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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. The earliest use of balloons was in what type of art?

2. What is used to move a reader or viewer through time?

3. What can often be left out in subsequent panels after the first page of a story?

4. What characteristic of comics examines how the sequential artist works with space and time?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do images without words require extra sophistication in the reader/viewer?

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

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

4. Why must the sequential artist and the reader share life experiences for communication to occur?

5. How do people normally measure distance?

6. What can the artist be tempted to compromise for the sake of attracting buyers?

7. Where does the emotion or "intuitiveness" of a panel come from?

8. Why is bridging gaps in the action a more visceral than intellectual activity?

9. Give examples of different lettering techniques or styles from Eisner's story Contract with God.

10. Give a brief summary of the historical evolution of comics according to Chapter 1.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Chapter 3 stresses the contrast between time and timing. Using evidence from Chapter Three, explain the differences and similarities between time and timing in comics. Be sure to supply examples from sample comics and panels in the book.

Essay Topic 2

Eisner promotes the idea that storytelling is not only an expression of language. First, examine the relationship between images and words in comics as Eisner explains it. Second, decide whether or not stories can be told through imagery alone. Support your agreement or disagreement with at least two examples.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 1, Eisner examines a few panels that break the left-to-right convention. His analysis suggests that the panels are read easily because of the reader's understanding of gravity and of visual cues. Using this example, and others found in Chapter 1 or 2, agree or disagree with the following statement: should panels try to conform to normal conventions for easier reading?

(see the answer keys)

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