in understanding the motion happening within each frames.

Sources: McCloud, Scott, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art.