Comic Strip Commentary
How to Write a Cause and Effect Comic Strip
Almost from their inception, comic strips have held a distorted mirror to contemporary society. From the conservative slant of Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie to the unabashed liberalism of Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury, many cartoonists have used their strips for political or social commentary.
Morrie Turner was among the first Black artists to create a syndicated strip, and her work helped spark the civil rights movement. Schulz refused to hire an assistant and compared hiring an inker to a golfer hiring a caddy.
Storyline
A comic strip is a series of cartoon-like drawings, usually arranged horizontally, printed inside a newspaper, magazine, or book. It is designed to tell a story or a sequence of events and may contain text inscribed within or near each image, or it may completely dispense with words.
In general, comic strips have a lighthearted tone but can also be serious and/or educational. The most common themes include humor, social commentary, and drama. Some have a continuous storyline that lasts one or more weeks.
A cause and effect comic strip illustrates how a single event can lead to multiple effects. It is a great way to practice sequencing and writing skills. This fun and engaging product is an excellent way to reinforce cause and effect relationships in a creative and engaging way. This product includes a student checklist, teacher rubric, and multiple comic strip templates. This is a must have for any classroom!
Characters
The characters in a comic strip are the people, creatures and animated objects that take action in the story. These can be sitting, talking, fighting, or doing anything else. Artists often use a variety of techniques to show actions, such as swoops and lines. They may also use props, which are distinctive objects that help to make the character stand out. Examples include the king’s ornate throne, police cruiser, toaster, book, Pancor Jackhammer and television.
Some issues, such as sex and drugs, cannot or can only very rarely be openly discussed in strips, although there are many exceptions to this rule – usually for satire. This has led some cartoonists to resort to double entendre or dialogue that children do not understand in order to circumvent censorship.
The popular Katzenjammer Kids cartoon caused one of the first copyright ownership suits in the history of comics. The characters were originally created by cartoonist Dirks but were distributed by Joseph Pulitzer and subsequently were given different names by Hearst.
Setting
Description
The setting in a comic strip is what the reader sees through the panels. This can include the characters, action, objects and backgrounds in a story. It is important to think about the setting as you create a comic strip, since it will help set the mood and pace for your story.
Sometimes, a background can even change the entire tone of a story. It can make a strip seem more serious or humorous. It can also add a sense of depth to the story.
Artists can use many techniques to show movement in a strip. For example, they can draw lines to indicate actions and speech, or use swoops to indicate direction of motion. They can also use different types of shots, including close-ups and long shots.
Mood can also be created through color. Certain colors will evoke particular emotions in the reader, and the artist must carefully select these colors to convey his or her intended message. For example, red often elicits anger and frustration, while blue can represent peace and serenity.
Mood
Description
Mood in comic strips is conveyed through the characters’ voices, body language, and actions. It is also indicated through the use of color and backgrounds. Generally, words in dialogue are emphasized to capture a simulated inflection of a character’s voice. Loud, yelling words are often portrayed with a larger font size, while soft, whispering words are usually underlined.
Schulz wanted “Peanuts” to tell hard truths about, as he put it, “intelligent things.” But the most important truth, he once wrote, was that “Peanuts deals in defeat.” The strip parses existential angst–not Cold War anxiety, which shaped much of other children’s media, but garden-variety anxieties.
