when did thought bubbles and omniscient authorial captions vanish?

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I've noticed this recently…is this because, like many things, of Watchmen? if not, why and when did they become unfashionable?

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 21:14 (nineteen years ago)

Omniscient authorial captions >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Captions narrated from the point of view of a character in the story, especially when it's very unclear who the narrating character is addressing. There was this one particularly hideous Greg Rucka issue of Superman that I read narrated by Lois Lane, and it was all her confessing things to the reader, but it was obviously not one of her columns or anything. It was just dreadful, amateur bullshit.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 21:29 (nineteen years ago)

I want think bubbles to be back. With the word (THINKS) at the start.

― Vic F (Vic Fluro), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 21:33 (nineteen years ago)

Omniscient captions lead to overwriting. First-person captions unintentionally lead to scattered POV. Both have their attributes as well, depending on how good the writer is.

You can actually track the omniscient captions/thought bubbles conventionality in Frank Miller's Daredevil Visionaries, esp. in the third volume.

― c(''c) (Leee), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 22:06 (nineteen years ago)

There's still plenty of first person captions out there: Gail Simone's Birds Of Prey springs to mind (as Black Canary's diary I guess).

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 27 April 2006 07:27 (nineteen years ago)

Surely it's the influx of former screen/TV writers that's killed them off - if yr perception of comics is as a kind of printed filmic medium then there's room for the occasional voiceover but think bubbles and omniscient narrators are going to seem somewhat uncool.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 27 April 2006 07:41 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's also varies between countries - in Europe and Japan omiscient narration was always used less than in the US (Tintin, for example, has none), whereas thought bubbles are still in common use.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 27 April 2006 09:46 (nineteen years ago)

Snowy (Milou) thought bubbles were always the best in Tintin.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 27 April 2006 12:14 (nineteen years ago)

Dave Sim did lots of interesting experiments with both, with mixed success.

― chap who would dare to be a nerd, not a geek (chap), Thursday, 27 April 2006 12:47 (nineteen years ago)

Showcase Presents Jimmy Olsen is, like, ALL THOUGHT BUBBLE, ALL THE TIME.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:45 (nineteen years ago)

Ironic considering what Olsen was doing was almost the opposite of human thought.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

*GASP*

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2917/964/400/dick%20hunter%202.jpg

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:22 (nineteen years ago)

thought bubble storytelling is like the colour of somebody's facial complexion in a russian novel... you have to get past its insane unbelievability (to someone who's not familiar with it) and just accept it as a stylized storytelling device.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

Most Silver Age (DC, at least) stories would be impossible/asinine w/o thought bubbles since the momentum of the plot typically relies on one or more persons drastically misunderstanding the situation.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:31 (nineteen years ago)

I've read some of those Lois Lane's Blog-style Superman stories (though maybe not Rucka's--I think the President Lex trade had a bunch), and I can appreciate trying to frame the narrative through the POV of someone other than Supes, but, like, his wife? Why not just have his mom narrate the comic. "And then my special little boy punched Zod in the balls. Oh, we didn't raise him to do that."

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

"Most Silver Age (DC, at least) stories would be impossible/asinine w/o thought bubbles since the momentum of the plot typically relies on one or more persons drastically misunderstanding the situation."

perhaps the creators of Three's Company were big Weisinger/Schwartz fans…

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

... I can appreciate trying to frame the narrative through the POV of someone other than Supes, but, like, his wife?

Fair AND Balanced!

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

popularising the thought balloon since c)1960:

http://www.francescomorante.it/images/316b1.jpg

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

OMG if only Mr. Roper had thought balloons.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:50 (nineteen years ago)

I think the vanishing of third-person narrative and thought bubbles, as well as sound effects, in American comics coincided with Miller, Moore et al trying to make comics into a more respectable medium, which also meant trying to make them like the more "serious" arftorms. Getting rid of thought bubbles and third-person narratives made comics more like cinema, whereas the first-person narration was borrowed from literature (though it's often used in cinema too). I think their disappearance is sad because they're all in a way conventions unique to comics (well, omniscient narration maybe isn't, but the way it's used is), and should be respected as part of comic tradition rather than dropped off to make comics look like the more respectable arts.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

Japanese comics have this one convention I'm fond of where thoughts appear in tiny script, un-bubbled, next to the speaker's head. Its almost like marginalia to the speech bubbles.

― Annabelle Lennox (Arachne), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:46 (nineteen years ago)

I was about to say Watchmen like everyone else, but I'm skeptical of this auteur theory model of comics influence. I mean look at post-Watchment Claremont X-Men, for example. Maybe it has to do with a mix of professional factors (screenwriters, etc.) and the Image guys, who riffed off manga pacing, emphasizing art/splash pages rather than storytelling.

― kenchen, Thursday, 27 April 2006 18:11 (nineteen years ago)

I'm waiting for a rise in the omniscient narrator in TV and film. Arrsted Development and Tony Takitani are not enough to make a trend, but they are a good start (with My Name Is Earl happily ploughing the first person voice-over action).

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 27 April 2006 21:15 (nineteen years ago)

(No, seriously, Dick Hunter?)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 28 April 2006 07:42 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not sure about the "Earl" voiceover, it just seems to be filling up dead space where the writers couldn't think of a joke.

I like the (sort of) omniscient narrator in "Big Lebowski".

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 28 April 2006 08:10 (nineteen years ago)

I get the idea that the premise of the show has to be explained every week, and that's what the V.O. does.

Other comic that use first person a fair bit: The Flash, Spider-Girl, The Thing and She-Hulk a bit.

― Pete (Pete), Friday, 28 April 2006 08:33 (nineteen years ago)

"Hi, I'm Jason Lee. Unlike in Mallrats, I have a moustache. Welcome to my show."

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 28 April 2006 09:01 (nineteen years ago)

Seriously, anyone who ever puts down omniscient narration really needs to be beaten senseless with Arrested Development box sets.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Friday, 28 April 2006 09:56 (nineteen years ago)

Mind you, it's not like comics aren't still filled with purple prose (ahem, Greg Rucka).

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 28 April 2006 10:06 (nineteen years ago)

I'd rather have occasional purple narration (EG Moore's Swamp Thing) than people talking all the goddamn time (ahem, Brian Bendis)

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 28 April 2006 10:16 (nineteen years ago)

All 2000AD writers get a free pass on purple, although I've never been big into Swamp Thing.

Ths weekend I have to post a panel from Doug Moench's "Prey" (which is otherwise pretty great) that is the purpleitudinist thing ever.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 28 April 2006 11:25 (nineteen years ago)

Denny O'Neil's 70s Batman stuff was awesome for this.

I also like the Omniscient Narrator with Personality (like Arrested Development or old Stan Lee type stuff) when it's fun.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 28 April 2006 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

I guess Enigma is the ultimate example of that.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 28 April 2006 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

Word on the street is that Simonson and Chaykin are using thoughtbubbles in Hawkgirl!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:20 (nineteen years ago)

King of purple captions: Jamie Delano on Hellblazer.

― chap who would dare to be a nerd, not a geek (chap), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

I watched Pillow Talk last night (the movie with Doris Day, Rock Hudson & Tony Randall), and it's JUST LIKE A JIMMY OLSEN COMIC. Doris & Rock both have v.o. thought bubbles that drive the plot! And they're frequently gratuitous!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 8 May 2006 14:13 (nineteen years ago)

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