Overview of Reading Comics
Most Western comics are read from left to right, top to bottom. See Jessica Abel's “What is a ‘Graphic Novel?'” two-page comic (Page 1 and Page 2) to gain a better understanding of this format.
However, Japanese comics (a.k.a. manga) are read from right to left, top to bottom where the front of the book has the spine on the right side instead of on the left side as it is with Western books.
Visit wikiHow's page on "4 Ways to Read Comics" for some visual aids on both Western and Japanese comics.
Keep in mind that not all comics adhere to this structure exactly. For example, sometimes a panel or a tier of panels in a Western comic are spread across two pages instead of just one page. This is known as a double-page spread. The general Western rule of reading left to right can still apply, but sometimes a spread can have images and text presented in a spiral or circular order instead of the common linear order. A reader's best judgment will need to be applied at times when reading a comic that contains an uncommon structure.
(Source: https://guides.library.fresnostate.edu/c.php?g=885073&p=6361098)
Books About Comics and Graphic Novels
Reading Comics by Call Number: PN6725 .W65 2007ISBN: 9780306815096Publication Date: 2007-07-03Suddenly, comics are everywhere: a newly matured art form, filling bookshelves with brilliant, innovative work and shaping the ideas and images of the rest of contemporary culture. InReading Comics, critic Douglas Wolk shows us why this is and how it came to be. Wolk illuminates the most dazzling creators of modern comics-from Alan Moore to Alison Bechdel to Dave Sim to Chris Ware-and introduces a critical theory that explains where each fits into the pantheon of art. Reading Comics is accessible to the hardcore fan and the curious newcomer; it is the first book for people who want to know not just what comics are worth reading, but also the ways to think and talk and argue about them.
Reinventing Comics by Call Number: PN6710 .M333 2001ISBN: 0060953500Publication Date: 2000-07-25The new century manifesto on the many futures of comics art In 1993, Scott McCloud tore down the wall between high and low culture with the acclaimed international hit Understanding Comics, a massive comic book that explored the inner workings of the worlds most misunderstood art form. Now, McCloud takes comics to the next level, charting twelve different revolutions in how comics are created, read, and perceived today. Part One of this fascinating and in-depth book includes: The life of comics as an art form and as literature The battle for creators' rights Reinventing the business of comics The volatile and shifting public perceptions of comics Sexual and ethnic representation on comics Then in Part Two, McCloud paints a breathtaking picture of comics' digital revolutions, including: The intricacies of digital production The exploding world of online delivery The ultimate challenges of the infinite digital canvas
Comics and Sequential Art by Call Number: NC1764 .E47 1990ISBN: 0961472812Publication Date: 1994-04-01Eisner presents the principles of graphic storytelling in this guide, which is based on his popular sequential art course at New York's School of Visual Art. Readers will learn the basic anatomy, fundamentals of storycraft and how the medium works as a means of expression.
Articles on How to Read Comics
- Reading Art Spiegelman's Maus as Postmodern Ethnography by Rosemary V. HathawayJournal of Folklore Research
Vol. 48, No. 3 (September/December 2011), pp. 249-267 (19 pages)
Published by: Indiana University Press - Reading Images in "American Born Chinese" through Critical Visual Literacy by Melissa SchiebleThe English Journal
Vol. 103, No. 5 (May 2014), pp. 47-52 (6 pages)
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English - Trans-Pacific Crossroads: Reading the Blues as Black American Folkway in Hiramoto Akira's Manga, Me and the Devil Blues by Alexander Dumas J. Brickler IVFire!!!
Vol. 4, No. 2, Paneling Blackness (Fall 2018), pp. 10-54 (45 pages)
Published by: Association for the Study of African American Life and History - Marjane Satrapi and the Graphic Novels from and about the Middle East by Chris Reyns-Chikuma and Houssem Ben LazregArab Studies Quarterly
Vol. 39, No. 1 (Winter 2017), pp. 758-775 (18 pages)
Published by: Pluto Journals - The Doctor versus the Dagger: Comics Reading and Cultural Memory by CHRISTOPHER PIZZINOPMLA
Vol. 130, No. 3 (May 2015), pp. 631-647 (17 pages)
Published by: Cambridge University Press