iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Shawn Gilmore @gipperfish.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

We compared @scottmccloud.bsky.social's Understanding Comics, chs 4-5 with how @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social and @neilcohn.bsky.social approach matters of comics form, narrative, and communication, particularly Davies' question: "what are we doing when we’re doing comics?"

Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics (1993)

Paul Fisher Davies, Comics as Communication, ch. 1: Intro
Three Problems of Comics Expression
Three further questions have also helped to guide the lines of enquiry
in this book. The problems these questions address arise from attempts
to use images to do what language does: to narrate, to capture abstract
thought and to construct extended texts. The questions raised in these
three areas will operate as an initial sketch guide for the organisation of
later chapters.
The Verb: How Can Comics Enact Processes?
Comics are not a time-based medium. Its images are static. How then
can comics represent the action that is at the heart of every tale and
every clause, the verb? In what ways can wordings supply this need,
and in what ways can the images or their sequences handle this silently?
What sort of work is expected of the reader to ‘animate’ the comics text?
Chapters 2 and 3 will explore this problem, as well as Chapter 4.
Abstraction: How Can Comics Incorporate the Abstract?
Comics image sequences constitute a concrete, visual form of storytelling.
Given this, how can they represent the unseeable, abstract elements
of a discourse, its conceptual or emotional material? The verbal elements
may perhaps be recruited to do this, but how can they integrate with elements
of the narrative expressed by other means? And how could silent
comics sequences handle these meanings, without words? Would a completely
visually abstract comic be readable? These questions are raised in
Chapter 2, explored later in Chapter 5 and raised again as metaphor in
Chapter 9.
Cohesion: What Makes a Comic One Text, Not Many?
Comics are commonly multimodal, but along the two so-called tracks
of the verbal and the visual, and with those two collections of semiotic
resources, they express a single narrative (or other discourse). Even
when image-only, comics present multiple representations that must
‘hold together’ to constitute a single discourse. How can comics marshal

While “storytelling” is certainly a prototypical case, “narrative structures”
here are simply a method of packaging and presenting concepts, and,
as such, they should be applicable beyond just “stories” (which may be an
“entertaining” context of narrative broadly). In this context, “stories” are
only a prototypical instance of narrative structure, and “good stories” are
only a case of rhetorical skill.
Visual Narrative Grammar consists of several core categories:2
MM Orienter (O)—provides superordinate information, such as a setting
MM Establisher (E)—sets up an interaction without acting upon it
MM Initial (I)—initiates the tension of the narrative arc
MM Prolongation (L)—marks a medial state of extension, often the
trajectory of a path
MM Peak (P)—marks the height of narrative tension and point of
maximal event structure
MM Release (R)—releases the tension of the interaction
Together, these categories form phases, which are coherent pieces of a
constituent structure. Just as phrases make up a sentence in syntax, phases
make up an Arc in narrative. Each Arc can be considered as a “visual
sentence,” meaning that a longer comic book or graphic novel may contain
many Arcs throughout the whole story. But unlike sentences, Arcs do not
overtly mark their beginnings (such as with capital letters) or endings (such
as with periods).3 As we will discuss in Chapter 6, despite this lack of overt
markings, readers can intuitively sense where these segments begin and
end in an ongoing sequence. The canonical constituent structure and linear
order for categories within a phase is:
Phase → (Establisher) – (Initial (Prolongation)) – Peak – (Release)

131

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Rik Worth 👻 @rikworth.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Check out this page for the Comics in Theory and Practice roundtable we did a few weeks back. You can watch the talk halfway down the page. Thanks to @karriefransman.bsky.social @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social and @miriamkent.bsky.social for a great chat! sites.google.com/view/comicsp...

sites.google.com

Home

Comics Practice and Theory:Roundtable and Exhibition

087

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Rik Worth 👻 @rikworth.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Has a great time chatting with Paul Davies and @karriefransman.bsky.social about comics and academia! Special thanks to @miriamkent.bsky.social for putting it together

Rik Worth in front of a poster for the Comics: Theory and Practice round table

Gallery pages of Hocus Pocus by Worth, Collver and Watts

171

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

miriam kent @miriamkent.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Thank you to @karriefransman.bsky.social @rikworth.bsky.social and @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social for the extremely insightful chat and thanks to everyone who came out in the characteristically inhospitable weather!

