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VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH 1

It ain’t much, if it ain’t Dutch:

Visual morphology across eight decades of Dutch and Flemish comics

Visual morphology in Dutch and Flemish comics

Lincy van Middelaar

ANR: 305196

Bachelor thesis Communication and Information Science

Specialization: Text & Communication

Tilburg University, Tilburg

Supervisor: dr. N.T. Cohn

Second reader: prof. dr. A. A. Maes

August 2017 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 2

Abstract

Comics are well-known for using speech balloons, motion lines and hearts above people’s heads.

Amongst others, these visual forms (visual morphemes) belong to the vocabulary of visual languages, which is part of the underlying structure of a visual language. There are different visual languages, such as Japanese Visual Language used in and American Visual

Language used in comics. Despite the large comic tradition in Europe, the underlying structure of has not been studied much, so the presence of a possible ‘European

Visual Language’ or several different visual languages across Europe is unclear. Case studies have studied parts of the vocabulary of visual languages in European comics, but these only described a few morphemes. By examining the vocabulary in a corpus of 80 Dutch and Flemish comic books from the 1940s to the 2010s, this study established a catalogue of 155 different visual morphemes. Furthermore, the results showed a large degree of similarity between Dutch and Flemish comics with minimal variance across both cultures and across time, which implied that they belong to the similar visual language. This catalogue of morphemes could function as a starting point for additional studies on vocabulary of different visual languages.

Keywords: visual language, comics, vocabulary, visual morphology, Dutch, Flemish VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 3

Introduction Though stating that novels are a language would be ridiculous, comics are compared to language. However, just as written language is used in novels, a visual language is used in comics. The key in a language is a structured sequence, which is a structured sequence of words in a written language and a structured sequence of images in a visual language. Also, like a written language, a visual language has a visual vocabulary. Included in this vocabulary are speech balloons, lines that depict motion (motion lines) and hearts above people’s head to show that they are in love, among others There are even different visual languages. There is a ‘Japanese Visual Language’ (JVL) which is usually used in manga comics (Cohn, 2013a) and an ‘American Visual Language’ (AVL) used in from the United States (Cohn, 2013a). There has not been much research about the underlying structure of European comics, while there are comics from many places around Europe, like Asterix in , Capitán Trueno in Spain and Roy of the Rovers in Great Britain. Still, it is not clear whether there is a single ‘European Visual Language’ or several different visual languages across Europe. Europe does have a rich comic tradition. even have one of the world’s oldest comic traditions that goes back to the 19th century (De Weyer, 2015). , the northern part of , shares her official language with the . Therefore, it offers a unique comic tradition that can be studied across time, but also across two specific cultures (Dutch and Flemish) with the same spoken language. It is an open question whether these comics have changed in their underlying structure over time, like American comics (Pederson & Cohn, 2016, Cohn, 2013a). It is not unlikely that these comics have been influenced by Japanese and American comics because of globalization. Vocabulary is part of the underlying structure of visual language. Just like written language uses small units of meaning or combinations of units as building blocks to express meaning, visual language uses visual morphemes as building blocks. These visual morphemes are being stored in the mind as part of the lexicon and can also be combined. Studies of the Japanese Visual Language identified over 70 morphemes with varying distributions in actual books (Cohn & Ehly, 2016). Theories of visual languages indicate that there could be a large set of morphemes both within and across cultures (Forceville, 2011; Cohn, 2013a). Yet, only parts of the vocabulary of visual languages in European comics have been studied with case studies of Asterix and (Forceville, 2005, 2011), but in these studies, only a small set of morphemes is described. A larger set of morphemes could be established when looking at a larger range of books. Therefore, by analysing the visual vocabulary in a large corpus of Dutch and Flemish comics that goes back to the 1940s, this study tries to establish a large set of morphology. Furthermore, it tries to find out whether there are different patterns in the usage of morphemes between Dutch and Flemish comics. Finally, it tries to map out the development of morphology in Dutch and Flemish comics across time, which could be influenced by other visual languages as a product of globalization. Thus, the question stated in this study is: ‘Do the usage patterns of morphology in Dutch and Flemish comics differ, and have they changed over time?’

VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 4

Background Comic tradition in the Netherlands and Flanders The real comic tradition of the Netherlands and Flanders started after World War II (Lefèvre, 2000; Van Eijck & Matena, 2006; De Weyer, 2015). Before those times, a Dutch or Flemish comic tradition could not be named, as most of the comics were imported from America. Importing comics, and especially importing American comics, was not allowed during World War II, which gave Dutch and Flemish comic artists the chance to make their own productions. Therefore, the Dutch and Flemish comic industry started to flourish after World War II. In the post-war years in the Netherlands and Flanders, short strips of 3 or 4 panels were published in newspapers and magazines (Couch, 2000; Lefèvre & Van Gompel, 2003; Van Eijck & Matena, 2006; De Weyer, 2015). The first strips in the Netherlands were mostly drawn stories: black-and-white comics with a text underneath (Van Eijck & Matena, 2006). Some famous comics in the Netherlands were Tom Poes, Eric de Noorman and Panda by the Toonder Studio’s. Marten Toonder, the founder of the Toonder Studio’s, can be seen as the father of the Dutch comic tradition (Van Eijck & Matena, 2006). Around the 1960s, the black-and-white drawn stories disappeared and were replaced for the coloured balloon comics, due to Belgian influence. Coloured balloon strips were the standard in Belgium after World War II. One of the most influential Flemish artists was . He was the founding father of the world- famous comic duo & (Spike and Suzy in Britain and Willy and Wanda in America). Other famous Flemish comic strips are Nero (), Jommeke (), Kiekeboe () and Urbanus (Linthout and Urbanus). These comics all have in common that they are humorous adventures and are built around a family group (Lefèvre & Van Gompel, 2003), which is typical in Flemish comics. Nowadays, most Flemish comics are published in album format instead of in newspapers, which is similar to the publishing of most comics in Europe (Couch, 2000; Lefèvre, 2000) The largest publishing company of Flanders, Standaard Uitgeverij, publishes most of the Flemish comics. Visual morphology Visual morphemes are units of meaning in visual language (Cohn, 2013a), which form the lexicon of a visual language. It is quite complicated to indicate what the smallest unit is compared to other languages, but the meaning of units is of more importance, whether or not they have minimal status. Morphology can be divided into two general classes: open-class items and closed-class items. Open-class items are often iconic drawings, which are similar to actual (or imaginary) things in the world. It is easy to create more of these. Closed-class items are often more symbolic and highly conventionalized drawings, and the creation of novel forms is quite hard. This study focus on the closed-class items of visual morphology, such as thought bubbles, lines that depict sound (radial lines) and gears above people’s heads to show thinking (upfix). Recent work has also made distinctions in visual morphemes. ‘Indica’ is the name Walker (2000) gave to a subset of morphemes. Forceville, El Refaie and Meesters (2014) made a distinction between pictograms and ‘pictorial runes’ (first specified by Kennedy (1982)). Pictograms are standard depictions of phenomena that originated from outside visual language, such as lightbulbs and stars. ‘Pictorial runes’ are graphic elements that would come from other information sources, if the comic would be transferred in real life, like lines that depict motion or VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 5 smell. Lastly, Forceville et al. (2014) define ‘balloons’ for visual elements that carry textual information. Cohn (2013a) refers to all of these as visual morphemes and makes subclasses either by strategy or by specific morphemes. Strategies of morphemes One strategy of visual morphemes is affixation, when signs are added to another sign (Cohn, 2013a). Affixes must be bound to another sign, as they cannot stand on their own without a root. This even means they can imply an invisible root, such as when a character outside the panel is shouting to a character in the panel. Affixation is also possible in verbal language in which morphemes can create new meanings by attaching to a larger unit, such as being placed before a word (prefix), after a word (suffix), in between a word (infix) or around a word (circumfix) (McGregor, 2009). A well-known visual affix is a thought bubble (carrier), which is a balloon attached to a character with the form of a fluffy cloud and bubbles leading to the character (root) (Forceville, Veale, & Feyaerts, 2010). The thought bubble ‘carries’ the thoughts of the character, which can be, for example, text or an image. Another well-known example is a motion line, which shows a path of the movement of a character or object (Cohn, 2013a; Forceville, 2011). With the strategy of suppletion, a sign is replaced wholly by another sign, or part of another sign is replaced by another sign in an ‘umlaut’ (Cohn, 2013a; McGregor, 2009). This can also appear in verbal language: good is replaced as a whole for better in the comparative of the adjective and in the past tense of draw, an umlaut replaces the -a- for an -e- (drew). Similar examples in visual language are a large star that might replace the transition of a person (action star) or the euro signs in a person’s eyes (eye-umlaut) to show greediness. Lastly, in reduplication signs (mostly open-class items) in visual language are (partly) repeated by layering the same signs on top of each other (Cohn, 2013a). In verbal language, this would mean that morphemes are doubled or partly repeated to create new meaning (McGregor, 2009). For instance, you can like someone and see that person as a friend, but you can also like- like someone, implying that you have a crush. In visual language, a sign can be repeated within one panel in several positions to show motion, shaking or double vision. The movement, shaking or double vision of a sign is collapsed in one panel by depicting more positions of the sign in one panel, instead of dividing it over different panels. For example, a person’s arm could be depicted in several positions in one panel, implying him/her waving. The repetition of morphemes, such as motion lines, is not qualified as reduplication, because this does not imply a different, new meaning. These different strategies have been studied before. In his study on pictorial runes, Kennedy (1982) noticed that lines could radiate from an object to depict smell or noise, which is the strategy of affixation. Forceville (2005; 2011) has been studying the strategy of affixation in case studies of the French books Asterix and Tintin. In these books various forms of bound morphemes (Engelhardt (2002) in: Forceville, 2011) were defined, which all appeared near the character or object they belonged to, indicating that these were affixes. The strategy of suppletion was already recognized by Kennedy (1982), who argued that the emotional states of characters could be shown in character’s eyes (eye-umlaut). Furthermore, in the case study on the manga Azumanga Daioh, Abbott and Forceville (2011) described a suppletion in which the hands of characters turn into stumps if they have the feeling of losing control. Yet, the strategy of reduplication has also been found in the case study of Asterix (Forceville, 2005) when characters shook of anger. Forceville et al. (2014) found waving arms that overlapped to indicate movement VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 6 in Azumanga Daioh. Lastly, Cohn and Ehly (2016) did a corpus study on all the strategies of morphology. Special relationships between morphemes Besides having similar structures for morphemes, visual and verbal languages also share the presence of some special relationships between morphemes and signs: allomorphs, homonyms and synonyms. A morpheme has allomorphs if that single morpheme has several variant forms (McGregor, 2009). For instance, the -s- is voiced differently in busses, cats and dogs, meaning that the plural morpheme in English has three allomorphs. In visual language, this would mean that they are all the same morpheme, but manifest in different surface representations. When two words are homonyms, they share their phonological (surface) form (McGregor, 2009), such as bank which can mean a couch of a financial institution. Morphemes can also share their surface representations in visual language, but still having different meanings. Lastly, words can be synonyms, meaning that they have different surface forms with the same or a close meaning (McGregor, 2009). This is also possible in visual languages. Forceville (2011) indicated the presence of allomorphs in visual language, as he noticed that comic artists all use their own way of drawing a specific morpheme with the same meaning, which are variances of the same morpheme, just with slight differences. In the same case study, Forceville (2011) detected homonyms the French comic Tintin, in which he found three types of morphemes that had subtypes with varied meanings. Besides, Cohn (2013a) and McCloud (1993) point out a few homonyms as well, such as stars in someone’s eyes (desirous of fame) and stars above someone’s head (feeling pain). Synonyms have been studied in various case studies (Forceville, 2011; Potsch and Williams, 2012) in the form of numerous depictions of motion lines, such as curly lines and straight lines, which both carry the meaning of motion, but look different. Cultural comparisons Recent work has studied the cross-cultural diversity of morphemes. Forceville (2005) made an inventory of signs depicting anger in the French Asterix. This inventory was also analysed by Shinohara and Matsunaka (2009), who found all types, except for one, in Japanese manga. They even found some types unique to manga. Furthermore, Forceville et al. (2010) studied the variation of the specific morphology of balloons from European and American comics. In American comics, more creative forms of balloons were used compared to European comics. In addition, Potsch and Williams (2012) studied some variances of the morphology of motion lines in American superhero comics. Examples of these variances were also found in European comics (Forceville, 2016). There can also be different usage patterns of morphology within one culture. Cohn and Ehly (2016) mapped the visual morphology of the Japanese Visual Language with a large corpus (20 books) and established a catalogue of 73 conventionalized morphemes in manga. This catalogue was used to examine differences between the genres of boys’ and girls’ manga. Different usage patterns were found across both genres, but these dialects were still part of Japanese Visual Language. Furthermore, Cohn (2013a) identified dialects in American Visual Language based on theoretically different usage patterns of morphology. Realistic graphic styles were hypothesized to not use closed-class morphemes in a high frequency, in order to keep comics more realistically-looking. The mainstream dialect of AVL, Kirbyan AVL, makes use of stars that depict a collision (impact stars), motion lines and lines that show someone’s vision VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 7

(scopic lines). It rarely makes uses of upfixes, eye-umlauts or large clouds that depict fights (fight clouds). Lastly, Independent AVL and Barksian AVL (cartoony style) were hypothesized to make use of many closed-class morphemes. However, no empirical study has yet analysed these distinctions in dialects of AVL. Types of morphemes There are a lot of different morphemes, and some of them have been studied in earlier work. Probably the most well-known type of morphemes are carriers (e.g. speech balloons and thought bubbles in Figure 1 and sound effects and captions in Figure 2), a type of affixes, as they should be bound to the morpheme that is thinking or speaking (the root). The carrier and the root are linked together with a tail (Cohn, 2013a, 2013b; Forceville et al. 2010).

Figure 1. An example of a (upper carrier) and a thought bubble (lower carrier), F.C. de Kampioenen: Miss Moeial, panel 5.9, © Leemans 2016.

Figure 1. An example of a caption (upper carrier) and a sound effect of the streaming water (lower ‘carrier’), Samson & Gert: De Vliegsiroop, panel 16.5, © Studio 100, 2003.

