Comic

• C omposition:

  ● Look carefully at the composition of the comic. Consider the appearance of pages as a

  whole as well as individual panels.

  ○ Elements to consider include: foreground, background, left, right, angle, distance,

  balance, graphic weight, vectors/lines.
• N arrative:

  ● Comics tell stories, and it’s our job to be savvy enough to detect all the elements of the

  narrative.

  ○ Consider the context (time and setting), characters in the panels (clothing, size,

  hands, feet, face, eyes, gaze, distortion through caricature), and plot (eminata,

  speech bubbles, thought bubbles)
• O bjects or Symbols:

  ● Comics often include concrete nouns that are drawn to represent larger and more abstract

  ideas. So, be sure to look for key objects that can be interpreted as symbols. What do the

  symbols represent?
• C olor:

  ● It is important to analyze color and consider the intent of the illustrator. Do the colors

  offer warm or cool colors? Where is the graphic weight and shading? How are light and

  dark used to shape meaning?
• L anguage:

  ● Comics are multimodal texts that integrate both text and image. Accordingly, it is

  important to consider how the words on the page support the visual aspect of the comic.

  Look out for speech bubbles, thought bubbles, labels, captions, words with double

  meaning, irony, sarcasm
• Mnemonic: Coral Needs Our Care and Love