084

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Rik Worth 👻 @rikworth.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

If any of you lovely people are in Leeds for the @thoughtbubbleuk.bsky.social The Comics Research Group at Leeds University is hosting a roundtable and exhibition event on Comics Theory and Practice on Nov 12. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/comics-pra...

eventbrite.co.uk

Comics Practice and Theory: Roundtable & Exhibition Launch

An exploration of comics, research and creative practice. Part of Thought Bubble Comic Arts Festival.

11410

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

miriam kent @miriamkent.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Join us on Wednesday 12 November for a roundtable discussion about comics and research, featuring @karriefransman.bsky.social @rikworth.bsky.social and @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social, plus art to look at and snacks to enjoy! Book while you can, tickets are going fast!

043

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Jordan Collver @jordancollver.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

I won't be able to make it to this excellent panel discussion with @karriefransman.bsky.social @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social and my boy Rik, but some of my art will be part of the exhibition alongsides greats like @nsousanis.bsky.social @kaysohini.bsky.social @cartoonkate.bsky.social !

0129

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Jerry Ordway @jerryordway.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Let’s all celebrate Superman co-creator Joe Shuster on his birthday July 10th!

213329

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Just a fraction of the conversation at @fesussex.bsky.social #fesussex panel on AI and the future of education…

010

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Tech history and the future from @brightblack-arts.bsky.social in the second set of keynotes at #fesussex

010

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Myfanwy Tristram @myfanwytristram.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

New report from CCIC, asking @dcmsgovuk.bsky.social to back the comics sector: www.thecomicsculturalimpactcollective.org/The-Power-of... Please SHARE, have a good READ, and if you like what you see, SIGN to show your support at lnkd.in/dmsKCc-d Thank you! #comics

11810

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Open Culture @openculture.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

I asked Grok what a president would do if he wanted to destroy his country. Grok listed the following: Economic Sabotage, Undermining National Security, Social Division, Political Erosion and Attack the Rule of Law, International Isolation & Neglecting Crises. Trump is checking all of the boxes.

16122

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

‘Something magical is happening’: sales boom for children’s comics creating young readers of the future Love The Phoenix.

110

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Late on the upload, but here are scans of my sketch notes from Graphic Brighton December 2024 #sketchnotes #comicsstudies #comics #architecture

Hand drawn ink on paper sketch notes from Comics and Architectural Practice, Graphic Brighton 2024 final session with Sabba Khan, Alison Sampson and Henry Chebane in conversation with Alex Fitch.

Hand drawn ink on paper sketchnotes from Graphic Brighton 2024: Walking the Territory with Barbara Chamberlin and Architectural Comics round table with Clarrie Pope, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Woodrow Phoenix.

Hand drawn ink on paper sketchnotes from Graphic Brighton 2024: Miracle Windows panel with Karrie Fransman, Zara Slattery and Sabba Khan; Panel 4 Engaging with Graphic Architecture featuring Peeves Kallitsis and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey

Hand drawn ink on paper sketchnotes from Graphic Brighton 2024: Panel 3 Comics and Flanerie with Trisha Dasgupta, Marion Eisenmann, and Reed Puc; Keynote with Enrique Bordes.

020

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Alex de Campi @alexdecampi.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

RIP to the king

Four panels of David Lynch (older white man with sticky-uppy white hair wearing a rumpled white shirt and dark suit jacket):

1. Serious face. “As soon as you finish a film”

2. Similar serious face “people want you to talk about it”

3. Scrunched-up amused face

4. Slight smile “and it’s, um, the film is the talking”

32936602

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Anton @antonmagic.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

The Art Life Eulogies are, by their very nature, the hardest thing to write. When an artist dies it's tempting to fill the hole they leave in the universe with praise and analysis of their work. In the case of David Lynch his films, paintings and music are designed to speak for themselves

111

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Sketchnoting in #comics and #architecture at #graphicbrighton is making me very aware of the need to structure the page space for my notes and how that is related to the structure of the panels and of each paper. This planning interacts with the improvisation of where everything can go on the page.

Sketchnote page showing Woodrow Phoenix, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Clarrie Pope in a panel on comics architecture. Above is a sketch of Barbara Chamberlin’s previous talk. The speakers are sketched in pen and ink with sketches of their work. Some notes surround them capturing the gist of their talks and comments they made.

