ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates the relevance of the fundamental narratological distinction between story-time (the order of the events) and discourse-time (the order of their presentation) in the context of narrative comics. However, this framework needs to be related to the conventions and expectations of reading comics. It is not merely a matter of formal analysis. Also, Building Stories highlights the significance of these conventions through its great variety of shapes and formats of comics, from pamphlets and tabloid-size magazines to cloth-bound books. The chapter discusses the spatial means of connectivity reflect and potentially encourage the two basic reading conventions: the reading for the sequence and the global look across the page, or 'tabular' reading. Finally, it is important to point out that the chapter has been limited in its focus that have not considered the generic frames and publication formats that also influence, at least within some broad parameters, the representation of time in comics.
