Closure in Comics

Closure is the Tendency to perceive a whole out of incomplete parts and to fill in gaps in sequences and patterns. In other words, closure is the act of mentally filling in the gaps of what we observe, thus allowing readers to comprehend the action and meaning between two seemingly unrelated panels. The reader observes two separate panels and mentally pieces together what happens in between them, even though there is no panel containing what actually happened.

In comics closure helps create the illusion of time and motion out of static images. An example to help try visualize what closure means in comics and manga; when reading a superhero comic or an action manga, and there is a panel where two characters are shown looking at each other angrily, with one holding a stick, then the next panel shows one character on the floor in pain while the other character with the stick still stands, the immediate thought that comes to mind is that there was a fight and the one standing hit the character on the floor with the stick, the thought that comes to mind is the definition of closure. Although it was not shown that the two characters had a fight, a reader will be able to depict the meanings of the two panels as there was a fight, which means the reader used incomplete parts to make a conclusion on what really happened which is what closure is all about.

As explained in the book Understanding Comics, written by Scott McCloud, closure can take many forms, some simple and some complex. There are different categories of closure, as identified by Scott McCloud, depending on which type of page panel that was used, they are as follows:

Moment-To-Moment: this requires very little closure.

Action-to-Action are those transitions featuring a single subject in distinct Action-to-Action progressions,

Subject-to-Subject: this takes us from Subject-to-subject while staying within a scene or idea. The degree of reader involvement is necessary to render these transitions meaningful.

Scene-to-Scene: Deductive reasoning is often required in reading comics in Scene-to-Scene transitions, which transports us across significant distances of time and space.

Aspect-to-Aspect: this bypasses time for the most part and sets a wandering eye on different aspects of a place, idea or mood.

Non-Sequitur: The Non-sequitur offers no logical relationship between panels whatsoever. (McCloud, 1994).

The Concept of closure is one of the most important concepts in Comics and Manga writing, it is the reason why Comic is seen as a ‘cool media’. In movies closure is used every time to create suspense, and that is what draws viewers’ attention to most movies, and that technique has been employed in the writing of comics as well. Closure is very important for understanding comics because it allows the reader to understand the message and meaning between two panels that are not connected in any way, the reader observes the two different panels and mentally connects them to form a meaning of what the writer is trying to convey or how the two panels will be related.