It's fitting that Crusoe was among the first titled to be adapted for Classics Illustrated, a series founded by Russian-born publisher Albert Lewis Kanter (1897–1973), who genuinely believed that great literature ought to be brought within closer reach of younger readers. Between 1941 and 1962, more than 200 million copies were sold -- quite a feat when the entire population of the United States was only 180 million as of 1960! It's fair enough to think of comics such as this being as much of a mass medium of their time as radio or television. For Crusoe, Kanter called upon the talents of Stanley Maxwell Zuckerberg, who along with his wife Lillian Chestney was a regular contributor to the series. Both had graduated from the prestigious Pratt Art Institute in the 1930's, where they met.
Zuckerberg approached this comic-book adaptation in typical "house style" -- the story was meant to be "faithfully" adapted, and, wherever possible, original dialogue and other language preserved -- but within those constraints, he had relative liberty to design each frame and page as he liked. Scott McCloud describes six kinds of panel transitions, with #1 (moment to moment), #2 (action to action), and #3 (subject to subject) being the most common. So have a read of this version of Robinson Crusoe -- and take note of its most common transitions. Does it follow the pattern that McCloud says is the most common? Are there individual pages which deviate from the pattern? You don't have to count the frames on every page or make a graph -- just make a note of the pattern you notice.
Then pick one page -- any page of your liking -- which varies from the pattern, or makes different use of the conventions of time and space. Post your thoughts on it below!
I see that people are a bit hesitant to start, so I'll kick things off. It certainly does seem that the vast majority of panel transitions are #1 or #2 (moment-to-moment or action-to-action) -- indeed, the pace of the story can be a bit plodding in places! I did, however, very much like the large upper panel on page 54, where the ship's boat glides towards the vessel while the men sing a sea shanty; the eye tends to follow the lyrics, which mimics the shipward motion of the boat.
ReplyDeleteI too liked when Crusoe mimicked the the movements and sounds through the way he positioned the words whether it be by text size or the way he frames the actual word in the comic. It added a sense to the comic that you could almost hear it as you were imagining it. My favorite panels he would mimic this action in however is when he used it for the parrot throughout the story like on page 31!
Delete-Britney Raposo
DeleteThere certainly are a lot of action panels in this text! The page that I found to be different was page 6. On this page I noticed how the panels overlap one another, so there are no "gutters" like we learned about in Chapter 3 of "Understanding Comics" This page also makes use of a circular panel. Circular panels are seen a few times throughout this comic, but I would still consider them rare enough to say that a page containing a circular panel would be straying from the norm.
ReplyDelete-Catherine Comfort
After reading Robinson Crusoe's comic, i realized that Crusoe mostly uses the moment to moment method. In many cases, a page is used as a list with an image describing and showing exactly what happens when a list is read. For example, this method was used on page 28 when he is talking about cooking different foods. Each comic box is filled with an image showing what he makes and a brief sentence. One of the boxes shows him making cornbread and states "i prepared to make cornbread". This method personally makes reading the passage as well as understanding whats happening very easy and interesting. Although there are many different action panels in this comic, i have found that there a far more moment to moment panels than the others.
ReplyDelete-Carlie McPherson
Robinson Crusoe consisted heavily of moment-to-moment panel transitions, which McCloud said was one of the most common. The frames on each page are positioned in the same way with a similar number on each. Most of the pages consist of 3 rows with 2 or 3 columns of square frames. Some pages deviate from this pattern including 37. Page 37 has one large single frame depicting the celebration dance of the savages. I think this page is the most different from the others as it shows that time is long in this scene as they are observing the savages and waiting for the perfect moment to engage in the surprise attack. All this frame you can see the large pot behind the savages that is used to torture and cook the prisoners, the savages dancing, and the command to begin the attack. Every page, including this one, is narrated and describes what is happening in each frame throughout the graphic novel.
