Comics and the Senses: A Multisensory Approach to Comics and Graphic Novels (Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies) - Softcover

Hague, Ian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138548391 ISBN 13: 9781138548398

Publisher: Routledge, 2018

Synopsis

Attempts to define what comics are and explain how they work have not always been successful because they are premised upon the idea that comic strips, comic books and graphic novels are inherently and almost exclusively visual. This book challenges that premise, and asserts that comics is not just a visual medium. The book outlines the multisensory aspects of comics: the visual, audible, tactile, olfactory and gustatory elements of the medium. It rejects a synaesthetic approach (by which all the senses are engaged through visual stimuli) and instead argues for a truly multisensory model by which the direct stimulation of the reader’s physical senses can be understood. A wide range of examples demonstrates how multisensory communication systems work in both commercial and more experimental contexts. The book concludes with a case study that looks at the works of Alan Moore and indicates areas of interest that multisensory analysis can draw out, but which are overlooked by more conventional approaches.

About this title

About the Author

Ian Hague is Associate Lecturer in the History Department at the University of Chichester, UK.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1138548391
• ISBN 13: 9781138548398
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216