Marija Dalbello

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Image credit Victor GAD
Marija Dalbello Comics
Rutgers School of Communication, Information, and
Library Studies dalbello_at_scils.rutgers.edu http//
www.scils.rutgers.edu/dalbello
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Comics _______________________________________ H
istory Comic book culture Visual language of
comics (Comic literacy) Artists / Publishers /
Readers Taxonomies
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Comic Book History ______________________________
_________ Turn of the century (pictorial
storytelling) 1940s superhero comics Comic Book
Code (Fredric Werthams The Seduction of the
Innocent (NY Random, 1954) 1960s adult
comics 1980s slump 1990s to date revival
alternative comics (Vertigo) graphic novel boom
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• Visual Language of Comics
• _______________________________________
• Fundamental elements of comics literacy Scott
  McClouds Understanding Comics The Invisible Art
  (1993)
• Visual iconography established vocabulary of
  comics
• Narrative closure (constructing a continuous
  unified reality)
• Panel layout
• Color
• Visual conventions (balloons and types of speech,
  moods)
• Arrangement of the panels on the page, size of
  panels and reading directions
• Conscious breaking of rules
• Self-reflexivity (convention / innovation)
• Innovation Chris Ware (matrix instead of
  sequence unified panel)

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• Visual Language of Comics
• _______________________________________
• Panel-to-panel transition (Puszt, pp. 115-120)
• Numbering
• Arrows to show progression
• Traditional left-to-right reading direction
• Action-to-action transitions (single subject in a
  brief sequence of movement or change character
  swinging a fistt)
• Subject-to-subject transitions (focuses on a
  single scene or idea but moves its focus from
  place to place during the sequence for example
  showing an anguished face of characters in the
  same scene)
• Scene-to-scene transitions (deductive reasoning
  because reader fills in the gaps of time and
  space between the panels to separate specific
  sequences time and space changes)
• Aspect-to-aspect transitions (montage of elements
  reflecting a single place, idea, or mood)
• Non sequitur transitions (no logical relationship
  between panels but they can create meaning or
  resonance)

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• Artists / Writers
• _______________________________________
• Harvey Pekar (writer American
  Splendor)(http//www.harveypekar.com)
• Chris Ware (innovative visual language)
  (http//orion.it.luc.edu/dcihla/ware.htm)
• Robert Crumb (http//www.fantagraphics.com/artist
  /crumb/crumb.html)
• Alan Moore Dave Gibbons (Watchmen-cinematic
  effects) (http//www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/38
  40/watchmen.html)
• Neil Gaiman (Death, The Cost of Living, Sandman
  - horror, supernatural) (http//www.neilgaiman.com
  )
• Art Spiegelman (Mauss - Pulitzer prize)
  (http//www.iath.virginia.edu/holocaust/spiegelman
  .html)
• DC comics, Vertigo, Marvel, minicomics (Samizdat
  editions), comix

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CW
RC
Artists / Writers _______________________________
________
Watchmen
HP
NG
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• Readers
• _______________________________________
• Extensive reading / Collecting (fanboys /
  true believers)
• Reading within a niche culture (in-crowd)
• Published letters (interaction between readers
  and with the writers)
• Close relationship with production (readers as
  participants and producers in the culture)
• Male readership (superhero comics connection to
  adolescence)
• Female readership (alternative comix, manga)
• Mainstream vs. Alternative audience
• Comic book culture (specialized bookstores,
  Comicon)

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• Taxonomies
• _______________________________________
• Manga (anime)
• Superhero comics (young adult, adult)
• Alternative comics (adult)
• Genres action, horror, supernatural, SF