ABSTRACT
The continuing presence of a character or a group of characters in a sequence of images, acting out a situation, or participating in an event, is possibly the most conventional feature of narrative comics. In comics storytelling, the axis of action can also function as an important structural principle. In today's longer comics and graphic novels, such as The Motherless Oven, which employ alternating perspectives, the logic of narrative space and the direction of action are seldom challenged by changing the angle across and around the axis of action. When comics portray movement and phases of action, or when a character is shown moving from panel to panel, the focus on the character's spatio-temporal path can serve as a means of continuity in quite specific ways. This technique is effective for the same reason as match on action in films: the depiction of phases of movement creates simultaneous spatial and temporal connections.