Carriers can differ at two levels: their semantic features and their surface representation (Cohn, 2013a). If the semantic feature of a carrier is public, the content of the carrier is ‘heard’ by the root (the speaker) and all the other characters in the scene. Speech balloons are a stereotypical example of public carriers. In comparison, the content of private carriers, like thought bubbles, are only known by the root and not by the other characters. Another semantic VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 8 feature is non-sentient, when the content of the carrier is only known by the characters in the scene and not by the root itself. Often, non-sentient carriers depict sound effects, such as pop when a balloon pops and bam when a bomb explodes, which are heard by the characters, but not by the balloon and bomb itself. These sound effects often appear without a depicted carrier and tail, like in Figure 2. Lastly, satellite carriers are not known neither by the root, neither by the characters in the scene. They mostly appear on the narrative level in captions, but they can also appear near a panel (adjoined caption) (Cohn, 2013b). The surface structures of carriers can also manifest in discrete forms, like the well-known speech balloon, the cloud-like thought bubble, the loud carrier with jagged edges, the sarcastic carrier with dripping lines or the rectangular mechanical carrier with protruding edges (Cohn, 2013a; Forceville et al., 2010). Cohn (2013a) mentions these are all abstract carriers, but they have surface features. Forceville et al. (2010) point out that surface features include the abstract form, the colour, typography and the location to which the tail is pointing. Besides verbal information, carriers can also include visual information, like pictograms (lightbulbs, dollar sign), punctuation marks (question mark, exclamation mark) and the thought bubble in Figure 1 (Cohn, 2013; Forceville et al., 2010). Forceville et al. (2010) found that the speech balloon was most frequently used in their corpus of five European and American comic books and that most of the carriers contained verbal text. Another common affix are motion lines, also called speed lines or action lines, which are lines that depict a path of a movement. These lines show the path that a root morpheme has taken from the starting state to the ending state (Cohn, 2013a). For instance, they can be used to follow the path of an object, to show bouncing or to show spinning (Cohn & Maher, 2015). Motion lines can manifest in various forms (Figure 2) (Cohn, 2013a; Forceville, 2011; Potsch, & Williams, 2012), such as straight lines, curvy lines, ribbon-like lines and twirled lines. Cohn (2013a) sees these types as manipulations of motion lines, all built on the same basic structure. However, Forceville (2011) makes a distinction between speed lines and movement lines. He has called speed lines the motion lines that are straight or curved lines to show the movement of a whole entity with a certain velocity (e.g. cars, characters), and movement lines would be slightly curved, short lines that show the movement of the part of an entity, such as an arm or a door. Forceville (2011) also found spirals and twirls that could depict motion.

Figure 3. Several types of motion lines, Samson & Gert: De vliegsiroop, panel 37.5, © Studio 100, 2003.

VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 9

Affixes can also be shown above people’s head, which are called ‘upfixes’ (Cohn, 2013a). These upfixes often show the emotional states of characters (Cohn, 2013a; Forceville, 2011), e.g. stars for pain, exclamation marks for surprise and question marks for curiosity. Mostly upfixes are shown in the space above or near the head, but sometimes they appear in carriers, such as speech balloons or thought bubbles (Forceville et al., 2010; Cohn, 2013a). This allows upfixes to be not constrained to the position above the head, but in different positions as well. Further, upfixes in carriers allow upfixes to be ‘shared’ by several people, shown by the question mark in the speech balloon in Figure 3. In the case studies of Forceville (2005, 2011) several upfixes were already identified, such as spirals and smoke to show anger, spikes and sweat droplets to show a range of possible emotions (e.g. surprise, fear, anger, anxiety), and twirls to show dizziness, drunkenness, confusion or unconsciousness. The most frequently used upfix in Tintin were sweat droplets (Forceville, 2011). Sometimes, different types of upfixes appear together above one person’s head (Forceville, 2011). Figure 3 shows several types of upfixes, namely: sweat droplets, spirals and a question mark (from left to right).

Figure 4. Several types of upfixes, F.C. de Kampioenen: Miss Moeial, panel 27.8, © Leemans 2016.

One more type of affixes are radial lines, which are lines that show something radiating away from an object (Cohn, 2013a; Kennedy, 1982). Examples of radial lines are lines that curl up if something smells, like in Figure 4 (which Kennedy (1982) called ‘waft-lines’), lines that beam out from the centre of the noise (Cohn, 2013a; Forceville, 2005, 2011; Kennedy, 1982) or lines that shine from glistering objects (Cohn, 2013a).

Figure 5. Radial lines for smell, Rood: Feestje met de regen, panel 6.8 © Van Barneveld 2014. VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 10

Other affixes in European comics are zooming lines and impact stars (Forceville, 2011, 2016). Zooming lines (Figure 5) look like spikes and radiating lines, but these lines emerge from an object or character to focus the attention of the reader on that particular object or character (Cohn, 2013a; Forceville, 2011). Impact stars (Figure 6), often occurring in combination with motion lines, mark collisions between objects and characters, and look like star-shaped spots (Cohn, 2013a; Potsch, & Williams, 2012).

Figure 6. Zooming lines around a poster, Otto op hete kolen, panel 5.19 © Het Syndikaat, 2013.

Figure 7. Impact star together with motion lines, FC Schwalbe: Daar is ‘m, panel 7.1 © D’Auwe 2016.

Besides these affixes that have been found in various studies on European and American books, there is a large catalogue of morphemes found in Japanese manga. This morphology used in JVL has been assumed to be culturally unique (Abbott & Forceville, 2011; Cohn & Ehly, 2016; Shinohara & Matsunaka, 2009). In this catalogue, morphemes of different strategies occur, including backgrounds typical for Japanese manga (Cohn & Ehly, 2016; Shinohara & Matsunaka, 2009). All these studies were attempts to classify morphology of different visual languages, but the recognized morphemes were not exhaustive, like Forceville (2011) already acknowledged. In this study, the preliminary studies are combined with the results from a large corpus of 80 comic VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 11 books across eight decades of a large comic tradition is used to establish a list of conventionalized morphemes.

Methods Materials Our corpus consisted of 80 Dutch and Flemish comic books ranging from 1940 to 2017. Five comics of each region were selected per decade, with the intent of having one or two books from the beginning, middle and end of each decade. These works were chosen randomly from (research) libraries and book stores. Only books originating from the Netherlands or Flanders were used. Each panel was examined separately by the criteria listed in the Areas of Analysis. Comics were analysed up to the first 150 panels, up to the first 25 pages or in total. This resulted into a total amount of 11,824 panels over 1434 pages. A full list of comics analysed can be found in the Appendix 1: Comics Analysed. Areas of analysis In this study, only closed class items of morphology were analysed. Following Cohn and Ehly’s (2016) study of morphology in Japanese Visual Language, the analysis of closed-class morphology can be divided into three major fields: affixes, suppletion and reduplication. Cohn and Ehly (2016) found 73 morphemes. The coding of this study added 82 types of morphology that were not necessarily found in JVL, resulting in a total amount of 155 morphemes. This full list of closed class morphology including explanation and examples of morphemes can be found in Appendix 2: Visual Morphology Coding Guide. Affixes refer to the morphemes (the affixes) that are attached to another morpheme (the root) (Cohn, 2013a). A few types of affixes will be explained explicitly. Carriers are one type of affixes (e.g. speech balloons and thought bubbles) and were coded for their underlying semantic features (public, private, non-sentient or satellite), their manner (e.g. jagged edged) and their content (e.g. music content carrier). The carrier in Figure 7 was coded as private (semantic type), thought bubble (manner) and containing an image (content).

Figure 8. Carrier, De Ontdekking, panel 7.3, © Heuvel 2003.

VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 12

Another type of affixes are indexical lines, which are lines that depict motion, vision, smells or lines that zoom in or focus on an object (Cohn, 2013a). More lines can be used to depict one path of motion, vision or smell or to point at one thing. Every ‘group’ of lines that belonged to one movement, smell, look or zooming was coded. Figure 8 depicts two types of indexical lines: one circumfixing motion line for the leg movements and one straight affixing motion line for the arm movement.

Figure 9. Indexical lines, De avonturen van Johan en Stefan, panel 6.7, © De Moor 1990.

