The System of Comics

the long version

"This edition of Thierry Groensteen's The System of Comics makes available in English a groundbreaking work on comics by one of the medium's foremost scholars. In this book, originally published in France in 1999, Groensteen ranges broadly through the history of comics to explain the subtle, complex workings of the medium and its unique way of combining visual, verbal, spatial, and chronological expressions." "The System of Comics uses examples from a wide variety of countries including the United States, England, Japan, France, and Argentina. It describes and analyzes the properties and functions of speech and thought balloons, panels, strips, and pages to examine the medium's fundamental processes."--Jacket.