In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud discusses different combinations of words and pictures. To me, Laika appears to be very dialogue-based. In fact, rarely there are pages without a character verbally communicating with another to help the reader to understand what occurs in a panel. Because Laika depends on dialogue to a great extent, it heavily employs what Scott McCloud calls Word Specific Panels, where “pictures illustrate, but don’t significantly add to largely complete text” (153) and Duo-Specific Panels, “in which both words and pictures send essentially the same message” (153). (Actually, I have trouble with distinguishing a few of Scott McCloud’s categories. To determine the prominent category that is used in Laika, I tried to imagine most of the panels without their images. Because I can still understand the occurrence that is conveyed by most panels by just using the text, I believe that my choices for Laika’s more prominent panels are close.) There are times when Nick Abadzis uses Picture Specific Panels, especially when Laika does not interact with the human characters. However, Abadzis even has to write text for Laika for moments when Yelena imagines Laika speaking to her. Without Laika’s words that are imagined by Yelena, she would have looked more insane than empathetic. She would have resembled Jon Arbuckle in Garfield Minus Garfield, in which Garfield is removed from each Garfield comic strip to show Jon suffering from loneliness and insanity because he would be talking to himself.

A beautiful choice in using Interdependent Panels comes on pages 129-132. Many things are clarified about Chief Designer Korolev. The reader is hit with surprise when Korolev reveals that he did not follow the moon to his “destiny” (which is what I assumed from the very first scene of the graphic novel). Although I was very against Korolev, when I read through those pages, I felt for him. Using Interdependent Panels, Abadzis is able to show Korolev’s very human side, the side that is very dedicated to the common belief in destiny and fate. He introduces the reader into Korolev’s shoes, showing Korolev’s rendition of his tale and its accompanying images, most of which nobody could understand unless both text and image were available. He helps the reader to understand from where Korolev comes with choosing Laika. In my case, while I protested Korolev’s choosing Laika, I understood that Korolev had to do what he had to do when he heard Laika’s barking, which is revealed to be a momentous coincidence. I understood that Korolev was literally forced to follow his instinct when he heard Laika’s barking, and I would have done the same. Therefore, I could hardly blame him for it.

Nick Abadzis uses various panel transitions to influence the reader’s experience. On pages 176-187, the panel transition Subject-to-Subject shows various people’s reactions to Sputnik II’s launch, especially Yelena’s and Laika’s. Switching from the control center to Laika and vice-versa, the reader is allowed to coincide the dialogue of those in the control center to what happens to Laika. More importantly, the reader becomes much more affected by the dialogue when he is exposed to images of Laika. As a result, the reader becomes a part of the crowd inside the control center, witnessing Laika’s fate in real-time, just as those in the control center would have. However, the reader also witnesses Laika’s fate through Abadzis’ visual interpretation of what happened to Laika while she was in space.

Because Laika is very dialogue-based, the most prominent panel transition is Subject-to-Subject. However, the next prominent--and actually more powerful--panel transition is Moment-to-Moment or Panel-to-Panel. There are various instances when the reader needs little closure to determine what occurs between the panels. For example, on pages 24 and 120, the reader sees Korolev walking toward a door, opening it, and closing it. Such a Moment-to-Moment transition effectively portrays that Korolev’s decision and goal is final and that he cannot be deterred from it. It also presents an ominous feel, of which I know the cause because I began this book with prior knowledge the Laika’s fate. My favorite Moment-to-Moment (or Panel-to-Panel?) transition occurs on page 169, favorite for it is very effective for my emotional experience as the reader. At the bottom of page 169, the reader sees Yelena saying farewell to Laika. However, just before she closes the hatch, Yelena’s hand appears on the door and the reader is afforded a very brief moment to see Laika’s face, on which is a look of surprise and sad disappointment. An effective use of Panel-to-Panel occurs on the very last two pages, where the reader sees Laika’s rocket burning in Earth’s atmosphere. There is no need for Moment-to-Moment in those panels. The reader, having learned Laika’s terrible fate and inability to return to Earth intact, needs little closure in reading those panels.

Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics has significantly helped me to understand how graphic novels work. The theory that it presents boosted my appreciation for Laika and will do the same for future works.