#data page

[sketchworks-labs]

Data Pages and comics

Sometimes in comics you need to give the reader a lot of information in a short amount of time. The dreaded exposition.

Classical comic thinking is to do one of two things: a dialogue heavy page where one character is relaying the information to another (or the reader). This is usually done poorly:

But sometimes it can be done (subjectively) well:

The problem, though, is the As You Know trope. You have two characters, who know this information (or should know the info), but they are explaining it to each other as if they don't know. This is all for the reader's benefit. It's clunky and feels like Silver or Bronze Age comic writing.

Sorry Scrooge…

The other way is through captions.

Not all comics work well with narrative captions. Especially if captions are being used for internal character thoughts (I'm looking at you every-Wolverine-comic-ever).

A modern solution has been data pages. You've seen these a lot in works by Jonathan Hickman, like his creator work:

And in the X-Men, predominately by designer Tom Muller (@hellomuller and @hellomullerltd).

But they've popped up in manga like Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita:

And Darwyn Cooke's Parker books (which even includes prose from the books that have been adapted):

As well as classic comic books like Fantastic Four

And even webcomics such as Drive by Dave Kellet. He even includes the text in a blog post to be more readable on mobile devices.

These all convey information that the author feels the reader should know. Some are done as a document, others as illustrative piece, but they are all giving the reader information.

What makes the Hickman/Muller data pages interesting (particularly in X-Men) is that they are not outside the realm of the story; they are part of it. These pages are documents pulled from the canon of the story. A file from Nick Fury's database, or an historical archive. Dave Kellet even does this with his Enciclopedia Xenobiologica entries about races, places, and technology in his webcomic.

Unlike classic data pages, such as the Baxter Building cutaway, modern datapages are also placed within the reading of the story, not as an extra or appendix. Strip Panel Naked over on Youtube explains Hickman and Muller's approach in detail (spoilers by the way for X-men!)

So consider this as a solution to an exposition heavy sequence. Do a diagram showing your characters' heist plan. Create a schematic of a starship so your readers know where the characters are. Have a legal pad with a lawyer's notes about your character's story. And, if this is in a web or mobile comic, offer the text in a blog post (in fact it's a good practice to offer text of your dialogue).

This is just one solution to exposition. What's some other ones you've see work?

[hollis-art]

taking a nice little stroll on the bottom of the ocean floor, as one does

[nullphysics]

[peachesanmemes]

DON'T FORGET!!!

50 is a rough page estimate. The accurate length is 15,883 words.

If you want to visualize and compare it, I've graphed the length of each entry and given some other entry stats in another post linked here.

Google says it takes approximately 5 minutes to read 1000 words, so plan accordingly!

[samplerman]

14.Pan.Leg.

[nymdraws]

more of these guys ( + one deanna)

[sosnastudios]

Atlantic Salmon Population Data in New England Rivers

The book is a salmon parchment-bound collection of data tables regarding salmon populations and management in New England rivers. Sewn onto the cover with fishing line are pieces of salmon parchment dyed in onion skins and stamped with the names of the data tables used. The edges are decorated in graphite, which adds to the shiny fishiness of the design. The endsheets are handmade paper with bits of plant material, which I thought evoked the feeling of standing in a river.

All of the salmon parchment used was made by me, the binder, out of skins procured from a local sushi shop.

[frogtrek]

shirt that says “i ❤️ sci-fi as a vehicle for discussions of bodily autonomy” from this post

[dwtdog]

for the list of the most memorable youtubers dream is on, a big part of how they figure out who to include is who is known in at least 15 languages :0 so its a huge testament to dreams influence on non-english speaking fans

[henswilsons]

(not like do you wait for a work to be completed btw, just how you format your reading on ao3)

[mastersoftheair]

from appletv's instagram story

[benrybenrybenry-chr]

literally every issue that comes with Lore could have been avoided if Noonien Soong was just like, an okay father. instead he's a piece of shit, fucking imagine making an android and being upset he didn't go down YOUR family path despite the fact that starfleet raised him better than you ever did? WHILE HIS BROTHER SITS TAKEN APART IN YOUR- LIKE... BROOM CLOSET. what kind of idiotic nonsense is that right there Noonien!! no wonder Lore hates you, you fucking suck!!! he was right!!!! get that android some therapy right now!!!!!! and maybe someone who will ACTUALLY love and respect him!!!!! goddamn!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sassbot9000]

[spookyshoosh]

“I Will Love You”

Working on different types of lighting and poses with this piece. I made versions with and without the poem, so enjoy!!

[samplerman]

28. Gutenberg discontinuity

[nymdraws]

heres all the stuff that i drew pretty much specifically to have more/better examples for those commission sheets teehee