Page 6 of Citizen Rex

Page 6 of Citizen Rex by Mario and Gilbert Hernandez is a fantastic example of what Scott McCloud would call “subject-to-subject” transitions between panels. It could be argued that some if not all of the transitions are scene-to-scene, but I would disagree because of the important aspect of the somewhat film-noir style narration over the entire page. This serves to connect all of the panels together as a single scene, making the transitions subject-to-subject.

This is actually a pretty interesting page, because without the narration from the main character, this would seem to be a bizarre sequence of one-panel scenes. If you took it away, the page would look very different:

With the text removed it’s a little easier to look at the panels as separate from each other. Certainly it doesn’t make as much sense that way, but it also doesn’t have the same flow. This is because the narration helps us to leap over the gaps that are in the “gutters.” That is, with a narrator we feel more comfortable making the connections between the panels, having a better idea what lies between them. Scott McCloud calls this concept closure, where we “mentally construct a continuous, unified reality” (Understanding Comics, 67). We see several moments, and agree to believe that something occurred to move us from one to the next. In panel two, Sergio is standing in a hallway, and in panel three he is entering the apartment building with Hazel. Without the agreement of closure, we would be baffled. If we accept that something happened in between them, we can imagine that he finds Hazel, leaves the Consciousness Clinic, and heads home.

This page, because we accept what must occur between panels, does a big job in moving the story forward. In a few short panels we are moved across a great distance of time and space, and can more efficiently get where the story is headed. If the artist had decided to show every step of the way it would be a very long and tedious sequence! With the narration from Sergio we are succinctly filled in, because really what happens between the Consciousness Clinic and the apartment are not important. We understand what’s happening with just a few panels to carry us along.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: What is the effect created by leaving the majority of this page without dialogue? How would it feel if there was dialogue in all of the panels?