In comics, direct thought is usually achieved by showing the character’s words not in a regular speech balloon, but in a cloud shaped balloon. The speaking balloons and thought clouds have become so common and widely accepted in comics (thought clouds are regularly used in American, European and Japanese comics) that one almost forgets how coded they actually are. Superimposing words over images to denote sound is always a violation of diegetic space (words are floating in the air) and relies heavily on conventions a reader needs to be familiar with. The representation of thought is derived from the representation of dialogue; the cloud shaped balloon is an adaptation of the speech balloon. A regular comics’ reader recognizes the shift from a speech balloon to a thought cloud just like a change from the verb ‘speaking’ to ‘thinking’.

The reason that direct thought is modelled after direct speech is because the former technique is based on the assertion that human thought takes the form of words. Or, even stronger: direct thought projects structures of speech and language on thought. This explains why the technique is applied more often in writing than in film: everything is necessarily expressed in written language in the former medium, so it is not odd that thought gets the same treatment. Film also has the option of presenting thought in its images. Comics however, which also have images, still use direct thought more commonly than movies; this is obvious from the global usage and recognition of the thought balloon. Comics are only visual, while film has sound as well. Language in film is usually presented in sound, rather than in the visual. Besides the fact that real sound is a more realistic presentation, a reader can take his or her own time to read words in writing. A film dictates its own reading time. It is therefore not common to make written words an important part of a movie; narratively significant written letters for example, are usually read out loud by characters as well as being shown, to make sure the reader does not miss the written message. Comics simply have no sound and must use written language. This is no problem, because a reader can determine his or her own reading speed. So, the fact that written language is far more important in comics than in film explains at least partly why direct thought is more common in the former (thought clouds) than in the latter (voice-over).

So, the lack of sound forces comics to some extent to include written language. But, by integrating written language into the image, comics have pushed the limits between words and image further than writing ever could. There are three elements that set written language in comics apart. First, writing is usually printed in a standardized typeface, while most comics are handwritten. This seeming reduction of the readability has been turned into a strength throughout comic book history. Using different handwritings for utterances by certain characters can replace writing’s adjectives and film’s voice. Second, the very simple fact that the size of the written words can be changed can be used for diverse effects. Third, colour can be applied to denote the mood of a character. In comics, the very shape of language becomes an object of play and irony, instead of its grammar and vocabulary. Armed with this great expressive potential artists have blurred the distinctions between images and language in the speech balloon.

The content of the balloon is not restricted to writing. Somewhere in the history of the speech balloon, authors must have realised that some of the written language in balloons resembled images already so much, that really placing images in the balloon was not that farfetched. The most recognized form of images within the speech balloon is used comically in censoring heavily cursing characters; their speech balloons are filled with skulls, explosions, thunderclouds and stars. These are usually just standardized symbols, which are actually not too distinct from the language normally found in speech balloons. However, more serious adaptations were invented for images in balloons as an effort to cut back on the usage of words. Actual representational images (not symbols) now regularly appear in speech balloons and thought clouds. Dutch artist Erik Kriek is an extreme exponent of this development; he completely stopped using written language in his Gutsman comics (1998 – present) in favour of images within the different balloons. With an image inside an image – a representation of a representation – the balloon actually becomes a new frame. Here the discussion becomes more about arthrology, and will therefore continue in the next chapter.

Word Boxes

Although the thought balloon is a commonly accepted stylistic feature, it has also gone out of fashion in some circles over the past decade. Some artists seemingly felt the technique was too contrived or too conventional, and searched for alternatives. Balloons and onomatopoeia are not the only applications of written language. Many comic books apply angular boxes either superimposed over an image or within a frame of its own filled with words as well. Traditionally, these word boxes mark a shift to words not attributed to a character, but to an extradiegetic narrator. In her examination of Astérix, for example, Khordoc notes word boxes always contain (extradiegetic) narrator’s comments (163; Note that she calls word boxes a specific type of balloons). This makes sense, because word boxes have no tail connecting them to a character. The words in these boxes offer an explanation of the action in the images, or rather of the connections the reader should make between the images. Thus, the messages are often short connective words telling the reader that time has passed or to which location the story has turned, like ‘Later on…’ or ‘Meanwhile, in…’. When such word boxes contain more words and occupy an entire frame, they interrupt the story totally to inform the reader of events for which there was no place in the images. One could argue that the comic itself turns into writing at such points. Mention has already been made of the fact that overly verbose comics became regarded as outdated. Many artists felt they should let their drawings speak for themselves, instead of constantly commenting on them. But as the role of the extradiegetic narrator was reduced, American comic book artists in particular began using the word boxes for direct thought and speech. Nowadays, this use is widespread.