NEW Navigating Comics
Most people believe that the reading of comic pages moves along the same order as text: the "z-path" of left-to-right and down. However, what happens when layouts are more complicated than simple grids? This paper reports the findings of a psychology experiment which found that readers follow a far more complex process of page layout navigation than the z-path. (15 pages)

Cohn, Neil. 2013. Navigating Comics: An empirical and theoretical approach to strategies of reading comic page layouts. Frontiers in Cognitive Science. 4: 1-15.

NEW Visual Narrative Structure
This article outlines a new theory of sequential image understanding. I argue that linear "transitions" are unable to fully explain the relationships between panels, and I introduce my theory of "Visual Narrative Grammar" that assigns panels categorical roles organized in hierarchic constituents. The basics of this theory are outlined, along with diagnostic methods for testing these categories and constituents. Finally, I outline the applicability of this theory beyond sequential images, such as to film and verbal discourse. (39 pages)

Cohn, Neil. 2013. Visual narrative structure. Cognitive Science 37(3): 413-452

NEW Explaining "I can't draw"
Both drawing and language are fundamental and unique human abilities. Yet, unlike language, we consider it normal for people not to learn to draw, and consider those who do to be exceptional. This paper argues that the structure and development of drawing is analogous to that of language—expressing meaning with a "graphic lexicon" that combines using "syntactic" rules. Without practice and exposure to a drawing system, people have only a basic drawing ability that is parallel to communicative systems apperaing in the absence of learning a language within a critical developmental period. (26 pages)

Cohn, Neil. 2012. Explaining “I can’t draw”: Parallels between the structure and development of language and drawing. Human Development 55(4): 167-192

Framing attention in Japanese and American comics
We compared panels from Independent and Mainstream American comics with panels from Japanese manga to how panels frame figures and scenes. We argue that the framing of space that we found simulates a viewer’s integration of a visual scene, and is consistent with research showing cross-cultural differences in the direction of attention. (14 pages)

Cohn, Neil, Amaro Taylor-Weiner, and Suzanne Grossman. 2012. Framing attention in Japanese and American comics: Cross-cultural differences in attentional structure. Frontiers in Psychology - Cultural Psychology.3:1-12

Comics, linguistics, and visual language
The structure of comics has long been compared to that of language. This paper reviews the diverse research examining sequential images with methods from linguistics. Throughout, I argue that the notion of "comics" is separate from the "visual language" that they are written in. I then outline how this visual language is analogous to spoken and signed languages, and describe how it can be studied using the same questions that guide the study of those linguistic systems. (25 pages)

Cohn, Neil. 2012. Comics, linguistics, and visual language: The past and future of a field. In Bramlett, Frank (ed). Linguistics and the Study of Comics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

(Pea)nuts and bolts of visual narrative
Just as syntax differentiates coherent sentences from scrambled word strings, sequential images use a narrative "grammar" to distinguish coherent narrative sequences from random strings of images. In two experiments, we measured reaction times and brainwaves while looking at the contributions of narrative and meaning in sequential images. We found that sequential images use a narrative structure that goes beyond meaningful relationships between panels, and comprehension as a whole involves an interaction between structure and meaning. Visual Abstract (38 pages)

Cohn, Neil, Martin Paczynski, Ray Jackendoff, Phillip Holcomb, and Gina Kuperberg. 2012. (Pea)nuts and bolts of visual narrative: Structure and meaning in sequential image comprehension. Cognitive Psychology 65(1):1-38.

A Different Kind of Cultural Frame
This study seeks to provide evidence for cross-cultural comparisons of comics by examining panels from twelve American and twelve Japanese comic books. It examines 1) how they frame amounts of information, 2) their depiction of subjective viewpoints, and 3) the angle of view taken by their representations. (15 pages)

Cohn, Neil. 2011. A Different Kind of Cultural Frame: An Analysis of Panels in American Comics and Japanese Manga. Image [&] Narrative 12 (1):120-134.

The Limits of Time and Transitions
This article explores how the linearity of reading panels and the iconicity of images create various false assumptions about sequential images’ depictions of space and time. I argue that any linear panel-to-panel analysis (such as McCloud’s panel transitions) or loosely defined principles of connection (such as Groensteen’s ‘arthrology’) between sequential images are inadequate to account for their comprehension. (22 pages) Blog Thread

Cohn, Neil. 2010. The Limits of Time and Transitions: Challenges to theories of sequential image comprehension. Studies in Comics 1 (1):127-147.

Japanese Visual Language
Over the past two decades, manga has exploded in readership beyond Japan. But, what exactly are the properties of this "style" beyond the surface of big-eyes and "backward" reading? This paper explores the structural properties of the visual language underlying the "manga style," how it works, and how it differs from the visual languages in comics from other parts of the world. (21 pages) Blog Thread

Cohn, Neil. 2010. Japanese Visual Language: The Structure of Manga. In Manga: An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives, edited by T. Johnson-Woods. New York: Continuum Books.

Extra! Extra! Semantics in Comics!
As in the verbal and manual modalities of expression, various semantic structures arise across sequences of images in interesting and effective ways. This piece examines metonymy, conceptual metaphors, and blending across a three-panel pattern used in strips from an advertising campaign by the Chicago Tribune newspaper. (9 pages) Blog Thread

Cohn, Neil. 2010. Extra! Extra! Semantics in Comics!: The Conceptual Structure of Chicago Tribune Advertisements. Journal of Pragmatics 42 (11):3138–3146.

A Visual Lexicon
Panels are the most recognized unit in visual language used in comics, though meaningful units do exist that are both smaller and larger than panels. This is similar to spoken languages, where "lexical items" can be both above or below the level of the "word." This paper addresses the varying levels of representation in the lexicon of visual langauge. (19 pages)

Cohn, Neil. 2007. A Visual Lexicon. Public Journal of Semiotics. 1(1):53-84.

Un-Defining "Comics"
Perhaps the most befuddling and widely debated point in comics scholarship is the very definition of “comics” itself. Most arguments focus on the roles of a few distinct features: images, text, sequentiality, and the ways in which they interact. However, this piece argues that "comics" and the visual language of sequential images are two separate, yet interacting, categories. (11 pages)

Cohn, Neil. 2005.Un-Defining "Comics." International Journal of Comic Art. 7(2):236-248.

Early Writings on Visual Language
More writings are included in this 120 page book which collects, refines, and expands on the earliest of writings on visual language theory. It covers topics such as the muddled definition of "comics" and its relation to visual language, how sequences of images communicate, and child visual language learning, plus a lot more. Want one?

Preview: "Visual Syntactic Structures, Part 1"

Review: The System of Comics
My review of Thierry Groensteen's book, The System of Comics. I cover its approach to the definition of "comics", its actual formal descriptions of the properties of sequential images, and the implications it makes about scholarship. I am not overly kind. Blog post, pdf

These links go to Comixpedia site, not pdf. files:

Interactive Comics?(February 2005) - Usually, when people think about language, there is an aspect of face to face intaction and exchange that springs to mind. This piece addresses how social interactivity factors into visual language structure and use

Art vs. Language (July 2004) - This pieces discusses how the cultural conceptions of "Art" and "Language" might affect the structure and usage of visual language in American society.