Flare

They say the true art of humour is in timing. And you'll see it used to its utmost in two different professions, standup and comic strips.

Normally, comics artists play with timing by adding and taking away frames, adding beat panels, or doing pull-out-and-reveals. Read about the many techniques that can be used in Scott McCloud's seminal Understanding Comics.

Here's a new one. There are two different sets of timing at work here. I don't want people to realise that the last two panels are degrading until the reader gets to them. Hence the big wodges of text in the first two frames, setting up the gag and slowing the reader down. By the time the reader reaches frame three, the picture and text in frame four should be unreadable, and frame three should be just legible. Then the wait, until frame four becomes clear again. I spent a lot of time adjusting the timing on this one. I hope I've got it right...