Prestidigitation

It is commonly defined as "slight of hand" or "magic." In terms of performers, magic is either done by speed or by misdirection. If my hands are moving fast enough, you can't see the subtle movements happening among the gross ones, which allows me to make unrecognizable changes and magic happens. But if I don't want to do gross and fine movements in the same hand, I can do the gross movements in one hand and the fine movements in the other. You will still focus on the gross movements and ignore the fine ones, still allowing magic to occur.

Story telling works the same way. If I tell a story quickly and excitingly enough, you won't notice the subtler aspects. This is especially true in Hollywood blockbusters, where a continuous string of explosions, car chases, shouting, and fast music make the audience forget that the characters have no motivation or acting ability. Even if I am telling an oral story to my friend, enthusiasm in my voice and wild gestures will make people not think about the fact that there is a missing piece of the story to explain why it all happened in the first place.

Unfortunately, written stories do not allow this luxury. Since everything is exposed and the audience can take all of the time it needs to study it, there is no flash that can cover up a flawed story. Because of that, it may be more difficult to write a good story, but I prefer it that way. Since I am a logical fellow and I always want to know the hows and whys of a story and its characters, this is information I will always have before I tell a story.

In the realm of comics, though, we have a blending of these two methods. Because it is still written down, the audience can still take their time and analyze the work, thus making sure that the subtle nuances of the story are covered. However, because of the visual aspect that is involved, it allows me to manipulate people just enough. Since I am not using my words to describe the action, and since I don't have actual motion to show action happening, I need to use the subtle qualities of layout and design to make the audience go where I want and think in a certain way. Ordering the panels in a certain sequence make the reader follow in a certain manner. Vertical panels show upward/downward actions or scale in height. Horizontal panels can show scale in length and action along that plane.

There are whole books written on the tricks that can be done in comics to manipulate the readers, but the point of it all is that I am happy to be in a medium that requires a solidly constructed story, but still allows for manipulating the reader just a little bit.