When people think of writing, they often immediately think of novels or of that report that they have been meaning to write. However, writing can be so much more than that.
With the help of visuals, comics can express so much that words often cannot. For example, take a look at the panel below.
To express this moment in words, the writer would have to say something such as “The man took a photo and the shutter made a loud noise.” Though often so many details are missed in writing. The reader would probably not know the pattern on the man’s pants, or perhaps even that taking the picture made any sound at all. We would have a vague sense of what the man looked like, but with this drawing, absolutely nothing is left to the imagination (except for the colour, but not all comics are in black-and-white!).
Additionally, a single photo does not have to represent a single moment in time. Even the panel above represents at least a few seconds – the entire length of time it takes to take a photo. However, by looking at the panel below, we can see an even longer moment in time.
Read left to right, this panel encompasses an entire scene. From the person taking the picture to the two men playing chess to the man picking up the baby on the couch. This one picture would most likely take paragraphs to write out in words. And once again, we can see all the little details that would often be missed in writing.
Those details can be very important, especially if we move on to talking about diversity in writing. Another great thing about comics is that the Internet has paved the way for many independent creators to publish their work without input from an external publishing company. Without editors or publishing companies to stop them, they can create stories with incredibly diverse and inclusive casts that we often do not see in mainstream media.
An example of this can be seen in the webcomic, Falling.
The character above is named Ash, a person of colour who ends up in Witch Country after crashing their plane. Once again, from just this one panel, we can see the witch that they are talking to, the crowd surrounding them, and just how nervous they are.
Therefore, if you ever feel like reading something new, different, and exciting, comics and webcomics might be just what you need! With so many different options, there is definitely something out there for everyone.
References
Wardrip-Fruin, N., & Montfort, N. (Eds.). (2003). The New Media Reader. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.