In this Book

Narrative Structure in Comics: Making Sense of Fragments

Book
by Barbara Postema
2013
Published by: RIT Press
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summary
In Narrative Structure in Comics: Making Sense of Fragments, Barbara Postema seeks to explain how comics communicate and create meaning, with an emphasis on two aspects of comics. She first examines the pictorial quality of comics, which receives more emphasis than verbal/textual elements. Her second focus is upon the storytelling and narrative qualities of comics, as well as the literary explorations they provide. The “narrative structure” refers to the potential of images, the story telling capacities of panels, and the sequence of panels, in addition to the more traditional narratological concepts. Overall, the author presents a credible rationale for the way in which comics structure their narratives. At every level of communication, comics rely on gaps or absences to create meaning and guide the reader to a meaningful experience. RIT Press is pleased to announce Narrative Structure in Comics: Making Sense of Fragments as the first book published in its Comics Monograph Series. Take a detailed look at the narrative qualities of beloved comics in ways that will educate and excite the reader.

Table of Contents

Cover

Front matter

pp. i-v

Table of Contents

pp. vii

Preface

pp. ix-x

Introduction: Picture Stories: Comics Considered

pp. xi-xxii

1. Draw a Thousand Words: Signification within Panels

pp. 1-26

2. Concerning the In-Between: Layout in Frames and Gutters

pp. 27-53

3. All in a Row: Creating Action through Sequences

pp. 55-77

4. Combining Signs: Image-Text Relations

pp. 79-103

5. Show and Tell: The Process of Narration

pp. 105-126

Illustrations

pp. 127-128

Appendix A

pp. 129-132

Appendix B

pp. 133-140

Bibliography

pp. 141-158

Index

pp. 159-171
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