Resources

 Maybe this is your first time with comics or you're not as familiar with the MECHANICS of reading them!  No worries -- this page will be a great reference, helping you navigate the features and style that makes comic books unique!

Breaking COMICS Down

A comic page has a special collection of visual elements that work together to tell a story.  Each one has a name and function, doing their part to make the comic work as a whole.  Here are a few basic terms and their uses to remember:

How to READ Comics!

It may seem like there's A LOT to process when reading comics.  You have words AND pictures, overlapping and working together to create the story.  It may seem challenging at first, but I promise, it's easier than you might think!  

From Teaching Teachers: #HowTo Bring Comics into the Classroom

Left to Right.  Top to Bottom.

In prose (chapter books, novels, etc.), you start at the TOP LEFT of the page, reading through the words across an entire line, before coming to the following line, beneath, and reading across again (just how you're reading THIS post)!  This is the standard way we read and write in English, as well as other common languages (like French, Italian, and German).

Where prose pages are made up of paragraphs, comics are made of PANELS!  They follow the same structure:

Start at the TOP left.

Read all the way across (towards the right).

Repeat the process for each line of panels.

The same process works for the words WITHIN the panels.  Start at the top left and whichever CAPTION or DIALOGUE BALLOON you find first, read to completion.  Then move to the right or down to find the next one in sequence.

But what about MANGA?

With the popularity of manga (traditionally, Japanese comics), you may encounter books that look like they're made BACKWARDS.  These books were intended for readers of TATEGAKI, a form of Japanese kanji (writing) that is read TOP to BOTTOM; RIGHT to LEFT.  When translated into English, these books may keep some of their natural order, with panels at the TOP RIGHT, read first.