A Wild Ghost Chase
Movie Poster for an Imaginary Silent Film
Inspired by the Buster Keaton episode of the Every Frame a Painting YouTube series, I’ve been watching silent films for cartooning insights. It’s fun to think about the parallels between the comics page and the screen—both lend themselves to visual gags and left-to-right motion. Both benefit from exaggerated gesture and deadpan expressions.
Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot—all should be required viewing in a master class on making comics. I think the graphic novels of Raymond Briggs also fit into this tradition. Reading THE SNOWMAN or FATHER CHRISTMAS, I feel the same quiet humor and attention to detail found in the great works of silent cinema.
Stay tuned next week—I’ll share a short wordless graphic novel featuring this curious cat and mischievous ghost.
I like the orange eyes.
Another great piece! Silence is such an interesting part of comics. One of my favorite (mostly silent) graphic novels is Tom Gauld's Mooncop. I reread it often to try and tease out how he infuses the book with such a strong ambiance and melancholy in so few words.