Understanding the Graphic Novel and Editorical Cartoon Form

The Panel

This is the basic unit of a comic book page, consisting of a single illustration. It's most often contained within a square or rectangular frame.

The Gutter

This is the space on a comic book page that is outside the panels. 

Balloons 

• Speech balloons are (usually) round, and contain the text of what a particular character is saying. 

• Thought balloons depict what a character is thinking, and are conventionally drawn with lumpy edges, like clouds. 

Splash Balloons

These special balloons have jagged edges, and enclose important or dramatic text, such as the title of a comic on a Splash Page, after which they are named. 

Pointers

These indicate which character is speaking the words in the balloon. For that reason, they point at the mouth or head whenever possible.

Tier

A tier is a singular row of panels

Spread

A spread is an image that spans more than one page. The two-page spread is the most common, but there are spreads that span more pages, often by making use of a foldout (or gatefold).

Open Panel

Panels where one or more or even all the sides are open to show dramatic effects.

Caption

Words appear in a box separated from the rest of the panel or page, usually to give voice to a narrator, but sometimes used for the characters' thoughts or dialogue.

Sound Effects

Sound effects or onomatopoeia are words that mimic sounds. They are non-vocal sound images, from the subtle to the forceful.

Dailies

A daily comic strip is normally run six days a week in a newspaper. 

Sundays

Sunday comics are comic strips that traditionally run in newspapers on Sundays, frequently in full colour. 

Gag Cartoon

Also known as panel cartoon or gag panel is most often a single-panel cartoon, usually including a hand-lettered or typeset caption beneath the drawing. A pantomime cartoon carries no caption.

Editorial Cartoon

An editorial cartoon or political cartoon is most often a single-panel comic that contain some level of political or social commentary. 

Comic book

A comic book, also known as a comic or floppy, is a periodical, normally thin in size and stapled together. Comic books have a greater variety of units of encapsulation than comic strips, including the panel, the page, the spread, and inset panels. They are also capable of more sophisticated layouts and compositions.

Graphic novel

Usually refers to self-contained, book-length form.

Alternate definitions: Long-form narratives, A synonym for "comics" or "comic book", A book with a square-bound spine, even if it is a collection of short strips, Sometimes used to distance a work from the negative connotations the terms "comic" or "comic book" have for the public, or to give the work an elevated air.

Webcomics

Are comics published via the Internet. 

What is multi-modal? 

The combination of multiple modes or channels

What are some types of multi-modal works? 

comics (under comics: Visual, linguistic, aural, gestural, spatial)

What is a mode? 

socially and culturally shaped resource for making meaning

How to Do an Analysis of Multimodal Works 

1. Theme, Moral, lesson etc. 

2. What are the words and images within the text. How do they work together.

3. What TYPE of text is it? Fiction, autobiographical, satire etc? Who is this work intended for? How do you know?

4. Look for visual and written forms of personification, metaphor, symbolism, hyperbole etc. 

5. Look for things like degree of lifelikeness, style, use of repetition & contrast, expressions of character, colour. Especially look for breaking of basic conventions- i.e. structural elements that are changed/ shifted, certain artistic choices of the author)

6. How are characters represented? Are there any icons (famous characters? If so how are they shown)

The medium

The medium refers to the physical or technical means by which a message is communicated. It is distinct from the message (content) and the form (the way the content is arranged, like the comic art form).

How do language and imagery work together to create meaning? 

They often work in a symbiotic or interdependent way, as described above. The image conveys the sensory, concrete experience, while the language often conveys abstract concepts, internal thoughts (like a thought bubble), or dialogue.

What is closure? 

The phenomenon where the reader mentally observes the parts but perceives the whole.

What is the gutter? How does it relate to closure? 

The gutter is the blank space between panels. It is the literal and figurative gap that the reader must leap across through closure.

How does the gutter use a reader’s imagination? 

The gutter is where the action, time, and sound that aren't shown take place in the reader's imagination.

Moment to moment

Slows down time, highlights small shifts in a static scene.

Action to action

Focuses on the progression of a single action; most common type in Western comics

Subject to subject

Requires more reader involvement to make the connection between different subjects within the same moment.

Scene to scene

Requires deductive reasoning by the reader; establishes setting.

Aspect to aspect

Establishes a mood or sense of place; often used in non-narrative or descriptive comics

Non-sequitur

Forces the reader to seek meaning where none may exist, often used for surreal or symbolic effect.