ReplyDelete-Sadie Patterson
While reading through Robinson Crusoe, I noticed that the majority of the transitions were action to action, particularly in the beginning when Crusoe gets shipwrecked, and also when he starts to interact with the other people and animals on the island. This is a very effective way to transition throughout the story because the pace is so quick, with many of the action scene. For example, on page 20 the small boat sinking happened in 4 panels, which is a lot of action to fit in. This is why the action to action fits perfectly and is used so effectively in this comic. Moment to moment transitions were also used, which helped slow down the pace. I found this particularly effective in sequences that had more dialogue, for example on page 34 the pace seemed to slow down as the two walked along the beach. Overall these two different transitions were used fairly often through the story which helped control the pace of the action.- Lisbeth Spitzschuh
ReplyDeleteRobinson Crusoe uses many moment-to-moment transitions throughout which is an effective way to carry out the action. Something particular that caught my attention was on page 12 when he is using a grind stone. His foot is on the pedal and his hands free, but circular squiggle marks around the wheel show motion all in one picture. Another thing was on page 14, coming out of the parrots mouth is motion lines as well as words "AWR-K" and "SQU-A-IUT". This image really brings the motion alive as well as the auditory portion, it's almost like watching a film.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading Robinson Crusoe I noticed that he tends to many action to action and moment to moment transitions. These are two of the most common transitions according to McCloud and the comic uses them extremely well. Although these transitions are the most common in Robinson Crusoe, they weren't the only transitions that were used. For example on the bottom of page 13 theres a big panel with multiple transitions within the same panel. Although this may still be considered action to action I thought it was interesting how he placed multiple panels within 1 panel. He does this throughout the comic a lot, but I thought it was done particularly well on page 13 when he shows the tarpaulin collapse.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the whole Robin Crusoe book, I noticed how much action to action transitions there were in the comic. Throughout of the book there was plenty of fights and not every scene was shown but as the reader I knew what was going on and could picture the scene. On page #39 when Robinson and Friday thought they had fought off all the savages and was snuck up by one big savage. The panels show no talking just the narrator explaining the different action scenes, along with action words.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the work of Robinson Crusoe, the panel transition that stuck out to me the most was the moment to moment transitions. These were used frequently in this read and seemed to slow down the pace of the story line in order to give the readers time to collect their thoughts. I find these transitions very helpful, as I am able to slow down and fully grasp the ideas the author is trying to portray. The work of Robinson Crusoe most definitely follows the ideas of McCloud and what he believes is most common. A particular moment in the story that stuck out to me was on page 20 when the boat is sinking, this action was stretched out over four panels when it could've been condensed to two. Crusoe is trying to slow down the story by making this action drawn out, allowing time for the reader and emphasizing a particular action in the story that could have easily been missed.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this comic, one thing I had noticed was that there wasn't much of a pause between the panels that the readers could assume or imagine what happened next. What I mean by this is the fact that Crusoe explained panel by panel what would happen in that scene and show it, McCloud explains what these panels are on page 70 in his book "Understanding Comics". These most frequently used panels in Crusoes comic is known as "Moment-to-Moment" and "Action to Action". The transitions between Crusoe's panels are very common as McCloud states in his book. Something to me that was interesting is on pages like 42 of Crusoe's comic instead of using mostly square or rectangular panels he used circles to go from action to action scenes. Crusoe also had many noises projected in his images to demonstrate what the sound was from and the pitch it was made in was heard by the way it was written like on page 31 when the parrot is talking. the letters are stretched out and written in a way that you can hear (imagine) the parrots shriek.
ReplyDeleteBritney Raposo
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Robinson Crusoe I took note that many of the transitions were moment-to-moment or action-to-action. These transitions are what Scott McCloud said to be the most common types for comics. However, on page 37 one panel takes up the entire page. The image depicts the savages right before Crusoe and Friday are going to shoot at them in attempt to save a white man who has been taken as their prisoner. Due to the size of the image and perspective it gives the reader more to analyze and creates a suspense about what is going to happen next. As the reader it made me anticipate something big and abrupt was about to happen.
