For this research task, the instruction is to analyse the above image which is a page from a 1947 issue of ‘The Spirit’ with respect to the questions.

1. What does the first panel establish in terms of place and atmosphere?

– The first panel sets the scene in a house or inn on a dull, rainy day in what appears to be a desolate, run down town. A ringing sound comes from the house, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

2. How does the page progress from panel-to-panel? How does the use of sound effects inform you what is happening in each panel?

– The page progresses by closing in, panel by panel, on the source of the ringing sound, which also acts as a way to introduce certain details. The first panel introduces us, the audience, to the building and the town it is located in. It uses certain elements to introduce the title of the series “The Spirit”, like a fallen banner in the foreground, and some signs in the background. It then zooms in to the skylight of the building from where the ringing noise is emanating, below which is a swing sign with the name of a cartoonist’s studio, and some blank pages blowing in the wind, some covering the sign. The next panel changes the perspective from below the house to just above the skylight where we see a rotary dial telephone ringing inside the building and a “bang” noise, suggesting some kind of altercation that takes place in that moment. The final panel takes into the house next, revealing the reason for the telephone’s ceaseless ringing, which is that the ‘cartoonist’ lies unconscious, probably as a result of the altercation that produced the bang noise in the previous panel, with a literal paper trail leading out of his room, suggesting that it was made by the person who knocked him out. We know it is the cartoonist because the panel also shows a poster of him and the title of the issue above the doorway of the room, along with a series of framed comic strip panels hanging from the wall right next to it.

3. How is the effect of weather created and used to add atmosphere?

– The effect of weather is created by rain and the reaction of objects like paper and leaves to wind, suggesting the presence of a storm at the moment of the scene. This creates a strikingly tense and grim atmosphere for the setting.