Comics are a visual culture medium — but most comics still trust heavily on narration and dialog . Once in a while , though , a serial publication , a individual outcome , or even one great scene in a funny will forgo school text , or keep it at a minimum , to tell a gorgeous story with just images . Here are 10 pieces of comic art that do n’t postulate words to convey a level .
Hellboy ’s favorite pulp hero Lobster Johnson ( who , in a typically Hellboy - ish twist , turns out to be a genuine sub , rather than just a fabricated fictional character ) has had passel of news report to tell , but the 2012 one - shooting Caput Mortuum is the closet evocation of the 1930 ’s adventure serial saint that Lobster personifies .
The brief story is about Lobster Johnson ’s prevention of a chemic onslaught on New York by German terrorists , and is largely dialog based — and , in truthful pulp vogue , it ’s typically cheesy . When Lobster Johnson combat his way onto a Zeppelin occupied by the Germans , Tonci Zonjic nontextual matter and Dave Stewart ’s blocky , heavily shade off color summate up to a gorgeous natural action successiveness that would n’t look out of place in a silent black and white serial .
Batman : The Animated Series ’ classic scuttle sequence is fondly remember for its silent , noir - exhort visual storytelling — and its accompanying comic ledger spinoff , The Batman Adventures , was n’t afraid to dip into similar waters , too .
The Little Red Book feature Batman pass through the mansion of a mobster to get cargo area of a book that could inculpate some of Gotham ’s seediest criminals — the action at law is punctuate by nothing but the sound of gunshot as the Dark Knight glide his path around in absolute silence , taking out the lubber one by one . Artist Mike Parobeck captures the aesthetic of the cartoon absolutely , and it ’s a stunning chronological succession to charge .
This standalone account in the Spider - Man anthology series told the story of an employee of Wilson Fisk who is kill for die to stop Spider - Man from foiling one of the Kingpin ’s illicit activity . Eduardo Risso ’s spectacularly morose art follows Tom Cochrane as he receive a call from Fisk asking him to come across up , knowing full well that he ’s about to be killed for his loser — but the understood part comes not in Cochrane ’s death , but his auf wiedersehen to his kinsperson .
Greg Rucka ’s dialogue is sustain to a minimum throughout , but near the root of the comic where Cochrane puts down the phone and dumbfound ready leave his house , and his wife and children for the last prison term , we ’re treat to a wonderfully evocative silent page as the gangster dress himself and tucks his children in for one final time . It ’s haunting and worked up , without saying a single word .
Anyone who ’s been reading the current Moon Knight series understand why this issue is here . The infrangible highlight of Warren Ellis ’ brief time on the series , the comic deals with Moon Knight entering a condemnable - take flat stoppage to rescue a vernal girl being held hostage — and sees Moon Knight completely ruin an army of thug in the process .
An homage to the splendiferous “ one - snap ” conflict scenes of The Raid or Tom Yung Goong , Declan Shalvey ’s smart as a whip fine art relentlessly follows Moon Knight as he slices and punch his way of life through criminals , in a chronological sequence that ’s as visceral as it is oddly cathartic to read . Hands down , one of the best action sequences in a comedian in late memory .
Masaaki Nakayama ’s horror anthology manga Fuan No Tane narrate a series of creepy stories that use artistic production and minimalist storytelling — each story is at most 3 or 4 pages long — to pall the exist bejesus out of you .
Even in the stories that do have text , it ’s keep open at an absolute minimum , allow the artistic creation take over to assure some wonderfully minimalist and yet totally spooky repulsion tale about the strange creatures that hide just out of passel , or mysterious horror lurking in the shadower . forgetful , incisive and shivery storytelling .
Ricardo Delgado ’s farseeing running series features no dialogue at all — unsurprising , as the protagonists are ancient dinosaur , living their life in the Mesozoic geological era . And yet , Age of Reptiles ’ incredible artistic creation can tell all sorts of keen stories .
tarradiddle of vengeance , tale of loss , even a simple-minded account about the decay dead body of a dinosaur , the series is almost like watching a quiet nature infotainment — it ’s just that the animals in front of the lens are brute from 1000000 of eld ago .
The report behind G.I. Joe : Silent Interlude is an interesting one — run away behind docket and left to both pencil and write the issue himself , fabled G.I. Joe author Larry Hama decided to act upon a plan he ’d had for the series for a while but never get pear-shaped to : say a perfect floor without the aid of any textual matter .
A rarity at the time , the result , which saw Snake Eyes pass through Cobra Castle to deliver feller Joe Scarlett and press Cobra ’s own ninja Storm Shadow , was an instant smash . Essentially an extensive activity sequence that sees Snake Eyes dogfight with the Red Ninjas and Storm Shadow as Scarlett breaks free of her captor , its stark art narrate a brilliant short story — while hinting at a deeper background between the two ninjas .
It might be chicane a little to have Batman in here doubly , but Batman # 431 is a must to remark . As Batman finds himself going up against the equally skilled League of Assassins as he attempt to stop them assassinating a target — a second which gives elbow room to a dramatic 8 - page sequence where Batman squares off against a isthmus of Ninjas who trained under the same master that first trained Bruce Wayne .
accentuate by nothing but the sound personal effects of battle , Jim Aparo ’s prowess has an amazing signified of pep pill and menses to it , highlighting Batman ’s fantastic soldierly skills and showing off just what a masterful attack aircraft he is . Never has a frying pan been so deadly .
The first four issues of Geof Darrow ’s irregular serial Shaolin Cowboy are essentially an extended activeness sequence , where the titular Shaolin slices through one C of zombie spirit with a peg that has chainsaws attach on either close . It ’s completely ridiculous — and 100 % astonishing , despite the fact that it makes zero sentiency .
And that ’s kind of the point : Shaolin Cowboy ’s evocative art is left to convey the beats of action in a ruthlessly effective mode , even across an entire comic rule book . Using not just the art but the genuine panels themselves , Darrow weave an unbelievable activity sequence that somehow manages to experience breathless and like it ’s pass off in slow motion all at the same time , the hyper particular of his pencil work letting you see every nook and cranny of this outlandish , yet totally badass conflict sequence .
Matt Fraction and David Aja ’s Hawkeye is lamentably finished , but it leaves behind one of the most unique and thoroughly fantabulous solo stories in recent funnies chronicle — and it ’s told from the perspective of a partly unsighted weenie . It ’s splendid , and a little bit ludricrous , and is justone of the many reasonswhy Hawkeye was such a fantastic comedian .
Pizza Dog In : Pizza Is My Business see Clint Barton ’s canine buddy give away a dead body on the roof of Clint and Kate Bishop ’s flat building complex and attack to go after down what happened , without Pizza Dog ( a.k.a . Lucky , but largely defined by his love of Pizza ) being capable to get assistance from either of the Hawkeyes . Aja ’s already fantastically minimalist art is push to its limit , deftly portraying Lucky ’s thought summons and connections to hoi polloi as well as tell a catch story . The incorporation of Lucky ’s color blindness is a fantastic stroke of genius by colorist Matt Hollingsworth , as is the abbreviated moments of actual negotiation : characters can talk around Lucky , but as we ’re reading from his perspective , we can only parse certain password that he understand , like “ Up ” or “ Food ” . Inventive optic storytelling in a mainstream comedian does n’t get any good than this .
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