Analysing Hergé's Storytelling | Strip Panel Naked

[@augiedb]

The one thing I love to see that Herge does here and that I notice Peyo does a lot in his Smurfs and other comics, is the way the bottom of the panel becomes the ground. Characters walking across the panel are walking along the bottom border of the panel. There's a great example of this in the last page you show in this video on the top tier.

[@StripPanelNaked]

Yeah happens in a bunch of places. I talked about it over on the Patreon, and how it's often used in conjunction with panels that break it and busy it up to show some of the chaos, especially in some of the chase sequences. Good stuff. - Hass

[@robbiewalker2831]

@@StripPanelNaked I’d like to see how this type of “Visual Storytelling” translates to a scene in the Tintin movie, where we get a one-shot scene of a chase involving going downhill in Morocco from the Dam to the Sea Port, all while trying to recover the Three Scrolls of the Unicorn. I mean, it could be doing that job, as Herge did take inspiration from Charlie Chaplin films where such chases are an occurrence; it’s just that Spielberg has done a fair share of chases thanks to his collaborations with George Lucas for the original four Indiana Jones films (the first being how Spielberg got the attention of Herge, leading to Spielberg adding a couple of Tintin elements in Temple of Doom after learning about the Tintin comics).

[@RSEFX]

I love the clarity by which you lay out the clarity of the art! I feel there is a musical component to the panels, tho what that is I find hard to put a finger on. I'm also interested in the use of Snowy as a pictorial and emotional element, and would love to hear more discussion regarding this key, if diminutive character: He's almost like a vocal counterpoint in a musical flow of information. Thanks very much for the incisive video.

[@shut_up_meyer8990]

To me Hergé was the best artist when it came to illustrating sense of weight or pain, you always feel it when his characters fall or throw things - particularly in Tintin in Tibet; you really the weight of their luggage or the danger of walking through a snowstorm. It’s a masterwork of bodily struggles.

[@SEGAClownboss]

I always liked Tintin's straightfowrardness.

[@StripPanelNaked]

Yeah, there's a simplicity to it is that is endearing, I think. - Hass

[@angrypotato_fz]

Great, short analysis. I love how you show examples of everything you speak about and highlight specific parts of the page. It is especially important in case of comics to 'SHOW' instead of just 'telling' :) There is a lot to learn from Hergé!

[@lorenzotosiart]

I love this Channel and I LOVE Tintin. Grew up with these comics, and they re a pleasure to go back at even the 30th time. It just flows all so good, really true masterpieces.

[@StripPanelNaked]

Thanks Lorenzo! And adding Nausicaa to the list- love the film.

[@lorenzotosiart]

@@StripPanelNaked My pleasure! You will see, the Nausicaa comicbook is even better (the story is very big, and it got compressed in the movie), you will love i!

[@laurentkm3]

Another thing that were done in the stories were the uniqueness of the last panel on a lot of the pages. While sometimes the last panel would continue the story, quite a few times it would end on a small cliff hanger (making you think, 'Oh wow, what's going to happen next!') or a "completion" of a scene or gag.

[@jrbleau]

Yes, these are called "teasers". Since the stories came out a page (sometimes two) a week, the teaser would keep us on edge for the next instalment.

[@VertigoDefinitivo]

This style of composition almost feel like continuous shot that never cuts. It moves with the characters, and you don't feel a cut. I love Tintin, and I love this style. It just works.

[@gabrielidusogie9189]

How do you notice all these small overlooked details? Like the panel layout. I don’t even know where to begin to even study and analyze such a thing.

[@gabriellegabbynoblecomics3913]

There are several elements feeding into the finished pages as you see them here. This is not the original format of the pages as they appeared in the original printing of these stories. I believe the original pages had only four to six panels on them. When the books were later collected these pages were cut up and the four tier system was created to bring sprawling books with over 100 pages down to the standar 62 pages in which all the colour books now reside. Also the version of the book you are showing is a 1960s retelling of the story not the original 1930s newpaper version.