One more type are upfixes, which appear near of above a character’s head (Cohn, 2013a). Mostly upfixes are shown in the space above or near the head, but sometimes they appear as speech balloons (Cohn, 2013a; Forceville et al. 2010). These cases were coded as both upfix and speech balloon (manner of carrier). Also, two or more upfixes can appear for the same character in the same panel (Forceville, 2011). For example, Figure 9 uses the question mark upfix (?) in a speech balloon and along with an upfix of spikes (\ | /).

Figure 10. Upfixes, De avonturen van Johan en Stefan, panel 8.7, © De Moor 1990.

Suppletions are morphemes that replace another morpheme to create meaning (Cohn, 2013a). This can be an internal change (e.g. an eye-umlaut), a partial suppletion (parts of a person are replaced), a full suppletion (a whole person/object is being replaced) or a panel-level VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 13 suppletion (the total panel is being replaced). Suppletion can also exist in other closed-class morphology, like in motion lines, which is shown in Figure 10 (suppletive motion line showing moving blades of the propeller).

Figure 11. Suppletion, De Ontdekking, panel 15.2, © Heuvel 2003.

Lastly, reduplications are signs that are (partly) repeated with overlap to create meaning (Cohn, 2013a). Reduplications can be used to show movement, like in Figure 11, the head of the same man is shown in two distinct positions to show he is looking back and forth.

Figure 12. Reduplication of motion, Agent 327, panel 14.1, © Lodewijk 1978.

Data Analysis Two trained coders each recorded the types of morphology panel by panel for each area of analysis described above for the same 10 comics. Morphemes with a rate higher than 100 were compared for the intercoder reliability (M = 0.88). The intercoder reliability for each type can be found in Table 1.

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Table 1: Intercoder reliability for the types of morphemes with rates higher than 100. Type of morpheme Intercoder reliability Straight affixing motion line 0.738 Circumfixing motion line 0.797 Radial lines for sound 0.769 Leaping sweat (plewds) 0.841 Public carriers 0.922 Private carriers 0.922 Satellite carriers 0.970 No carrier 0.925 No tail 0.920 Speech balloon 0.940 Though bubble 0.954 Caption 0.962 Upfix spikes (\|/) 0.762

After these 10 comics, the coders worked independently annotating the 70 remaining books (35 each). 155 individual types of morphology were coded. Each panel was coded in our materials as either containing or not containing schemas. If a panel contained schemas, it contained at least one type of morpheme and each individual morpheme was counted. Mean proportions of morphology types per panel per book were calculated by dividing the total sum of morphology schemas out of the total number of analysed panels per book. Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted for comparisons across decades of publication date for single types of morphemes or collapsed groups of morphemes (e.g. all motion lines). ANOVAs with repeated measures were conducted for comparisons between types of morphemes across decades of publication date, setting the types of morphemes as within group factors and decades of publication date and culture as between-groups factors. If the assumption of sphericity had been violated, the degrees of freedom were corrected using Greenhouse-Geisser estimates of sphericity. Because this study was not focussed on the incremental changes between decades, pairwise differences between each decade were not statistically analysed. If there was an effect of decades of publication date, polynomial contrasts were analysed to estimate the overall trend of a particular type of morpheme across decades. If there was an effect of culture, pairwise differences were analysed.

Results Morphology schemas Out of the 155 total morphemes analysed, Dutch comics used 77 types, and Flemish comics used 76. There were 61 types of morphemes that were used by both Dutch and Flemish comics, meaning there were 15 morphemes that did not appear in both comics. This is an overlap of 79%. Out of all panels, 97% (11488 of 11824) contained some type of visual morpheme with a rate of 2.78 (SD = 1.01) schemas per panel. The rates across cultures were roughly the same: a rate of 2.82 (SD = 0.66) schemas per panel for Dutch comics and a rate of 2.74 (SD = 0.51) for Flemish comics. A main effect of decade on the total number of schemas per panel, F(1, 79) = VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 15

3.03, p < .01, suggested that this rate changed across the original years of publication. A linear polynomial trend implied an increase in more schemas used per panel over time, F(1, 0) 7.01, R2 = .08, p < .05. This trend started at 2.1 schemas per panel (1940s) shifting to 3.4 schemas per panel (2010s). This can be seen in Figure 12.

4 3,5 3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

Dutch Flemish Trend line

Figure 13. Schemas per panel across decade of publication for Dutch and Flemish comics. The solid orange line depicts the relationship for Dutch comics, the solid blue line depicts the relationship for Flemish comics and the dotted line depicts a linear trend line.

The analysis generated means for every used morpheme across all comics. The five most frequently used morphemes were: speech balloons (M = 1.12, SD = 0.56), public carriers (M = 1.11, SD = 0.54), circumfixing motion lines (M = 0.37, SD = 0.36), straight affixing motion lines (M = 0.24, SD = 0.19) and satellite carriers (M = 0.21, SD = 0.31). Many morphemes were only used infrequently. The means across all comics and publication dates for morphemes below the threshold of 0.01 can be found in Table 2. 72 morphemes included in the coding were not found at all and thus excluded from further analysis.

Table 2: Means and standard deviations for all morphemes found with a mean below 0.01 across all publication dates. Type of morpheme Mean Standard deviation Suppletive motion lines 0,0043 0,0089 Backfix 0,0049 0,0138 Reduplication for shaking 0,0030 0,0077 Scopic line: dots 0,0006 0,0031 Scopic line: lightning 0,0002 0,0015 Radial Lines: Smell 0,0074 0,0123 Scopic focal lines (spidey sense) 0,0005 0,0031 Gunshot (flame/star) 0,0011 0,0035 Shock star 0,0038 0,0108 Suppletion for motion 0,0001 0,0007 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 16

Dotted line invisibility 0,0003 0,0028 Leaping tears 0,0046 0,0092 Squiggly nervous suppletion 0,0005 0,0023 Halo 0,0002 0,0015 Steam out of ears 0,0002 0,0022 Items tossed from a room 0,0003 0,0020 Action Star 0,0010 0,0047 Full panel explosion 0,0006 0,0018 Image content carrier 0,0088 0,0167 Music content carrier 0,0043 0,0123 Mechanical 0,0041 0,0181 Whisper 0,0002 0,0012 Flowery sweet 0,0002 0,0015 Distorted balloon 0,0020 0,0072 Scroll 0,0067 0,0490 Upfix: Hearts 0,0024 0,0113 Upfix: clouds 0,0035 0,0131 Upfix: Lightbulb 0,0006 0,0026 Upfix: heat lines 0,0059 0,0222 Upfix: Stars 0,0060 0,0106 Upfix: Stars & Motion lines 0,0038 0,0082 Upfix: Birds 0,0002 0,0010 Upfix: Zzzz 0,0019 0,0042 Upfix: $$$/€€€ 0,0001 0,0007 Upfix: Storm clouds 0,0003 0,0017 Upfix: Bubbles 0,0048 0,0179 Upfix: Skull & Bones 0,0002 0,0010 Upfix: Swirl & Stars 0,0036 0,0105 Upfix: Scribble 0,0039 0,0098 Upfix: Steam 0,0005 0,0027 Upfix: Lightning bolts 0,0011 0,0036 Upfix: Fire 0,0001 0,0007 EyeUmlaut: Swirl Eyes 0,0006 0,0052 Empty eyes 0,0003 0,0029 Sweat drop 0,0001 0,0009 Entire person shaded 0,0064 0,0222 Sparkles background 0,0034 0,0299 Black background 0,0002 0,0013

In the subsequent analyses, a few major subtypes of morphemes and their variants were analysed, ordered on frequency: carriers, motion lines, upfixes and radial lines. Other highly VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 17 frequent morphemes that did not belong to one of the subtypes were analysed. The last analysis focused on special relationships between morphemes: synonyms and homonyms. Carriers Overall, carriers appeared at a rate of 1.44 (SD = .44) carriers per panel. A main effect of culture was found, F(1, 64) = 5.67, p < .05, which suggested that carriers were used differently in Dutch and Flemish comics. Dutch comics used a rate of 1.55 (SD = 0.44) carriers per panel and Flemish comics used a rate of 1.33 (SD = 0.43) carriers per panel. A main effect of decade on the rate of carrier usage per panel, F(7, 64) = 2.88, p < .05, showed that there were shifts in carrier usage across decades of publication. As depicted in Figure 13, a linear polynomial trend, F(1, 78) = 9.49, p < .01, implied that the more recent a comic was, the more carriers were used per panel.

