Comic-Con 2014

Storytelling in comic books and graphic novels relies on an array of diverse and powerful techniques that engage readers and construct a sense of time and space in fictional "realities," to varying degrees of success. Keegan Lannon (Aberystwyth University) and Aaron Poppleton examine how color influences emotions and how color (or lack thereof as in Art Spiegelman's Maus) may immerse readers and create an artistic ideology. Michael J. Muniz (Broward College) exposes how the breaking of the fourth wall in comics prevents the reader from properly engaging the depicted reality, and explores the philosophical nature of the fourth wall itself. Poe Johnson (University of Texas at Dallas) and Amal Shafek (University of Texas at Dallas) use Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis as a case study for analyzing how comics and films construct time and space. Specific creative techniques do more than just reflect aesthetic goals; they also affect the way each medium constructs meaning.