ReplyDelete_Naomi Rivard
After reading Robinson Crusoe's comic, a few moments really stood out to me as very well illustrated transitions and interesting sequences but one that I found particularly eye-catching was the scene on page 39. When one of the savages saved Friday. The action to action transition of the savage gripping Friday, bullets going into him and the heart to heart the savage and Friday had afterwards was an interesting eye catcher; like a scene out of a Batman movie, you could really see it play out in your head. I find it super interesting that when we see the savage getting shot, the italicized words are acting as 3 things, bullets hitting the savages body, the movement of the bullets, and the sound of the bullets. - Marvick Felix
ReplyDeleteWhile reading Robinson Crusoe, I noticed the transactions were moment to moment and action to action which are said to be the most common by Scott McCloud.
ReplyDeletePage 39 of Robinson Crusoe, represents both the action to action and the movement to movement. When the savage goes to smash the man made "hammer" down on Friday's head, you see the movement as he turns to attack- but also showing the action of the attack.
It is pretty amazing how reading comics as an adult- you pick up the action and movement.
Some pages had panels that took up the entire page, which made my mind see that it was an important part.
I also liked the circle panels. It made you see it as the motion of panel actually moving.
The first break between panels in Robinson Crusoe is scene to scene, which is done intentionally to show the time that has elapsed between Robinson’s conversation with his father and the departure of the voyage. The remainder of the book is mainly compiled of moment-to-moment transitions and action-to-action transitions. Using these methods allows the comic to progress smoothly from beginning to end. The least used transition was subject-to-subject. I only counted it being used a few times, most notably when Crusoe is exploring the island for the first time and on the last page of the book in the panel showing the ship returning to land. Something that stood out to me was that pages 2 to ~24 utilized scene-to-scene transitions heavily (to depict the passage of many years) while the rest of the book barely used them at all.
ReplyDeleteOne page that broke away from both the pattern used in the rest of the story and the pattern described in Understanding Comics was page 60 (the final page with panels on it). It strayed from the pattern by using all three of the most common transitions. Robinson Crusoe is shown sliding down the sail using action-to-action, the boat is shown avoiding a rock using moment-to-moment, and then the story concludes with a subject-to-subject transition that shows the boat approaching civilization while Crusoe speaks to Friday.
-Nicholas Lancia
While reading Robinson Crusoe , I noticed the panel transitions that Scott McCloud described. Movement to movement , subject to subject , and the action to action transitions were all commonly used throughout the pages. In particular some pages stood out to me more than others. On pages five and six the panel transitions are showing an action to action scene where the ship helplessly spins out of control, causing anyone on board to wait till their doom or to desperately leap off the ship. I liked how the frames were placed differently and how some frames took up more space than others giving these two pages a better look at the movement and action that was going on in the scene . Its interesting to see how just by having different size frames draws your attention more to what is going on, instead of having every page look the same.
ReplyDelete- Karissa Santos
Upon reading Robinson Crusoe’s comic, I was able to detect one of the patterns that was apparent on most pages. Most pages are comprised of either six smaller frames or five smaller frames with one larger frame. I felt as though he incorporated the larger frames when he wanted to catch the reader’s attention for an anticipated moment that was yet to happen. For instance, on page 48 the only words are “Halooo” which makes the audience antsy to know who would find whom first. This same anticipation was evident on pages 55 and 58. Additionally, most of the panel movements I noted were a combination of the moment to moment and action to action transitions which corresponds to what McCloud stated. Very few pages were abstract from his pattern such as page 37 and 54 of the comic. On page 37 I liked how the images were portrayed as though they were moving towards the reader. It felt as though it was moving action by action as the celebratory dance of the savages was occurring right before the attack of Crusoe and Friday in attempt to save the white man who was taken as the prisoner of the savages. Lastly, page 54 of the comic was most eye-catching to me. Subconsciously, it felt as though as the lyrics were moving in the waves causing your eyes to naturally do the same in the direction of the boat.
ReplyDelete-Lisa Agyare
After reading Robinson Crusoe i noticed that Scott McCloud layed a solid foundation for my understanding of the comic. The comic had a lot of moment-to-moment and action-to-action scenes. i noticed that some pages had illustrations that took up the whole page. I found this strategy helpful for the reader because it draws special attention to that scene. In understanding comics we learned that authors use illustrations in a distinct way to show how time moves between panel to panel. On page 43 it is apparent between the top two panels that it is a moment to moment scene. The way the author zoomed into what the main character was looking at gives us good details about the story line. it was good information of the new ship arriving with prisoners. It gave us information of the new characters as well. I found this to be very important in comics and storytelling. This page stood out to me the most because of the moment to moment scenes the author illustrated. I overall really enjoyed this comic!
