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In:Dialogue across Media
Edited by Jarmila Mildorf and Bronwen Thomas
[Dialogue Studies 28] 2017
► pp. 225–250

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Dialogue in comics

Medium-specific features and basic narrative functions

Published online: 19 January 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ds.28.12mik
This paper focuses on the dialogue form in comics as a key narrative device, and examines the main elements and narrative functions that characterise scenes of talk in comics. The goal is to develop a medium-specific understanding of the dialogue form in comics. The starting point is the multimodal character of conversational exchange in comics. This requires a focus on the interaction between the utterance and the elements of the narrative drawing, that is, the ways in which the dialogue form (as written and drawn speech) interacts with what is shown in the image. Crucial aspects of graphic showing in scenes of talk in comics are facial expressions, gestures, body language and shape, and participant involvement. Equally, the expressive functions of typography and pictorial symbols, onomatopoeia, as well as graphic style, panel framing, and page layout, can play a major role.
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