Quick. What's the sound of a spike being plunged into an animated statue of a bull? The answer: "Zunk!"
How do you express the sound of a mud monster absorbing a small child? How about the sound of a werewolf bitch slapping someone? Or the sound of a magic sword being hit by a warlock bolt?
Such is the challenge for comic book writers to come up with textual representations of odd and unusual sounds. It's the art of the onomatopoeia, and it's not as easy as it seems.
BAWHOOOOOOOM! - The sound of a laboratory experiment exploding
CRRRRRACKLE! SPRZZZZZZZ! - The sound of malfunctioning electronics about to kill a child
WHUH! WHUH! WHUH! - The sound of a helicopter
CLANG! TINKLE! CRRASH! - The sound of a plant monster breaking through a greenhouse
WHAAP! - The sound of a guy getting bitch slapped by a werewolf
FUSSSH! - The sound of leveraging open an airtight crypt
SCREEEOOM - The sound of a motorcycle gang lynching a monster
KREEUNCH! - The sound of that monster randomly smashing rocks
PWANG..THWHT - The sound of that same monster shot in the neck with a dart
CRASH! GARAAWW! - The sound of a monster breaking into a dude's office
WUHNN! - The sound of that monster slamming his fist down upon a telephone receiver
WHOOSH! SLURSH! GLURP! - The sound of a mud monster absorbing a kid
SQUOOSH! - The sound of that mud monster then saving a kid
BLAM! POW-EEE! - The sound of a gun
Not too hard, but the addition of the POW-EEE is a stroke of brilliance
PACHUM! PACHUM! - The sound of a robot construction vehicle spitting out bricks
BAWHUMP! UUBBLAWWW! - The sound of a train backing up over a monster
WHOOSH1 WAAACH! NYYAWRRRRRR! - The sound of villagers beating the shit out of a monster
WOO WOO WOOO - EEEEEEE! - The sound of sci-fi detector thingy
WHIRRRRRR! CRRRRACKLE - The sound of a woman being electrocuted by her hair dryer
SPLLATT! VVAAARRROOOOM! - The sound of a guy getting smacked across the face, then taking off on his motorcycle.
PWAMMP! - The sound of a guy getting smacked in the back by a pole
FWOOOSH! - The sound of a winged dragon being summoned
CREEEASSHHH! - The sound of a robot named Orville breaking down a metal door
WHUNNK! - The sound of a gorilla knocking the living crap out of a guy
FWOMP! KRASH! - Obviously, the telltale sounds of a bar fight
ZWEEEEEEEEE! - The sound of a police siren
WANNG! - The sound of a sword being hit by a warlock bolt
KWARM! - The sound of a grenade launcher
BAZOOOOM! - The sound of a thunderstorm
KWOOSH! CRRAACKLE! - The sound of a volcano
BRRAPP! - The sound of drilling into the side of a mountain (or general flatulence)
BAWHOOOM! - The sound of an exploding mine shaft
SWISSSHHH! - The sound of a swaying dinosaur skeleton's tail
CRRRACKLE! - The sound of an ancient beast being brought back from limbo
HISS-S-S-S-S, FWOOSH-H-H- The sound of a super-hard drill tapping an oil table
CRUMMBLE! CRUNCH WOMP! - The sound of god-knows-what emerging from a prehistoric cave
THWACK! HIZZZ! AOUGH! - The sound of Flanders shooting a wire electrocuting a monster
SSSZZZ! POP! SSZZZZ! - The sound of instant fried chicken
Well, we could go on all day. But in case you haven't had enough, check out the Archie Sound Effects post.
Surely that thunderstorm sound effect is "Baloooom!", not "Bazoooom!" I'm sure you'll agree it makes all the difference.
ReplyDeleteExcellent collection.
ReplyDeleteWalt Simonson and Herb Trimpe had fun sound fx in their comics, I've always thought.
I thought BAZOOOOM was there to mark the appearance of the chick and her bazooms.
ReplyDeleteThere's no doubt that Don Martin was the kind of sound effects, although Mad magazine isn't a comic book.
Just the other day at work, a colleague and I were discussing how to put sound effects into writing. For a raspberry in the comics, it seems to be evenly split between "BRAAAAAZZZ!!!" and "THBFLLTT!!!", which is funny to me because they have nothing in common.
ReplyDeleteFor me, "UNNNHHH!!!" when a superhero gets walloped is my personal favorite.
great examples of this under-rated creative skill :) Clabg! Pwang, thwt! Pwammmp! ...quite satisfying to type too, despite spell check.
ReplyDeleteWHOLLLLPHHH! The sound of Captain America's shield hitting a villain in the gut
ReplyDeleteMy favorite was the sound of the "Honkers"in Turok Son of Stone comics.The dinosaurs all said "ARUUUUNK!"
ReplyDelete"RAMBO!" When Rogue powerbombs into Juggernaut.
ReplyDelete"VARK!" and "ZAKT!" Cyclops using his eye beam.
"ZAM!" Any big laser firing in Marvel Comics.
"PAM! PAM! PAM! PAM! PAM!" Heavy automatic personal artillery firing in Marvel.
"KUL-THOOM!" "KA-WAHTHOOM!" and just plain "THOOM!" Stock explosion/super impacts from Legion of Super Heroes.
"AIIIEEEE" stock scream of pain/distress from LSH. Apply as many multiples of the vowels as the situation demands.
Richie Rich comics also had lots of great, to-the-point, no-nonsense onomatopoeias as well.
I recently purchased an on-line newspaper archive and I've taken the opportunity to search through comics dating as far back as a hundred years. Unlike the unique sounds you list here some sound effects have become almost universal. I'll give you one example, BAW!!! is the "word" given when someone is crying, particularly when they are receiving corporal punishment. Having a well-known sound/word always represent the same thing means the writer/illustrator can have the action take place off-panel and with the noise being common knowledge the readers will absolutely know what is taking place behind that closed door.
ReplyDeleteOne of your funniest posts ever! Bwa-haw-ha-ha - The sound of the web surfer laughing.
ReplyDelete