Research

FMP Practitioners research

Stan Lee:

Stan Lee is an American comic book writer who was. Born on December 28^th 1922 in New York. In his early life Stan Lee graduated from high school at 16. Stan Lee whose real name was Stanley Lieber was hired as an editorial assistant for Timely Comics and was then promoted to editor in 1942. By that time, he had begun writing comic book scripts for Timely an changed his name from Stanley Lieber to Stan Lee. In the 1940s and 50s during the time Timely comics were changed to Atlas, where Lee created several comic book series including the Witness, The Destroyer, Jack Frost, Whizzer and Black Marvel. In 1961 Stan Lee starting working with fellow comic book artist Jack Kirby and is where Atlas was rebranded to Marvel comics in the 1960s. Stan Lee had co created many iconic characters like Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, X-men, Ironman, Thor, Hulk, Daredevil, Dr Strange and The Avengers. During the time Marvel comics started to become really popular and in 1972 Stan Lee became the publisher and editorial director of the group for Marvel comics according to (Brittanica 2022).

Jack Kirby:

Jack Kirby is an American comic book artist who was born on August 28^th 1917 in New York. Jack Kirby original name was Jacob Kutzberg who left high school at the age of 16 and worked in Mx Fleisher’s animation studio. In the 1940s Jack Kirby teamed up with fellow artist Joe Simon and the pair created Captain America for Timely comics which would later be rebranded Marvel comics in 1960s. In the 1960s Jack Kirby partnered up with Stan Lee and created many characters for Marvel. Jack Kirby had created the Fantastic Four, The X-men, Thor, Ironman, Hulk, and The Avengers and even revived the character Captain America back for Marvel comics.  In 1970 Jack Kirby left Marvel because of creative differences with Stan Lee and went over DC which was the rival company to Marvel. At DC comics Jack had launched the title of the New Gods which he had written and published in 1971. He had created such characters like Darkseid, Highfather, Orion, Metron and Mister Miracle and The Forever people. Even though Jack had created the New Gods the series were cancelled before the conclusion Jack Kirby epic saga the fourth world. In 1975 Kirby went back to Marvel and wanted to do a similar story to what he did with DCs New Gods and created the Eternals. In the 1980s Jack worked as freelance animator and retired in 1987 according to (Brittanica 2022).

Blake Edwards:

Blake Edwards is an American film director, producer and screenwriter who is best known for his for romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961 and as well as the comedy The Pink panther in 1963 as well the animated cartoon from the 1980s. Blake’s real name is William Blake Crump and was born on July 26^th 1922 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At an early life Edwards parents divorced when he was at the age of 3. His mother married motion picture production manager Jack McEdward son of J. Blake attended Beverly Hills High School and as a teenager Edward worked as a scripts courier for Twentieth Century Fox. In the 1960s Blake work was best known slapstick comedy and made The Pink Panther in 1963 which get turned in to an animate show in 1980s which incorporated visual story telling according to (Encyclopedia Brittanica 2022).

Andrew Stanton:

Andrew Stanton real name is Andrew Ayers Stranton who is an American animator, story board artist, film director, screenwriter and producer. Andrew Stanton was born on December 3^rd 1965 and joined Pixar in January 1990. His best work is known for animation as he helped develop the idea for Pixar first full length animated movie Toy Story which was released in 1995. The film was a huge success that he had received and Academy award nomination. Since then, Stanton directed Finding Nemo which was released in 2003 and directed Wall E which was released in 2008. For Wall E Stanton wanted to do something different and wanted to make animated Pixar movie which had visual story telling according to (Pixar Fandom 2022).

Marvel and DC Graphic Novels

What is a Graphic Novel?

Graphic novels are a format similar to comic books because they use sub sequential art to tell a story. Unlike comic book graphic novels are generally standalone and have multiple issues in one novel. There are many categories /genres in the following.

• Manga
• Superhero story
• Personal Narrative
• Non fiction
• Fiction

The one I am going to be looking at is superhero story as I am more familiar with the genre especially when it comes to Marvel and DC graphic novels.

Superhero graphic novels taken the most popular form of comic and turned what were once brief episodic adventures into one epic saga. The superhero types of stories do include graphic novels in either event level storylines or in a solo novel that focuses on one character. There are many mainstreaming publishing company when it comes to comic books like Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse according to (Buffalo lib 2022).

