Comic Research
Language and image interaction in cartoons: Towards a multimodal theory of humor
By Villy Tsakona
"Due to their condensed form and to the interaction between language and image, cartoons are often considered to be a direct and easy to process means of communicating a message." (Page 1171)
"Previous research has claimed that cartoons convey messages via their humorous representation of and comment on reality. In cartoons, meaning is produced either via two semiotic modes, the verbal and the visual, or solely via the visual mode." (Page 1171)
"More specifically, it is often suggested in the relevant literature that, on the one hand, ‘‘[r]eaders might prefer image presentations of social issues as a fast and easy way to stay informed’’ and, on the other hand, that a cartoon is ‘‘sometimes able to convey a complex message in a much more immediate and condensed fashion than language’’ (Page 1172)
"They claim that ‘‘the humorous device lies in the lines uttered by the characters; as a result, the drawing itself would be a graphic equivalent for the narrative introduction [of the narrative joke], giving the necessary information for the identification of the situation. The caption is thus seen as some sort of ‘humorous commentary’ on the otherwise nonhumorous drawing. The opposite can be also true: [. . .] cartoons are often based on the contrast between a perfectly ‘normal’ caption and an incongruous drawing. The importance is that the humorous point is created by the interaction of the drawing and the text’’." (Page 1172)
"The starting point of the GTVH is that humor results from the full or partial overlap of two different and incompatible scripts activated in a single text. A script is a cognitive structure involving the semantic information surrounding a lexical unit and representing the speaker’s knowledge of the world. Thus, a script provides the speaker with information on the structure, components, functions, etc. of a given entity or activity." (Page 1172)
"Given that, in semiotic domains encoded via verbal and visual means (cartoons, comics, plays, films, sitcoms, etc.), meanings are produced and scripts can be activated and opposed by both, the second aim of the present paper is to provide feedback for the GTVH, namely to make some preliminary suggestions for its expansion, in order to be able to account not only for the verbal mechanisms of humor, but also for the visual ones." (Page 1172)
"The close examination of the verbal and visual elements of cartoons also reveals that humorous mechanisms, such as exaggeration, contradiction, and metaphor, are common for the creation of humor via both verbal and visual means." (Page 1186)
Digital comics – New tools and tropes
By Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
"Over the course of the last twenty years, the nature of the space that comics use to tell their stories has been undergoing a profound change. The beginnings of this change can be traced back to the early 1990s and the addition of image display to the World Wide Web. The Mosaic web browser’s ability to display images contributed to a massive surge in popularity for the World Wide Web, with web use growing by a factor of 341,634 per cent over the course of 1993. It also leads to the emergence of the first webcomics – comics created specifically for digital display and distribution via the web." (Page 187)
"Today, digital display is an increasingly popular mode of consumption for the comics medium. Portable display devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have provided a single platform of consumption on which comics, film, animation, games and other interactive visual media are equally at home." (Page 188)
What Are The Comics?
By M. Thomas Inge
"For as long as we have been recording our history, humankind has been telling stories and jokes through the combination of words and pictures. But it was not until a little more than a hundred years ago that we began to produce in the newspapers a distinct art form that permanently wedded the two in a way that would engage and entertain millions of people the world over." (Page 11)
"Comic art has much in common with all other forms of literary and visual communication of the modern world. As in fiction, the elements of narrative, characterization, and setting are important in accomplished comic art; and as in poetry, ideas must be developed within a very short reading time, a few seconds for a comic strip and fifteen minutes or less for a comic- book story." (Page 11)
"For one thing, to be effective comics depend on a balanced combination of word and picture, the one depending fully on the other for maximum effect. Thus, some commentators have suggested that in the best examples of comic-strip art, if either the picture or the text is not essential to understanding, then a proper balance is lacking." (Page 11)
"Another distinguishing feature is that most comic strips and books feature a set of recurring characters with whom the reader becomes familiar over time." (Page 12)
"Words are usually spoken in irregular ovals called balloons, a technique that descends from early illustrated broadsheets and political cartoons. Because of the limited amount of space in a panel, dialogue must be kept to an absolute minimum and the joke or story told with the fewest words possible, a continual challenge to the skills of the writer." (Page 12)
"We are living in a century in which most of the information that we need is conveyed to us in a visual form — by way of the television, film, or computer screen. That being true, the comics are admirably suited to engage the interests of people with a cultural experience that satisfies both emotionally and intellectually." (Page 14)
