Further reading

People often think that comics are mainly for children or youngsters, because those are the comics they see. However, there is a confusion between the popular genres of comics and the medium itself.

One image alone tells you something, but when more are added the meanings change, because you now look at the images in relation to each other. Comics are visual storytelling into which texts (and visual effects for sound and movement) are added to deepen the story. The texts are read in a visual context. What is important is the creative relationship between text and images.

What happens between the images (panels), is filled in by the reader’s own imagination. This personal processing of the story helps the reader to absorb the story.

An image must be easily understood, and local visual culture and iconography must be respected. To make a drawing more realistic does not necessarily enhance its comprehensibility - there is a possibility that it only confuses. Things should be kept simple, and only what is necessary for the story should be drawn.

People usually read comics by first scanning the drawing and then reading the texts. The reader goes back and forth in the sequence of panels in order to fully understand the story.

There is a special pleasure in reading comics, and the medium has a vast potential as a communication tool.

The wall-poster format is multipurpose

The normal poster comic size is A3 (420 x 297 mm), which can easily be read on a wall. But sometimes it is useful to publish the same comic in a small publication or a newspaper, where the strip is a more convenient format. A wallposter can be converted into a newspaper strip by reducing the size by about 50 per cent, then rearranging the panels into a strip, as illustrated.

What makes comics a unique medium?

The creative relationship between pictures and text is what makes comics so special.

---