Don't worry about the initial unfamiliarity with the format - I went through that too, because it is much more different than you might think, in terms of reading experience. And honestly, to steal a term from pellucid, I don't think I'm a very good "spatial reader" either. I certainly have a tendency to read the words and THEN look at the picture (and probably not as well as I should). I also remember (and honestly still sometimes) getting lost as to who was talking. That's definitely something you get more used to as you get more use to the way that the speech bubbles are drawn. Similarly, it takes a bit of getting used to to grasp how the panels tend to flow when they do nonstandard ones (I mean, it's sensible - you read left to right and top to bottom, but sometimes it can be like the speech bubbles. You have to stop a second and go OH, right, okay, and then keep reading).
What I tend to do is read the words with the picture as background informing how I interpret them, then look at the picture (usually more swiftly than I'm sure the poor artists deserve!) to make sure I was right about what was happening. I think I adopt that method because I'm to damn impatient to make myself read slower but it seems to work for me.
Basically what I'm saying is, I went through that experience too and for me, I definitely did get used to it reasonably quickly. But I probably also had slightly more motivation? I'm definitely really thrilled to hear that this intrigues you though, and honestly, the comic cares more about mothers and sisters too, so you'll probably be okay. ;)
I haven't forgotten about that email I owe you - circumstances sadly dictate it'll probably not arrive til tonight now. ;)
no subject
Don't worry about the initial unfamiliarity with the format - I went through that too, because it is much more different than you might think, in terms of reading experience. And honestly, to steal a term from
What I tend to do is read the words with the picture as background informing how I interpret them, then look at the picture (usually more swiftly than I'm sure the poor artists deserve!) to make sure I was right about what was happening. I think I adopt that method because I'm to damn impatient to make myself read slower but it seems to work for me.
Basically what I'm saying is, I went through that experience too and for me, I definitely did get used to it reasonably quickly. But I probably also had slightly more motivation? I'm definitely really thrilled to hear that this intrigues you though, and honestly, the comic cares more about mothers and sisters too, so you'll probably be okay. ;)
I haven't forgotten about that email I owe you - circumstances sadly dictate it'll probably not arrive til tonight now. ;)