Comic breakdown - Hikaru & Dylan

CW: unhealthy relationship, power imbalance, implied infidelity

I was quite satisfied with how my last SFW comig featuring our deflated idol Hikarin and their overbearing manager Dylan turned out - so decided to make a breakdown post explaining paneling and composition choices, as well as exploring the characters and story being told! I'm definitely not a professional graphic novelist, but hopefully anyone who's new to making comics could find some insight below.

The three main points to this page:

1. Our main character is introduced front-facing the audience, both inside the story and in a meta sense.  Their posture, making direct eye contact and reaching out to the reader, highlight the role they shoulder; they live to connect to their audience.

The second panel has a similar composition; they stand right in the center, front facing - but this time they're not facing the reader. When not in front of an audience, their true self comes clear; zoned out and disconnected from their surroundings. Hikaru has nothing to connect to when they're not Hikarin.

The second panel shot is also above them instead of front, making the top panel feel like a daydream - which brings up the next point:

2. Space between panels to indicate the passage of time and further disconnecting one persona from the other. The top panel seems like a flashback in contrast with the present time; but the next point makes clear that they're not at all far from ech other.

3. The transition from the fanchanting to Dylan's speech balloons brings Hikaru back from their abstractness and shows the idol life clearly bleeding into their personal life. The fanchanting calling for the persona they force themselves to play never really leaves them alone; it's still present in how Dylan still calls them their stage name even off stage.

On the next page, the other character is introduced. Dylan's face is never seen clearly; we only see his back, looming directly behind Hikaru - much like how he's always overseeing them from the backstage. On this particular comic, not showing his face is a tool to distance him from being a person and instead present him as a personification of Hikaru's burden; Dylan and the idol career are the same unescapable entity here.

Another tool is the disparity between font and speech bubble styles, which help giving the characters distinct voices even over text; Hikaru's font is thinner, smaller, and their speech bubble is drawn in shaky, inconsistent lines. Dylan's font is bolder, bigger, and his bubble has smoother, more consistent lines.

Now to explore what's being told in the story: Dylan is making it clear he absolutely walks in Hikaru's apartment and goes through their personal belongings to check what they need, like an invasive parent would - and that's completely regular in their routine.

The following panels face away from each other to show Hikaru's attempt to stay disengaged - and Dylan looks over, seeming to take knowledge of that. The change in background color from the first panel to the second suggests tension being set - when a background turns darker from one panel to another, it suggests the mood becoming heavier.

Cut to the next page - and it's a single large panel containing both characters, now facing each other as Dylan forces himself into Hikaru's perspective, purposefully breaking the disconnection.

His posture is towering, oppressive - standing direcly in front of Hikaru with his leg placed between theirs, tall enough that his head is out of frame - once again enforcing that in this narrative, Dylan serves more as a personification of Hikaru's burdens than his own person.

The gap between the speech bubbles serves as a pause for tension; you first read the firs speech bubbles, assimilate the threatening composition of the larger panel, then get to the followup bubbles at the bottom panel. In a movie, this would be the equivalent to several seconds of silence after a threatening line, before releasing the tension. You want to put space between speech bubbles if you want to build tension!

In the bottom panel, it couldn't be clearer how their relationship is imbalanced and questionable; Dylan literally stands with his crotch at eye level with Hikaru, making his dominating role in the relationship clear.

On the following page, the first thing one might notice - Dylan claims Hikaru's cigarette right after reprehending them for it. It was never about caring for Hikaru's health, but controlling their image - and in this context, forcing Hikaru to aknowledge him. "No smoking on your own" also implies it is allowed if it's in a controlled environment.

Then the whole page composition - showing two POV panels, one from Hikaru and one from Dylan's perspective - has hands all around the idol, all of them belonging to the same entity: Hikarin's career. The shirt is juxtaposed on top of them, literally imposing what kind of public image they have to wear.

Finally, to whom might not have noticed on the first read - take another look at Dylan's left hand on the middle panel. Uh oh.

Whew! I believe that's all I have to say. I hope this was enlightening or at the very least entertaining for comic making aspirers!

If you like reading more into my art process, check this tag out!

As mentioned in the previous update log, I'm just returning from a vacation period and next week should get back to working on pending NSFW comics. It's good to be coming back, thank you all for the support! <3