The Transitions of Maus

 Spiegelman's Maus utilized many comic transitions. Not only does this serve as a unique example of a graphic novelist, but it also was an incredibly effective teaching tool for me in order to learn and see these transitions in action. The first transition that I want to talk about is the action-to-action image at the top of page 48. We see Vladek in the grass, and then see him crouch to avoid being hit.

 The next image transition that I want to focus on is the moment-to-moment style. We see Vladek sorting screws with almost the same image. We can see his progression slightly through the sound descriptions. He is simply dropping them for the "plunk" sound, but adding more intensity by throwing them to make a "plink" sound.

The third transition that I found was the scene-to-scene on the bottom of page 109. We see Zora hear about their upcoming deportation to Auschwitz, and find out that she keeps poison around her neck. She asks the children to come to her, and the next scene shows Vladek talking to his son describing the tragedy. While the scene is fully explained, the images do not show Zora administering the toxin to the children, but we are able to deduce what has taken place regardless.

While there are a lot of action-to-action and subject-to-subject transitions in Maus, Spiegelman certainly includes variety.