The Anatomy

Of Comics
Comics is a medium that combines narrative and visual art.
But what makes an artwork or literary work "comics"?

ONE DAy... CAPTION

Ugh, staying
inside the house

THE GREAT
is boring. TIme
to explore the
outside world!

BORDER OUTDOORS
THOUGHT
BALLOON

WELP, OUTSIDE WORLD IS

At long
last...
TOO OVERWHELMING.
RETREAT! HONK!
GUTTER freedom! I REPEAT, RETREAT!

BEEP!
LETTERING

SPEECH
BALLOON
PANEL SFX

A PANEL
is an image or a composition of images in a frame (which
may or may not have borders), that is often part of a
sequence of other panels that conveys a narrative or an
idea.

LETTERING
refers to text, such as narration and dialogue, found on a
comics page. The text that is used as sound effects
(also known as SFX) or those that serve as part of
images are types of display lettering.

SPEECH AND THOUGHT BALLOONS

(OR BUBBLES)
are graphic conventions used to present text that serve
as dialogue or thought.

CAPTIONS
are texts, with or without border, found on a panel that is
MEANWHILE... neither spoken nor thought by any character in the
frame. These texts often serve as the voice of the
narrator, as transitional text, or off-panel dialogue.

BORDERS
are outlines of panels, balloons, and captions. They have
different weights and appearances to signal time,
express various emotions, or any other purpose that will
help tell a story or idea.

THE GUTTER
is the space in between and around panels. On a closer
reading of a comic book’s narrative, the gutter also
represents what happens to the story in between the
panels.

Source:
Bennett, Anina. “Comic Book Writing Guide.” Big Red Hair, 7 Aug. 2006,
www.bigredhair.com/about/teaching-comic-books/writing-guide/.