How Do They Move So Fast? Indexical Lines and Polymorphic Imagery in Superhero Comics

September 26th, 2021

The following was a presentation given at At Home Comic Con 2021, in aid of charity. The recording of all five presentations given for the Comic Academia Panel is available at the At Home Comic Con YouTube channel.

For my doctorate research, I look at how time is portrayed within comics. This may sound like a bit of an obvious thing to look at, but by breaking down the techniques artists and writers use, we can understand and better communicate the passage of time.

One of the first things we might logically consider is panel layout and construction. This is indeed important, as how panels are presented and laid out determines how your eye navigates the page, and the order in which we see each panel. The same is also true for carriers, which includes narrative captions and speech balloons. How they are positioned, relative to both the panels and to each other also guides the reader through the page, and thus through time. Even smaller details such as a character’s relative positioning, or facial expression changing between panels can give the reader a sense of time moving. We understand this due to our own experience of the world. Due to the pacing, rhythm and context of the story, we can transplant our own experience in the place of characters. Such as how long it takes to change facial expressions or how long it takes to say a particular line. However, techniques can be used on an even finer scale to communicate everything from minor motions to grand gestures within a single panel. Especially within Superhero comics, where moving faster than average is a necessity.

This brings us to Indexical Lines and Polymorphic Panels. While the names might not be familiar, their functions are fundamental to comics, especially in Superhero Comics. Indexical Lines are the collective term we give to things such as motion lines and lines of sight. Indexical Lines fall into two categories, Path Lines and Deictic Lines. Both act as arrows in order to direct the reader’s attention to a specific focus, however, each does it in a different way and for a different purpose

You can see in this diagram, based on the one created by Neil Cohn, that both Path Lines and Deictic Lines can be divided further. Path Lines can be divided into Motion, Radical and Scopic, while Deictic Lines can be broken down into their own version of Scopic, as well as Zooming.

Because I’m a sucker for Superman, I’ll be using some Superman issues as examples here. So, expect a lot from the Man of Steel.

Beginning with Motion Lines, we have a line that denotes both where the action began, and where it currently ends. In this example from John Byrne’s Man of Steel, we see the motion lines around Clark and his dog in the first two panels. We can see in the first panel that when the dog jumps against Clark, Clark jolts back slightly. His head moves thanks to the weight of his dogs paws, and his right leg moves to shift his weight to compensate. This leads to the second panel, where now that the weight has shifted, Clark realises there is nothing below his left leg, even shaking his foot slightly to check. In the final panel, we see Clark flying through the air, the motion line beginning exactly where Clark was in the previous panel, as shown by the small sketch of the dog barking, and ends at Clark’s current position.

Different countries have different ways of presenting motion lines in action, and with this, we can see a very classic example of American comics and their implementation. European comics tend to use much shorter lines and limiting the amount used. While Japanese Manga lean into reduction as motion lines are heavily used, even blending with the figure moving. American comics meet these two in the middle by using a combination of the two. Longer and more lines than the European comics, but less drastic than the Japanese manga. However, there is one element that American comics developed solely on their own, the ribbon. If we go back to the image of Clark flying, In terms of time, we know that the amount of time this panel encompasses is however long it took Clark to fly from the point he was in the previous panel, to where he is now. Based on the shaping of the lines, we know this was a very fast movement. You’ll also notice that the motion lines have a white colouration between them. This is the ribbon. It’s a technique created by American comics to allow a clearer understanding of the motion lines, especially once the pages are coloured.

The Ribbon is also frequently used with Scopic Lines, particularly with Superhero books. Traditionally, Path Line Scopic Lines show a character’s line of sight, however, when you include the ribbon technique, you are now able to depict superhuman abilities such as x-ray vision or heat vision. In this example from Man and Superman, the light blue signifies a use of X-ray vision being used by Clark Kent. You understand directly where Clark is looking, and based on the colour and context, you have a rough understanding of what he is looking at and why.

In contrast, if we make the ribbon for the Scopic path line red, we know that Superman is using his heat vision. For timing, it is very difficult to pinpoint how long this action would take without context.

Finally for Path Lines, we have Radical lines. These are a little different from the other two, and are primarily used to give the effect of heat or smell coming from an object. In the example above, we can see this being used twice. First is the lines representing the light coming from the sun. Again, this does not give us a lot to work with in terms of time, except that it either early in the day or perhaps even midday due to how high and bright the sun is. Secondly, we see Bruce and Clark drinking some form of hot beverage, for simplicities sake, let’s say it’s coffee. Lines coming from both mugs indicate that this coffee is particularly hot. If it weren’t for the fact that we see Clark poring the coffee, then we’d still know that it was recently pored. Moving to the other side of Indexical Lines, we have two very simple techniques that make up Deictic lines. This is another version of Scopic and finally Zooming.

