The Narrative of Comic Strips

A comic strip is composed of a series of adjacent images, usually arranged horizontally, designed to be read as a
narrative or a chronological sequence. Words may be introduced within or near each image, or they may be dispensed
with altogether.
Although comics have been generally dismissed as less relevant pop culture texts, scholars in fields such as language,
semiotics, and cultural studies are now re-considering comics as complex texts deserving of serious scholarly study.
It is important to understand the visual cues that are provided in a comic. Although the words and images work
together to tell the story, comics are primarily visual narratives. Therefore, readers must resort to and integrate some
important background knowledge and understandings about visual texts, comic elements and narrative structures in
order to make meaning.

 Elements in a comic strip

 Panel
A panel, frame or box is one drawing on a page which contains a segment of action. A page may have one or many
panels and panels are frequently, but not always, surrounded by a border or outline. The border shape can be altered to
indicate emotion, tension or flashback sequences. Panel borders are usually rectangular in shape, but cloud shaped can
indicate a dream/flashback and one with a jagged edge can show anger/shock.
 Speech balloon or bubble
A speech balloon or bubble is a speech indicator, containing the characters' dialogue. The indicator from the balloon
that points at the speaker is called a pointer or tail. There are lots of different ways in which speech bubbles can be
drawn: scream bubbles indicate a character is screaming or shouting, colored bubbles conveys the emotion that goes
with the speech (such as red for anger), thought bubbles are used to show internal thoughts of a character and they are
usually cloud shaped and connected to the speaker by a series of smaller bubbles.
 Caption
In a caption, words appear in a box separated from the rest of the panel or page, usually to give voice to a narrator, but
sometimes used for the characters' thoughts or dialogue. In some comics, where speech balloons are not used, the
caption provide the reader with text about what is happening in the images.
 Sound effects
Sound effects or onomatopoeia are words that mimic sounds. Famously used in comics as a pictorial representation of
the sound they describe.

 Comic Strips to teach in a EFL classroom

Comics have almost always been primarily an entertainment medium. Their appeal to people in general, and children
in particular, has always been associated with a recreational setting, with only an occasional incursion into the didactic.
However, comic strips are powerful teaching tools and can:
  Tell a complex story in a few images
 Profit from practising specific grammar or vocabulary items
 Provide comment and provoke thought on events and issues in the news
 Give an example of vocabulary related to current trends and facts, use of idiomatic expressions, colloquial
language and slang.
 Provide easily identifiable characters to form the basis for sketches
 Show culture in action with the ways that men or women are behaving and are expected to behave
 Comment on and illustrate a whole range of issues like people relationships, sexism, social inequalities,
cultural expectations, etc.

a. Practise grammar in context

b. Group Activity: Jigsaw

Cut comic strips apart, ask students to rearrange the in the proper order and justify its order (higher level thinking skills
since it involves analysis, evaluation and synthesis). It promotes reading and sequencing skills.
c. Fill in the blanks

d. Sequencing and prediction

d- Creativity Contest