060

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

The panel on flâneuring was suitably meandering — but led to an intriguing Q&A taking in Spider-Man, the upper and lower city, and the streets of Brighton. Space left for the keynote! #graphicbrighton #comics #comicsstudies

Pens, glasses, and an open sketchbook showing notes from an academic conference of comics and the flâneur, including sketches of the speakers and their content in pen and ink.

040

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Sketchnoting this afternoon at #graphicbrighton — themed on comics and architecture. Missed the morning but an interesting first panel this afternoon exploring the social and personal value of spaces. #comicsstudies

Sketchnotes from Graphic Brighton conference, with pen and ink notes and drawings from three panel presentations completed in a journal sketchbook.

040

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Wow. This is important. Now on BlueSky House of Commons bsky.app/profile/hous... House of Lords bsky.app/profile/hous... It’s happening👏

813179648

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Graphic Medicine International Collective @graphicmedicine.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

A series of podcasts were recorded during the Graphic Medicine Conference in Athlone and we are thrilled to be sharing them with you now! These will be released very couple of weeks until they've all been shared. #GraphicMedicine #GraphMed2024

133

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Extracellular Polysaccharide Matrix @tom-mcnally.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

A mighty stack of prints, all in aid of the third 100 Words zine

031

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Sometimes, because parchment undulates, even in digital facsimile we can see medieval illuminations as they would have looked with an indirect light source. Light and shadow made the page come alive every time it was used, for example, in a liturgical context. BSB Clm 22311, late 9th century

A richly decorated manuscript page with many applications in gold that are well visible because of the uneven surface of the parchment. Light reflects from these letter.

11523141

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Dr Geraint D’Arcy @gedarcy.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

The Joint International Conference of Bande Dessinées, Graphic Novels and Comics Call for Papers The Taste of Comics Brussels, Belgium Tuesday 24 June – Wednesday 25 June 2025 (online) Monday 30 June – Friday 4 July 2025 (in-person) internationalgraphicnovelandcomicsconference.com

internationalgraphicnovelandcomicsconference.com

The International Graphic Novel & Comics Conference - International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference

call for papers for international graphic novel and comics academic conference comics and technologies university of east anglia norwich 2024

022

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Extracellular Polysaccharide Matrix @tom-mcnally.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

100 Words of Astounding Beauty s03e09 is out NOW. The writers homage each other's work and then, for good measure, homage it again. www.100wordsofastoundingbeauty.com

033

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Evan Dorkin @evandorkin.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Largest drawing I ever did.

Large drawings of scores of classic Marvel villains, most designed/created by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko with Stan Lee. Drawn in simple, little cartoony style with big heads and dot eyes. It was supposed to be a simple "fun" drawing that got out of hand (touches of OCD). It's very detailed and took me many hours to do over the course of a couple of years.

3984796

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Z see gdhggnhhjintbtghtgghuhmjnnhbnnkikygfvrvffggfvcccvvcvcghgufhbycbh cb b. B. B. Bcvcbcbbcbxbxnxnx xdmdndnhfhfgsthjlpcethiopyggggggggfkjkjjkjjkjnkkmmnjjhugfrygdfsadfdfgghjcat

210

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Extracellular Polysaccharide Matrix @tom-mcnally.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

We've got a new episode of 100 Words of Astounding Beauty out tomorrow and YOU CAN'T STOP IT #flashfic #creativewriting

021

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 26/11/2024

Have I had my mind changed on social media? Yes - NOT by arguing with randoms, but by following experts and first hand folks who share what they do, what they think and what's going on. The change isn't binary - I used to think one thing, and suddenly now another - it's slow and additive: Learning.

215134471432

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Five years ago on this weekend, I received this box of author copies.

Opened box of hardback author copies of Comics as Communication: A Functional Approach by Paul Fisher Davies.

021

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Been teaching Noun Phrases to Year 1s and readying Language Investigations for Year 2s. Inspired by @neilcohn.bsky.social to play with Google Ngrams to explore comics collocations. This noun premodification tells a story…

Google Ngrams chart showing comics as a premodifying noun over time. It shows ‘comics section’ and ‘comics magazines’ most frequently around the 1940s with ‘comics industry’ rising since the 1990s, and ‘comics form’ and ‘comics medium’ taking second and third most frequent place in the 21st century.