[@thapthoptheep2076]

Herge was a master of pace and gesture - he described his work like storyboards for Hollywood films. The black island maybe not the best example, flight 714 is a masterwork in pacing and suspense as is Castafiore emerald - his later work was a lot more sophisticaed - peak craftsmanship. Cool video.

[@Bonovasitch]

The Castafiore Emerald is one of my personal favorites because the synopsis is the most anticlimactic non-story of all of Tintin's adventures but the fact it stays as engaging as it does is a testament to how effective Herge's storytelling techniques had become by that point.

[@jmiquelmb]

@@BonovasitchCastafiore Emerald is maybe my favorite Tintin issue and it's ironic because the plot is the less tintinesque of all. But it feels like Herge is having a good time letting his characters interact in the castle. It's a complex tapestry of little stories interconnected to a main mystery that ends up being pretty trivial

[@thapthoptheep2076]

@@jmiquelmb It has such a chill vibe to it, I remember being off school one day, unwell, and it was a really nice day - I lay on the couch reading that book. It's weird how a memory like that can stay with you - I remember looking out the window at the trees and it looked like what I was seeing on the pages with Calculus in the garden pruning his roses - it was super cosy. I think Tibet was a cathartic process for Herge, he resolved a lot of inner turmoil creating that book and returned with a new perspective, having fun with the characters and world he'd built and taken really seriously for so long. I agree, Castafiore emerald became my favourite Tintin book as I got older, it's peak Herge.

[@hugoseriese5462]

Another great one Hass! Congrats on the nomination!

[@StripPanelNaked]

Thanks Hugo :) - Hass

[@luccoenen2430]

Thanks for actually doing the episode! It was very insightful! It is quite interesting how you explained the one-action-per-panel thing as creating a certain rythm that actually gets the reader through the comic more easily, whereas i thought of it as something making the action actually less fluent because it kinda breaks up the story. Once again thanks for your reply!

[@MrQuelquDeux]

Luc Coenen I personnally used to interpret it as laziness. I thought Hergé wasn't challenging himself enough by always drawing the same angles at the same distances. Watching this video, interpreting it as clarification, it flipped the table over. I think it's quite interesting. I need to dive back into Tintin now !

[@luccoenen2430]

Alfred Bernard well, i do not think i really agree with hass on this one, although it has been ages since i read tintin for the last time, what i remember from reading the books as a kid, is mostly that they were incredibly slow and full with unnecessary text. I really wanted to know how the story would develop, but the textballoons were holding me down. With most of the other belgian and french comics (stuff like lucky luke, suske and wiske, asterix, gaston, the smurfs etc) i read at the time, i do not remember having that problem

[@MrQuelquDeux]

Luc Coenen Hum. Interesting. That's not how I remember them, but I did have that impression watching this video. Like the exemple from the train, Tintin is literally saying out loud what he is doing, in case we didn't understand from just watching the actual panel. Some might say "show, don't tell", here it's more "show and tell". I was wondering if those were exceptions or if I was remembering poorly. Bit it doesn't necessarily make Hass' point useless, as you technically don't have to read these bubbles to follow the story. I'm not sure I'm 100% convinced either, that's why I said in my first comment that I need to read Tintin again. I want to give it another chance, to see if I remember them badly, and to see if my more experienced eye will interpret stuff differently now. Cause I like how optimistic Hass' take on those comics is. I will say though, I do remember some other french stuff like Asterix being just the same on the amount of text. Which was, in Asterix' case, perfectly fine as 75% of the jokes were wordplays.

