Comic Strips

a. Definitions of Comics and Comic Strips

Some experts states that comics are easy to recognize from its appearance but
difficult to define. The term “sequential art” is used by Will Eisner to describe
comics. Moreover, according to McCloud in his book Understanding Comics (1994;
7), comics are “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended
to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer”.
The definition above are similar, they are focus on comics as a string of images that
are read one after another to produce meaning.
Comic strips refer to “a set of picturing telling a short story” in a newspaper or
comic books, often showing “the speech of the characters in the pictures” (Summers,
1992, p. 249). Taylor (2006) regarded comic strips as a verbal-visual mixture: a blend
of verbal and nonverbal elements. In general, comic strips consist of a humorous
narrative sequence of cartoon panels with illustrations and feature a regular cast of
characters. Gower in McAlister (2001) defined comics as a medium to transmit
certain concepts or information about political, social, and cultural issues; a
politically sarcastic comic strip in the newspaper is one such example.
In a comic-strip, verbal and nonverbal messages play the same important
roles. The clues from illustrations help deliver implicit messages. The old saying “a
picture is worth a thousand words” fits the creation of comic strips well. Since readers
of comic strips figure out the genuine meaning by looking at both the narrative and
non-narrative information, translators are supposed to render both verbal and
nonverbal messages accurately and appropriately to enable the target audience to
grasp the message more thoroughly and more effectively. Moreover, comic strips can
be described as the short version of comics.
b. Components of Comics
According Saraceni (2003) comics have several components: panels, gutters,
balloons and captions:
1) The panels: Each page is normally composed of a number of rectangular frames
named panels.
2) The gutter: A blank space called the gutter separate panel from the others
3) The balloon: The use of balloons, in which text is inserted and imposed into the
panel which contains the pictures, it is one of the principal characteristics of comics.
Other types of print such as children’s books and advertising also combine
images and words, but the use of balloons is unique to comics (Khordoc 2001: 156
-157). Direct speech is contained by the balloons, but significant proportions of it are
essentially narrative. It shows that a character is speaking (in the first person) and this
makes the reader’s involvement in the story much deeper. Balloons may report
speech or thought. The tail of the balloon indicates the character who is speaking or
thinking.
4) The caption: The caption is not inside the panel, but it is always a separate entity,
at the top or bottom of the panel. The narrator’s voice and adds information is
represented the dialogues by the text in caption in the balloons
c. Benefits of using Comic Strips
Benefits or strength of comics in education according to Yang (2003) can be
described as follows:
1) Motivating
The most frequently mentioned asset of comics, as an educational tool is its
ability to motivate students. Through comic, motivation can be given to the students
by the teacher to learn English in more enjoyable and interesting ways. Comics
motivate the students by its pictures. With the using of cartoon comics studying and
understanding the use of colors, the name of animals, and the identification of the
main parts of human body can be fast. Sones (in Yang 2003) theorize that pictures tell
any story more effectively than words.
2) Visual
Comics, being composed of pictorial and other images, are a fundamentally
visual medium. The interest of students in comics’ picture emphasizes the potential of
visual medium. In a study comparing comics to text, Sones (in Yang 2003) found that
comics’ visual quality increases learning. Sones divided four hundred sixth into two
groups, balanced in terms of both school grade and intelligence. To the first group he
presented comics, to the second only text. Afterwards, each group was given a test on
the content of the story. The result was the first group scored significantly higher than
the second group. At the end, Sones concluded that a strong trend in favor of the
picture continuity was indicated by two sets of results.
3) Intermediary
Comics can serve as an intermediate step to difficult disciplines and concepts.
Many language and art educators have used comics in this manner with tremendous
success. Karl Koenke (in Yang 2003) suggests that comics can lead students toward
the discipline of learning. Hutchinson’s experiment found out that many teachers
discovered comic strips to be particularly useful in special classes or for slow learning
pupils in regular classes. Versaci (in Yang 2003) found out that discussions on
comics are generally livelier than those on classic novels. Through comics, Versaci
encourages his students to think critically about the literary worth of books and the
formation of the literary canon.
4) Popular
Comic is a popular reading for children. If we ask the students, whether they
have read comic or not, most of them would say, “yes”. It is very popular because
comic has interesting story and full of colors. That is why children like it. By comics,
students can learn about culture. Teachers can introduce popular culture into their
classroom easily an effectively through comics. By incorporating popular culture into
curriculum, teachers can bridge the separation many students feel, between their live
in and out of school.
According to Versaci (in Yang 2003), through comic books, teacher can lead their
students in a study of “contemporary lifestyle, myths, and values”.
Comic has been spread out widely as the medium to entertain.
The colored illustration, simple theme and plot, and the characterization will
attract the person who read it. Amazingly, nearly everyone says yes if they are asked
whether they have read comic. The wide spread of comic has interested the writer in
using comic as a medium for teaching.
A teacher may use the potential of comic in motivating the students. The main
role of comic book in teaching is its strength in motivating the students’ interest. It is
better to combine the use of comic with a particular method of teaching. Therefore,
the use of comic as a medium of teaching is more effective. A teacher should help the
students to find a good and enjoyable comic which is appropriate to the way the
students think and the students’ age. In addition, a teacher should help them get
broader information and knowledge from the comic.