Reading
comics is altogether a different experience from that of reading a novel. Due
to this fact, people who approach comics for the first time might find it
difficult to follow the narrative, due to the fact that they are expecting to
read it as they would read a novel. Reading comics involves a thorough
comprehension of both text and images; the meaning of the story is conveyed
through image and text, and it might seem difficult at first to ‘read’ both of
them at once. In his book Comics, Comix
and Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art Sabin Roger points out the fact
that
The novice comics
reader’s question is, ‘Which do you look at first, the words or the pictures?’
The answer is that you look at both of them at once. On a first reading, at
least, it’s possible to take in a comics panel’s picture in just about exactly
the time it takes to read the associated words (Roger 129).
Therefore, comics should
be read as a complex narrative which incorporates both images and text. The
absence of either text or images is always deliberate and always bears
narrative importance. For example, absence of text is usually interpreted as a
break. The fact that the image is not accompanied by text signals a break in
the narrative and leaves the reader somewhat puzzled. The cognitive process
involved in the interpretation of this absence as a break is the following: the
reader reaches a narrative stage which forces him to slow down and try to
understand this sudden change. Without the help of language, the reader needs to
stop and try to fill in the gap left by the absence of language. According to
Roger Sabin,
Without language acting as a ‘timer’ or contextual cue for understanding the image, every visual change causes the reader to stop and assess what exactly is happening, and how long it’s supposed to take (Roger 129).
It is also important to mention the fact that comics tend to
flow and suggest motion. Furthermore, the way in which panels connect with each
other stimulates the reader’s imagination. To be more specific, as pointed out
by Roger Sabin, once the reader has read an individual panel, his/her mind does
immediately decode the message contained in the next panel, but focuses on the
space between panels. Therefore, the reader anticipates the content of the next
panel before actually reading it. It is this active reading process that makes
the reading of comics a particularly pleasurable activity:
Leaps of the imagination are an enormous pleasure, and comics are particularly good at sparking them. Their narrative is one kind of guide; their style is another. They’re full of enticing black spaces, in both space and time, for readers to decorate in our minds. (Roger 133)
WRITTEN BY MADALINA BORCAU
EDITED BY ANTONIA GIRMACEA
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