Comics and Narration

Abstract This book is the follow-up to The System of Comics, in which the author, a French-language comics theorist, set out to investigate how the medium functions, introducing the principle of iconic solidarity, and showing the systems that underlie the articulation between panels at three levels: page layout, linear sequence, and nonsequential links woven through the comic book as a whole. This analysis is now developed further, using examples from a very wide range of comics, including the work of American artists such as Chris Ware and Robert Crumb. The book tests out the theoretical framework by bringing it up against cases that challenge it, such as abstract comics, digital comics, and shōjo manga, and offers insightful reflections on these innovations. In addition, it includes chapters on three new areas. First, the book explores the role of the narrator, both verbal and visual, and the particular issues that arise out of narration in autobiographical comics. Second, it tackles the question of rhythm in comics, and the skill demonstrated by virtuoso artists in intertwining different rhythms over and above the basic beat provided by the discontinuity of the panels. And third, the book resets the relationship of comics to contemporary art, conditioned by cultural history and aesthetic traditions but evolving recently as comics artists move onto avant-garde terrain.