World Building in A-Force

The way that A-Force does world building is very interesting. Usually in a comic you are not given a large amount of detail all at once, such as where they live and what is exactly going on. In A-Force the first four pages set up the world that they live in through images and caption boxes as well as
straight text. On the first page, the images and the words in the caption boxes don’t line up exactly. The caption boxes are describing the island that they live on while the images are showing the main characters that will be important in the comic. Due to this the reader is getting two difference sets of information that are both important but also do not exactly connect with each other. (Wolk  128).  The next two pages in the comic are a splash page, which shows the entire island of Arcadia with the main heroes flying over it. The 4th page has text that lets the reader know that this work is apart of the Secret Wars and how the rest of the universe is constructed.

On the first page you also begin to get the notion that there are other superheroes that live on the
island that are not truly that important to the story line. For example, in the 3rd panel, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage can be seen, but they are not shown as superheroes, like the main characters, but rather in a very domestic way, grocery shopping.  If the reader has not read Jessica Jones’ series Alias, the inference would not be all that obvious. This is an example of intertextuality, in this case intertextuality adds another layer of interest, making the reader want to try to find other familiar characters, but it also does detract from the work if the reader does not catch the reference.  (Bauman 5)

Truly the only additional information beyond the first four pages, that the reader needs to fully understand the world (if they have not extensively read the Secret Wars line) is given about half way through the first issue. This information is that Doom is a god like ruler and that the Thors (more than 5 are shown) are the keepers and enforces if the law. A-Force does a good job of introduces this information so that readers who have not read the Secret Wars are able to understand what is happening.

A majority of the world building that is done in A-Force is done within the first four pages with some additional information that is picked up about half way through the first issues.

By: Kaitlyn Renaud