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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the Spirit story "Two Lives," which character is incarcerated?

2. Graphic novels include reading written words and what else, for example?

3. What must be broken down into segments when using a full-page frame?

4. What does lettering often serves as an extension of?

5. What do comics largely emulate?

Short Essay Questions

1. What obstacle of the eye must the artist try to obliterate?

2. What does communicating ideas involve?

3. Why did artists after the 16th century use expressions, postures, and backdrops to express their ideas?

4. What is the function of balloons?

5. Why are close-ups used when facial expressions are critical?

6. How does Eisner analyze a long Spirit story, "Foul Play," to show how time is realized through the sequence of events?

7. What happens to the hero in one of Eisner's Spirit stories who wishes he could fly?

8. Besides the text in comics, what must the reader/viewer "read"?

9. Why is time more illusory in comics?

10. Explain how composing a comic strip panel is like designing a mural, illustration, painting, or theatrical scene.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Eisner uses four drawings in Chapter 5 to demonstrate the power of facial expressions. Examine the following idea of the face as the "window to the mind" in relation to these four drawings. How can drawing faces in comics be revealing? What sort of things can be revealed by faces in comics?

Essay Topic 2

Chapter 3 examines the function of balloons in comics. Balloons are meant to contain speech and illustrate visual sound. Though their job is to order and arrange the storyline, is it possible for balloons inhibit or hinder the meaning of a panel? Support your argument with at least two logical examples.

Essay Topic 3

Chapter 2 focuses on the juxtaposition of words and imagery. However, it also addresses the idea that images express a visual language in a limited amount of pages. Discuss three examples that explain how the artist can present images that clearly signify meaning to the viewer.

(see the answer keys)

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