Analyzing Calvin and Hobbes
On New Year’s Day 2021, I posted a thread on Twitter analyzing the properties of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. People seemed to like the thread, so here’s a […]
New paper: Pow, punch, pika, and chu
I’m once again excited to announce the publication of another of my students’ projects. Our paper, “Pow, Punch, Pika, and Chu: The Structure of Sound Effects in Genres of American […]
Dispelling myths of comics understanding
In reading through various works about comics understanding, I keep hearing several statements repeated over and over. But, several of these statements are not reflective of the way people actually […]
New paper: Building a better “comic theory”
I’m happy to say that I have a new paper (pdf), “Building a better “comic theory,” in the latest issue of the journal Studies in Comics. In this one I critique […]
Review: Comics and Language by Hannah Miodrag
Among the many books on “comics theory” published this year, Comics and Language by Hannah Miodrag may be the most relevant for my own interests. It directly analyzes the relationship between […]
Review: Narrative Structure in Comics by Barbara Postema
Barbara Postema’s new book, Narrative Structure in Comics, joins a nice list of books on comic theory to emerge this year, and it provides some interesting analyses and insights. The book is clearly […]
The Chinese Room
A few months back I got a request from my friend and colleague from Tufts, the philosopher Dan Dennett. Dan is the co-director of the Tufts Center for Cognitive Studies […]
Revisiting “visual language”
I’ve now had this website for over 10 years, and have been blogging for almost 6 years, so it may be worth revisiting the fundamental ideas of my research over […]
The Graphic Canon Vol. 2
On the non-theory front, I’m happy to announce that I have a piece in the recently released second volume of The Graphic Canon edited by Russ Kick. It’s a collection of […]
Lecture on comics and psychology
Here’s a lecture by psychologist Barbara Tversky about the understanding of events, spatial cognition, and comics. It’s a bit long (an hour) but worth watching. (The parts explicitly about comics […]