“My Heart Goes Boom Boom!”: Understanding the Experience of Reading Digital Comics

The experience of reading print and digital comics differs from that of other reading in that it involves the interplay between text and art, both ‘on the page’, for example, in traditional comic books, or ‘off the page’ as in webcomic xkcd’s Alt Text of information related to the comic. This interplay and placement can communicate movement, stillness, suspense, bringing the reader along not only through content or story arc but also through the material affordances, the physical reality of the text itself. The findings of this exploratory study reveal both the varied reading experiences of digital comics among a cohort of British Library readers as well as the shared experiences of haptic interactions and emotional perception and reaction through the use of devices, comics platforms and apps, and social media.