Speed Reading / Reading Speed

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From a thread on I Love Books:

"I'm never sure what speed you're supposed to read a comic. You can obviously read one fantastically quickly to get the story, but then I feel guilty that I'm not paying enough attention to all the detail the artist has gone to all the trouble of putting in. Or you can carefully look at each panel, but than the story sags, and you tend to skip down to the bottom of the opposite page anyway. I have a natural book reading speed. i don't have a natural comic reading speed."

posted by Joe Kay - thanks Joe.

Do you have a natural comic reading speed? What is it? And is it unfair on the artist? :)

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 23:34 (twenty years ago)

I have a natural comic book speed and it's pretty slow actually. Maddie seems to read comics twice as fast. It's out of respect for the artist but also out of respect for my $2.99!

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 00:11 (twenty years ago)

I think a lot of detail that an artist puts into panels is superfluous and not a little bit wanky, a charge I'll lay on a lot of 80s and early 90s artwork.

I "read" art quickly, words less so, but overall my comics pace totally outstrips my novel pace.

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 00:28 (twenty years ago)

I read way too fast; I get absorbed in the story more than the art unless the art is really great. So like my speed per comic is probably between 15-25 minutes. With LOEG and other ones that have a lot going on that one might miss (also all the little futuristic touches in Transmetropolitan for example) I'll slow down and spend more time on it. Basically if there's something, um, like semiotically important, that I can see, to a picture, I'll take it in, but I don't sit around and admire the quality of an artist's lamp-posts or anything.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 01:54 (twenty years ago)

I read fast, too damn fast. Sometimes I get home and read my $25 worth of comics in like half an hour, and I'm like, awwww, I could not buy comics anymore and buy a car.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 05:26 (twenty years ago)

I read the comic quickly first to find out what happens and then reread it slower so I can look at the pictures properly

― Mark C (Markco), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 08:37 (twenty years ago)

You have to read quick in the shop...

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 09:28 (twenty years ago)

"No spying without buying"

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 10:50 (twenty years ago)

It really depends on the comic, if I skim an author like Morrison, which I've done in the past, I just end of saying "what the f..." 2 pages later. Others I just fly through.
My novel reading speed remains consistantly fast, and has for the past several years, unless it's Dostoyevky.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 12:30 (twenty years ago)

I read the average-length comic book in about 5 minutes. Then I read it again to see if I missed anything.

To date, the only books that've given me pause have been written by Grant Morrison or drawn by ChrisCross.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 13:51 (twenty years ago)

David Lapham's current run on Detective is full of words, so it takes a little longer, but 5 minutes sounds about right.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:00 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I usually zzzzzip through stuff, on a title-to-title basis. Some stuff I savor a little more than others - Runaways and Astonishing X-Men & Ellis' Ultimate FF & GM stuff, among many others, I linger; Superman / Batman, I fly through (because I don't bother w/ the STUPID CAPTIONS). I'd like to get my shit together so I can revisit stuff (100 Bullets, Lucifer, The Losers, etc.) on an arc-by-arc basis.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:09 (twenty years ago)

Huh, just timed myself, took 17 minutes to read Hellblazer #47. So I'm one of the slow kids.

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

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