ABSTRACT
As a distinctive form of narrative art, comic books present a montage of words and images. Everything on the comics’ page is actually an image – the lettering that must be read graphically to convey mood, panel shapes, the sequential arrangement of pictures, the gaps between them, and most important of all the absences that contribute to the projection of mental images through which the reader constructs the story. The Sanskrit word ‘chitra’, often translated as ‘picture’, can also be used to refer to the abstract mental image that is interpreted in varied ways in the different arts. In a similar vein, the art historian Hans Belting distinguishes pictures from images, describing the former as the medium through which the latter are conveyed. Thus, comics can also be thought of as a medium with its own visual strategies to create a story by projecting mental images in the mind of the reader. My argument will be exemplified through a standalone story about some characters that are also featured in a popular series published by Holy Cow Entertainment, an up-and-coming comic book publisher in Mumbai, India.
