comic strips/ satirical cartoons

Purpose of comic strips

The primary purpose of comic strips is to entertain, though they may also convey serious points about local or global issues.

Panels

Square boxes in which comics and cartoons are drawn, arranged in sequence to be read in a linear fashion.

Gutters

The white space between the panels in a comic or cartoon.

Captions

Text presented in comics that tells the story.

Dialogue

The internal and external conversation of the characters, represented through speech and thought bubbles.

Spatial mechanics

The use of space within and between each frame in a comic.

Emanata

Items such as dots, lines, exclamation marks, or onomatopoeia that depict action, emotion, or sound in comics.

Cartoonification

how realistic are the images in the cartoon or comic strip? Realism is measured on a spectrum from photorealistic or lifelike to simplified.

punchline

especially apparent in four-panel comic strips, the joke is revealed in the last panel.

Purpose

satirical or political cartoons aim to satirise; this means they ridicule, lampoon or criticise a specific target which may be a person, group of people or a particular decision or viewpoint.

Irony

meaning when one’s actions contradict one’s words. Look out for people in cartoons saying one thing and doing another.

Caricature

people are simplified, exaggerated or distorted for effect. An element of caricature may be synecdoche, whereby a part of something is made to stand for the whole.

Symbolism

objects, icons and even colours have specific associations. Sometimes items are labelled in the text to help the reader make associations.

Allusion

the cartoon may refer to historical or political events outside the text. The success of an allusion depends on the reader’s ability to recognise it.

Tone

scathing, sarcastic, pointed, or critical are some of the words you might use to describe the tone of satirical cartoons.