This research task was to consider an issue of the Will Eisner comic "The Spirit" that was shown in the coursebook and then consider certain questions. I managed to find the strip in a different publication and I've referenced that here so that my answers make a bit more sense to anyone reading this!
What does the first panel establish in terms of place and atmosphere?
There's a lot to unpack in the first panel. Eisner does an amazing job of showing us (rather than telling us) what we need to know. The black sky and lit street lamp tell us it's night time, and he expertly uses gaps in the ink to show both raindrops and a lot of runoff on buildings and ground alike. This tells us that it is very rainy.
But not light rain - the amount of runoff, the angle of the rain streaks combine with a building sign that's at an angle. Finally with these elements are many blowing papers and leaves on the page at a great height. Eisner also uses these for his signature device of putting the title and credit into the landscape itself.
All of these aspects together tell us that this not just rain, it's a storm.
How does the page progress from panel to panel?
The first panel intentionally draws us to one thing out of place - the ringing sound emanating from the window in the roof. We guess this is a telephone by putting in the very specific "ring ring" text.
The second panel zooms us closer to this sound and confirms our expectations, the profile of the sound does seem to match a telephone. But now we notice it's still going. It's unanswered.
Closer still, and again the panel confirms our assumption, and sets up the next question - "why is it unanswered?" Our eye is then drawn to the cloud of dust and BANG sound effect. Maybe this is the reason?
Finally, it closes in on the room. We see the aftermath, and the body draped over the desk. Again, we start to ask ourselves questions, and Eisner deftly answers them in a specific sequence that draws our eyes across the panel so he can tell us the information he wants us to have.
Who is the man? - He has the same haircut as the poster on the wall, it must be him?
Why is he there? He as a pencil behind his ear and the sketches on the wall tell us that maybe he's a cartoonist, an illustrator?
What happened, was the dust cloud before a fight? Strewn papers across the floor suggest so, and as we follow them we see that the door has recently closed by the puffs of air resulting from the door closing quickly. Someone else was definitely there, but who?
How does the use of sound effects inform you what is happening in each panel?
Sound is used really well in this sequence to focus our attention. In the first panel, the camera is placed in a position where we would not normally hear a phone ring in a storm. Eisner wants us to focus there and ask our first question. The second panel used sound again to move the narrative, but then in the third panel, the addition of the BANG in the dust cloud is used to move the focus from the phone to the action. The sound in the final panel is used not to direct the questions and answers, the visual language takes on that responsibility. But it does act as a coda to the sequence, closing it off.
If this were a TV show, this feels like a 'cold open' where we are put directly into the action and setting up the premise of this week's episode. At the page-turn is where I'd expect to see the opening credits roll.
How is the effect of weather created and used to add atmosphere?
Weather is used really effectively to create an ominous atmosphere and creates conditions where the action we are going to see becomes believable (in that it would be hard for anyone to see or hear the fight, as given they'd be hunkered down in their own buildings and the storm would obscure the noise.
We have a fearful relationship with storms, they are an uncertain time when we feel small and powerless. At the mercy of the whims of a power greater than us. By placing the camera low down in panel one, Eisner amplifies this.
From Zeus's lightning bolts to Odin's Wild Hunt, we have long associated storms as an expression of wrath, displeasure or vengeance. These are culturally ingrained in our cultural psyche, so by setting the scene in that weather Eisner intends to make us feel uneasy and powerless which amplifies the drama and peril we then see.
References
Register and Tribune Syndicate, 2021. The Spirit #373 July 20 1947. [image] Available at: https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-spirit-373-lil-adam/4000-305810/ [Accessed 20 March 2021].
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