The articles on eye movement were fascinating; I've always wondered about that, if certain panel juxtapositions were easier to read than others, and how much mere microseconds of attention can make difference in the way we read comics.
As to the manga and American comics thing-- I grew up on manga and only recently began reading American comics. I read superhero comics because I have no taste, but they have definitely been more difficult to read and, when given the choice between a trashy manga and a trashy American superhero comic, I will always go for the former. Now, I started reading American comics in high school and I would like to say that I don't believe myself to be an "unskilled reader" in my preference for manga. I think that manga and its low-density text is more appealing as a format to me because it's inevitably a bit more realistic timewise-- while American comics might be closer to a picture book, manga is closer to cinema. The pictures and the words move more in close to real-time, whereas with big, thick speech bubbles, the reader is presented with a static image and little progression while information is being conveyed-- sort of the difference between "show" and "tell." Because I'm more used to manga, I prefer the cinematic approach that I'm used to. I don't think it's a matter of impatience-- I mean, I CAN read prose, if I really want to, thank you very much-- but I personally feel that if I'm going to read comics, they should BE comics, a medium that should intrinsically rely on images just as much as if not more than text, and text should never dominate.
The other reason that manga might be more "readable" to those who are used to it isn't even related to text; manga (especially shoujo manga) has more fluid and natural panel and image movement, allowing a very smooth, often interrupted visual flow, whereas American comics and shounen manga might be more choppy, focusing mostly on presenting lots of information rather than making that information easily accessible. Some American comic storyboarders don't even pay heed to speech bubble placement-- they draw the art first and Photoshop bubbles in later to accomodate space rather than to enhance flow, so it's naturally more difficult to follow. Also, manga tends to have greater negative space while American comic images might be more cluttered, so it's easier to find the focus in manga, which results in a faster read.
I began to read American comics because I liked the stories; I am probably in the minority, seeing as superhero comics aren't exactly the most compelling and original narratives in existence. It was very hard for me to come over the boundary, and even after trying to read American comics for 2 years, I find myself having to stop and backtrack and reread things, and I find it annoying to have to keep my eye still and read an entire speech bubble when the images aren't moving. To me, it sort of feels like reading PowerPoint slides at a slower pace because a presenter reading out loud off the slides talks much slower than I can read.
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The articles on eye movement were fascinating; I've always wondered about that, if certain panel juxtapositions were easier to read than others, and how much mere microseconds of attention can make difference in the way we read comics.
As to the manga and American comics thing-- I grew up on manga and only recently began reading American comics. I read superhero comics
because I have no taste, but they have definitely been more difficult to read and, when given the choice between a trashy manga and a trashy American superhero comic, I will always go for the former. Now, I started reading American comics in high school and I would like to say that I don't believe myself to be an "unskilled reader" in my preference for manga. I think that manga and its low-density text is more appealing as a format to me because it's inevitably a bit more realistic timewise-- while American comics might be closer to a picture book, manga is closer to cinema. The pictures and the words move more in close to real-time, whereas with big, thick speech bubbles, the reader is presented with a static image and little progression while information is being conveyed-- sort of the difference between "show" and "tell." Because I'm more used to manga, I prefer the cinematic approach that I'm used to. I don't think it's a matter of impatience-- I mean, I CAN read prose, if I really want to, thank you very much-- but I personally feel that if I'm going to read comics, they should BE comics, a medium that should intrinsically rely on images just as much as if not more than text, and text should never dominate.The other reason that manga might be more "readable" to those who are used to it isn't even related to text; manga (especially shoujo manga) has more fluid and natural panel and image movement, allowing a very smooth, often interrupted visual flow, whereas American comics and shounen manga might be more choppy, focusing mostly on presenting lots of information rather than making that information easily accessible. Some American comic storyboarders don't even pay heed to speech bubble placement-- they draw the art first and Photoshop bubbles in later to accomodate space rather than to enhance flow, so it's naturally more difficult to follow. Also, manga tends to have greater negative space while American comic images might be more cluttered, so it's easier to find the focus in manga, which results in a faster read.
I began to read American comics because I liked the stories; I am probably in the minority, seeing as superhero comics aren't exactly the most compelling and original narratives in existence. It was very hard for me to come over the boundary, and even after trying to read American comics for 2 years, I find myself having to stop and backtrack and reread things, and I find it annoying to have to keep my eye still and read an entire speech bubble when the images aren't moving. To me, it sort of feels like reading PowerPoint slides at a slower pace because a presenter reading out loud off the slides talks much slower than I can read.