Comic Analysis

Darrin Donikowski

Abstract• The issue that I read had varying degrees of backstories about the relationship of

Wolverine and Mystique. It started out in 1921 in Mexico where they both were held prisoners and were about to get executed; Wolverine for being a horse thief and Mystique because she was a mutant with blue skin. The page then jumps into modern time where the issue shows Wolverine is actually hunting Mystique for an unknown reason to a new reader. Wolverine actually kills a woman whom he believes Mystique transformed into. Then it cuts to where Wolverine and the leader of the X-Men Cyclops have a discussing about how Mystique betrayed the X-Men. They talk about how they want her dead and that Wolverine is happy to do it for them. It shifts back to Wolverine hunting for her tracks her down in Iran. Mystique escapes by blowing up a building and running away. The story shifts back to Mexico where they escape the Mexican prison somehow and both walk away together showing the start of a friendship. Then Wolverine finds the dead body who was murdered in the first hunting sense and he is surprised by it. Wolverine confronts a shadowy character that has the custom of Wolverine but has red hair like Mystique. The towns people see Wolverine who they watched murder the woman earlier and the conclusion is that Mystique morphed to look like Wolverine and Framed him for murder to help her escape and slow down Wolverine from hunting her.

Focus/Themes

• Choice of Moments• Body language/Facial Expressions • Use of Panel views• Violence/Vangence

In an Action to Action panel it will show a single subject preforming a series of actions. In the comic book world it is usually in the middle of combat

In the Wolverine comic panel shown is illustrates A to A but the stabbing of his claws into the women panel by panel.

Establishing shots show a long distance panorama view of where the characters at the beginning of a new scene to set up the location.

In the comic panel the illustrator starts off a new page with an establishing shot of Cyclops that gives the location and time compared that differs from the previous page.

A moment to moment is where the comic panels show a characters single action or movement in a series of panels.

In the comic strip is shows Mystique’s legs run and her changing back into her normal self while running outside of a building she is about to blow up. That is a M to M because all it shows are her legs running and nothing else in the panel.

Subject to Subject is where the panels will go back and forth from one thing to another. Every panel will have something or someone different in it.

The comic strip is a S to S because it shows Wolverine and Cyclops having a discussion and the different camera angles that are displayed with a different character being the focus on every panel.

Anger is an emotion that characterized as clenching of the teeth, eyebrows pointed down, and crinkling of the upper nose.

Here in the above cut out Wolverine is clearly displaying anger. Even with his mask on you can still see crinkling of the upper nose and pointed eyebrows. Along with that you can definably see the clenching of his teeth.

The symmetry of the body with your hands at you side symbolize confidence.

Wolverine is showing his confidence by standing symmetrical and his hands at his side. His clenched fist shows his strengths and defiance shown in this photo.

Delaying suspense is where you put the establishing shot at the end of the page to create the aspect of suspense and mystery.

In this panel it is the first page of the comic where you have no idea where Wolverine is until the last scene where he is in a Mexican jail.

The camera views can show a variety of different of positions. Usually the camera will be at an angled upward to show a character who is in control or powerful.

Here in the comic it shows Wolverine towering over Mystique as a Middle Eastern man. You can tell the artist wants to tell you Wolverine is under control and powerful in this situation

Silence is a technique used in comics to convey that it is all at one time and happens all at the same time.

In the panel the comic goes a whole page without saying a word. It is showing that the men are getting ready for a battle and are going to go after Wolverine who is also shown on the panel.

In the body language section it explains that by crossing your hands you are conveying a hostile or defiant attitude.

In this scene Cyclops has a hostile attitude that he conveys through his body language. This is where Cyclops is angry that Mystique betrayed the X-Men and he asks Wolverine to go and track her down to kill her. That is why he has his hands folded back turned because he is hostile toward s Mystique.

Interdependent is where the picture and the text are needed equally to get the message across to the readers.

In this scene Mystique is telling Wolverine that she was born with the wrong skin color. Wolverine assumes that she is black and she says a bit more exotic then that. Without the art you would not know what she was taking about considering that she has blue skin and can change he looks totally to match another person.

Picture specific panels need the picture to tell you the story and are not dependent on what the world says.

In the comic panel there are gun shots going off. If you just read the text that says fuego you wouldn’t know what ws happening. Fuego is Spanish for fire, so if you didn’t have the picture you would think that a building was on fire or something to that effect without the gunshots.

Association is where the font style reflects the sound of what is going on in the panel.

The comic shows the SNIKT sound that Wolverine’s claws make when he extends his claws out of his hands.

Another emotion that is drawn by combining two different emotions is being spooked. It is created from fear and surprise. It is characterized by an open mouth, raised eyebrows, and a wrinkled forehead. The kid in this panel is spooked at Wolverine because he is both fearful from him yelling in his face and surprised at the retractable claws that came out just inches from his face.

The way that surprise is conveyed in a drawing is characterized by the raised eyebrows and open mouth.

Mystique is surprised when she first saw Logan who is beating up prison guards after being shot multiple times. She has the same open mouth and surprised look on her face.

A worm’s eye view is where the camera view is from the ground to give a different perception hen just a normal eye level shot to mix up the views.

This worm’s eye view is showing Wolverine standing over a dead body he found. You can tell it is a worm’s eye view because you are at eye level with the body on the ground and you are looking up at Wolverine.

Aspect to Aspect is where you are transferring to a different place or character on each of the panel stages.

This page shows the preparation that men are doing to prepare to fight Wolverine as he is extending his claws to get ready for a fight as well. It is an Aspect to Aspect because it is going back and forth showing each men in a different scene.

Panel flow is how you are meant to read the comic panels in what order. Usually you read let-to-right and up-to-down.

In this comic page this is the most creative panel flow that I could fine in the comic. It goes the long first panel to the three on the right then finishes with the bottom two panels.

Conclusion

• The comic of Wolverine is a very violent and vengeance based comic that has a backstory of Wolverine and Mystique that is unknown if you don’t read the comics that come before it.

• Overall the flow is very basic but has some complicated concepts that involves an impersonation I didn’t pick up on until the second I read it.