Abstract
Like the sequence of words in written language, comic book page layouts direct images into a deliberate reading sequence. Conventional wisdom would expect that comic panels follow the order of text: left-to-right and down – a “Z-path” – though several layouts can violate this order, such as Gestalt groupings of panels that deny a Z-path of reading. To examine how layouts pressure readers to choose pathways deviating from the Z-path, we presented participants with comic pages empty of content, and asked them to number the panels in the order they would read them. Participants frequently used strategies departing from both the traditional Z-path and Gestalt groupings. These preferences reveal a system of constraints that organizes panels into hierarchic constituents, guiding readers through comic page layouts.
Highlights
Many readers of comic books have had the unusual experience of meeting someone who is confused by the order of the images on a comic page
While most literate readers are familiar with the left-to-right and downward reading orders used in written language – the “Z-path” – those who do not read comics sometimes become confused when pages depart from the stereotypical grid layout
One page featured a 2 × 3 panel grid (Figure 3A). This page could be ordered in any number of ways (Zpath, up and down, snaking in a reverse “S” shape, etc.), though the canonical order would follow the Z-path of the standard reading order of the English writing system
Summary
Many readers of comic books have had the unusual experience of meeting someone who is confused by the order of the images on a comic page. While most literate readers are familiar with the left-to-right and downward reading orders used in written language – the “Z-path” – those who do not read comics sometimes become confused when pages depart from the stereotypical grid layout. To comic readers, this confusion seems baffling – isn’t the order of images obvious? Barber (2002) argued that comic pages are understood holistically through integration of the content of all panels on a page This page allows for no contiguous columns or rows of panels, and the colors of panels imply perceptual groupings between non-adjacent panels, thereby making a linear reading order difficult
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