Mise en scène, Acting, and Space in Comics

"This is a clear, concise, and very useful book for students, educators, and academics in the field of comic studies. It will be the 'go-to' book from now on and help us all feel more comfortable using 'mise en scène' in our conversations, debates, and analyses of comic books."

—Ian Hornsby, University of Chichester, United Kingdom

This book explores some of the less frequently questioned ideas which underpin comics creation and criticism. “Mise en scène” is a term which refers to the way in which visual elements work together to create meaning in comics. It is a term that comics have borrowed from cinema, which borrowed it in turn from theatre. But comics are not film and they are not cinema, so how can this term be of any use? If we consider comics to have mise en scène, should not we also ask if the characters in comics act like the characters on film and stage? In its exploration of these ideas, this book also asks what film and theatre can learn from comics.
Geraint D’Arcy is a practising scenographer, and the author of Critical Approaches to TV and Film Set Design (2019). A Lecturer in Media practice at the UEA, Norwich, he previously worked at USW, Cardiff, where he helped establish the bi-annual Creative Comics, Creating Comics symposium.