Comic panel layout: A Peircean analysis

In the study of visual design, comics have been infrequently analyzed. Major theoretical contributions have come from non-academics until recently. While Groensteen and Cohn have developed 'standard stimulisequence' systems for analyzing comics, I propose that a more comprehensive technique would be to follow Magnussen in applying the theories of C. S. Peirce, specifically the Peircean visual design paradigm as explained by Amare and Manning. This study will expand on Peeters' four-category framework to show a variety of complex and explanatory relationships that can exist between the rhetorical content of a comic and the panel design.