Opinion: Picture books-The same as Comic Books?

 My earliest childhood memories are of story time, with my mother. I thoroughly enjoyed reading books such as It's the Bear! by Jez Alborough, or Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen, or my personal favorite: Noddy goes to Toyland, by Enid Blyton. All of these books incorporated some level of wording. Let's analyze  2 crucial scenes from these books, and how words affect them.

  1. "Blueberry Pie... YUM YUM"
    • Arguably my favorite scene from It's The Bear!, this scene is the climax where the main character, who has been spending the whole story seeing the bear, finally convinces his mom, that the bear is behind her. The 2 run away from their picnic, and the bear is left to eat the blueberry pie. Now, Scott McCloud contends that this is in the "Duo-Specific" style, wherein "both words and pictures convey essentially the same message". In this story, either element could stand alone, and the reader would understand that the blueberry pie is "YUM, YUM!"
  2. The Lion roars, in the Library Lion
    • In this scene, Mrs. Merriwether, the librarian, injures herself whilst climbing a ladder. She asks her friend the lion, to go get help. The lion roars in the face of Mr. McBee, the assistant librarian, who admonishes him for doing so. In the ensuing scene, Mr. McBee runs off to get help, while the lion, realizing that he has broken the rules, heads for the exit. Here, McCloud contends, is an example of "Word Specific combinations". The illustrations supplement the words, but wouldn't make a lot of sense on their own. 

In conclusion, it is my Krazy Opinion, that  Picture books are the same as comic books, in the way that they conflate images and words in certain stylistic patterns. Maybe that's part of the reason that comic books are so looked down upon. Perhaps it is because adults see comic book readers as people who are reading glorified picture books. Let me know what you guys think in the comments!

Comments

  1. BhuvanOctober 2, 2022 at 9:36 AM

    I love how you used informal language to make your argument. I agree with the fact that Picture books aren't the same as comic books but they are both similar other than the difference in the language used. I also think that adults think comic books are too childish because of the short amount of words and the images, but they haven't really witnessed a book like Maus, which I think will certainly prove them wrong.

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  2. kushyOctober 2, 2022 at 8:31 PM

    Hi Kaeshav, I like your take on how comic books and picture books are the same because it is possible to stylistically show the meaning conveyed by words that are not present by using pictures. But is the vice versa true? If words can be demonstrated stylistically, then are dense books with no pictures the same as picture books? Are they the same content just represented in different ways? I personally do not think so because I feel like images have their own intrinsic value. Like I mentioned in my blog, a picture is worth a thousand words, but those words are not exactly the same words that can be written simply with text. In this case, showing is not telling.

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