The Deictic variation of Scopic lines does not signify where a character is looking, but instead that something has caught the characters attention. In the example here, Superman’s comment to Jon gets his attention and causes him to turn around. It’s a very simple technique, but one that adds immediacy to a character’s response. Without it, Jon is facing Superman, with it, Jon has rapidly turned around to face Superman.

Finally for lines, We have zooming. This is a technique that treats the frame like the camera and zooms in on a segment of the frame. In this case, we see lines coming in from the sides to draw focus on Swamp Thing as he stares up at Superman.

Finally, we have Polymorphic imagery. You’ll likely see this in terms of characters that can move quickly, such as Superman or The Flash. Polymorphic literally means multiple morphing. An image implementing Polymorphic imagery shows multiple stages of movement within a single image. In terms of time, it allows an artist and writer to show time moving at two different speeds for characters involved. In the example here, we see Lois Lane alongside Clark as he changes into Superman. While there are multiple steps for Clark’s transformation, Lois remains still. This implies that Clark is moving at a fast speed the frame has captured, but it moves too quickly for Lois to react to.

Polymorphic panels are becoming increasingly prominent in Superhero comics, Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo’s work on Nightwing has shown great experimentation with Polymorphic structure. Experimentation that has been greatly received by fans, especially with how well it suits the character. For the cover of Nightwing #83 (Taylor & Redondo.2021, the eye follows Nightwing in the same Z-Path formation that western comics follow. The eye begins with Nightwing swinging onto the rafters, before jumping over the bars. Our eyes then follow Dick as he removes his Nightwing costume, slowly replacing it with a jacket, shirt and jeans. As Dick reaches the last rung, he puts his bag containing his costume down, and removing his mask just before he steps onto the stage. At the bottom centre of the page, at the end of Dick’s journey, he takes to a podium and announces ‘My name is Dick Grayson. And I Have an Idea’ (Taylor & Redondo.2021). The cover acts as one large panel, we are framed within this moment with Dick’s movements dictating the timing. We know from the speech balloon, that the final stage of the cover takes the same amount of time as it would to say, ‘My name is Dick Grayson. And I have an Idea’. For each of the other steps, aside from swinging onto the rafters, we can use our own knowledge of hastily getting changed to get a sense of just how fast Dick is moving. In the second to last action however, we see deictic indexical lines in the form of scopic lines around Dick’s eyes. This draws specific attention to not only Dick’s face, but shows that his own attention is on his face, when he realises he is still wearing his domino mask.

On September 16^th, 2021, Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo revealed through a Polygon article that Nightwing #87 would be one continuous image. Just from the cover shown, we can see the same techniques from the Nightwing #83 cover. Nightwing moving from the distance, as he comes closer and closer into frame. While the act of swinging in in the same manner as Nightwing is highly unlikely for us to do on a daily basis, we still have an understanding of how long it might take for an acrobat to cover this distance.

The initial press release for Nightwing #87 featured the first few pages of the book, though without colours or lettering. We see Taylor and Redondo embracing the idea of capturing a moment in time, and in this case, capturing these specific moments as Dick travels through the city.

In conclusion, while the idea of studying time might seem a little pointless, by examining these smaller building blocks of comics, we can identify how the comic book medium can move forward. With work from creators like Taylor and Redondo, I’m hopeful that comics still have a long way to go until there is nothing more to evolve.

• Byrne, J. (1986) Man of Steel #1. DC Comics: Burbank.

• Herge (1929-1976) The Adventures of Tintin. Casterman: Belgium.

• Horikoshi, K. (2014 – Present) My Hero Academia. Weekly Shonen Jump: Tokyo.

• Johns, G. & Jimenez, P. (2006) Infinite Crisis. DC Comics: Burbank.

• Polo, S. (2021) Nightwing #87 Plays Out As One Continuous, Spectacular Image. [ONLINE] Polygon. September 16^th. Available from: https://www.polygon.com/comics/22677324/nightwing-87-dc-comics-preview-tom-taylor-bruno-redondo-covers [Last Accessed: 17.09.2021]

• Taylor, T. & Redondo, B. (2021) Nightwing #83: Leaping into the Light Part 6. DC Comics: Burbank.

• Taylor, T. & Redondo, B. (2021) Nightwing #87. DC Comics: Burbank.

• Tomasi, P., Gleason, P. (2017) Superman #11: In the Name of the Father: World’s Smallest Part 2. DC Comics: Burbank.

• Tomasi, P. Gleason, P. & Mahnke, D. (2016) Superman #8: Escape from Dinosaur Island Part 1. DC Comics: Burbank.

• Tomasi, P. Gleason, P. & Jimenez, J. (2017) Superman Annual #1: Tangled Up in Green. DC Comics: Burbank.

• Wolfman, M & Castellini, C. (2019) Man and Superman. DC Comics: Burbank.