Panels. This is the medium used to sequentially tell your story - and they can make or break you. Each panel is an individual work of art that, collectively, make up a whole story. Since you can't use prose to state, "he grew angrier", you must convey this through the panel without actually saying it.
Naturally, the first way to do this is the expression of the character in the panel. But you can further match the expression with panel background. This can be done in several ways. For example, in my post, Koden - Prologue, page 15, I have Ren facing off against the samurai. She remains calm (her panel background is neutral) and he is getting angrier. I made his panel background darker with each panel. Her face remains the same, while his gets progressively ticked - shown by the darkening colour and his expression.
A happy character against a stormy background might indicate that the character is crazy - so if your character has just heard some really awesome news (free box seats to Fenway Park?) but its storming outside, try to think of a way to convey the emotion while lessening the storm raging all around.
One thing you want to avoid is actually writing your character's emotions next to them in the panel and drawing a line pointing to your character. For example, if your character has just been handed free tickets to Fenway Park, don't write "insanely happy" next to your character, underline it, and point to your character. Your art is supposed to convey the insanely happy emotion - if you need to add three panels after your character gets the tickets to show her, say...running through a field of flowers or skipping in place with a crazy grin....do so. But avoid the "tells" - if your art is good enough, or your method of expression is good enough, you don't need it.
Gimme a Beat!
Panels are also used to set tempo in your story. In prose, in order to create tempo, you use either more description to slow it down, or less description to speed it up. For example:
To slow it down: Takashi's arm arched through the air at a ninety degree angle, sailing gracefully yet with force like a diving eagle about to take prey. His fist, clenched tightly, was in perfect line with his arm and elbow, displaying no flaws, exhibiting his years of constant training. So perfect was his line, so natural was the act, that it could be used as a ruler to draw a straight line. The air shrieked as his fist neatly and swiftly cut through it. When his fist made contact with Hitoro's cheekbone, an earsplitting crack of protest of bone echoed in the ears of both men.
To speed it up: Takashi reacted without much thought - his clenched fist made a cracking contact with Hitoro's face.
If you would be displaying a single punch, the slow scene would work better. However, if this is a fight scene, you'd want to use the faster method. Reason being, fights are fast. (Note: you may not want to go THAT fast...but you get the general idea).
In manga, you have to be able to recreate the above scenes with the right tempo, using your panels. Remember: more panels on one page slow down the action, less panels speed it up. So depending on how you want the tempo set for your particular scene would be the determining factor on how many panels to use per page.
Beware the Jabberwok
Action. Or lack thereof. If your readers have gotten to page twenty of your story and still have no idea what's going on...this is a problem. You don't have to reveal your entire plot in the first few pages, but neither do you want to have nothing happen. Within the first twenty pages of Ranma 1/2 we were introduced to a girl and her panda (with whom she apparently had a problem with), the Tendo family - we learned that Akane liked karate, they all lived in a dojo, and that Tendo-san was expecting his old training buddy to arrive with his son so that the children of the two men could marry and carry on the dojo. In Naruto we learned that the main character was a prankster, got in trouble a lot, was an orphan, and a somewhat mediocre ninja. The core of the plot is not revealed, but a lot of things are set up to keep the reader...well....reading.
If your first twenty pages can be told in two pages, then they probably should be. But wait, Yoshimi, you say...I can't cut anything out!! Its All Critical. Well, can you put it somewhere else? Can you cut down transition? Can you condense three panels into one?
Can you reword the story so that the same message is conveyed without so much time involved? If you spend seven pages showing your character in front of a cave covered with a rock slab and opening that slab, something better come out of that cave....like a hydra or orochi. If all you do after seven pages of opening a cave is hint at "something else going to happen" -then you have failed. You could condense the scene down to one page - character in front of cave, moving rock slab, standing in front of open cave and expressing disappointment that the item/person sought is not in the cave.
One thing you must remember that is if you spend several pages showing something mundane, like walking through the woods or sitting in the doctor's office, then it should be a build-up for a Big Reveal. When I was writing Koden, I spent almost seven pages on Ren's Big Reveal - and this was in chapter ten. But I peppered hints here and there leading up to it....if my readers have guessed by chapter ten what her big reveal was, they are rewarded. If they haven't, they are (hopefully) amazed.
Another fine example of this is Naruto. In Volume 25 of Naruto, during the big fight scene with Sasuke and Naruto, we are taken back into Sasuke's memories of his brother. The point of view is Sasuke's - at that age, he had no idea what was going on because he was not yet old enough to be let in on the plan. We just see things as he sees them. While it all holds together as a coherent story, if you really, really read it - you can see that there is something else going on underneath. Did anyone wonder why Itachi had his Anbu gi on when he was slaughtering the clan? Did anyone wonder why Fugaku was so intent on "the plan" and being so secretive if his goal as a policeman was protection of the village? Did anyone think back to when Itachi first appeared in the village and said to Asuma and Kurenai "I don't want to kill you." Pretty strange words for a man who seemingly had no problem slaughtering his entire family. We learn much, much later after Sasuke's fight with Itachi the WHY of it all...we get the Big Reveal. Kishimoto-san masterfully crafted the story. When he first created the characters of Sasuke and Itachi he probably knew what he was going to reveal 30 some volumes later (remember when I said to know your character better than you know yourself? This is why).
In prose form, another fine example of this is in Crystals of Yukitake, which can be found on this site. Tragically, I'm not really at liberty to reveal anything yet, as it would be a spoiler, but trust me - its good.
It's a Wrap, Folks:
When putting together your panels, you must remember that each panel is a work of art and should be treated as such. Cut out any unnecessary, empty panels unless you are leading up to a Big Reveal. While you as the author should know exactly how each scene transitions, it is not necessary to show every single step your character takes.
Next week I'll discuss action/fighting scenes. Those have always seemed most difficult to choreograph, so I'll share my ways of achieving them. As always, if any readers want to share their thought process or have any questions, please feel free to comment.
