MULTIMODALITY OF ANIMATED WEBCOMICS

Victoria A. Yefymenko

Email: v.yefymenko@knu.ua

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8135-4983

Doctor of Sciences in Linguistics, Associate Professor,

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/StudLing2025.27.57-67

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ABSTRACT

A characteristic feature of contemporary comics is their transmediality, in which practices of storytelling expand from print to digital media. Animated webcomics belong to such а type of transmedia adaptation, combining the key features of print comics with animation. This paper focuses on multimodal aspects of animated webcomics, namely, the animated webcomic Watchmen, based on the Watchmen comic book series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Transition to a digital medium results in enhancements to the comics medium, such as videos and sound. Multimodal discourse analysis of the animated webcomic centres on cross-modal cohesion and text-image relations. Cross-modal cohesion is traced by identifying how the protagonist is presented and tracked, then by constructing identity chains for characters, objects and settings. These chains containing visual, verbal and aural elements demonstrate how different modes interact to make the narrative coherent. Text-image relations in Watchmen include equal and unequal status relations, as well as logico-semantic relations of exemplification, enhancement and extension. The interaction of different modes results in an integrated, multimodal narrative of animated comics. Further investigation of animated webcomics may include issues such as the extent of animation in comics, interactivity, immersion and their influence on narrative unfolding.

Keywords: comics, animated webcomics, digital comics, transmediality, multimodality, cross-modal cohesion, text-image relations.

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