Phew! Whaam! Aaargh! Boo!: Sense, Sensation, and Picturing Sound

The artists who created the conventions of comic strip graphics invented a way of visualizing noise that no predecessors had attempted. Since Popeye first landed his fist to a resounding Splat! or Batman and Captain America laid about them to accompanying sound effects, visualized noises have become a defining feature of this storytelling medium. This article explores the noises that material things make. In this article, Marina Warner offers insights on how sounds play a crucial part in defining the unique quality of objects, with reference to comics, Schwitters, Beckett, Dante and Tacita Dean.