T-Rex: A narrative hook is when you introduce a story with something incredible so your audience will keep reading! It happens when you're told that in this comic... SPIDER-MAN! WILL!! DIE!!!
Narrator: LITERARY TECHNIQUE COMICS
Narrator: today's technique:
Narrator: NARRATIVE HOOK
T-Rex: Setting, themes, and basically anything else can ALSO be used as a narrative hook, but they're all pale imitations of Spider-Man's death being announced on the first friggin' page! Compare and contrast "As the bullet sped towards his eye, Neil wryly observed that things probably couldn't get any worse!" with "As the bullet sped towards his eye, Neil suddenly remembered that by the end of the chapter, Spider-Man! Will!! Die!!! The bullet sped closer."
Utahraptor: Yeah, but Spider-Man never dies!
T-Rex: That's what makes it such a great hook!
T-Rex: We know that, WORST CASE, Spider-Man will show up in the next issue and say "Hey did anyone miss me? I thought I was dead, but then I remembered I wasn't!" And yet we keep coming back for more!
Utahraptor: And that's great?
T-Rex: Yes! It's why the first sentence of ANY BOOK is improved by adding Spider-Man.
Narrator: MEANWHILE, IN TUDOR ENGLAND!
T-Rex: Hey Shakespeare, you know what's a better first line for "The Taming of the Shrew" than "I'll pheeze you, in faith"?
Off panel: no what
T-Rex: BASICALLY ANYTHING
