The development of visual representation of sound in American comics

Abstract

This article presents a case study that was conducted in order to gather insights into how sound presentation evolved in American sequential art. The authors of this article examined 801 issues of “The Amazing Spider-Man” (1963-2018) comic books and documented every new stylistic and communicative solution regarding captions, speech balloons, and sound effects that evolved in comics media. Findings indicated what important part experimentation played in the first few decades of the medium. In addition, findings suggest that two main factors played a vital role in developing a visual representation of sounds in American comics. First, advancement in printing technology, and second – a mindset transformation. The latter is characterised by the fact that sound in comics gradually ceased to be perceived as a means of conveying information and has become a tool to tell a story.