Comics 101: What is decompression? (Part 2 of 4)

From Astounding X-Men #14/John Cassaday

This is the second in a four part series about the "Post-Modern Age" in comic books. You can read part 1 here.

In the Golden Age of comic books, any one adventure in an issue would last more than 8 pages or so, and most titles were anthologies featuring several characters in short adventures. By the Silver Age, many titles had a 12-16 page lead and a 6-8 page back up. In the Bronze Age, most comic books featured just one character or concept, often in short two- or three-part stories, with subplots that might last a year or longer.

Today it is the norm in most super-hero comics to write in “story arcs,” a four- to eight-part story, with each issue serving as a “chapter” to that story, that may crossover into the title’s larger family of books, or into other titles completely.

The storyteling technique in these comic books is referre to as "decompressed," because scenes are "allowed to breathe." Instead of rushing from one scene to the next at a breakneck pace, the writer can linger on a scene or even a specific moment, in order to allow it to develop more fully.

The style may be typified (or even stereotyped) by a sequence of images that do not change and have no text, to indicate that a character is thinking, or the writer wants to indicate a pregnant, awkward pause in the dialogue. It may also be used in a series of text-less images to bring heightened awareness to some element in those images.

Two of the first American comic books to use the style were Warren Ellis’ The Authority and Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man. In The Authority, it was usually referred to as “cinematic style” or “widescreen style,” because Ellis often used the device to “slow time down,” as popularized in movies like The Matrix. In Ultimate Spider-Man, the decompression was more often used in dialogues, where two characters would talk with each other for pages.

Both titles were smash hits, and many other writers tried to emulate Ellis’ and Bendis' styles, with varying degrees of success.

Even when done correctly, there are costs and benefits to decompressed storytelling. On one hand, it gives the writer an opportunity to really develop his or her thoughts (characters, action sequences, etc) more fully and really bring them into tight focus for the reader. On the other hand, with less text to read, it can shorten the reading time of an issue, leading to dissatisfaction for the reader.

One common complaint among readers is that decompression is “padding,” the book, expanding a storyline in order to sell more copies of each issue, or to fill out a contract on a trade paperback collection of the series, which typically sell best when collecting 5-8 issues of a title. This is called “writing for the trade,” even though both DC Comics and Marvel Comics are publishing more of their more recent collections in the hardback format first.

Check back here tomorrow for part 3, where we'll discuss the impact of manga and eastern-styled storytelling. And check back on Monday to discover what the ultimate impact of The Watchmen is.

For all the articles in the Comics 101 series, click here.

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