Marvel Graphic Novels:

Marvel comics is a publishing company that started out in 1939 which was known as Timely comics. In 1960 the company got rebranded to marvel and came up with multiple origin stories for such characters like Spiderman, X – men, Fantastic Four etc according to (Britannica 2022).  

When it comes to graphic novels marvel have had their fair share of novels. They have many storylines and tales all compiled into one graphic novel. They have so many iconic story lines like Secret wars, Infinity Gauntlet, Days of Future Past, Civil War, Spiderman Kraven’s last Hunt, Captain America the Winter solider, Daredevil Born again and Wolverine. Some of these are crossover event comic books being imprinted into a graphic novel and some of these are solo story lines focusing on one singular character. These are some of the best graphic novels that Marvel have put out imprinted into graphic novel according to (One 37pm 2022).

Solo graphic novels (storylines)

Crossover event novels (Storylines)

DC Graphic Novels:

DC comics is another publishing company that was founded in 1934 and started publishing in 1938 with Action comics issue 1 with DCs first comic book character Superman. After the success of Superman and Action Comics DC started out putting out different titles like Detective comics, More Fun comics and even Allstar comics. These titles would then introduce to DCs more iconic character like Batman, Wonder Woman, and even other characters like Aquaman, the Spectre and even the justice society which were a team that consisted of the Flash (Jay Garrick), Green lantern (Alan Scott), Hawk man, Dr fate, Sandman etc. This was a team of war time of heroes that made their debut in DC comics in the 1940s. This would be known as the golden age era. In the 1950 DC would revamp some of their existing characters like the Flash and Green Lantern who would new identities, the Flash now being Barry Allen and the new Green lantern being Hal Jordan. This would be now known as the silver age era of comics according to (DC Fandom 2022).

Much like Marvel DC also have a wide range of graphic novels, some of which are crossover event comics like Kingdom come and Doomsday Clock and solo graphic novels that focuses on one character’s arc like the Dark knight returns, Mister miracle and the Killing joke. These types of graphic novels are DCs most ground-breaking storylines that they have put out and imprinted into a graphic novel according to (Screen rant 2022).

Solo graphic novels (storylines)

Crossover event novels (Storylines)

Marvel and DC Graphic novel primary research

Solo Graphic novel Marvel and DC

Ethan interview:

I asked my friend what he thinks about solo graphic novels featuring one character arc. My friend thinks that it’s good because there have been many comic books and graphic novels like watchmen which was written by Alan Moore and V for vendetta which is a book that is a DC graphic novel with Vertigo imprint as he is familiar with these one. My friend also chose which graphic novel he would and the options were Spiderman Kraven’s last hunt, Batman the long Halloween and all-star Superman. My friend had picked Batman the long Halloween. He picked this graphic novel because he is a fan of Batman and his storylines always centre around crime and serial killers and he is one of the few comic book characters that is grounded in reality because Batman deals with social and political views of the world and he has a rich history to that. Another reason why my friend picked Batman the long Halloween because the way the story is told about a serial killer in the book is similar to the movie Seven and other films like Zodiac which is another influence. He chose these movies it reminds him of them. My friend also likes the long Halloween is because the killer is sort of based on real serial killers mainly the Yorkshire ripper as he never got caught of his crimes which is another influence on Batman the long Halloween.  

For my graphic novel it is going to be a mixture of a graphic novel and a comic. This could either done as flip book or zene. I think it would be easier if I did as a zene because it will like all novels and it will a solo graphic novel focusing on one story lines and the way the narrative is going to be is visual story telling.  

Animated visual story telling research

What is visual story telling?

Visual story telling is a type of narrative that is conveyed through the art of communication, messages, and emotions in a way that it reaches the viewer at a deep and lasting level. Visual story telling is told through rich visual, these are either recorded from the real world or created by artist and visual thinkers. When it comes to visual story telling it can be shown in any shape of form, it could be a post on Instagram, a political cartoon in a newspaper, graphic novel, a well shot YouTube or an animation or photography. Visual is very important because it gives messages in a way that is different to narrative and it is more effective because all forms of media put into one format when it comes to visual story telling and it is a lot easier to get through viewers according to (We are cognitive 2022).