ReplyDeleteIn Robinson Crusoe, the two most common transitions used were moment-to-moment and action-to-action. One of the pages that deviated from this pattern was page 37, where the savages returned to the island with a white man taken as prisoner and a sacrifice for themselves. Throughout the majority of the comic book, the layout of the panels on each page contain 5-6 panels, while on page 37, it is just one large panel where the savages are about to slay the white man. I feel that this panel taking up a whole page makes the scene and moment more dramatic, as Robinson and Friday are about to save the white prisoner in the next panel.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Robinson Crusoe's comic there were a lot of action-to-action and movement-to-movement panels. However, one scene that stood out to me was on page 23. Crusoe does a good job with this action-to-action panel because you see the character is attempting to go after the goat. This panel clearly exemplifies the fast pace chase that is happening, in other words a breakdown of motion. I like this not only because of the timing but how it was just simply less dialogue and more focused on the images of the chase.
ReplyDelete-Kimberly Dy
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ReplyDeleteWhile I was reading the Robinson Crusoe comic, I noticed that there were many action-to-action panels along with movement-to-movement. I thought the author did a really good job narrating the story and having it come along, some stories that happen from action to action can be kind of repetitive and annoying such as "and then this happened,. and then this." I found the action-to-action panel on page 31 brilliant and intriguing. I enjoy how it also goes along with other things we have discussed in class, like how it doesn't show specifically Friday beheading the "savage" who had tried to attack Robinson Crusoe, we had to imagine the physical action. It also demonstrates the action-to-action perfectly and engages the reader, I almost felt like I was watching and creating a film inside my head.
-Kaitlin Patterson
While reading and looking over the comic entitled “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe, I noticed that it was very different than last week’s comic “Understanding Comics” by Scott McCloud. The obvious was that it was shorter which most would have finished reading it right away but I also noticed how the panels were more colorful and had more action involved. In this comic book, the panels were bigger and showed more illustration of what happened during his voyage with him and his crew. One page that I found very distinct from the the book itself (just skimmed through the book) and from McCloud’s comic book was page 11. Looking at that page at the second row the first panel says “I had no saw. To get one smooth plank of wood. I had to split an entire tree.” and the panel next to it says “It took days to get enough planks for a table.” I noticed how the panels are so aligned with each other and they weren’t perfect squares or rectangle frames but they manage to fit perfectly like a puzzle.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Robinson Crusoe, I also saw that the majority of the panel transitions consisted of either the movement to movement or action to action style transition. Some examples of the action to action transition was on page 52 where Crusoe is fighting other men. An example of the movement to movement transition in the book occurs on page 34 where Crusoe looks through a telescope. I tend to enjoy the action to action transitions more. A page that does not use either the action to action or movement to movement transition is on page 13 where it seems that the aspect to aspect transition is being used.
ReplyDeleteRobinson Crusoe is a comic that launched with action right from the beginning. I noticed immediately on page four that the author uses many different patterns, but one that I felt was used strongly was "action to action." I found it difficult to point out many "moment to moment" panels, but specifically on page 4, I noticed that the artist used a transition from action to action. When the second ship targeted them and a "bloody battle" occurred, the image on one panel was pulled into another, without any real separation between the two. It was an interesting transition from "The pirates came swarming aboard" to "Our deck became a bloody battleground." This pattern allows the reader to assume that the pirates came aboard and immediately began to battle Crusoe and his crew, while imagining any details that may be entailed in an old fashioned fight.
