Expression and storytelling in comics
Unlike film or photography, which "intrinsically claim to be accurate documents," comics invite the reader to experience “the visual aspect of a story as it’s transformed through the cartoonist’s perception.” With rare occasions, such as photo-comics, a comic is a "particular, personal version of its artist’s vision – not what the artist’s eye sees, but the way the artist’s mind interprets sight."[1]
As a result, readers become more active participants: the audience is considered a "willing collaborator," as the reader is "asked to fill the gutters between panels, co‐creating the story with the writer."[2] Perhaps because of this, comics readers tend to be both more likely to also read print books and better at doing so. Youth who read comics are almost twice as likely to say they enjoy reading as non-comics readers (59% compared to 33%) and are more likely to rate themselves as ‘very good’ or ‘good’ at reading print (86% vs. 76%). This is particularly striking among 11 to 14-year-olds, the group least likely to say they enjoy reading: 56% of comics readers enjoy reading, compared to just 30% of those who don’t read comics.[3]
While some comics artists aim for a sense of realism, comics must always omit visual details, instead presenting "the rudiments of physical forms – a few details that stand in metonymically for something in reality."[4] The artist’s style is among the most important aspects of the medium: “What you see when you look at a comic book is a particular, personal version of its artist’s vision – not what the artist’s eye sees, but the way the artist’s mind interprets sight.“[5]
The elements of visual language
Comics operate using a sophisticated visual language, defined by the use of images in a carefully selected sequence.[6] This language relies on several core components:
- Text effects: Speech and thought bubbles contain the words spoken or thought by a character.[7] These elements, along with sound effects (onomatopoeia), create a multimodal effect, with sensory qualities that cannot be communicated purely visually.[8]
Communicating meaning and shaping emotion in the panel
The design of the individual panel is the fundamental unit of meaning. Creators use various techniques to communicate details and control the reader's feeling about the content.
Panels often borrow from film's visual language, using camera framing to control "how much the user sees," thus helping them "focus on a specific place, person or action."[9] Close-ups, wide shots, bird’s-eye and worm’s-eye shots, and the whole language of shot composition are available to comics creators; unlike in video media, however, the shape and dimensions of the frame itself can be manipulated – using a page-width panel to enhance the effect of a wide shot, for example, or using a tall panel to underline a worm’s-eye view.[10]
As in animation, creators in comics use shapes to communicate character, using squares to represent strength, rounded shapes to show friendliness and triangles to convey risk and danger.[11] Colour is another element that may be used either realistically or symbolically, ranging from superhero costumes to abstract uses of washes and overlays to influence the mood of a scene.[12]
Comics also have visual tools that are either not available or are rarely used in live-action film: varying the dimensions of the panels; breaking panel borders or “bleeding” to the edge of the page; extreme contrast in terms of colour, shape or level of abstraction; caricature and exaggerated poses or expressions; and exaggerated depth or perspective.[13] These may be used for simple storytelling purposes (caricaturing a characters’ expression, for example, to show the intensity of their anger) but are most often used to add intensity to the work or evoke a particular mood in the reader.
Conveying the unseen
As well as literal visual representations of events and actions, comics also use images in less realistic ways. These may be slightly abstracted versions of physical things (such as a sweat bead to show nervousness) or may be entirely symbolic, such as the use of a light bulb to represent a character having an idea. Unlike more realistic representations, these are often highly culturally specific; Japanese “manga,” for example, have a very different symbolic language compared to Western comics.[14]
These visual devices are often used to show something abstract or invisible – for example, the tight, wavy lines drawn by artist Steve Ditko to represent the vibration of Spider-Man’s “spider-sense”[15] Similar to linguistic morphemes like prefixes and suffixes, these symbols can’t appear on their own; they must attach to something else in the panel, such as a character running or speaking.[16]
Creators can also represent the unseen through lettering – not just spoken words, but also things like tone and affect through visual cues such as typefaces and the colours and borders of speech balloons. This is typically done in a way that is nearly transparent to the reader, such as the use of bold and italic text to show urgency. Some creators, however, use lettering in a more visible way: in Walt Kelly’s Pogo, Gothic lettering conveys the pomposity of the self-important Deacon Mushrat, while in The Sandman, letter Todd Klein indicates the main character’s otherworldly quality by inverting the usual word balloon, with white text on a black background.[17]
Panel-to-panel transitions and closure
The panel is the single image that presents "a character, a place, a thing or an action.” [18] It functions as a boundary, acting "as a sort of general indicator that time or space is being divided." [19] The “gutter,” or space between panels, is “the magical space between panels where the audience performs closure by deciding what occurs, filling in the space between those panels a comic page.”[20] This sequence is what forms the narrative, often described as the visual language's "grammar."[21]
The fundamental narrative technique in comics is closure, where the mind "fills in the gaps" between juxtaposed panels to comprehend the sequence of images.[22] Scott McCloud identified six types of panel transitions that characterize these linear relationships:[23]
- Action to Action and Subject to Subject: These are considered active shots that are efficient in creating a sense of linear time,[24] such as cutting from preparing to hitting a ball (Action to Action) or cutting from one moving character to another (Subject to Subject). These are frequent in Western comics.[25]
- Moment to Moment and Aspect to Aspect: These transitions slow down time. Moment to Moment shows very slight movement (e.g., a spider moving a few inches), while Aspect to Aspect allows the reader to look around a space (e.g., different images showing the aftermath of a party) and “let the eye wander.”[26] The latter is more often used in Japanese comics.
