Reading Graphic Novels & ComicsTerms and Concepts to Know and Use

Simplifying as Amplifying

PANEL FRAME

GUTTER

SPEECH BALLOON

CAPTION

Terminology

Panels and Frames

Is Your Mind in the Gutters?

ComIc

Time

Panel Transitions

Words and Pictures

Words and Pictures:

A Changing

Balance

NO!

Are comics totally different from what we’ve been doing all semester?

NO!Graphic novels use many of

the same concepts P

L OT

NO!

NO!NO!

NO!

Such as:

S E T T I N G

Plot

Character

Point of View

Symbols

Look for repeated:• Images• Ideas•Words

Setting

Let’s Try it Out:

What do you notice?

ResourcesAuster, Paul. City of Glass. Adapted by Paul Karasik and David

Mazzucchelli. New York: Picador, 2004. Print.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York:

HarperCollins, 1993. Print

McCreery, Conor and Anthony Del Col., writers. Kill Shakespeare. Art by

Andy Belanger. Vol. 1. San Diego: IDW, 2010. Print.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. New York:

Random House, 2004. Print.