[@luccoenen2430]

Alfred Bernard Yeah, it is probably not as much that there is lots of text. But the combination of little variation between panels and big text balloons that contain little relevant information which made tintin hard for me to get through when i was young. Although asterix probably has about the same amount of text per page, most of the text indeed contains funny jokes and is more relevant for the reader. Secondly the panels also have more variation, whereas with tintin it sometimes is really an entire page full with more or less the same panel of 2 people sitting at a table and talking. But for me too the last time actually reading an entire volume was about 10 years ago, so maybe i have to go try and find them at my parent’s house, where they hopefully are not thrown away or sold, and go for a reread :)

[@MrQuelquDeux]

Luc Coenen You said everything ! Have fun reading if you do ! I sure will. :)

[@joshuakolling4869]

Great video! Thought about doing one on Carl Barks?

[@StripPanelNaked]

Barks comes up a lot, and I have tonnes of things to say about his work, so for sure! - Hass

[@MrQuelquDeux]

As a french reader, I've read stuff like that countless times. But as I grew older and got more and more attracted to american comics, I've started to feel like french comics (especially their composition) were kinda... I don't know... unoriginal ? It's not taking many risks in my opinion. I've drifted away to another culture and it's been ages since I actually read some of the stuff I used to read when I was young. But watching your more optimistic approach (calling clarity what I used to interpret as laziness), it made me want to go back, pick up some Tintin, blow away all that dust on my mom's collection. I feel like I really need to give them another chance. On a side note, I haven't been able to watch your videos nor read PxP in months. I've been quite busy, and it most likely won't get any better for another few months. But I wanted to take some time to congratulate you, Hass. You're still producing the best comic related content (I'm not surprised to be honest). Whether it'd be here on KZbin, or with PxP. Congrats for the Eisner nomination ! Even though I'm only judging it based on the first few issues, it definitly deserves it. That's why I'm still subscribed even though I technically don't have time to read it. I'll definitly take the time one day though. A big PxP marathon. In short, keep doing what you do. I'm still loving it !

[@StripPanelNaked]

Thanks Alfred! A big PxP marathon sounds good, there's going to be plenty of stuff for you to go through, haha! Yeah with Tin Tin it certainly feels like Hergé was more interested in the story than the way he told it, whereas I think what we can see in a lot of American comics is people either just as interested, or maybe more interested, in the way the story is told, and the flashy visuals. In a perfect world you'd get a balance of the two (and of course, that does happen). But I can definitely see what you mean. - Hass

[@MrQuelquDeux]

Strip Panel Naked Yes ! That's precisely it. And that's what I love about the American way of doing it. And that's why I love PxP and can't wait to do that big marathon, haha !

[@jrbleau]

I'm a perfectly bilingual Quebecker and I have always loved Tintin, but I also collected American comics of which Batman was my favourite. But I always found Tintin much, much better than anything else.

[@Blackadder75]

As a european who grew up with french-belgian comics, I never got much into the american style. sure we had them as kids as well, but they fell like cheap mcDonalds food compared to the Michelin stars of Herge, Charlier, Giraud, Uderzo or Franquin

[@ArpLaszlo]

Herge was my absolute favorite growing up - it stayed with me whilst Batman et al fell by the wayside. And I've seemingly internalized much of his storytelling techniques (which is why I firmly believe that all comic creators should read comics Every Single Day). Interesting thing I noticed for the first time, with the train page starting at 3:57: he not-so-subtly changes the angle of the panel to show Tintin getting thrown off the bench. If one were to take an invisible hand to panel #2 to jerk Tintin off the bench, the end result would be panel #4. Simply brilliant.

[@dirtcake2601]

New to this channel and subscribed immediately, I’ve already been taking notes, wondering if you plan on analyzing some of Greg Capullo’s work or maybe some of Miller’s Daredevil work?

[@StripPanelNaked]

Want to discuss more of Miller generally, and Capullo definitely. No specific vids decided, but definitely both at some point...! - Hass

[@dirtcake2601]

Strip Panel Naked awesome, I’ll be looking forward to it.

