Greg Gildersleeve

This last week has been spent grading freshman composition papers -- a process that is akin to swimming in a hurricane with one arm tied behind one's back. It's not that the papers are bad; in fact, most students in Comp & Research at least have a good idea of where they're going with the topic and a good understanding of the fundamentals of compostion and grammar. Some papers even surprised me. (Hint for future students in getting an A: Teach the teacher something he or she doesn't already know.)

But swimming through 70-plus essays leaves little time to even think about comics-related topics. I did, however, want to say more about story-telling structure. Exactly what structure is and why it is important to all forms of story telling, especially comics, was addressed in last week's post. But how does structure apply to comics?

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A cursory glance at comics from the last few decades might lead one to conclude that structure is unimportant. After all, most comics by Marvel and DC, the two most important US publishers in comics history, seem to follow the ongoing serialized format. That is, the stories never quite end. Traditionally, however, the stories that fans remember -- and the ones that are retold endlessly in flashbacks or "retrofitted" versions -- are the stories that fit observe classic story structure. This structure is illustrated by the Freytag Pyramid, also described in detail last week. Case in point: the classic Spider-Man origin story.

Spidey's origin first appeared in Amazing Adult Fantasy # 16 in 1962. It has been retold and revised endlessly since, but the basic events and theme remain the same. Even when certain details have changed -- such as in the Spider-Man movie -- the story is still fundamentally recognizable. This is due to its strong underlying structure:

SPOILER WARNING: The following section analyzes Spidey's origin in terms of the Freytag Pyramid. If you've been living in a cave for the last 40 years and have no idea how the story goes, then proceed at your own risk.

EXPOSITION

We are introduced to Peter Parker, science nerd and all-around geek, who is picked on by Flash Thompson, unpopular with girls, and doted on by Aunt May and Uncle Ben.

INCITING INCIDENT [that which sets the story in motion]

Peter gets bitten by a radioactive spider.

RISING ACTION

Peter discovers his powers and creates his Spider-Man costume. He then decides to cash in on his abilities by becoming a pro wrestler. He refuses to stop the burglar.

CLIMAX

Peter learns that his Uncle Ben has been killed during a robbery.

FALLING ACTION

Spider-Man pursues the killer to a warehouse and captures him, then is horrified to discover that the killer is the same burglar he allowed to get away.

DENOUEMENT

Peter learns that "with great power comes great responsibility" and vows to use his abilities to help others.

This story line is very simple, but it also highly effective. It shows how Peter undergoes a transformation from being an essentially selfish teenager who looks out only for himself to being a grown man and hero who sacrifies any semblence of a normal life to help others. Most stories show the hero (or protagonist, if you will) undergoing some kind of change -- after all, that's usually the point of the story. But such a change should not come easy. If Peter stops the burglar on the first go-around and decides then to become a hero, the transformation would have been thoroughly unbelievable. No, something drastic needs to happen, something so horrifying that it shatters Peter's world and his image of himself. That happens when he learns he is partly responsible for his uncle's death.

Structure also helps with pacing the story. For example, if you take out the rising action, the story lacks development. That is, Peter's glee at having powers and his initial decision to use them for personal gain are developed in such a way that we can readily identify with him. Without giving the reader enough time to identify with the hero, the reader won't care what happens to him.

Likewise, if you take out the falling action and cut directly to the denouement, tension is lost. Tension is the lifeblood of drama: Tension is what keeps readers on the edge of their seats, wondering what's going to happen next or yelling at the characters to "Look out!" The falling action in this case enables us to feel the rage that Spider-Man feels as he tracks down his uncle's killer. At the same time, we worry for Peter: Is he going to kill the killer and become a villain instead of a hero? These conflicting emotions create tension in the story.

All of this isn't to say that structure should be a rigid set of rules for writers. In fact, talented writers play around with structure. Some start out with the inciting incident, for example, and reveal the exposition as the story moves along (often in flashbacks). Other stories may even start after the inciting incident (Watchmen comes to mind). But good writers should know structure and understand it well enough to know when to break the rules.