The Comics Form: The Art of Sequenced Images

The Comics Form provides a comprehensive exploration of the formal elements that make comics unique, drawing from art criticism and literary studies to challenge traditional terminology and offer new ways of thinking and talking about comics. It introduces tools of analysis such as discourse and diegesis, visual representation qualities, and formal art analysis, and examines the conclusions readers draw from the way certain images are presented.

Format: Hardback
Length: 248 pages
Publication date: 14 July 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Exploring the world of comics, this comprehensive book delves into the fundamental aspects of their experience. By adapting established formalist approaches, it seeks to understand how comics work in unique and imaginative ways. Through a wealth of case studies and examples, The Comics Form showcases the versatility of comics by demonstrating that any object can be read as a comic, as long as it possesses a specific set of formal features. Drawing from art criticism and literary studies, the book offers innovative perspectives on comics, challenging traditional terminology and theorizing terms such as narrate. It unpacks the intricate mechanisms of sequenced images, introducing analytical tools such as discourse and diegesis. It also delves into the qualities of visual representation, including resemblance, custom norms, style, simplification, exaggeration, style modes, transparency, specification, perspective and framing, focalization and ocularization. Moreover, the book applies formal art analysis to comics images, providing a deeper understanding of their aesthetic qualities. Additionally, it examines the conclusions readers draw from the presentation of certain images and the emotional responses they evoke. By offering clear definitions of text-narrators, image-narrators, and image-text narrators in both non-linguistic images and word-images, the book enhances our comprehension of the complex interplay between text and image in comics. This insightful exploration of comics offers valuable insights for scholars, enthusiasts, and anyone interested in exploring the rich and diverse world of this visual medium.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350245914