- Scene to Scene: This transition jumps forward or back in time, cutting between widely separated points in space or time. These “can help compress a story down to a manageable length, while still allowing for a range of time-spans and a breadth of locations.”[27]
- Non Sequitur: These cuts move from one shot to another with "really no evident connection," which "run the risk of breaking the reader's ability to create meaning."[28]
The design of the entire page
Layout and composition of the full page are crucial for controlling the reader's pace and emotional experience.[29] As Larry Gonick, creator of the Cartoon History and Cartoon Guide series, puts it, “the unit of information in comics is the page, or the double-page spread… Within each page, information is organized, to the extent possible, as a story that comes to a climax (or sometimes a quiet denouement) when it reaches the lower right-hand corner.”[30]
- Size and detail: Bigger panels, especially those "with more drawn detail, invite us to linger and seem to last longer.”[31] A full-page illustration may "indicate a moment of great narrative importance is occurring, influencing the reader to spend more time viewing its contents.”[32] The use of negative space, as well as arrangement of characters into foreground and background planes, may be used to show “who has power & focus in the scene.”[33]
- Panel arrangement: A series of panels that progressively grow in size can create anticipation and "momentum towards events," while shrinking panels might indicate a character losing a battle or falling.[34] This effect can be amplified across multiple pages, as well: in Joe Sacco’s Palestine, for example, each page recounting a character’s experience in prison has more and smaller panels than the last, creating an effect of growing claustrophobia.[35]
- Textual manipulation: The use of captions can "control the pace the reader uses to read the story." For example, placing each word in its own box forces the text to be read in a staccato rhythm, reflecting a character’s internal emotional state.[36]
- Layout and reading Flow: A comic maker’s control of reading flow serves both practical and expressive purposes: “choice of flow is partially about clearing your readers’ paths of obstacles to a smooth reading experience. Equally important, though, is how the sights along that path draw the readers’ eyes.”[37]
In the Western world, comics follow a standard reading path from the upper left corner to the lower right. (In East Asian comics, the path is from top right to lower left; while older reprints and translations flip these to a Western reading order, more recent ones keep the original reading path). Unlike in video media, though, the reader has the unique ability "to linger on any given panel and to let their eyes wander around the page at any moment."[38] Creators leverage this by designing layouts that encourage simultaneous availability of moments and allow connections between non-adjacent panels,[39] guiding readers eyes with lines and shapes, as well as characters’ hands and eyelines,[40] sometimes nudging them to slow down by using these against the reading flow.[41] In this example, the eyeline and waving hand of the women in the backpack lead us to stop at the bottom left of the page, rather than bottom right as we would normally do.
Over time, page layouts have moved away from conventional grids toward a "decorative treatment of the page as a whole canvas," reflecting a shift away from the traditional comic strip ideal.[42] Today, comics makers carefully plan both the flow and the overall composition of the page, frequently thinking in terms of multi-page compositions as well.[43]
Digital comics introduce new constraints and opportunities, such as the rise of vertical scrolling webtoons. This arrangement, where panels are stacked on top of each other, replicates the scroll function of electronic devices.[44] While this represents a return to the highly formalized arrangement of newspaper comics, some webcomics artists have pushed the medium in the other direction, embracing opportunities like the “infinite scroll” that aren’t available in print comics.[45]
[1] Wolk, D. (2008). Reading comics: How graphic novels work and what they mean. Hachette UK.
