Chapter 1: Word and Image

Introduction

According to Baetens (1998), the balance between word and image in comics can be studied in two ways. The first is by looking at ‘les codes sémiotiques mêmes, ici linguistique, là iconique, et sur leur respectifs traits déterminants’ (47). The second approach searches for the way word and image interact, and rejects the idea that one element is inferior to the other. This approach will be ours in this chapter as well, as we study narrative elements that exist in the fusion of word and image.

We mentioned that sound can be presented directly within quotation marks, or indirectly within a structuring sentence in writing, which is an instance of the distinction between showing and telling. Notice that even direct presentations of sound in writing (and comics) are never as direct as sound in movies; they are necessarily mediated into written language. For a discussion of both direct and indirect sound, we make distinguish between dialogue and other sounds. In film, ‘telling’ any sound indirectly is somewhat odd. It requires a voice-over to tell the audience a conversation took place or a sound was heard. Both dialogue and other sounds are therefore mostly presented directly in film. In writing, dialogue is presented commonly both directly and indirectly. Other sounds are usually presented indirectly; the awkward alternative is using sound-mimicking onomatopoeia (They are more common in children’s books).

Comics cannot produce real sound, and revert to representing sound in written language. Unlike writing, dialogue and other sounds are almost always presented directly. For dialogue, this is usually done in the speech balloon; an oval-shaped white symbol containing words. We should not underestimate the significance of the speech balloon as a formal device in comics. Catherine Khordoc (2001) calls it ‘one of the traits unique to comics, [which] marks the intersection between image and word’ (156). She also explains how the balloon always consists of two parts: the balloon itself, which is a symbol, and the tail, which connects it to a character (161). Groensteen remarks about balloon-dialogue ‘que la parole, en bande dessinée, est plus proche de la parole au cinéma que du texte littéraire (même dialogue)’ (151). Both comics and film hardly ever present dialogue indirectly – while writing often does. Now, whether speech balloons are more akin to film than to writing is a debate for another time. But it is certain that in comics dialogue, visual signs (balloons) have replaced the need for structuring sentences like ‘he said:’. Comics that still employ such structuring sentences are regarded as out-dated. They require a heavy verbal element, which takes words and image further apart, because long sentences require more space in separate sections. Hergé even declared that some of his early works, consisting of images with words written beneath, were not really comics (quoted in Peeters 1998, 118). Words are now commonly superimposed over or even integrated into the image, instead of remaining apart from it. This is also true for the reproduction of other sounds in comics, which is nothing like either writing or film. Sound-mimicking onomatopoeia may seem awkward in writing, in comics they have become one of the most recognized parts of the medium’s vocabulary. To a seasoned comics’ reader, a story might seem remarkably mute when onomatopoeia are omitted, as Alan Moore and David Lloyd did in V for Vendetta (1990). We will now turn our attention to the use of ‘comics’ sound’ in subjective narration.

Thought Clouds

The shift from direct speech to direct thought is often remarkably small. Direct thought shows us the thoughts of a character as they supposedly occur, and we argue that this technique is derived from direct dialogue in writing, films and comics. We already discussed how direct speech in writing consists of a sentence placed within quotation marks, usually with a structuring sentence making clear that this is being said, by whom and possibly also how. With direct thought, the structure is similar, and only the verb has to change; the most common is ‘thinking’ instead of ‘speaking’. The sentence between the quotation marks is a short instance of either direct thought or speech (which one is not always clear). For a long time, writing always used direct speech: characters thought out loud, like monologues in plays. Only later did writers turn to direct thought. In film, the equivalent technique for direct thought is a scene in which a character is obviously not saying anything (his or her mouth is closed), but we can still hear the character’s voice, telling his or her thoughts directly. The closed mouth indicates the stray from normal dialogue – but this technique is hardly popular.