Researching Comics: Sin City

Sin City uses panelling in a very different way. Because the pages are A5 in size the panels appear larger than the average coming, leaving less in the page, usually about two or three per page. Also, the monologue text is often placed beside the panels, perhaps to separate it from the reality of the world, or perhaps just to make it easier to read.

Even the action is done differently. Conventionally, the page has more panels juxtapositioned in the page to make it look more exciting and fast. In Sin City, the panels become more frequent during suspense, and wider during the actual action.

This is also displayed on the image below. The center focus of Sin City is lighting. Almost all the pictures are made up of where the light hits the characters and environments, making lighting a key factor to seeing what is going on in the panels. Lightening is used in all comics, and is obviously key to seeing things as it would otherwise be in total darkness, but the point I am trying to make is that Sin City exists in a style of mainly two colours; black and white, and most of the time the only visible elements of this world are so because of the lighting and how it hits the subject of the panel.

One of the best things about Sin City in my opinion is the writting. The descriptive nature and use of metaphors really make the city feel more like a character than a place the characters inhabit, and it really helps the reader feel like they are in Sin City, (which is amplified by the the crossing use of 1st and 2nd person).

"I love the rain. I love the icy way it creeps down my neck. The way the air goes electric and everything seems so clear. You breath in and your nostrils work." 

Obviously your nostrils work, but by using this language to relates to the reader how they have felt fresh air that can be cold but awakening on a winters day, and using these connections know how it feels to be in Sin City. Essentially, it is very well written; descriptive, detailed, expressive and vivid.