061

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Neil Cohn @neilcohn.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

People have basically only ever "read" comics, not looked at them or viewed them. Interesting that the frequency of mentions also basically follows the US comic industry highs and lows — massive peak until 1949, then crash down, then rising again starting in 1990 books.google.com/ngrams/graph...

Google n-gram chart for read vs. look at vs. view comics, where "read comics" is far greater than the others

1181

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Dr. Carol Tilley 🏳️‍🌈 @anuncivilphd.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

If you're into #comics history, give this one a listen.

2188

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

My daughter (3) and I did peg dolls this stormy Sunday morning.

Two peg dolls on a painting table: one is a heroine made my a child of 3, with jewel buttons and a little red felt cloak; one is a green ogre with a silver paper sword and a brown felt cloak.

020

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

@eastsussexcc.bsky.social Welcome on here; could you use a verified handle (your official web domain) and/or post some things that will assure us of your legitimacy? There are a few bad faith actors around here…

000

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Neal’s captured these three worrying ideas. They’re sinking in to normalisation. My students already think of university as a purchase.

030

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

One more bit of ‘old news of the kind of thing I’m into’: I contributed to this UEA blog post this year about creativity and technology alongside @gedarcy.bsky.social and @darnel25.bsky.social as well as Hailey J Austin. stories.uea.ac.uk/comics-techn...

Image of the UEA blog article with this text:
Do you believe Al will benefit the comic and graphic novel industry?
In lots of ways 'Artificial Intelligence' is a misnomer and ‘Al' isn't just one thing.
Dr Paul Fisher Davies
In my day job (lecturing in English Language) we're mainly grappling with the opportunities and dangers of large language models, and their amazing ability to produce plausible-sounding text. This can be useful for spitting out models of textual style, and prompting the model to produce quite sophisticated text can be fun.
But its appearance of intelligence, being such a sophisticated discourse-producing machine, masks its absence of actual awareness and understanding. It is by its nature generic. When pressed to do creative work, it soon becomes oddly empty and circular. When prompted to produce academic work — and that is of course the temptation for students — it emits 'essay' but is often inaccurate and by definition uninspired and unoriginal. So I wouldn't expect it to be of much help writing comics, whether academic, factual or fictional.

020

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Caitlin Moran @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Oh this sounds fun. You can describe the pictures you post. I will enjoy describing a penguin's mouth.

6353

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Janina Wildfeuer @neous.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

OK, here it is: the starter pack to get to know the #multimodalists on Bluesky. Who is missing? go.bsky.app/QPLSxuX

196829

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Altmetric @altmetric.com · 18/11/2024

We strongly suggest that academic publishers and other platforms that host research rapidly implement a Share to Bluesky button for their articles. Here's how: docs.bsky.app/docs/advance... #AcademicSky #HigherEd #Altmetrics

docs.bsky.app

Action Intent Links | Bluesky

Authors, websites, and apps can use action intent links to implement "Share on Bluesky" buttons, or similar in-app actions. Logged-in users will be directed to the corresponding action view in the Blu...

166113164572

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Neal Curtis @nihilcurtis.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

I've begun a starter pack for anyone researching or creating Graphic Medicine. Please let me know if you want to be added or if you know someone I've missed. #Comics #GraphicMedicine go.bsky.app/MUADwPv

102923

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

🌈Dr. Frizzle @swilua.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

The first known use of singular “they” is so old that not only does it pre-date singular “you,” it wasn’t even spelled with a “th” When William and the Werewolf, in 1375 CE, used singular “they,” it was spelled with a Thorn

The excerpt from William and the Werewolf showing singular they spelled with a Thorn

12870862137

Paul Fisher Davies @paulfisherdavies.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

A slide from this year’s #igncc24 again, with another sample of the sort of thing I do.

A pile of sketchbooks, one open with a spread of comic studies sketchnotes, alongside an iPad and Apple Pencil showing digital sketchnotes, and a MacBook with comics research in Scrivener.

131

Reposted by Paul Fisher Davies

Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Word of this morning is ‘procaffeinate’: to put everything on hold until you’ve had sufficient amounts of coffee.

764249483412