Writing a PEEL paragraph about a graphic novel (Ghostopolis)

Looking at the raptor chase

​Let’s look at another small section from Ghostopolis.

First page of the raptor chase

Second page of the raptor chase

What’s happening here?

This is a chase sequence. Two velociraptors are chasing a horse. The horse pulls up at a cliff, the raptors overshoot and fall off the cliff.

Let’s each answer a different question about this sequence

  • Me: How does Ghostopolis show a horse evading two velociraptors?
  • You: How does Ghostopolis show two velociraptors failing to catch a horse?

To begin, let's take a closer look at the panels and make some notes.

My rough notes (focusing on the horse)

What I notice is this is a busy scene with lots of action.

The horse is doing a sudden reversal, doubling back, and then it hits the brakes while the raptors overshoot, going off a cliff. But we can track this complicated movement straight down the page across four panels.

I notice that even though there is a lot of action, the horse moves steadily left to right across four panels. This seems key to making the scene read clearly.

The horse is in the left of panel 1—it’s interesting that his head is just out of panel.

Panel 2 we have a sudden reversal of direction—and the head comes back in very prominently. (I just noticed the red tree root in this panel, shaped exactly like a raptor’s talon. A cute, almost invisible touch, reinforcing the sense of danger.)

In panel 3 the horse pulls up in the middle of the panel, and in panel 4 we actually see the horse (and the whole landscape) tilting forwards reinforcing the sense of momentum.

Writelike

Now write your own notes, focusing on the raptors

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What moments are being shown?
  • How many panels are there?
  • How do the panels flow from one to the other?
  • How much time passes between each panel?
  • How are elements composed within each panel? (This is a big one—characters, objects, environments)
  • How is colour used?
  • What narration or dialogue is given?

There’s no right or wrong answer to this. You’re just trying to collect your thoughts.

Write your observations here, whatever you notice.

Below are my notes about the raptors. Don’t read these until you’ve made an attempt to write your own observations.

The raptors gain on the horse in panels 1 and 2. In both these panels the raptors overlap but are also offset. The overlapping shows us they are a pack, but we need the offsetting to be able to see them clearly (otherwise it’d be a tangle of bones). They are coloured a dull green, the colour of mould and decay, to help them seem like enemies.

They run past on either side in panel 3—separated completely now, flanking the horse, but also showing position, just running past. When they go over the cliff in panel 4 the scene becomes pure silhouette, which creates contrast and impact. It also emphasises the action—all other detail is removed, and all we see is the action of going over the cliff.

In panel 5, when the raptors are falling, we have a strong diagonal from the cliff, and the raptors are rotating and twisting, out of control.

The biggest element in the composition in panel 5 is the giant claw in the top right, while Garth and the horse are the smallest element in the opposite top-left corner—emphasising the raptors failure to catch them.

Previous page