Media in a panel: use of intermedial references in the narrative of "Mixed results" comics production

Abstract

In this master’s thesis, I research how intermedial references can be of use as a narrative tool in comics. I describe the phenomena of intermedial references through a theoretical background and investigate the creative process of comic-making to find out which aspects of storytelling and the final result are affected, as well as what the artist’s thought process is behind their use. To achieve this, I combine a theoretical outline with the use of a practice-based method where I have included a practical comic-making production as a part of my information gathering. Besides the finished comic, I utilised a process diary and sketches as my research material. To evaluate my decision-making during the process and to draw conclusions, I refer to both narratology and overall Comic Studies as my theoretical background for narrative analysis.

Intermedial references are a part of the remediation phenomena, where different media formats influence each other. The key result of this thesis is that the intermedial references do not significantly differ from any other comic content. Due to the versatile nature of the medium comics enable a large scale of possibilities in the visual sense that includes the play with media borders. Intermedial references can either be visually depicted within the story world or separate from it, which can affect the process of their design. They are a very useful tool for creating variation in narration. It is also useful for the creator to understand the media that is being referred to, to better communicate through them and to execute the visual similarities in a reference.