ABSTRACT
This chapter gives a brief overview of properties, strengths, and limitations of comics art form, with particular attention to how the form might be effectively adapted to nonfiction content. The comics art form involves encapsulation, layout, and composition. The composition and layout have to be carefully considered because they greatly influence the meaning a reader derives from a comic. Thus, the comics form might be suited for non-fiction than for some types of fiction, it allows readers the pleasures of narrative storytelling, while providing images that reflect an objective reality. In past, non-fiction comics require particular attention to composition details because readers are going to assume they are accurately representing the time period. The chapter shows how John Lewis and his collaborators such as writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell, combine encapsulation, layout, and composition choices to effectively portray that moment. It gives inkling amount and types of information people can communicate through synthesis of encapsulation, layout, and composition.