By Villy Tsakona
"Due to their condensed form and to the interaction between language and image, cartoons are often considered to be a direct and easy to process means of communicating a message." (Page 1171)
"Previous research has claimed that cartoons convey messages via their humorous representation of and comment on reality. In cartoons, meaning is produced either via two semiotic modes, the verbal and the visual, or solely via the visual mode." (Page 1171)
"More specifically, it is often suggested in the relevant literature that, on the one hand, ‘‘[r]eaders might prefer image presentations of social issues as a fast and easy way to stay informed’’ and, on the other hand, that a cartoon is ‘‘sometimes able to convey a complex message in a much more immediate and condensed fashion than language’’ (Page 1172)
"They claim that ‘‘the humorous device lies in the lines uttered by the characters; as a result, the drawing itself would be a graphic equivalent for the narrative introduction [of the narrative joke], giving the necessary information for the identification of the situation. The caption is thus seen as some sort of ‘humorous commentary’ on the otherwise nonhumorous drawing. The opposite can be also true: [. . .] cartoons are often based on the contrast between a perfectly ‘normal’ caption and an incongruous drawing. The importance is that the humorous point is created by the interaction of the drawing and the text’’." (Page 1172)
"The starting point of the GTVH is that humor results from the full or partial overlap of two different and incompatible scripts activated in a single text. A script is a cognitive structure involving the semantic information surrounding a lexical unit and representing the speaker’s knowledge of the world. Thus, a script provides the speaker with information on the structure, components, functions, etc. of a given entity or activity." (Page 1172)
"Given that, in semiotic domains encoded via verbal and visual means (cartoons, comics, plays, films, sitcoms, etc.), meanings are produced and scripts can be activated and opposed by both, the second aim of the present paper is to provide feedback for the GTVH, namely to make some preliminary suggestions for its expansion, in order to be able to account not only for the verbal mechanisms of humor, but also for the visual ones." (Page 1172)
"The close examination of the verbal and visual elements of cartoons also reveals that humorous mechanisms, such as exaggeration, contradiction, and metaphor, are common for the creation of humor via both verbal and visual means." (Page 1186)
Digital comics – New tools and tropes
By Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
"Over the course of the last twenty years, the nature of the space that comics use to tell their stories has been undergoing a profound change. The beginnings of this change can be traced back to the early 1990s and the addition of image display to the World Wide Web. The Mosaic web browser’s ability to display images contributed to a massive surge in popularity for the World Wide Web, with web use growing by a factor of 341,634 per cent over the course of 1993. It also leads to the emergence of the first webcomics – comics created specifically for digital display and distribution via the web." (Page 187)
"Today, digital display is an increasingly popular mode of consumption for the comics medium. Portable display devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have provided a single platform of consumption on which comics, film, animation, games and other interactive visual media are equally at home." (Page 188)
What Are The Comics?
By M. Thomas Inge
"For as long as we have been recording our history, humankind has been telling stories and jokes through the combination of words and pictures. But it was not until a little more than a hundred years ago that we began to produce in the newspapers a distinct art form that permanently wedded the two in a way that would engage and entertain millions of people the world over." (Page 11)
"Comic art has much in common with all other forms of literary and visual communication of the modern world. As in fiction, the elements of narrative, characterization, and setting are important in accomplished comic art; and as in poetry, ideas must be developed within a very short reading time, a few seconds for a comic strip and fifteen minutes or less for a comic- book story." (Page 11)
"For one thing, to be effective comics depend on a balanced combination of word and picture, the one depending fully on the other for maximum effect. Thus, some commentators have suggested that in the best examples of comic-strip art, if either the picture or the text is not essential to understanding, then a proper balance is lacking." (Page 11)
"Another distinguishing feature is that most comic strips and books feature a set of recurring characters with whom the reader becomes familiar over time." (Page 12)
"Words are usually spoken in irregular ovals called balloons, a technique that descends from early illustrated broadsheets and political cartoons. Because of the limited amount of space in a panel, dialogue must be kept to an absolute minimum and the joke or story told with the fewest words possible, a continual challenge to the skills of the writer." (Page 12)
"We are living in a century in which most of the information that we need is conveyed to us in a visual form — by way of the television, film, or computer screen. That being true, the comics are admirably suited to engage the interests of people with a cultural experience that satisfies both emotionally and intellectually." (Page 14)