Flying Saucer Video is a wordy comic! practically the only time the running commentary of the narration gives way is when the characters start filling the page with their own dialogues and monologues. this is not a comic of silent panels! that narration has this slightly distant air about it, this style that makes me think of some range of NPR news stories, Garrison Keillor, Wes Anderson, and my poetry professor in college. it's got this matter-of-factness, an economy of words and a willingness to directly describe circumstances. it's narration that almost seems fitting for a radio play: straightforwardly providing internal states of mind or facts about the story in the absence of visible actors.
only, it IS a comic, after all. there's visuals right there.
that's part of what makes the narration so fun and funny. like, look at that first page above. we have an awful lot of narration that provides context about the complex social group and nearly-romantic entanglements surrounding protagonist Franky. really, the visuals for most of the page almost take a back seat, just depicting some mundane burger chomping, while the drama happens in the narration: "Franky tried to ignore Tulips not-flirting, to avoid being hurt later." then in the last two panels Tulip blatantly comes on to Franky and she seems stricken in response. the narrator matter-of-factly offers commentary: "That one was hard to ignore." this narration feels almost redundant with the panel (a technique the comic uses often, as in the second page above) but while the basic information of Franky's reaction remains the same in both image and text, the STYLE gets contrasted in a really funny way. I love the lightning bolt of ink in the background over these last two panels, the sparkles around Tulip, and the dramatic impact lines around Franky. they make the simple interaction feel heightened and charged, like the moves in a battle or sports manga, and meanwhile the narration is just straightforwardly laying out Franky's internals. it's a great way of taking the exchange and turning it into a punchline, the two strands of the narrative on the page colliding for humor.
