Week 2- What does Khordoc think the Asterix series does better than Hergé’s Tintin?

Khordoc argues that Asterix makes better use of speech bubbles than Tintin. He notes how Tintin originally used caption boxes at the bottom of the panels to denote speech, which made the comic feel more like narrated art.

Even after Herge switched to using speech bubbles Herge he still relied heavily on the caption boxes in some instances, which was cumbersome and confusing for the reader. After fixing that problem Herge still only used boxy, yellow speech bubbles, which had a repetitive feel to them and limited the character's range of expression.

The Asterix series, on the other hand, pioneered innovative uses of text bubbles by changing their size, shape and style. Even the fonts within the text bubbles varied wildly in size and style to denote different people speaking and different ranges of emotions and sense of immediacy.

Khordok, C. (2001). The

Comics Book’s Soundtrack:

Visual Sound-effects in Asterix.

In Varnum, R. & Gibbons, C.

(Eds.), The Language of

Comics: word and image,

(pp.156-173). Jackson: U

Press of Mississippi.