FUNCTIONS - KABBALISTIQUE SIGNS - ONOMATOPIES - METAFORICAL SIGNS - READING SIGNS -
TEXTBALLOON and TEXTCODE

You can also learn to read comics in a totally different way. Discover lots of style figures, symbols, technics, ...
Below you can find the most common styles in a strip.
FUNCTIONS
Yoko thinks Each announcement, text, fulfils different functions: it can be relaxing (a function of game), it can bring new information to the story (cognitive function), it can emove you (emotional function), it can convince you to find something good or bad, beautiful or ugly (persuasive function) it can even change your ideals or your behaviour.
KABBALISTICAL SIGNS
Kabbalistical signs If you see such signs then you ask yourself the question "how can I translate this in normal, spoken language". But on the other side you know you already understand the signs. You can understand it because of what you see in the drawing, or the situation, ... Kabbalistical signs = secret and only comprehensive for insiders. They suggest a certain atmosphere, the mood in which the text has to be read. These signs are also a form of selfregulation. This is needed because a comic is mostly read by a young audience. And socially they have to meet with certain expectations. That's why so few four-letter words, curses and protective language layers (words like sexualitity or death) are used.

ONOMATOPOEIA
Sound of an arrow Another kind of specific signs (who stand much closer to written language) are the imitations of sounds or onomatopoeia. Imitations of sounds are a primaire form of language acquisition: Imitations of sounds made by humans, objects, vehicules, ... gradually a consensus originates within a linguistic comunity about the reproduction of a certain sound (e.g. barking) and from threr the onomatopoeia follows the rules of grammar. These imitations of sounds can be put outsite as well as inside the textballoon.
 
METAFORICAL SIGNS
Metaforical signsA drawing where the artist replaces the speed of the action with for instance the multiplication of limbs. These unrealistic drawings accentuate the movements of people, objects and animals. They can express themselves in lines which indicate the speed, drops of sweat, stars when someone is hurt,...
 
READING SIGNS
Question mark Punctation marks are a expedient for indicating rythm and intonation, but just like other metaforical signs they not point directly to real perceptions. In the comic the most frequent signs are the interrogation and exclamation mark ; they replace a spoken word or thought.
TEXTBALLOON and TEXTCODE

The textballoon mainly serves the role of link between the text and the thinking/speaking figure in the image.
The textfragments which appear in the story, are not always of the same kind. Sometimes they're combined with the the character, in other cases it is a intervention of the author.

We have seven different kinds of texts

Textballoon1. spoken language by the characters:
the frame is the textballoon, which in most cases is relied to the figure with a stalk. A textballoon within another textballoon indicates a story within a story.

Yoko's thoughts2. Thoughts of the characters:
the textballoon is relied to the figure with a series of bubbles.

3. Onomatopoeia,
which can exist without frames or within a textballoon. For an examle of this kind of style, look at the part about onomatopoeia.

Announcement 4. Annoucenments by the narrator: often a small strip in a specific color at the top of the frame which indicates that the announcement is being made by the narrator.

Didactic elaborations 5. Commentary from the author on and in his story:
the author acts as an outsider and gives comments on his own story. Things like for instance the annoucement of a character.

6. Lecturing text within a story:
didactic text which sometimes take the form of a textframe, but has nothing to do with the intrigue of the story. It's like some kind of extra information.


The end 7. Textual indications
like 'the end' or 'to be continued'. Also things like the numbering of the pictures, the titles, the name of the author in an image,...