h t t p : / / u w p . a a s . d u k e .

e d u / w s t u d i o

VisualRhetoric/VisualLiteracy:
WritingAboutComicsandGraphicNovels
WhetherintheSundaypaperoracriticallyacclaimedgraphicnovel,comicshavebeenastapleof
Americanculturesincetheturnofthelastcentury.Onlyrecently,however,havescholarsbegunturning
anysustainedattentiontocomicsasanartform,aspecificprintmedium,andaculturalartifact.Forthis
reason,manyofusarefamiliarwiththebasicsofreadingcomics,butnotwithanycriticalvocabularyfor
decipheringordiscussingthem.Thishandoutoffersadviceonhowtoapproachthemediumofcomics.
Overview:WhatareVisualRhetoricandVisualLiteracy?
Thesimplestdefinitionforvisualrhetoricishow/whyvisualimagescommunicatemeaning.Note that
visualrhetoricisnotjustaboutsuperiordesignandaestheticsbutalso abouthowcultureandmeaningare
reflected,communicated,andalteredbyimages.Visualliteracyinvolvesalltheprocessesofknowingand
respondingtoavisualimage,aswellasallthethoughtthatmightgointoconstructingormanipulatingan
image.
WhatareComics?
Comicsare easytorecognize butdifficulttodefine.WillEisnerusedthetermsequentialarttodescribe
comics,adefinitionlatermodifiedbyScottMcCloudintojuxtaposedpictorialandotherimagesin
deliberatesequence(McCloud9).Thefocusineachofthesedefinitionsissequence:astringofimages
thatarereadoneafteranothertoproducemeaning.Comicsmay ormaynotincorporatetext,anddiffer
fromsinglecartoonsby producingamorecomplicatedpattern(mostoftennarrative)throughsequential
spatialarrangement.Thismaysound unnecessarilycomplicatedtodescribewhatPopeyeisuptothis
week,butsuchlinguisticcomplication speakstothedifficultyofdefiningsomethingthatweoftenread
intuitivelyratherthanintellectually.
Thebasicbuildingblocksofcomicsare panels,singleframesplacedinsequence.Usuallythesepanels
haverectangularborders,butpanelscanhaveanyshape,orevennoborderatall,aslongasthereissome
signofwhereonemightendandanotherbegin.Outsidethebordersisa(usually)blankareaknownasthe
gutter.Eachpanelwillusuallycontainpictorialimagesofsomesort,includingbutnotlimitedto

drawings,paintings,photographs,text,speech andthoughtballoons,andtextboxes.Panelsgenerally read

inthesamesequenceastext(i.e.,inWesterncountrieslefttoright,then toptobottom).

Whenapproaching sequentialart,trytokeepanopenmind,since anythingandeverythingonthepage

cancontributetotheoverallmeaning.Tomakethetaskeasier,youmighttrybreakingthekindsofvisual
informationyouaregettingdownintotheircomponents:pagelayout,artandartstyle,andtext/image
interaction.
PageLayout
Withcomics,aswithmostthings,how narrativeinformationispresentedisoftenasimportantaswhat
thatinformationis.Pagelayoutmayseementirelyneutraljustremember,eventhisneutralityisaneffect.
Evenifthepageiscomprisedofuniformrectanglesinanobviousandregularorder,thatlayoutwasstill
chosenbytheartisttocreateanimpression.Itmightbeawayoffocusingyourattentiononwhatis
happeningratherthan on howitisdepicteditmayevenreinforceathemeofconformity,repetition,or
boredom.Alternatively,artistslikeChrisWareoftencreateornatepageswitharrowsleadinginmultiple
directionstocreateasenseofthecomplexityofpersonalhistoryandmemory.Iftheborderofthefirst
panelofthestripatthetopofthispagewereaheartratherthanarectangle,howmightthatchangethe
meaningofthestrip?
Whenyouapproachapage,tryaskingyourselfthefollowingquestions:

Howisthepageorganized?
Isthepanelorderobvious,andhowdoyouknowtheintendedorder?
Arethepanelsandbordersuniforminshapeandsize,ordotheyvary?
Iftheyvary,how,andhowdoesthisaffectthemeaning?

ArtStyle
Analyzingstyleisprobablythemostdifficultaspectofanalyzingcomics,since therearesofew
guidelinesfortalkingaboutdifferenttypesofdrawing.In UnderstandingComics,ScottMcCloudhas
doneanadmirablejobofdiscussingdifferentformsofabstractionincartooningandhowthesecanaffect
meaning(2459).Evenwithaguidebook,though,youwillstillneedto trustyourownimpressions,since
thereare nosetrulesforhowdifferentartstylescreatemeaning.Theterminologyoffilmstudiesisoften

useful fordescribingthebasicfeaturesofanimage,sinceyoucantalkaboutlongshots,closeups,or
zoomstodescribethevariousanglesandpointsofviewdepicted.Thinkaboutwhatsortofarttheartist
uses:

Istherecolor,and,ifso,whatisthepalate?
Isthestylecartoonish,abstract,photorealistic,etc.?
Whatdoesthattellyouabouttheworldthecreator(s)aredepicting?
Aretherebackgrounds?Ifso,aretheydetailedorschematic?
Doesthepointofviewremainconstant(asintheexampleabove),ordoesitvary?Ifso,how?
Doestheartfocusyourattentiononparticularactions?How?

