Evaluation

Narrative structure
My graphic narrative features a girl who finds out she has an identity disorder on
her eighteenth birthday causing her to dress as a superhero and solve crime.
Once discovering her disorder she is forced to learn to control it after getting into
run-ins with the Police. By the end of the narrative she actually works with them
to make the streets safer from a dangerous gang. Similarly to other graphic
narratives in the industry, my narrative has a spark (Alysa getting arrested),
escalation (the discovery of her disorder) and a climax (her solving crime) and
the denouncement (the Police thanking her). The structure is non-linear because
it starts present tense, then she has a flashback to 24 hours earlier, then it
returns to present day. My narrative structure is effective because the non-linear
layout keeps it exciting to read, I think my plot is effective because it is unlike
the conventional superhero stories because she has an actual disorder to explain
it. This could be typical to crime dramas because they often switch between
different times in the story to create more of a mystery for the viewer. To
improve my plot I could have added more of a denouncement to round off the
whole story or add more detail to the climax to draw in the reader more as I think
the climax is over too quickly.
I think my imagery does compliment my text because it relates to the narrative
and what the characters are saying. However, I think I could have used different
angles more often throughout my comic book. I also think I could have added
more text to make the narrative easier to follow.
My comic book is similar to the popular Superwoman comic book because mine
also features a strong female main character who helps to fight crime. Also my
comic book looks like the Superman comic book cover below because the font it
similar and I have also featured a powerful image of my main character on the
front. However, I think the example below uses more colour, e.g. in their
costumes and more varied angles, e.g. a high angle as they are flying and an
angle below Superwoman as she flies.

Image Construction

The graphic style of my narrative is that there is minimal colour because I didnt
want it to be too intense or overpowered. I used quite light toned colours and the
lines werent too dark or bold.
I drew the images myself, then I coloured in the images with coloured pencils
and scanned them into my computer.
The layout of my comic helps to develop the narrative because I have got the
key parts of the narrative in larger boxes so that my viewers are drawn to it. The
repetition of the same boxes as shown below show how she keeps repeating her
actions, highlighting the lack of control she has over her blackouts. I decided to
not show the events leading up to her waking up so that the viewer experiences
as much as she does since Alysa also doesnt remember what has happened the
previous night. I feel that the slanted lines splitting up the boxes makes it more
dramatic and less organised and neat. It surprised the viewer by not giving them
the conventional rectangle box like I have used for the rest of the narrative. I
wanted to keep it interesting so I tried to vary the layout, e.g. trying to use other
shapes like a trapezium and slanted rectangles so that it is more unusual.

I used a few captions in my images, such as 24 hours earlier and that was the
last thing I remember. I combined images and text to show dialogue using
speech bubbles. These help to tell the audience about the time lapse between
the image frames in the narrative and the speech tells the audience what they
are doing and thinking.
My images meet the target audience because it is quite obvious what is
happening so the younger audience are able to follow the story. The colours
would appeal to my target audience because they are feminine, such as the use
of pink which relate to my main character being female and my audience being
young females.
Production process
I think my technique of drawing the comic could have been improved slightly to
make it more aesthetically pleasing, however, I am not a very talented drawer so
although I tried my hardest, it didnt quite turn out how I had planned. When I
asked my peers what they thought of it they said they liked parts of the
drawings, although some parts were said to be better than other parts and
people suggested that I could make some of the drawings stronger and bolder
along with the colouring.
I think my work is most similar to the Superman comic because my front cover to
my graphic narrative has a similar pose from my superhero, looking powerful and
strong. In both comics, the superheroes dominate the front cover, also my comic
title was written in a similar font to the Superman. Also, the images are slightly

similar angles and similar text boxes. However, the Superman comic has more
text from the dialogue, whereas mine has less text because there is less
dialogue. In addition to this, the Superman comic seems to be bolder with more
colour than mine. I tried to copy this style from a similar layout in my novel, a
similar style of drawing, such as they are both drawn in 2D.

Industry comic.
My comic.
I think my illustrations could be more creative because I could have varied and
experimented with different angles more when drawing them. My concept is
relatively creative; however, it isnt completely unique as many people create
superhero comics. My feedback suggested that people thought my concept was
original and that the drawings looked effective, yet would have been better with
more colour.
I think I managed my time well, I planned it relatively quickly, and though I could
have started drawing the comic earlier because it look me longer than expected.
To get the drawings done I had to finish it in my spare time but I did eventually
get it finished on time. If I had managed my time better and had more time to
draw they might have been of a better quality and I might have been more
satisfied with the final product.
The feedback from my peers suggested that the best elements of my graphic
narrative were the drawings and the narrative idea. The parts that people
suggested I could improve on were my colouring because it is lacking some
colour and making the drawings bolder.

The feedback I received prompted me to add more colour to my work to make it

more like the industry example comic books, like the Superman comic above.
When I compared my own comic with this industry example I noticed a
significant difference between the use of colour on the Superman comic and my
comic. The industry example makes the most of colour, using it all over the
pages, only leaving small amounts white with the rest in bright, bold colours so
that it appeals to the young target audience. I think I should make my own comic
similarly colourful so that it too appeals my young target audience.
My print deals with some social issues such as mental illness and how they can
be overlooked like how the Police Officer in the story just assumed that she had
been drinking too much alcohol and hadnt actually blacked out from a mental
illness like she had told them. In addition to this it deals with the social issue of
law through the police arresting her for getting into a fight on the street which I
felt made it more believable than the typical super hero narratives. Then towards

the end, she actually helps the police to catch the dangerous gang and they
thank her for her work showing a resolution at the end. The social context
surrounding my narrative is that it is set in present day so should be more
realistic, I tried to make the superhero as realistic as possible by making her get
into trouble with Police and stopping gangs which is quite an issue today in
crime. Designing my character to have a multiple personality disorder provides
the audience with a modern day explanation to why she behaves like she does
because this disorder has only relatively recently been discovered. My narrative
provides representations on how ages are presented, e.g. the eighteen year old
girl, Alysa is on the street causing trouble at night and the Police automatically
assume that she has had too much to drink and hasnt got anything wrong with
her because youths are presented as being troublesome and underage drinking
is a serious issue in the UK.
I feel I beat the stereotypes of females being weak or inferior to men because my
main character is a girl and she is very strong and good at fighting. Throughout
the novel she fights other men, even with dangerous weapons and wins against
them showing that women are just as skilled at fighting. I think these
representations shock the audience because they wont be expecting it.
I chose for my character to be from quite a low class background, not living in
the nicest area of particularly rich, I feel this low class representation makes her
more relatable to my young audience because most people arent that rich and
dont live in mansions. Having her from a low class background means more
people will be able to sympathise with her.
The context is similar to the Superman comic I looked at because like my
character, he helps to fight crime and make the streets safer. He has super
powers and so does my character, however, she wasnt just born with them, her
father trained her and taught her how to fight. Superman differs from my
narrative because he is male which meet stereotypes of men being stronger than
women and my character has a mental illness which explains her behaviour,
whereas Superman was born with powers and has no real explanation for them.
The images below shot similar shots of them both fighting people showing the
similarities in the narratives.