In chapter eight of Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud claims
that some believe "colors can have profound physical and emotional effects
on people" (185). It can easily be seen how this principle is applied to
comics, even more so a comic as modern and intelligent as Tokyo Ghost, written by Rick Remender with art by Sean Murphy and
colouring done by Matt Hollingsworth. Although I haven't been in contact with any
of these three as of the date I'm writing this, I can wholly say that
Hollingsworth's work speaks volumes for itself as the contrasting colours of Tokyo Ghost are some of the first things
that grabbed (and held) my attention while reading his comic.
From its opening page, a status quo is set for the book's
use of colour. A group of homeless people converge by an open fire, illuminated
in warm orange light. This is one of the few simple or relaxed scenes in the
entire book, and it's contrasted by the murky blue-green sewers of a wasted
futuristic Los Angeles. This slice of humanity amidst an otherwise cold and
technologically-obsessed society is highlighted through Hollingsworth's use of
colour, and readers will quickly find that the orange/blue colour scheme is
kept up throughout the remainder of the issue.
A turn of the page reveals a two-page spread so awesome that
the only reason I'll refrain from showing the whole thing here is the risk of
spoiling a possible subject for my annotated comics page. The page contains our
two main heroes, Led and Debbie, nabbing a criminal while zooming through the
city streets on a kickass
motorcycle
that looks like it was ripped straight from of the pages of Akira. What makes this spread so
enticing, other than the miraculous detail on Led's motorcycle and the
surrounding environment, is the repeated use of colour first seen on the
previous page. Our heroes are displayed in bright orange, almost glowing amidst
the the grimy and dingy bluish-grey city. In Mise-en-Page: A Vocabulary for Page Layouts, Jesse Cohn states that
colour contrasts, among other things, are used by artists to "steer the
eye from one point to the next" (52). This is exemplified here, as readers
are immediately drawn to the two characters and their motorcycle before
eventually letting their eyes wander to the outer edges of the page and the
smaller details held within them. Colour is especially important in a page as
detailed as this one, as the lines of the main subject could easily be lost in
the chaos of the page as a whole in black-and-white.
One last thing I'll comment on is the top half of page
16, which shows a massive explosion erupting from within a racetrack. The fire
is, appropriately, bright orange as it spills out into the moonlit city bathed
in blue and black. It's impressive how Hollingsworth maintains the colour
scheme throughout these three very different scenes while keeping it
thematically sound. In this case, the chaos of the previous scene can be
thought of as "exploding" out into the quiet streets surrounding it as the action escalates. The contrast between the orange and blue is more bold
and apparent in the page than in the previous pages, signifying the rising
action of the plot.
I hope it goes without saying, but I thoroughly recommend
Tokyo Ghost and can't wait to grab
the second issue when it's released next week.
Written By: Andrew
Masse
Works Cited:
Cohn, Jesse. "Mise-en-Page: A Vocabulary of Page Layouts." Teaching the Graphic Novel. Ed. Stephen E. Tabachnick. New York: Modern Language Association, 2009.
McCloud, Scott. Understanding
Comics: The Invisible Art. Ed. Mark Martin.
HarperCollins
Publishers, 1993. Print.
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