Abstraction in Comics

Abstract

The study of narrative in comics (which I will use as a general term covering both mainstream comics and more highbrow graphic novels) has often been a mere copy of the study of narrative in other fields (mainly literature, but sometimes also film). This a priori approach to narrative in comics as a mere instantiation of narrative in general is now under pres- sure. However, the aim of this contribution is not to defend the necessity of a medium-specific analysis of narrative in comics (Groensteen, System; Smolderen), but to make a plea for the enrichment of narrative theory in general by investigating its relevance for a wide range of narrative corpora, and to address questions and methodological issues thereby brought to light. In this article, the quite remarkable corpus of abstract comics will provide the opportunity for such cross-fertilization. I will draw on several examples from this corpus to highlight directions for further inquiry into the structures and uses of abstraction in comics. Abstract, Yes, and Narrative as Well? Since the beginning of the 21st Century a wide range of abstract com- ics have emerged online and even gotten into print (see for instance the Abstract Comics blog: http://abstractcomics.blogspot.com/ as well as the anthology edited by Andrei Molotiu). The hype about abstract comics has been an occasion to rediscover similar yet much less known material in previous periods. Moreover, the material is not limited to the US or the Anglo-Saxon world, where it flourishes in the shadow of the boom- ing graphic novel industry, but can be observed worldwide—a tendency that perhaps confirms the gradual breakdown of historical differences between the European bande dessinee tradition and American comics and graphic novel production. The concept of abstract comics might seem to challenge the doxa of comics and graphic novel as a basically sequential-and therefore narra- tive-art. However, as suggested by comics connoisseur Douglas Wolk in his article in the New York Times Book Review, prominently displayed on the Abstract Comics blog, readers actually rely on their knowledge of the narrative potentialities of the medium to make sense of a genre that challenges many of their expectations: