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The Shape of Comic Book Reading

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In most comics, the art and the text – the visual and the verbal channels – seem to be telling the same story. But, to be technical in a narratological approach, it is actually the same fabula, not the same story which requires a uniform perspective. That is, both art and text present events from the same general plot but not necessarily at the same time, in the same order, or from the same viewpoint. The captions may be disclosing a character's inner monologue, for instance, while the panels show that character leaping to safety. Or, as a reverse example, word balloons could be vocalizing a fight between two off-panel parents while the panel focalizes on a tearful child trying to sleep. It is the dreadfully boring and narrow comic that has the visual and verbal reflect exactly the same thing in each and every panel. There would be no point and, ultimately, no reason for doing this narrative in comic form. Since the visual and the verbal narratives may be telling different parts of the same fabula simultaneously, it stands to reason that there may also be two different narrators for a given panel as well. This distinction becomes particularly important when it is taken advantage of by a savvy creator (e.g., Art Spiegelman in MAUS, Alan Moore in Watchmen, and Chris Ware in ACME Novelty Library) to create an intentional schism between the two narratives; that is, the visual and verbal narratives may actually be spinning different yarns. This narrative polyphony, though not unique to comics, affects the hermeneutic model for the medium to such a degree that a revised tetrahedral hybrid of Wolfgang Iser, J. Espen Aarseth, and Scott McCloud's theories bears implementation.

Hardback ISBN: 9781789389494
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The Shape of Comic Book Reading
Intellect , 9 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1386/9781789389494_2
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References

  1. Aarseth, E. (1997), Cybertext, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
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  2. Bal, M. (1999), Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative, 2nd ed., Buffalo: UTP.
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  3. Borges, J. (1999), ‘The library of Babel’, Collected Fictions (trans. A. Hurley), New York: Penguin, pp. 112–18.
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  4. Frahm, O. (2001), ‘“These papers had too many memories. So I burned them”: Genealogical remembrance in Art Spiegelman's MAUS: A Survivor's Tale’, in J. Baetens (ed.), The Graphic Novel, Belgium: Leuven UP, pp. 61–78.
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  5. Giral, A. (2000), ‘A library of two inventions’, in J. Borges (ed.), The Library of Babel, Godine: Boston, pp. 8–12.
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  6. Horrocks, D. (2001), ‘Inventing comics: Scott McCloud defines the form in Understanding Comics’, The Comics Journal, 234, pp. 29–39.
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  7. Iser, W. (1989), Prospecting: From Reader Response to Literary Anthropology, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
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  8. McCloud, S. (1994), Understanding Comics, New York: Harper Perennial.
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  9. Moore, A. and Gibbons, D. (1987), Watchmen, New York: DC Comics.
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  10. Moulthrop, S. (1999), ‘Misadventure: Future fiction and the new networks’, Style, 33:2 (Summer), pp. 184–202.
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  11. Spiegelman, A. (1992), MAUS, New York: Pantheon.
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References

  1. Aarseth, E. (1997), Cybertext, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Bal, M. (1999), Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative, 2nd ed., Buffalo: UTP.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Borges, J. (1999), ‘The library of Babel’, Collected Fictions (trans. A. Hurley), New York: Penguin, pp. 112–18.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Frahm, O. (2001), ‘“These papers had too many memories. So I burned them”: Genealogical remembrance in Art Spiegelman's MAUS: A Survivor's Tale’, in J. Baetens (ed.), The Graphic Novel, Belgium: Leuven UP, pp. 61–78.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Giral, A. (2000), ‘A library of two inventions’, in J. Borges (ed.), The Library of Babel, Godine: Boston, pp. 8–12.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Horrocks, D. (2001), ‘Inventing comics: Scott McCloud defines the form in Understanding Comics’, The Comics Journal, 234, pp. 29–39.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Iser, W. (1989), Prospecting: From Reader Response to Literary Anthropology, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. McCloud, S. (1994), Understanding Comics, New York: Harper Perennial.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Moore, A. and Gibbons, D. (1987), Watchmen, New York: DC Comics.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Moulthrop, S. (1999), ‘Misadventure: Future fiction and the new networks’, Style, 33:2 (Summer), pp. 184–202.
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  11. Spiegelman, A. (1992), MAUS, New York: Pantheon.
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