the limits of big animation, the liberties of small comics... "Vacation Time"

The simple and familiar forms of Donald Duck and the nephews of Disney iconography present us with simple exposition and fare. Or do they? At once, I read thru the entire of the 30 odd pages of panels and at the very least found it well made for a comic book; I was not slowed down in the least by the details -this is something of its transparency. The style of the drawing seemed typical of american forms of earlier 20th century times, but there was the undeniably rich landscapes and well placed juxtapositions of objects. We all deal with the "moral story" injection of fire safety in the forest overseen by the quaint bureau of rangers, then another seemingly a-typical piece of action: a plan to survive the inferno. It ends with a disarming reprise of some of the slapstick themes...

Then after reading the criticism and analysis of "Visual Narrative in 'Vacation Time'" I recognized the subtle effects of all that layout, linework, rendering, and other articulation and shifts. The layout of the panels didn't really give photography an "in your face, camera!" display for me, atleast since I was not looking for one... But in light of the presence/absence of the objects of the camera and car, I have to see it now, and it seems more than mere coincidence.

As my headline alludes to, I was impressed that the artist saw and his work showed how dynamic the comic form could really be, and I too saw the limits of animation, or atleast of the style of his time with Disney; perhaps our motion-picture eyes have gotten better at grabbing faster and faster scenes, but I suspect that limit is still there. After all, any readable/viewable media without automatic motion (as film, music, video game cut-scenes *would* have) can be read At Any Pace the reader sees fit. The carrying of the narrative facilitated from panel to panel can be fast or slow, but that is what allows it to work, more user-friendly you might say. In a running film, if you miss the big punch in the fight scene, well, you missed it...