Wall E:

Wall E is animated Pixar film that was released in 2008 and it is about a character called Wall E who is on earth and where humans have abandoned the planet which is set in a distant future. Wall E is not just a animated film but it is that first to incorporate visual story telling with zero dialogue. This doesn’t leave the viewer confused because the way the story is told beginning middle and end is all visual language. This movie does incorporate visual story telling but it also includes emotion, animation with a clear form of message that the movie is trying to give to the audience members according to (Metaflix 2022).

Primary research Animated visual story telling

Comic covers research

What are comic covers?

A comic book cover is a marketing tool to catch the audience’s attention and to sell to the public. Comic covers are usually produced by the artist in the comic book industry where they draw it parts of a cover and then digitalizing it Adobe Photoshop or other software’s. A cover has three distinct factors when it comes to comic books according to (Comical opinions 2022).

• Contrast
• Focus
• Emotion

Contrast:

When it comes to contrast there are many platforms like twitter and Facebook especially when it comes to the marketing aspect of it. A cover must have at least one bold element that not only attracts a customer’s eye at a quick glance but makes it stand out from other comic book covers. In order for comic covers to stick out more and standout is that contrast is needed like applying a gradient from dark to light on the background so that the background appears nearly all white around the S’ym’s frame. It is simple but it’s effective technique for the artist to use. contrast gives the cover pop, it catches the eye when a cover has less than 5 seconds to grab a customer’s attention.

Focus:

Focus is another important element when it comes to making comic book covers. Focus is visual element that is used to tell a story. If a cover lacks focus, the customer’s eye’s wanders all over the cover randomly. If a comic cover has a lot of focus the cover conveys to you the message and tells you what happen in the book and what could happen next.

Emotion:

In order for a comic cover to look good it has to convey some emotion sadness, happy, serious, scared etc. These emotions are an important element to a comic cover because it shows how the character feel and how the story could play out in the book. This is also important because showing emotions can be a huge deal because it can have that big shocking moment and this also can help with sales and marketing of a comic book.

Comic cover analysis

• Image
• Colour
• Setting
• Idea

The Amazing Spiderman

This is an image of a Spiderman cover showcasing Spiderman as the main character and also showing other characters in the background like Mysterio, Lizard, Kraven the hunter and Rhino. This gives you an idea of what type of villains Spiderman is going to be facing in this book. The setting for this cover is in a city sunset as the colours that have been use in the background is orange and a peach type of colour. This is effective because it highlights some of the characters and it stands out more. The colours that are used in this cover are mixture of bright and dark colours. Colours like red and blue conveys a strong and powerful symbol for the protagonist whereas other colours like green, purple, grey and brown are used as darker tones which would give of a villainous and evil vibe and it also gives you an idea of who villains are. This works well for both the hero and villains because it gives you an idea which character plays which role in the book and it also gives the audience an idea what comic is about.

Infinity Gauntlet

This is an image of a comic cover Infinity Gauntlet showcasing the Infinity Gauntlet and some many characters in this cover. The character that are sown in this cover are Spiderman, Dr Strange, Hulk, Captain America many of the cosmic heroes and the main character being Thanos who is in the centre of the cover accompanied by two other characters Mephisto on the right side and death on the left side. This could be interpreted as Thanos having two angels but, in this case, they are full of evil intentions which further shows who the main antagonist is and with the characters in the background witnessing it and trying to stop him. The background in this cover is black and there are two settings in the background one on earth and the other in space. This works because it shows what sector of the universe gets involved and it also shows what’s going to happen in the book. The colours that have been used are very bright like red, yellow, orange, black, green, blue, purple, and silver. These colours work because they easily reflect off from the black background that has been used. The most dominant colours in the cover are yellow and orange giving of a golden look. This works because it perfectly works well with the other bright colours in this cover and it also gives you an idea of how big the story is in scope and the genre and type of storytelling which is cosmic.

Batman

This is an image of a Batman cover featuring Batman as the main character. The setting for this cover is set in Gotham city at night. This is effective because it gives you an idea what the comic is about and the type of vibe you could get. The colours that have been used are blue, black, and grey. The colours that are used in this cover are a darker tone. This works because Batman is a darker character and it gives you an idea that Batman is a vigilante and above the law. The most dominant colour is grey because it’s used more in this cover and it helps the audience to be more familiar with the Batman. This works because the colours that have been used is dark and makes Batman more recognizable to the public.