[2] Groensteen, T. (2011). Système de la bande dessinée [The system of comics]. PUF.
[3] Clark, C., et al. (2024) Children and young people’s engagement with comics in 2023. National Literacy Trust.
[4] Wolk, D. (2008). Reading comics: How graphic novels work and what they mean. Hachette UK.
[5] Wolk, D. (2008). Reading comics: How graphic novels work and what they mean. Hachette UK.
[6] Cohn, N. (2012). Comics, linguistics, and visual language: The past and future of a field. In Linguistics and the Study of Comics (pp. 92-118). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
[7] Weiser, J. (2020) Guest lecture: Comics. MediaSmarts.
[8] Quimby, T. (2021) Comic Books: An Evolving Multimodal Literacy. XChanges.
[9] Weiser, J. (2020) Guest lecture: Comics. MediaSmarts.
[10] McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels.
[11] (2014) Quick Tips for Character Design. Cleveland Institute of Art.
[12] Luther, M. (2023) Falling in Love With Teaching Graphic Novels. Substack.
[13] McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels.
[14] Cohn, N. (2012). Comics, linguistics, and visual language: The past and future of a field. In Linguistics and the Study of Comics (pp. 92-118). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
[15] Quoted in M, R. (2025) ‘The Ditko Version’ – Exploring Steve Ditko’s Recollections of Marvel in the 1960s.
[16] Cohn, N. (2012). Comics, linguistics, and visual language: The past and future of a field. In Linguistics and the Study of Comics (pp. 92-118). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
[17] Quimby, T. (2021) Comic Books: An Evolving Multimodal Literacy. XChanges.
[18] Weiser, J. (2020) Guest lecture: Comics. MediaSmarts.
[19] Quimby, T. (2021) Comic Books: An Evolving Multimodal Literacy. XChanges.
[20] Weiser, J. (2020) Guest lecture: Comics. MediaSmarts.
[21] Cohn, N. (2012). Comics, linguistics, and visual language: The past and future of a field. In Linguistics and the Study of Comics (pp. 92-118). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
[22] Weiser, J. (2020) Guest lecture: Comics. MediaSmarts.
[23] McCloud, S. (1993) Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Harper Perennial.
[24] McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels.
[25] Weiser, J. (2020) Guest lecture: Comics. MediaSmarts.
[26] McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels.
[27] McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels.
[28] Weiser, J. (2020) Guest lecture: Comics. MediaSmarts.
[29] Quimby, T. (2021) Comic Books: An Evolving Multimodal Literacy. XChanges.
[30] Quoted in Johnson, M. (2009) Interview with Larry Gonick, author of The Cartoon History of the Modern World, Volume II. MediaSmarts.
[31] Weiser, J. (2020) Guest lecture: Comics. MediaSmarts.
[32] Quimby, T. (2021) Comic Books: An Evolving Multimodal Literacy. XChanges.
[33] Phillips, K. (2025) From Sketch to Story. Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.
[34] Weiser, J. (2020) Guest lecture: Comics. MediaSmarts.
[35] Sacco, J. (2014) Palestine. Fantagraphics Books.
[36] Cronin, B. (2023) Current Spider Man Issues Show the Lasting Impact Kraven’s Last Hunt's Lettering Has Had. Comic Book Resources.
[37] McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels.
[38] Weiser, J. (2020) Guest lecture: Comics. MediaSmarts.
[39] McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels.
[40] Phillips, K. (2025) From Sketch to Story. Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.
[41] McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels.
[42] Pederson, K., & Cohn, N. (2016). The changing pages of comics: Page layouts across eight decades of American superhero comics. Studies in Comics, 7(1), 7-28.
[43] Phillips, K. (2025) From Sketch to Story. Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.
[44] Abate, M. A. (2025). One Does Not Simply Overlook New Forms of Sequential Art: Memes as Fixed-Image Comics. Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, 9(1), 1-23.
[45] Batinic, J. (2016). “Enhanced Webcomics1”: An exploration of the hybrid form of comics on the digital medium. Image & Narrative, 17(5).