The unlimited visual and storytelling potential of comics allows for a variety of effects to work seamlessly when non-realistic storytelling elements come into play. Indeed, one of the defining characteristics of comics is the ability to “go wild” with visual and storytelling concepts and, unlike other visual mediums such as film and TV, not be limited by budgetary concerns when it comes to getting the look and setting you want. As long as you can draw it, it can be done.
That ability to blur lines has made comics one of the best formats for telling stories from the point of view of younger protagonists, utilizing the trope of childhood imagination both as a vehicle to move the story along, for humorous takes on mundane everyday life rituals, objects, and occurrences, or to act as stand-ins for difficult and hard-to-understand concepts considered “adult” that sometimes children are forced to confront. Bill Watterson blurs the lines between the adult world and Calvin’s world as a means of escapism in his comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” and Richard Thompson’s “Cul De Sac” utilizes this skewed childhood interpretation of the world around them for comedic effect.
