Lo1 - Analysing a comic or graphic novel

Lo1: Task 2: Analysing a comic or graphic novel

Genre: Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola, scripted by John Byrne, Colourerist and Inker Matthew Hollingsworth and published by Dark Horse Comics. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics, and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shot and intercompany crossovers. The character has been adapted into two live-action feature films in 2004 and 2008, and two animated films, as well as two video games – Asylum Seeker and The Science of Evil.

Content & Style: The graphic novel is an A5 book with the house style denotes gothic colours such as deep reds, purples, greens and black; along with the opening setting of a eary church yard promoting the verisimilitude throughout the novel. However this makes it difficult to differentiate the timeshift throughout the storyline, so basic imagery is used for example the moon on page 3 to connote night time. The colours used are high in contrast, this technique is a typical feature of graphic novels and highlights the areas of speech that have a white background. The panneling of the graphic novel is random and changes from page to page, this is a nontraditional aspect of comics and graphic novels that has become more popular in modern art. The text on the opening pages of the novel has a yellow background because it is 'Journal of 1st Sgt. George Whitman' instead of speech between twocharacters. The art of the novel is 3D as the artist Mike Mignola uses excessive shading on the characters and objects. In the image opposite, the characters use line to create the shape of ghost like characters with minimal colour.

Meaning: The visual narrative is supported by the use of establishing images along with the journal entry sets the scene for the reader giving details of the mood, location and time era (1944).  Iconography of WW2 germany is used in the novel with the Nazi symbol on page 4. This is binary opposition between good and evil (Levi-Strauss 1958). However it is used in a humourous manner for example using the symbol as a lense in a pair of glasses, the excessive use of this creates humour because of the disequilibrium (Todorov 1977) it is difficulty to be taken seriously. The use of panneling at the bottom of page 5 uses a close up to create an enigmatic cliamx to the plot as the character is contacting with 'troubled spirits' the close up of her eyes with the caption 'They say... something is coming' excites the reader as they are waiting for the arrival of the antihero protagonist Hellboy to come into the story. On the front cover of the novel, the image of the protagonist standing with a head-on to the camera with the title HELLBOY above him uses anchorage that this is Hellboy who is the protagonist of the novel.  The colour pallet of the novel consists of dark marroon colours, along with the enigmatic tone of the characters and the topics they are dicussing complies to the theory of Umberto Eco (1981) that a story can be told through the images and signs. The panneling of the novel is laid out clearly as the images are all seperate to their pannel and don't overlap, this is a pattern throughout the novel however the panneling adapts when situations develop to a busier theme. The images begin to over lap with less text on the pages to connote the action between the characters.The colouring in the graphic novel such as the maroon red, black and yellow is symbolic of Nazi germany as these coloures were used on icon images such as the Nazi flag. This is relevant to the novel as the events take place in the 1940s WW2. The general page layout is full of images and has a lot of information of the events on each double page spread, connoting the action filled busy atmosphere of the novel.


Target Audience: Therefore the graphic novel has a mature target audience as there is voilent content with reference to WW2 Germany that could be seen as innapropriate for young members of the audience. Also the the graphic novel series is aimed to a male target audience mostly because of the storyline, colours and characters. of an audiodemographic ABC1

Characters: Set in 1944,The antihero Hellboy (the protagonist of the novel) although he is often looked down upon by society because of the way he looks. He is referred to as 'creature' by people as see on page 3 chapter 4 'what a pitty you chose to stand against me, creature'. The use of bold text connotes emphasises a strain on these words, with the semantic field of authority and power the antagonist (Ogdru-Jahad) tries to have over Hellboy. A team of commando's are lead into the English Midlands by three paranormal officers. Although the Ogdru Jahad are not summoned, a boy-like, red-skinned demon appears at the Church in East Bromwich, and is soon dubbed 'Hellboy' by Professor Bruttenholm. Whilst the leader of the Nazi operation, Klaus Werner von Krupt, is dismayed at Rasputin's apparent lack of success, the mad monk knows otherwise and proclaims he has set into motion the world's ending.