Do digital comics constitute a different “medium” than print comics? Many researchers have discussed whether comics make up a medium at all. The problem seems to be, in contrast to films or video games, the absence of a defining technology. Whatever separates a given “medium” in a conventional sense from others, however, doesn’t actually lie in its technological, material or semiotic properties, but in its culturally qualifying aspects: recognizable medial forms, for instance, that distinguish a medial configuration sufficiently for given observers. This article understands the mediality of (digital) comics as partly produced by rhetorical effects, based on contested discussions and discourses surrounding the alleged differences and similarities between digital and print comics. It aims to show how we can not only observe digital comics as new objects of inquiry, but actually observe said distinctions in order to learn something about the changing cultural implications of “comicness” in general, as well as about the interplay between material and technological properties on the one hand and compositional aspects on the other.

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During the past few decades, the interdisciplinary field of comics studies has matured considerably, resulting not only in a growing number of dedicated conferences and journals but also in a multitude of methodologically different approaches to the study of comics, including various types of formal, semiotic, and narratological analysis as well as historical, political, and cultural investigations (for a selection of pertinent examples, see

This article proposes to take a closer look at a variety of contemporary Japanese “character” franchises which cannot be accounted for if the entities in question are primarily understood with reference to diegetic worlds or stories. Rather, virtual idols like Hatsune Miku, fictional mascots like Kumamon, or notorious product placement figures such as Hello Kitty all seem to circulate mostly on non-narrative artifacts such as clothes, office supplies, or decontextualized artworks, and within mediated performances such as stage musicals, cosplay, or public appearances in full-body suits. They are nevertheless quite typical for the Japanese “media mix” franchising model, designed to allow for user-level reshuffling and reenactment. Such “characters without stories,” or kyara, are thus best understood as “mediated performers,” as fictional actors that can take on any fictional role attributed to them within the participatory cultures and collective creations of fan manga (dōjinshi), fan artworks, or even cosplay. Theorists such as Itō (2005) or Azuma (2009) therefore differentiate sharply between kyarakutā und kyara, the latter being a pre- or meta-narrative “nodal point” for diverging games of make-believe. Kyara can just as easily be enacted and performed as they can be brought back into narrative (kyarakutā) contexts. The following article relates and contrast these notions to international (“Western”) character theories and argues for their relevance beyond “exotic” Japanese contexts.

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