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Chapter Two - The "Song" Sequence (Preview)
🕑 Added 2022-05-20 20:51:01 +0000 UTC[ SPOILER WARNING - if you care about spoilers, or you just don't want to see this sequence 'til it's done, skip this post! ]
I've been teasing this for a while, holding it back, because… ha ha, I am nervous about posting it! AND YET! Here it is. One of the sequences I'd most been looking forward to for Chapter Two. One of the silliest ideas. One of the sequences that feels most high-stakes to me, in that if I don't get it just right it's not going to be what I want it to be. Below: some thoughts on why it is the way it is.
Note: In the pages above, I've added some junk behind the text solely for the sake of legibility. That won't be there in the final version.
STORY CONTEXT
This all takes place after Alexandra's mother has revealed exactly what will be expected of Alexandra as a young English Lady in the Regency Era (i.e., practicing polite pasttimes with the aim of making one's self appealing to a man, so that a beneficial match might be made). Alexandra's parents had never made this explicitly clear to her, so she believed her future would be very different.
THE CHALLENGE
I wanted to put a "want song" into PDAP since very early on. I said I wanted to embrace sillier ideas. DD seems like such a non-singing character that I thought it would be fun. Plus, when I was a kid, my dad used to blast the soundtracks to ALADDIN and THE LITTLE MERMAID on his big strong stereo, and I don't think he was doing it for our sake. He's crank it up on a Saturday morning and clean the house while I, a Very Cool Young Teen, would make "you're so weird" faces at him and secretly hum along to "Prince Ali."
A "want song" is the song in every Disney animated musical wherein the main character sings a song that literally tells us exactly what they want. Take a look, you'll recognize them immediately. [For my money, "Out There" from HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME is number one, but Reflections is also good.] [ This ranking from Boing Boing is a bit better.]
I figured the best want songs have the following features in common:
- Catchy music.
- Clever lyrics that rhyme.
- They "travel." There's a lot to look at.
- Contrasting POVs (see Frollo's participation in "Out There").
- Good "flow." The sequence runs together fluidly, sometimes a showcase for non-traditional staging and editing.
- Melodrama! Everyone pours their entire heart out like upending a wash basin.
- A poignant conclusion.
- They are very often (almost always!) part of a movie.
… but I'm over here making a comic book. And for any ideas I might kick around about using the a/v power of digital presentation, eventually I want this to be a paper book, so it's got to work on paper.
Another sort-of-problem: there often aren't a lot of lyrics to these Want Songs. If you took the lyrics to a traditional Want Song and laid it out on pages, it wouldn't take up much space. When we hear that song as part of the movie, the music gives us something to chew on. Presented as a reading experience, it's just not that substantial. And I wanted the sequence to be substantial and have that "travelling" quality.
THE APPROACH
With that all in mind, I set myself to writing, basically, a long poem instead of the lyrics of a song. By simply writing more than would be required (or wanted) for an actual song-song, there would just be enough text on each page to establish the sort of "pace" I wanted. If that sounds brutish, um, well, there it is. When I read comics, text is like an anchor that keeps me from burning through pages as quickly as I can devour them. It is unlikely that my results would make good song lyrics, but since we can't give the audience any music anyway, it necessarily has to be something different.
Since we're without music, I worked hard to get the meter working well, and hopefully it is easy to read as intended. When there's music to support a song, it's easier to be footloose and fancy-free with the poetic meter, but we don't get that luxury here. I'll have to take a look at it again later, with really fresh eyes, to see what improvements can still be made.
I set all the text in my usual DD sans-serif (Adobe Jenson) to help differentiate this sequence from the rest of the book; to help communicate "read this differently from the way you would read a comic." I'm tempted to goose the typography for all the "I'll show yous," but I want to keep it subtle.
One thing that was especially difficult was just trying to make characters say what they mean. I hate doing that. I have a lot of practice not doing that. But the sappy melodrama of the song demands it. I hope it is successful.
I'm a little tender about this song sequence, but I am also happy to admit that I am a novice when it comes to poetry. I'm always open to constructive crits in the comments, so if you notice something that's bugging you, I'd like to hear it.
- - - -
BUBBLE NOMINATED FOR EISNER AWARD
Huzzah! BUBBLE has been nominated for Eisner awards in both the "Best Humor Publication" and "Best Adaptation from Another Medium" categories! Based off the fiction podcast of the same name, this is the book I illustrated and helped adapt from the script by Jordan Morris (Hi Jordan!) and Sarah Morgan. Natalie Riess performed the excellent colour work and Ben Wilgus was our amazing editor. I love this book and its characters, I'm so glad I was able to work on it, we had so much fun adapting it, I just– I'm extremely happy to see it receive this honour, and I feel especially lucky to be sharing it with such an awesome team.
IN OTHER NEWS
My toddler fell asleep in my lap while I was flatting yesterday. He's never done that before, and it was super cute. I might have have become misty-eyed. On the other hand, he only fell asleep because he aggressively skipped his mid-day nap, which was stressful for his mom, I think.
I hope everyone's doing well out there. In the coming weeks: praise for (and a close look) at Jonathan Case's LITTLE MONARCHS, a new graphic novel I greatly enjoyed; and some revelations about authorial intent and writing essays for English classes.
🎵
TC
Comments
Lex
Congratulations on the Eisner nom! And I love that you are doing a “want song” in a comic book. I’ve tried similar approaches with poetry in my books (tho’ not in the main story…more like prologues) with varying degrees of success. Your illustrations really help convey the dueling points of view.
kaitou
As I said, Tony's instance above actually works -- at least, for me. This subject came up on Twitter 6 years (!) ago and produced this comic: https://www.kaitou.org/comic/archives/comic/panel-layout Check out the discussion below the comic. (I hate pimping my own work, but in the interest of education...)
Tealin
The first I heard of this rule was about 6 weeks ago on Twitter; the fine print seems to be "unless you know how to compose the graphic elements to lead the eye around the panels correctly", so you probably don't have to worry about it.
Tony Cliff
Hmm, I hadn't heard that rule. I hear what you're saying though. Thanks for the heads-up!
Joel Mangrum
I am digging the "Alice In Wonderland" vibe.
kaitou
One odd point I find interesting: on page 3 of this set you broke the "don't put two frames on the left with a double height frame on the right" rule (which order to read after the upper left: down or right?) but, yet, it works in this case (at least for me--I somehow went down instinctively rather than right like I usually do). I think it's having the single line at the top of each.
jonsullivan
Amazing! That captures the independent spirit of a young Delilah to a tee. Love it.