TextandImage
Notallcomicsincludetext,butmanydo.Textincomicscanserveasdialogue,narration,soundeffect,
commentary,clarification,image,andmore.Onceagain,contextiskey,sinceyouoftencanttellwhata
pieceoftextisdoingonapagewithoutdetermininghowitrelatestotheimagesitaccompanies(andis
partof).Hereisanexampleofimageandtextinteracting tocreateacomplexwhole:

AlanMoore andDavidGibbon.Watchmen.NewYork: DCComics,1987. ChapterIII,page1.

ThesearethefirstthreepanelsofthethirdissueofWatchmen.Withoutanytext,the panelswouldsimply
depictamanhangingasign,pushingbackfromtheextremecloseupinpanelonetoamediumshotof
thesame actioninpanelthree.Withthetext,however,thepanelsdevelopacomplicatedinterplay of
differentelements.Thereare threedistincttypesoftexthere:thetextboxes,thespeechballoons,andthe
signandclothingtext.
The textboxescontain narrationfromapiratecomicbook,whichwediscoverapanellateris
beingreadbyateenageboyatanewsstand.Thelanguageandshapeofthetextboxesindicate
theirdistancefromtheprincipalnarration,buttheparalleltextprovidesanironiccommentaryon
themainscene.

 Thespeakerbehindthe speechballoonsisindicatedinthethirdpanel:anewsvendorexpressing
hisfearandangeraboutthecoldwar.Noticehowsomewords(nukeRussia,God,mean,
signs,headlines,face,newsvendor,informed,andglow)arebolded,givingasenseof
spokenemphasisandvolume.
Finally,the signtextisaninstanceoftextasimage.WhiletheFalloutSheltertextsimply
mirrorsthenonverbalicononthatsign,theMissingWritersigninthethird panelgestures
towardanotherpartofthenarrative(thewriterturnsouttobeacharacter,introducedseveral
issueslater).TheNYundertheappleontheworkmansjacketplacesthescenequickly.
Moreimportantthananyofthesethreeinisolation,however,ishowtheyallworktogether.The
horrifyingimageryofthepirate story givesamediated imageofthepotential destructionofnuclearwar
endorsed bythenewsvendorsdialogue,whilethelikelihoodofsuchawarisgiveniconicreference
through thefalloutsheltersign.Notallcomicsfeaturethisdegreeofironicinterplaybetweendifferent
typesoftextandimage,buttheexampleshowssomeofthewaysthattextandimagecaninterrelate.
RecommendedTexts
Eisner,Will.Comics&SequentialArt.NewYork:PoorhousePress,1985.
Althoughdirectedmoreatartiststhanacademics,WillEisnersComics&SequentialArtwasone
oftheearliestbookstolookatthemechanicsofsequentialart(atermcoinedbyEisner).Hehas
alsowrittenacompanion(GraphicStorytellingandVisualNarrative.NewYork:Poorhouse
Press,1996)focusedspecificallyonnarrative.
McCloud,Scott.UnderstandingComics:TheInvisibleArt.NewYork:HarperPerennial,1994.
Thisbook,aprimerforreaders,creators,and studentsofcomics,hasbecomethedefault
handbookforthoseinterestedinstudyingoranalyzingcomics.Presentedincomicform,
UnderstandingComics offersawealthofexamplesandanalysesofdifferentaspectsofcomics,
tiedtogetherwithMcCloudsoftenpolemicalmusingsonthenatureandfutureofthemedium.
HelpfulLinks
TheEdwinandTerryMurrayComicBookCollection
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/rbmscl/murraycomics/inv/
Thisisahugearchiveofcomicsfromthe1930sthrough2001,locatedintheDukeUniversity
RareBook,Manuscript,andSpecialCollectionsLibrary.DukeUniversityLibrariesalsohasa
strongcollectionofgraphicnovelsandnonfictioninitsregularcatalog.
TheGrandComicsDatabaseProject
http://www.comics.org/
Avolunteermaintained,searchabledatabaseofcomics,thissiteisusefulforlocatingprimary
materialsorhistoricalbackground.
ComicsResearch
http://www.comicsresearch.org/
Thisannotatedbibliographysiteforcomicsresearchisregularlyupdated,andcontains
subsectionsondifferentaspectsofresearchintocomics.Thefirstsubsection,Comicsin
General,isofparticularinteresttothoselookingformoreacademicresourcesoncomics.

HandoutsintheVisualRhetoric/VisualLiteracySeries
Overview:VisualRhetoric/VisualLiteracy
WritingaboutComicsandGraphicNovels
Writing aboutFilm
Writing aboutPaintings
Writing aboutPhotography
WritingwithMaps
UsingPowerPointandKeynoteEffectively
CreatingScientificPosterPresentations
CraftingandEvaluatingWebSites

ThebannerimageatthebeginningofthehandoutisfromChrisWare,QuimbytheMouse(Seattle:
FantagraphicsBooks,2003), 14.