ReplyDelete-Molly Kosma
The page that called my attention immediately after seeing it was page 37. After reading this comics once, I proceeded to flip the pages kind of fast to see if there was something so different and rare that stood out and without doubt this page was it. I noticed this is the only page that has only 1 large panel. I guess the size of this panel and the images shown on this page are very exaggerated and difficult to miss. It certainly makes me wonder why would the illustrator decided to put this scene or all by itself in one page. Are the events happening on this page that significant? I got to admit I spent a couple of extra minutes looking at this page trying to figure out if there was something in the picture that the author was trying to say, or maybe some kind of hidden message.
ReplyDeleteUpon reading and scanning through the comic adaptation of Robinson Crusoe, it is evident that the three most popular panel transitions are the same three discussed by Scott McCloud; moment-to-moment, action-to-action, and subject-to-subject. McCloud mentions in Understanding Comics that these three panel transitions are featured in majority of successful comics, and that all comics follow a pattern of using those three transitions. Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe, is no different in that it uses those three transitions for the majority of the comic. While I found this to be fitting for the space and timing of the story, there was something that stood out to me and something that I found caught my eye. On pages 37-38, mostly large panels or one single large panel took up the space on the page. These panels changed the space of the comic, and almost felt like time was slowing down to create a sense of anticipation or to hype up the scenes to come. The action on these two pages change drastically, from the "cannibals" staring down their prisoner, to dancing triumphantly. While this transition can be deemed an action-to-action transition, the size of the panels make these pages stand out and the change in space/time affects the reading of the comic.
ReplyDeleteCorrection, pages 36-37 not 37-38
DeleteAfter reading the Robinson Crusoe's comic, I also agree with many of my classmates when they say that the main panel transition in the reading was the (action to action), we could also see many (moment to moment) panel transitions during the developing of the main scenes of the comic. if I have to pick a specific page I would go with page number 37 in the comic, in this page we can see a group of people ( the savages ) performing some kind of killing dancing ritual, but if we pay attention to the previous panel we can see our main characters watching the savages and planning their strategy, this big change between the panel I believe that its a good example of (subject to subject transition) since the all the characters and also the whole scene change within only two panels.
ReplyDelete-Luis J Cespedes
Robinson Crusoe
ReplyDeleteThis comic illustration of a classic novel exemplifies a perfect harmony of transitions, moment to moment, action to action, scene to scene. Having to hone in on one central exemplar, undoubtedly it would be action to action. To portray high action, usage of very straight and long lines inside larger panels created the differentiation from the "norm" (action to action) for this story. A great example of this difference (high action versus low/moderate/norm), would best be noticed on page 29. In the middle of this page is the largest panel with the most action, larger illustrations, with long straight lines leading the eye directly to focus on the speed of the attack.
I understand why many readers highlighted moment to moment, but in this writer's opinion, the moment to moment illustrations were depicted more so with circle panels, which was out of the "norm" for this story's overall illustrations. The circle panels served more as "descriptors," of an action panel, just one example would be on page 19.
A page which was intentionally made to pull the reader in was pg. 37, this was the first scene that stood out and was also the most intriguing. Page 37 enhances all senses, shows movement, but not too much as to over-excite the reader. This was meant to slow down the pace, almost to seduce and/or excite the reader as for what is yet to come. Captivated by this page, the reader is eager with anticipation for the next climactic panel, yet cannot help but pause as if being lured or teased, which then makes for a great following page, (38) which is flooded with constant action to action panels.
In succession with the story, page 54, is another eye catching illustration. Again, slows the reader down, almost as to hypnotize using the "S," that was drawn for the eye to follow. Many interpretations can be made here a few are, the "S," is used because they are going to the “S”-hip; "S" can be interpreted as calm waves of the ocean they are on, just before yet another climactic scene; etc.
This comic does not have vibrant/bright eye catching colors, but it does not need to with so much to interpret. Great tribute to a classic
---Amanda Musumeci
Throughout this reading of Robinson Crusoe, the pattern I mostly saw was the action-to- action movements within the panels. The page where I saw this most prevalently was on page 58. Each panel flowed into new action movement. Another thing I wanted to make known was that reading this classic definitely reminded me of the swiss robinson family story. Apparently, Robinson Crusoe has certainly deserved to be made a classic, seeing that in some of the most famous stories of being trapped on an island has followed its course.
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