Justice League The Darkseid War

This is an image of the cover for Justice League the Darkseid War. This cover features a lot of characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder woman, Green Lantern, and the entire Justice League. Other characters are also featured like Darkseid and the Anti Monitor. The cover background setting is set in space. This works well because it gives you an idea on how big the story is and what could potentially happen in the book. The colours that have been used in this cover are bright tones of colours like green, red, blue, yellow, orange and silver. The colours that have been used are very effective because the story is set in space and earth giving a more vibrant look to it. The most dominant colour that has been used is orange and red. The orange is dominant because is used for fire and flames and the red is shown for evil and darkness. The red could also be interpretated as to be shown as powerful and heroic and the orange could also be interpreted as shining light that spreads hope. This works because it gives you an idea that red and orange symbolizes a lot of things and it also gives you an idea in this cover that is used for good and evil and conveys what the story is going to be.

Comic cover primary research

Comic book logo Research

When it comes to comic book companies one of the key elements to make a brand recognizable is to have logo. there are many comic book companies that have a unique logo that stands out and makes the brand recognizable for example there are such brands like Marvel and DC comics which are the two biggest brands in pop culture and there others brands that are independent like Image, Dark Horse and Valiant comics and other imprints like Vertigo. Each comic book company has a unique feel to it that makes the brand recognizable to the public but to general audiences.

Marvel comics logo history:

Marvel comics is comic book company that was created by martin goodman in 1939 and ever since then the company has become popular when it started publishing such characters like Captain America, Spiderman, Fantastic Four and X-Men. When the company started out in 1939 the brand was known as Timely comics. This brand lasted from 1939 to 1951 and the company had then changed to Atlas comics which featured a globe design which was different to the previous design which captured a shield. The company had then changed from Atlas to Marvel comics in the 1960s. Ever since the 1960s Marvel was kept the same but the logo design had altered from Marvel comics to Marvel comics group to then Marvel then back to Marvel comics the latest logo having a red and yellow design which lasted from 1990-2002. From 2000 onward Marvel changed their logo from the red and yellow logo to a single word with giant white lettering which was placed inside a red square according to (1000logos 2022).  

Evolution of Marvel comics logo:

DC comics logo history:

Much like Marvel comics DC comics also has a history full of different logo designs. DC comics is a publishing company owned by Warner Bros company and is one of the oldest publishing companies that started out in 1934 and created many iconic characters like Superman, Batman, Joker etc. DC was known as Detective Comics which was the first iconic title the Batman series. The DC logo had a badge design, this logo only lasted from 1940 – 42. In 1942 the original logo that was introduced in 1940 was slightly changed but still had the same design but the logo and lettering had a thicker outline. This logo had lasted up to 1949. The redesign in 1942 was made due to the launch of the superman series so the main change of the emblem was about the lettering around its frame. The logo had slightly changed but had some red fill colour added to the logo but then was changed in 1970 with the logo having an image of Superman with black lettering with a yellow square. This logo had last from 1970 to 1972.

In the 1970s the logo had constant redesign from blue and yellow lettering but keeping the design. In 1976 the logo was then changed with a black emblem where the small white circle was placed on a bigger black one. Four pointed stars were added and the DC logo was wordmark in an extra bold sans serif and was set diagonally on white background. This logo had lasted up to 2005 when DC comics had then changed their logo completely making the emblem blue and making it sleeker and more modern. The logo featured the two DC letter with a blue outline placed on an oval swirl with a star. This logo lasted up to 2012 when the company the logo for the New 52 era of comics where the logo was stylized as magazine with a blue gradient. In 2016 the logo designed to look like it emblem capturing the classic DC logo from the 1940s but with blue colour palette according to (1000logo 2022).

Evolution of DC comics logo:

Other comic book logo:

Comic book logo primary research

For my FMP my idea is to design I mini graphic novel/zene but I will also be designing and adding my own comic book logo company to make it look more professional.

Bot Designs research

For my FMP idea is to do a graphic novel/zene but it is going to include a robot as a main character and many other bot designs that are going to be different to one and others.

What are bot designs?

Bot designs are type of graphics and illustration and can be used for anything. Bot designs can mainly be used for to tell a story though any media like comic books, cartoons, or even animated films. This can be done either in a narrative perspective or a visual narrative.

For my mini graphic novel I am going to add visual story telling instead of having a narrative as it will be easier to grasp.

Different Bot designs: