The article analyzes relations between the text and the image as two different semiotic modes in the framework of multimodal studies. Key theoretical approaches to this issue are outlined. Visual and verbal narratives are examined at three levels: ideational, interpersonal and textual. The ideational meaning system comprises actions, characters and circumstances. The interpersonal system covers a wide range of issues connected with interaction between the reader and the characters. The textual meaning is realized by giving prominence to certain objects in the image or the text. Logico-semantic relations of elaboration, enhancement and extension are revealed. Elaboration is characterized by clarification and exemplification, the image may be more general than the text, and vice versa. Enhancement relations include various circumstances (temporal, spatial, causal), besides, both the text and the image may enhance each other. Extension adds new, semantically unrelated information and offers alternative ways of story unfolding. The research is based on contemporary picture books (J. Scieszka, L. Anholt, F. French, R. Munsch) and illustrated fairy tales (E. Delessert, B. Ensor) and directed at revealing various types of text-image relations.

In comics as multimodal narratives visual and verbal modes interact to create meaning. Colours play an important role in comics, the choice of warm or cold colour palette, as well as bright or muted, influences a reader’s perception and attitude to the described events. Comics have a number of narratological, stylistic, structural and other characteristics. Events in comics can be presented both with the help of a narrator (extradiegetic or intradiegetic) or nonnarratorially by means of images. Strategies of verbal representation, characteristic for comics, include narration boxes, speech balloons and thought bubbles. The temporal structure of the narrative in the analysed comics is linear with some flashbacks. Spatial indicators are incorporated into both verbal and visual components. Mediated focalisation is signaled by such cinematic devices as the over-the-shoulder shot and eyeline match. The analysed comics, which are transformed variants of classic fairy tales, contain modified initial and final fairy-tale formulas and well-known dialogues. Stylistic peculiarities of comics include onomatopoeia and ideograms, i.e. certain symbols with fixed meaning. Quantitative analysis of panel transition types in the analysed comics has demonstrated that in comics with a dynamic plot the action-to-action transition prevails, while in comics containing a detailed description of only several actions the moment-to-moment transition is the most widespread.

Manga with their distinct style and symbolism represent a growing reading trend in the world. Manga use an established set of symbols to convey various emotions. Manga have generally been more experimental in layout than Western comics. They are more fragmentary and contain more panels that enhance the dynamism of the story. We aimed to outline methodological approaches to the analysis of manga; to summarize specific features of manga as a separate medium; to analyse how multimodal cohesion is created in manga; to reveal various types of relations between visual and verbal modes. Manga is a multimodal discourse, combining several modes, mainly visual and verbal. The aural mode is represented by linguistic and visual signs, e.g. jagged borders of a speech bubble or the size and boldness of letters. We applied methods originally designed for the film analysis to the analysis of manga, in particular, Tseng’s (2013) theory of cross-modal cohesion, based on tracking cross-modally realized characters, objects, actions, and settings. This analysis included building cross-modal cohesive chains. We argue that it is possible to track cross-modal cohesion in manga, based on the interaction of visual, verbal, and aural components of identity chains. Besides, the interaction between visual and verbal modes was revealed by analysing text-image relations. In this paper we have outlined manga-specific features, distinctive features of manga’s page layout, cinematic devices, which manga borrowed from films, some of which may be used as focalisation-marking devices.

Comics have recently attracted the increased attention of theorists as a very dynamic and fast-growing genre. A characteristic feature of contemporary comics is their transmediality, i.e., exceeding the boundaries of the printed page and transforming to digital narratives. Transition to a digital medium gives a number of advantages, including the possibility of using different display modes, deeper immersion in the fictional world, greater degree of interactivity. This paper examines comics, which are adaptations of the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, identifies intertextual references and modifications of the comics versions. Intertextual references can be traced at the level of comics titles, names of the characters and their characteristics, semi-quotes, which paraphrase the original texts, besides, comics have a different temporal and spatial setting, they extend the scope of the storyworld. Particular attention has been paid to the page layout, such comics-specific features as panels, frames, speech balloons, speed lines, emanata, and onomatopoeic words. Print and digital comics are analysed using narratological and multimodal approaches. The analysis includes such narratological issues as narratorial and nonnarratorial strategies of representation, the temporal and spatial structure of a narrative, internal and external focalisation, as well as focalisation-marking devices (the eyeline match, the over-the-shoulder shot, the high-angle shot). A comic is a multimodal narrative, combining several modes, mainly visual and verbal. The aural mode is represented in comics by linguistic and visual signs, e.g., jagged borders of a speech balloon or the size and boldness of letters. Special attention has been given to the interaction between visual and verbal modes, in particular to the text-image relations. Our analysis has identified such types of the text-image relations as specification, exemplification, and enhancement. Comics have recently attracted the increased attention of theorists as a very dynamic and fast-growing genre. A characteristic feature of contemporary comics is their transmediality, i.e. exceeding the boundaries of the printed page and transforming to digital narratives. Transition to a digital medium gives a number of advantages, including the possibility of using different display modes, deeper immersion in the fictional world, greater degree of interactivity. This paper examines comics, which are adaptations of the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, identifies intertextual references and modifications of the comics versions. Intertextual references can be traced at the level of comics titles, names of the characters and their characteristics, semi-quotes, which paraphrase the original texts, besides, comics have a different temporal and spatial setting, they extend the scope of the storyworld. Particular attention has been paid to the page layout, such comics-specific features as panels, frames, speech balloons, speed lines, emanata, and onomatopoeic words. Print and digital comics are analysed using narratological and multimodal approaches. The analysis includes such narratological issues as narratorial and nonnarratorial strategies of representation, the temporal and spatial structure of a narrative, internal and external focalisation, as well as focalisation-marking devices (the eyeline match, the over-the-shoulder shot, the high-angle shot). A comic is a multimodal narrative, combining several modes, mainly visual and verbal. The aural mode is represented in comics by linguistic and visual signs, e.g., jagged borders of a speech balloon or the size and boldness of letters. Special attention has been given to the interaction between visual and verbal modes, in particular to the text-image relations. Our analysis has identified such types of the text-image relations as specification, exemplification, and enhancement.