Comics as a transmedial phenomenon: From a printed to a digital medium

Abstract

Comics have recently attracted the increased attention of theorists as a very dynamic and fast-growing genre. A characteristic feature of contemporary comics is their transmediality, i.e., exceeding the boundaries of the printed page and transforming to digital narratives. Transition to a digital medium gives a number of advantages, including the possibility of using different display modes, deeper immersion in the fictional world, greater degree of interactivity. This paper examines comics, which are adaptations of the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, identifies intertextual references and modifications of the comics versions. Intertextual references can be traced at the level of comics titles, names of the characters and their characteristics, semi-quotes, which paraphrase the original texts, besides, comics have a different temporal and spatial setting, they extend the scope of the storyworld. Particular attention has been paid to the page layout, such comics-specific features as panels, frames, speech balloons, speed lines, emanata, and onomatopoeic words. Print and digital comics are analysed using narratological and multimodal approaches. The analysis includes such narratological issues as narratorial and nonnarratorial strategies of representation, the temporal and spatial structure of a narrative, internal and external focalisation, as well as focalisation-marking devices (the eyeline match, the over-the-shoulder shot, the high-angle shot). A comic is a multimodal narrative, combining several modes, mainly visual and verbal. The aural mode is represented in comics by linguistic and visual signs, e.g., jagged borders of a speech balloon or the size and boldness of letters. Special attention has been given to the interaction between visual and verbal modes, in particular to the text-image relations. Our analysis has identified such types of the text-image relations as specification, exemplification, and enhancement. Comics have recently attracted the increased attention of theorists as a very dynamic and fast-growing genre. A characteristic feature of contemporary comics is their transmediality, i.e. exceeding the boundaries of the printed page and transforming to digital narratives. Transition to a digital medium gives a number of advantages, including the possibility of using different display modes, deeper immersion in the fictional world, greater degree of interactivity. This paper examines comics, which are adaptations of the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, identifies intertextual references and modifications of the comics versions. Intertextual references can be traced at the level of comics titles, names of the characters and their characteristics, semi-quotes, which paraphrase the original texts, besides, comics have a different temporal and spatial setting, they extend the scope of the storyworld. Particular attention has been paid to the page layout, such comics-specific features as panels, frames, speech balloons, speed lines, emanata, and onomatopoeic words. Print and digital comics are analysed using narratological and multimodal approaches. The analysis includes such narratological issues as narratorial and nonnarratorial strategies of representation, the temporal and spatial structure of a narrative, internal and external focalisation, as well as focalisation-marking devices (the eyeline match, the over-the-shoulder shot, the high-angle shot). A comic is a multimodal narrative, combining several modes, mainly visual and verbal. The aural mode is represented in comics by linguistic and visual signs, e.g., jagged borders of a speech balloon or the size and boldness of letters. Special attention has been given to the interaction between visual and verbal modes, in particular to the text-image relations. Our analysis has identified such types of the text-image relations as specification, exemplification, and enhancement.