In the comic strips, "Pyongyang," the story follows the main character as he travels to North Korea. The visual text is represented in a few pages, and ends abruptly when he finally enters into the country. While the text has an important part in the comics strips, the images have a bigger role, as the scenes without words can speak a great deal. The artwork in this comic is very simplistic and the text is also easily understood. This extends the audience to a wider variety of people, because it can be understood by a range from children to adults. In the comics strip, "Pyongyang," the visuals and the texts can be viewed as they are critical together, appeal to a large audience, and speaks about the current controversies in a funny cartoon. 

The visual images all appear in black and white throughout the strip. However, the artist made it so there were different shades of black and white within it. There is a large assortment of different shades of grey, so it gives the scenes some contrast. By looking at the visual, it is clear that the images aren't very descriptive but the audience can perceive a general idea of what is going on. If the text was deleted from the comic, it could be perceived that the main character is travelling somewhere and does not interact with others very much. The main character could come off as lonely without having the text to give the story a background. By including the text, the reader knows that there isn't really anyone to interact with in North Korea, making text an important piece of comics. The text is necessary to form a plot, but the images show emotions rather than reading and not seeing character's reactions. A visual can be separate from the text, and the viewer can interpret the scenes however he or she would like. It is difficult to make sense of a story of pictures without text, therefore the text is critical to understand a comic. Just like getting rid of text, the images being deleted also shows how important both pieces are to a comic. The texts within comics could be taken out of the image, but it would just be looked at as a story. Although, when the visual part is taken away, it is up to the reader to imagine all the scenes and the characters. It is also to up to the reader to interpret all of the slides in his or her mind. In order to understand the comics, the visual portion and the texts are crucial together for the whole to make sense. 

The audience that comics appeal to is an important factor an author needs to keep in mind when beginning to write. The author of "Pyongyang," Guy Delisle makes the entire comic intriguing to all ages. Its simplistic form makes it be easily understood and observed, however it still has an interesting plot that isn't directed for children. The text that appears either in thought and speech bubbles or in the text boxes is written in a style that is easy to perceive. The writing is bubbly and in all caps. The bubbly writing makes the text available to children, but the subjects it is speaking of refers back to an older audience. All of the thought and speech bubbles are uniquely shaped in that they draw attention in each frame. The text boxes are located at the tops and bottoms of each scene but not overwhelming the image, making it easy to read as well. All of the different frames of the comic strip come in various sizes and some are even outlined with a border while others aren't. Generally, the scenes with more white in the image and less grey or black do not have borders, but there is no specific pattern to it. The images without borders are still in boxes, even if it isn't an actual drawn line. As for the images, they are also drawn in an extremely simplistic style. The faces only have basic features: eyes, ears, nose, hair and occasional mouths. The faces do not really make reactions to the words on the page and remain blank. Simple drawings attract every age group for the fact that a face is a face. The rest of the image is also straightforward. Most of the scenes are created by lines and some texture is added in to a few frames. In each frame there isn't really that much occurring either which adds to the simplicity. All of the pictures are drawn to be so basic there are no questions asked about what is going on in each scene. The different shades of blacks and greys makes the image interesting to look at even when it is illustrated in a simple way. Text and images of comics affect who views and reads them. They can have a broad audience or only be meant for a specific group of people. 

Finally, this comic cracks subtle jokes but still talks about a serious current event in the world. He begins in a hotel in China before he leaves for Pyongyang. He talks about the book he brought on his trip "1984," which happened to be written the year Korea became a republic. Because that book relates to his destination he thinks about what other people in the world would bring if they were travelling to another country. The book helped him familiarize himself of Pyongyang. Prior to leaving for Pyongyang, he goes through another day and stays at the hotel with the Chinese disturbing him. The author makes fun of every race through the main character in a harmless way. When he finally reaches Pyongyang, he is limited to places he is allowed to visit. This is in comparison with the people who live in North Korea now and are under high control. He does not interact with anyone and guards surround every building and street corner. Not only is he very limited to where he can go, but also he travels with a tour guide during his stay. This description in the comic strip is a very real life example. He does make jokes, but he does not joke about his visit in North Korea. The people within the country do not know anything about the outside world and rarely go out into their own towns. By not having other citizens of Pyongyang in his scenes, the reader can see that the author is portraying the current situation in North Korea. This portrayal in his trip to Pyongyang is a legit explanation of what occurs in that country. 

While this comic strip was created for all ages, its audience is for everyone. The purpose of it is to display to the rest of the world what North Korea is going through and how the citizens there are clueless about the rest of the world. The author shows this issue within the images and the use of the text. The use of images and text are a critical combination to make sense of the plot and the reason for Delisle to create this comic strip.