[@RSEFX]

Many comics and sequential graphic storytelling over the past 30-plus years comes across as pointlessly chaotic, which, to me, seriously BLUNTS the impact of the story action. It often feels like "display", a showing-off kind of gesture, where, repeatedly, little rhyme or reason rule the single page and flow from page to page. On another different, but related subject: HAVE YOU EVER COMMENTED ON THE WORK OF BERNIE KRIEGSTEIN IN RE: HIS EC HORROR COMIC PANEL WORK? I find great brilliance and a similar Herge-clarity in those talesl. (And, a master of "loose-yet-precise" that is ALL-TO-RARE). regards, rs

[@erwinarya7]

thank you!

[@daimonhampton]

Congrats on the eisner nom! I really think you deserve

[@StripPanelNaked]

Thank you! We have a great bunch of writers on the PanelxPanel magazine, so I hope their work gets shown off with a win :) - Hass

[@jessohackberry]

I agree that Tintin is super clear and easy to read, but I'm not sure I would call it "frictionless." For example, he's constantly breaking the 180 rule so the reader has to think about which side they're on. Still, great video. My thing with Tintin is how weird the very wide horizontal gutters are.

[@hugoseriese5462]

haha noticed that too. I think it has something to do with the fact that it was published in newspapers first. So for instance the first page, those first two tiers would be the newspaper content. So what you see is basically the place where they glued those together haha. Also, if you read closely, you can see each of those two tiers end on a bit of a cliff-hanger (TinTin running, TinTin being shot etc), since Hergé had to have readers come back the next day. It's quite a tough thing to pull of (and let it go unnoticed when reading the story all at once) actually.

[@StripPanelNaked]

Yeah, what Hugo said, basically! There's a couple of instances breaking the 180, and some where the panels kind of break a bit, but for the most part frictionless :P I think he makes the moments work with generally how clear the panels tend to be. - Hass

[@lorenzotosiart]

Can you do a video about Nausicaa, the comic book, by Miyazaki? That two-tomes story is another comicbook masterpiece..!!

[@skrimshander]

Congrats on Eisner nomination!

[@StripPanelNaked]

Thanks! Fingers crossed :) - Hass

[@alecmckay7427]

Awesome. May I ask what edition you were reading? Looking to pick the collection up.

[@StripPanelNaked]

I grabbed Kindle copies from Amazon! - Hass

[@space_patrolman]

Any tips on where to start with Tintin? Been wanting to get into it for a while.

[@devanis]

I started with the secret of the unicorn and red rackham's treasure, more importantly stay away from Tintin in the Congo, it really hasn't aged well

[@sanktkaj1781]

devanis | Isn't that the racist one?

[@devanis]

In short yes, but rather it's the one where his colonialist perspective are the most obvious (plus it's one of his earliest so not the best on a technical level In my opinion). I think you should read it to get your own opinion, just don't start Tintin there, it's clearly the worst one on every aspect.

[@sanktkaj1781]

I haven't really read the comics, but i've watched the cartoons countless times

[@devanis]

You really should try to read them, as mentioned in the video it's a breeze to go trough and read, and it really gets you around the world and gives a sense of adventure that's getting rarer these days.

[@Skele_Rat]

Loved the video, and found out that in English you call him "Snowy" and not Milu 😁

[@lakrids-pibe]

I think my greatest disapointment with the Tintin movie from 2011 was the camera work. I understand why they wanted to make the film visually exciting, they wanted to make use of the 3D etc, but they lost the "mood" of the albums as I remember them. I always imagines a Tintin-movie to be more like a movie from the 30s or 40s.

[@StripPanelNaked]

Honestly I couldn't get past the uncanny valley of it all, I never made it more than five minutes...!

[@nckv]

In the last panel Tintin fucking dies

[@Blackadder75]

spoiler: the bullet only hit his rib bone, he was put in hospital and the next day walked out already (against medical instructions to keep in bed for 3 weeks)

[@smithjohn383]

Your videos are all way too short !