2,5

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Dutch Flemish Linear trend

Figure 14. Carriers per panel across decades of publication for Dutch and Flemish comics. The solid orange line depicts the relationship for Dutch comics, the solid blue line depicts the relationship for Flemish comics and the dotted line depicts a linear trend line.

The subsequent analysis focused on the semantic type of carriers (public, private, non- sentient and satellite) across cultures and decades of publication date. Both a main effect for semantic types, F(1.21, 77.51) = 187.62, p<.001, and an interaction between the semantic types of carriers and decades, F(8.48, 77.51) = 2.405, p < .05, were found. These findings suggest that semantic types of carriers differed from each other, and that these differences changed with publication decade over time (Figure 14). Overall, public carriers seemed to be most used (all ps < .001), followed by satellite carriers (ps < .05). Private and non-sentient carriers were used the least.

VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 18

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Public Private Non-Sentient Satellite

Figure 15. Semantic types of carriers per panel across decade of publication, collapsed across Dutch and Flemish comics.

The last analysis focused on the different surface features of carriers that had a mean above 0.001: no depicted carrier, no depicted tail, speech balloon, thought bubble, caption, adjoined caption and jagged edged carrier. A main effect for surface features, F(1.51, 96.86) = 198.79, p < .001, and an interaction between the surface features of carriers and decades, F(10.59, 96.86) = 2.29, p < .001 were found. As depicted in Figure 15, speech balloons were used the most over time (all ps < .001). Until the 1960s, this was followed by adjoined captions, which disappeared from usage in the 1970s. The rate of usage across time for no depicted carrier and no depicted tail did not differ. VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 19

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No Carrier No Tail Speech balloon Thought bubble Caption Adjoined caption Jagged edged

Figure 16. Surface features of carriers per panel across decade of publication, collapsed across Dutch and Flemish comics.

Lastly, a main effect of decade, F(7, 64) = 2.84, p < .05, indicated that the surface features of carriers changed over time. Polynomial linear trends were found for every carrier, except for the adjoined caption (Table 3), all suggesting that these surface features increased in usage across decades.

Table 3: F values and R2 values for linear polynomial trends of manners of carriers across decades of publication date. Surface features of carriers Linear trend F value R2 value No carrier 74.92*** .49 No tail 74.34*** .49 Speech balloon 244.60*** .76 Thought bubble 32.59*** .29 Caption 21.51*** .21 Jagged edge 33.28*** .30 Note: *** p < .001

VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 20

Motion lines The first analysis looked at the rate of motion line usage across cultures and decades of publication date. Included in this analysis were straight affixing motion line, curly affixing motion line (swirl), circumfixing motion line, suppletive motion lines and movement clouds, all collapsed in one overall variable: All Motion Lines. Motion lines overall were used in almost every panel, with a rate of 0.96 (SD = 1.14) per panel. No effect of cultures was found, which indicated that ratings for Dutch and Flemish comics were similar, F(1, 0) = 0.06, p = .804. There was a main effect of decades on the rate of motion line usage, F(1, 64) = 2.96, p < .01. The quadratic overall trend across decades, F(2, 77) = 4.19, R2 = .098, p < .05, revealed that the rate started lower, increased and then lowered again. Figure 16 shows this trend line together with the changes in rate for Dutch and Flemish comics.

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Dutch Flemish Trend line

Figure 17. Motion line usage per panel across decade of publication for Dutch and Flemish comics. The solid orange line depicts the relationship for Dutch comics, the solid blue line depicts the relationship for Flemish comics and the dotted line depicts a quadratic trend line.

A follow up analysis looked at the interactions of motion lines for each of the types specifically across cultures and decades. A main effect for motion lines, F(1.73, 110.43) = 93.10, p < .001, suggested that the rate of usage of different types of motion lines differed from each other. Furthermore, analysis showed a main effect for decade, F(1, 64) = 2.34, p < .05 and an interaction between culture and decade, F(7, 64) = 2.15, p < .05. This suggested that the rate of motion line usage differed across Dutch and Flemish comics and publications dates. Figure 17 shows the rates of motion lines across decades for Dutch comics and Figure 18 shows this for Flemish comics. Table 4 shows polynomial trends of each type of motion line for each culture. Overall, in both types of comics circumfixing motion lines were used most frequently (all ps < .001), followed by straight affixing motion lines (ps < .001). In contrast, suppletive motion lines were used the least (all ps < .005)

VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 21

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Straight affixing motion line Curly affixing motion line (swirl) Circumfixing motion lines Suppletive motion lines Movement clouds

Figure 18. Motion line usage per type of motion line per panel across decade of publication for Dutch comics.

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Straight affixing motion line Curly affixing motion line (swirl) Circumfixing motion lines Suppletive motion lines Movement clouds

Figure 19. Motion line usage per type of motion line per panel across decade of publication for Flemish comics. VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 22

Table 4: F values and R2 values for polynomial trends of types of motion lines of each culture across decades of publication date. Type of motion line Culture Trend Polynomial trend F value R2 value Straight affixing motion Dutch Quadratic 7.01*** 0.37 line Flemish - - - Curly affixing motion line Dutch - - - (swirl) Flemish Linear 5.24* 0.12 Circumfixing motion line Dutch Quadratic 5.28** 0.22 Flemish Quadratic 4.14* 0.18 Suppletive motion line Dutch Linear 5.97* 0.14 Flemish - Movement clouds Dutch - Flemish - Note: *** p < .001, ** p < .01, * p < .05

Upfixes All upfixes were first collapsed in one variable: All Upfixes. Upfixes overall were used at a rate of 0.214 (SD = 0.209) per panel. No effect of cultures was found, which demonstrated that ratings for Dutch and Flemish comics were similar, F(1, 64) = 0.10, p = .759. Also no effect of decades was found, implying that the rates were steady across decades, F(7, 64) = 1.21, p = .311. The following analysis looked at the four upfixes that had a mean above 0.001, namely: question marks (?), exclamation marks (!), spikes (\|/) and swirls. A main effect of upfixes implied unequal means for every type of upfix, F(1.84, 117.79) = 14.29, p < .001 (Table 5). Spikes were used most frequently (all ps < .01)

Table 5: Overall means and standard deviations for the types of upfixes per panel. Types of upfixes Mean Standard deviation Question mark (?) 0.040 0.050 Exclamation mark (!) 0.028 0.056 Spikes (\|/) 0.084 0.112 Swirl 0.023 0.063

Radial lines First, all four types of radial lines were collapsed in one variable: All Radial Lines, with an overall mean of 0.08 (SD = 0.08) per panel. No effect of culture or decade was found, indicating that the rates per culture (F(1, 1) = 0.11, p = .742) and decade (F(7, 64) = 0.43, p = .877) did not differ. The subsequent analysis compared different types of radial lines. A main effect for radial lines usage, F(1.69, 107.91) = 19.34, p < .001, demonstrated that the means of the four types varied (see Table 6). Radial lines depicting sounds were used more than all other types (all ps < .001), followed by those for pain, shine/glow and smell which did not differ.

VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 23

Table 6: Overall means and standard deviations for every type of radial line per panel. Type of radial line Mean Standard deviation Smell 0.007 0.012 Shine/glow 0.013 0.027 Sound 0.045 0.059 Pain 0.014 0.028

Other morphemes Additional analysis examined other morphemes that did not specifically belong to one of the main categories, namely: reduplication for motion, zoom lines, impact stars, leaping sweat, pain star, floating music notes. Means for these morphemes can be found in Figure 19. For reduplication for motion, a main effect of decade, F(7, 64) = 2.65, p < .05 and a polynomial inverse trend, F(1, 79) = 5.83, R2 = .07, p < .05 were found. For zoom lines, there was a main effect of decade, F(7, 64) = 2.41, p < .05, and a polynomial linear trend, F(1, 79) = 58.46, R2 = .06, p < .001. These effects and trends revealed that rates of reduplication for motion decreased across years of publication and rates of zoom lines increased across years of publication. There was also an effect of country for pain stars, F(1, 64) = 7.23, p < .01, implying that rates of pain stars were not the same for both cultures. For Dutch comics, this rate was 0.016 (SD = 0.24) per panel and for Flemish comics, the rate was 0.035 (SD = 0.041) per panel.

Reduplication for motion

Zoom lines

Impact Star

Leaping sweat (plewds)

Pain star

Floating music notes

0 0,05 0,1 0,15 0,2 0,25 0,3 0,35

Dutch Flemish

Figure 20. Different types of morphemes for Dutch and Flemish comics. The orange bars depict the ratings for Dutch comics and the blue bars depict the ratings for Flemish comics.

Synonyms and homonyms Just as in spoken language, there can be special relationships between morphemes in visual language. Therefore, supplementary analyses examined these interesting special relationships between morphemes: synonyms and homonyms. The first analysis focused on the synonyms shock star, upfix exclamation mark (!) and upfix spikes (\|/), all three depicting a VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 24 shock state of a character. A main effect of shock morphemes, F(1.36, 86.99) = 28.68, p < .001, suggested that dissimilar means for each of the types (Table 7). Upfix spikes (\|/) was most frequently used to depict shock states (all ps < .001), followed by upfix exclamation mark (!) (all ps < .001). The least used morpheme was shock star (all ps < .001).

Table 7: Overall means and standard deviations for shock morphemes. Types of shock morphemes Mean Standard deviation Shock star 0.004 0.011 Upfix: exclamation mark (!) 0.028 0.056 Upfix: spikes (\|/) 0.084 0.116

Next, synonyms for pain were analysed: radial lines and pain stars. A main effect indicated that the rate of usage of types of pain morphemes differed from each other, F(1, 64) = 17.04, p <.001,. Radial lines for pain were used at a rate of 0.014 (SD = 0.028) and pain stars at a rate of 0.026 (SD = 0.041), so pain stars were used the most (p < .001). A main effect of culture, F(1, 64) = 9.00, p < .005, suggested that the rates for Dutch (M = 0.011, SE = 0.004) and Flemish (M = 0.028, SE = 0.004) were not similar. Pain morphemes were used more frequently in Flemish comics (p < .005). An interaction between culture and decade, F(7, 64) = 2.72, p < .05, showed that the rate of pain morpheme usage differed across Dutch and Flemish comics and publications dates (Figure 20). Analysis across years of publication and culture revealed that pain morphemes stayed steady across decades of publication for Dutch comics. Quadratic trends for radial lines depicting pain, F(2. 39) = 3.56, R2 = 0.16, p < .05, and for pain stars, F(2. 39) = 4.32, R2 = 0.19, p < .05, in Flemish comics suggested that both started at a high rate, lowered, and then increased again.

0,1 0,09 0,08 0,07 0,06 0,05 0,04 0,03 0,02 0,01 0 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

Radial lines: pain (Dutch) Pain star (Dutch) Radial lines: pain (Flemish) Pain star (Flemish)

Figure 21. Pain morpheme usage per type per panel across decade of publication for Dutch and Flemish comics.

VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 25

The last analysis on synonyms focused on the morphemes depicting the state of surprise of a character, namely: upfix spikes (\|/) and leaping sweat (plewds). A main effect for surprise morphemes suggested that the means for both types differed, F(1, 64) = 7.97, p < .01. The rate for leaping sweat (plewds) was 0.16 (SD = 0.22) per panel, and the rate for upfix spikes (\|/) was 0.08 (SD = 0.11) Leaping sweat (plewds) was used most frequently of surprise morphemes (p < .001). The first analysis on homonyms examined the group of morphemes that Forceville (2011) called spikes: radial lines, upfix spikes (\|/) and zoom lines. A main effect for spikes indicated the rates of the three types varied, F(1.71, 109.19) = 24.66, p < .001. Overall, radial lines (M = 0.08, SD = 0.08) and upfix spikes (\|/) (M = 0.08, SD = 0.11) were used the most frequently (ps < .001), followed by zoom lines (M = 0.02, SD = 0.02). In the following analysis, the group of morphemes that Forceville (2011) called twirls were examined, namely: curly affixing motion line (swirl) and upfix swirl. No effect of swirls was found, indicating that ratings were similar, F(1, 0) = 0.06, p = .804. The rate for curly affixing motion line (swirl) was 0.03 (SD = 0.05), and the rate for upfix swirl was 0.02 (SD = 0.03). Next, morphemes with the shape of a large star were analysed: impact star, jagged edged carrier and shock star. There was a main effect for stars, F(1.71, 109.65) = 15.89, p < .001, which showed that the rates varied across the three types. The most frequently used star-shapes were impact stars (M = 0.03, SD = 0.04) and jagged edged carriers (M = 0.02, SD = 0.04), and the least frequently used star-shape was the shock star (M = 0.004, SD = 0.011) (all ps < .001). Finally, this analysis focused on morphemes with the shape of droplets: leaping tears, leaping saliva and leaping sweat (plewds). The main effect for droplets suggested that the rates for droplet-shaped morphemes were not the same, F(1.06, 67.97) = 36.39, p < .001. Leaping sweat (M = 0.159, SD = 0.218 ) was used at a higher rate (all ps < .001) than leaping saliva (M = 0.012, SD = 0.046) and leaping tears (M = 0.005, SD = 0.009), which rates were roughly the same. Discussion This study investigated the morphology of Dutch and Flemish comics by coding visual morphemes from comics across eight decades. A catalogue of 155 different morphemes was established of which almost half was used in Dutch and Flemish comics with common usage patterns. Because of the large degree of similarity (79%) between morphemes found in Dutch and Flemish comics, it implies that they belong to one broader visual language, which has changed only minimally across time. First, a large number of different morphemes were found in our corpus and, except for the Japanese manga morphemes (73 types) which were not expected to be found much, only five out of the 82 added morphemes were not found. Though Forceville (2011) acknowledged that his list of morphemes was not exhaustive, the morphemes he described were the most prevalent in Dutch and Flemish comics. Namely, circumfixing motion lines, straight affixing motion lines, leaping sweat (plewds), upfix spikes (\|/) and radial lines for sound appeared to be the most prevalent, alongside with speech balloons, public carriers and satellite carriers. Further, in almost every panel some type of morpheme was found, suggesting that visual morphemes are an essential part of conveying meaning in visual language. The most frequently used types of morphemes were public carriers as underlying semantic feature, and speech balloons as surface feature of carriers. This combination is not peculiar as speech balloons are VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 26 the stereotypical example of public carriers (Cohn, 2013a) and the most occurring surface type in other European comics (Forceville et al., 2010). The high rate of carriers in Dutch and Flemish comics could be clarified by the popular genre in the Netherlands and Flanders, which are humorous adventures with large groups of characters in the leading role (Lèfevre & Van Gompel, 2003). Together with carriers, motion lines were used in almost each panel with circumfixing motion lines and straight affixing motion lines as most frequently used. A new manifestation of motion lines were movement clouds, which shows a path-of-movement with small fluffy clouds. These motion lines were not mentioned in earlier work, so it is interesting to see if this type is unique for Dutch and Flemish comics. Motion lines were followed by upfixes, of which many manifestations have been found, whether or not in high frequencies. The upfixes with the highest frequencies were question mark, exclamation mark, spikes and spirals as identified in earlier work (Forceville, 2005, 2011; Forceville et al. 2010). Besides those types, many other types were found that were not identified as morphemes in European comics before. However, some types were viewed as pictograms in earlier work, such as hearts, stars and lightbulbs (Forceville et al., 2014). Radial lines were also very frequent (Forceville, 2005, 2011; Kennedy, 1982). A new type of radial lines were radial lines for pain, which can occur in combination with pain stars. Some contrasts have been found between Dutch and Flemish comics. There were a few morphemes that were only used by either Dutch comics or Flemish comics. The morphemes that were only used by Dutch comics were: dotted line to depict invisibility, halo, whisper carrier, flowery sweet carrier, upfix with fire, eye-umlaut with swirls, sweat drop and black background. In comparison, morphemes that were only used by Flemish comics were: lightning scopic line, suppletion for motion, steam from ears, upfix with money ($$$/€€€), upfix with birds, empty eyes, and sparkles background. It is not peculiar that the Japanese manga morphemes (eye- umlaut with swirls, sweat drop, empty eyes, and black and sparkles background) are only found in one culture, as using these morphemes is quite rare outside Japanese Visual Language. The other morphemes were also only used in low frequencies, which could indicate that they are rare as well. Besides this, Dutch comics used more carriers than Flemish comics. Additionally, although the univariate rates were the same across cultures, different manifestations of the types of motion lines appeared in both cultures. Finally, pain morphemes were used more in Flemish comics than Dutch comics. These differences could indicate a slight distinction in graphic styles across cultures. Nevertheless, there is a large overlap in the usage pattern of morphemes of both cultures, which implies that Dutch and Flemish comics share most of their visual vocabulary. The morphemes of the Japanese Visual Language have not been found in high frequencies, as already was predicted, which indicates that the Japanese Visual Language indeed has a distinctive vocabulary (Cohn & Ehly, 2016). This supports the idea of one visual language or one Dutch Visual Language. However, further investigation in the vocabulary of European and American comics has to be done to determine whether there is a Dutch Visual Language or a larger European Visual Language. Moreover, a visual language not only consists of vocabulary, but also components of comics as page-layout and narrative structure determine a visual language (Cohn, 2013a). Further distinctions in these components are required as well. The visual vocabulary in Dutch and Flemish comics has changed only minimally over time. The number of schemas per panel has been increasing, which can be caused by the increase in the use of carriers and motion lines. Furthermore, new types of morphology can be invented VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 27

(Cohn, 2013a), which could have happened over decades, and Dutch and Flemish comic authors could have been borrowing morphemes from other visual languages. The increase in the use of carriers can partly be explained by the disappearance of drawn stories in the 1960s (Van Eijck & Matena, 2006), in which additional text was placed underneath comics (coded as adjoined captions). With this disappearance, that text had to be absorbed in the comics itself, causing a higher rate of carriers than before, when only one adjoined caption was used per panel. The total amount of motion lines has been increasing across decades, but is lowering now again. A possible explanation for this is the increasing number of graphic novels, coming over from the United States (Couch, 2000), which often have a more serious story line (Van Velzen, 2010). Often combinations of various motion lines are used in humorous adventures, but these combinations could possibly be less appropriate in serious story lines, and thus in graphic novels. Some synonyms and homonyms have been found in Dutch and Flemish comics. There are different types of morphemes to show the states of shock, pain and surprise for characters, but it appears that comic authors have preferences in usage. Shock is mostly depicted with upfix spikes (\|/), while surprise is mostly depicted with plewds of sweat. Pain is mostly depicted with pain stars. It would be interesting to see if these types are also most preferred by the readers of comics. Furthermore, several combinations of homonyms have been found. Forceville (2011) considered homonyms in pictorial runes as one type of rune, while in this study they were treated as unique morphemes, separated by strategy and meaning. Spikes were mostly used as radial lines and upfixes, stars were most frequent as impact stars and jagged edged carriers and droplets were mostly used as plewds of sweat. It would be interesting to examine if the most used meaning is processed faster in cognition than less used meanings. This study thus raises several new questions: Will there be morphemes, such as movement clouds, which are unique to Dutch and Flemish comics, or to a broader European Visual Language? Will distinctions in genres, like historical comics, graphic novels and humorous adventures, show different usage patterns within Europe, just like in American Visual Language and Japanese Visual Language (Cohn, 2013a; Cohn & Ehly, 2016)? Will the same proportions of morphemes be used in Japanese and American Visual Language? Has the American and Japanese Visual Language gone through similar trends as the trends in Dutch and Flemish comics? To answer these questions and for a better understanding of patterns within and between visual language, more large-scale corpus studies are required. This corpus has been larger than any corpus study has used before, because most of them focused on case studies of single or a small number of books or on parts of morphology (e.g., Forceville, 2005, 2011; Forceville et al. 2010; Cohn & Ehly, 2016). Although the catalogue will never be exhausted, as new morphemes can always be invented (Cohn, 2013a), the catalogue of morphemes formed in this study can hopefully function as a starting point for additional corpus studies on vocabulary and add to a better understanding of visual languages.

VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 28

References Abbott, M., & Forceville, C. (2011). Visual representation of emotion in manga: Loss of control is Loss of hands in Azumanga Daioh Volume 4. Language and Literature, 20(2), 91-112. Cohn, N. (2013a). The visual language of comics: Introduction to the structure and cognition of sequential images. London, UK: Bloomsbury. Cohn, N. (2013b). Beyond speech balloons and thought bubbles: The integration of text and image. Semiotica. 2013(197): 35-63. Cohn, N., & Ehly. S. (2016). The vocabulary of manga: Visual morphology in dialects of Japanese Visual Language. Journal of Pragmatics, 92, 17-29. Cohn, N., & Maher, S. (2015). The notion of the motion: The neurocognition of motion lines in visual narratives. brain research, 1601, 73-84. Couch, C. (2000). The publication and formats of comics, graphic novels, and tankobon. Image & Narrative, 1. De Weyer, G. (2015). La Belgique dessinée. : Comix Junior. Forceville, C. (2005). Visual representations of the idealized cognitive model of anger in the Asterix album La Zizanie. Journal of Pragmatics, 37 (1), 69-88. Forceville, C. (2011). Pictorial runes in Tintin and the Picaros. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(3), 875-890. Forceville, C. (2016). Conceptual metaphor theory, blending and other cognitivist perspectives on comics. In N. Cohn (Ed.), The visual narrative reader (pp. 89-115). London, UK: Bloomsburgy. Forceville, C., El Refaie, E., & Meesters, G. (2014). Stylistics and comics. In M. Burke (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of stylistics (pp. 485-499). (Routledge handbooks in English language studies). London: Routledge. Forceville, C., Veale, T., & Feyaerts, K. (2010). Balloonics: The visuals of balloons in comics. The rise and reason of comics and graphic literature: Critical essays on the form, 56-73. Kennedy, J. M. (1982). Metaphor in pictures. Perception, 11(5), 589-605. Lefèvre, P. (2000). The Importance of Being ‘Published’: A Comparative Study of Different Comics Formats. Comics and culture: Analytical and theoretical approaches to comics, 91-105. Lefèvre, P., & Van Gompel, P. (2003). Introduction: strip cartoons in Flanders. New Flemish Comics, Vlaams fonds voor de letteren, Anvers. McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding comics: The invisible art. New York: Harper Collins. McGregor, W. B. (2009). Linguistics: an introduction. Bloomsbury Publishing. Pederson, K., & Cohn, N. (2016). The changing pages of comics: Page layouts across eight decades of American superhero comics. Studies in Comics, 7(1), 7-28. Potsch, E., & Williams, R. F. (2012). Image schemas and conceptual metaphor in action comics. In Linguistics and the Study of Comics (pp. 13-36). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Shinohara, K., & Matsunaka, Y. (2009). Pictorial metaphors of emotion in Japanese comics. Multimodal metaphor, 265-293. Van Eijck, R., & Matena, D. (2006). Eric de Noorman Opnieuw bekeken. Stichting Hans G. Kresse. Van Velzen, J. (2010, June 2). Beeldverhaal is puberteit ontgroeid. Trouw. Retrieved from http://www.trouw.nl Walker, M. (2000) [1980]. The Lexicon of Comicana. Authors Guild Backinprint.com Edition, Lincoln, NE. VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 29

Appendix 1: Comics Analysed Decade Country Reference 1940- Dutch Mazure, A. (1940). Dick Bos. Ten Hagen. 1950 Piët, F. (1940). Sjors, voorzitter van de Rebellenclub 4. De Spaarnestad. Schulte, K. (1947-1948). Tom Poes Weekblad. Uitgeverij Boumaar. Kuhn, P., & Aberson, W. (1947). Kapitein Rob: De avonturen van het zeilschip De Vrijheid. De Nieuwe Pers. Kresse, H.G. (1948). Eric de Noorman: De steen van Atlantis. ’t Kasteel van Aemstel. Flemish Vandersteen, W. (1946). Rikki en Wiske. Standaard Uitgeverij. Vandersteen, W. (1946). De Sprietatoom. Standaard Uitgeverij. Vandersteen, W. (1947). Vrolijke Bengels 1. Standaard Uitgeverij. Sleen, M. (1948). Het geheim van Matsuoka. Standaard Uitgeverij. Vandersteen, W. (1949). Op het eiland Amoras. Standaard Uitgeverij. 1950- Dutch Piët, F. (1952). Sjors en Sjimmie bij de arabieren. De Spaarnestad. 1960 Koeleman, J. H. (1954). Koning Neptunus helpt Pinkie. Mulder & Zoon. Toonder, M. (1957). Zoals een Bommel betaamt. De Bezige Bij. Koeleman, J. H. (1958). Vreemde bezoekers uit het heelal. Mulder & Zoon. Toonder, M. (1958). Panda en de olie-boertjes. Skarabee Laren. Flemish Sleen, M. (1954). De avonturen van Nero en Co: De Hoorn des Overvloeds. Uitgeverij . Waterschoot, J. (1954). Jan zonder vrees. Magnum. Waterschoot, J. (1955). Robinson Crusoë. De Dageraad Uitgeverij. Vandersteen, W. (1957). De Snorrende Snor. Standaard Uitgeverij. Vandersteen, W. (1959). De Rode Ridder: Het gebroken zwaard. Standaard Uitgeverij. 1960- Dutch Wijn, P. & Mallot, H. (1961). Alleen op de wereld. Big Balloon. 1970 Smulders, L. & Voges, C. (1964). Mario en de toverpluisbloem. Uitgeverij de Spaarnestad. Toonder, M. (1964). Koning Hollewijn en de Steen der Wijzen. Andries Blitz. Piët, F. (1966). Sjors en Sjimmie: de geheimzinnige duikboot. Uitgeverij De Spaarnestad. Matena, D. & Hertog van Banda, L. (1968). De Argonautjes: De onderwereld. Rijperman. Flemish Sleen, M. (1963). De avonturen van Nero en Co: De brief aan Nasser. Uitgeverij het Volk Vandersteen, W. (1964). Jerom: De bronzen kabouter. Standaard Uitgeverij. Vandersteen, W. (1964). De Rode Ridder: Kerwyn de Magiër. Standaard Uitgeverij. Van Hove, J. (1965). Piet Pienter en Bert Bibber: Invasie uit het heelal. Standaard Uitgeverij. VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 30

Nys, J. (1966). De belevenissen van Jommeke: De muzikale Bella. Uitgeverij het Volk. 1970- Dutch Kruis, J. (1970-1980). Jan, Jans & de kinderen. Joop Wiggers 1980 Produkties. Bakker, J., & Van Banda, L.H. (1970). Blook: De supermolekuul. De geïllustreerde pers. Brugman, G., Van Banda, L.H., & Ringers, R. (1972). Ambrosius: De gefleste geesten. De geïllustreerde pers. Van der Heide, F., & Van Haasteren, J. (1978). Baron van Tast tot Zeveren. Oberon. Lodewijk, M. (1978). Agent 327: Dossier zevenslaper. Uitgeverij M. Flemish Vandersteen, Willy. (1972). Suske en Wiske: De Poenschepper. Standaard Uitgeverij. Gastmans, E. (1973). Willeke: De draak van Kokoluput. Studio Rigida. Broeckx, J. (1976). Sloeber: Het Komplot. Standaard Uitgeverij. Mau, B. (1976). Kari Lente & Co. 4. Born Superstrip. Vandersteen, Willy. (1978). Bessy: Ondergang in de grot. Standaard Uitgeverij. 1980- Dutch Kruis, J. (1980-1990). Jan, Jans & de kinderen. Joop Wiggers 1990 Produkties. Steeman, J., & Brandt, A. (1981). Een avontuur van Roel Dijkstra: De superspits. Oberon. Roep, T. & Wijn, P. (1982). Douwe Dabbert: Florijn de Flierefluiter. Oberon De Jager, G., & Stevenhagen, W. (1986). De Familie Doorzon: Het geslacht Doorzon. Big Balloon. Vervoort, J. (1988). Een avontuur van Elno: Déjà vu in sMon-Thang. Oberon. Flemish Vandersteen, W. (1981). Suske & Wiske: Het geheim van de Kalmthoutse Heide. Standaard Uitgeverij. Nys, J. (1982). Jommeke: Het piepend bed. Het Volk. Urbanus, & Linthout, W. (1984). De Avonturen van Urbanus: Tegen de Dikkenekken. Broeckx, J. &, Meul, M. (1986). Bessy Natuurkommando: De nacht van de schildpad. Standaard Uitgeverij. Michel, M. (1988). De Spookjes: Spoken en Piraten. Reprint Books. 1990- Dutch Ritsier, W., & Oosterveer, M. (1990). Claudia Brucken: Operatie 2000 Sneeuw. Uitgeverij Boumaar. Kuijpers, H. (1992). Franka: Gangsterfilm. Big Balloon. Schreurs, E. (1993). Joop Klepzeiker. Uitgeverij C.I.C. Van Driel, T. (1994). De Nakomertjes: Nooit meer uitslapen! Land Productions. De Heij, F., & Leijen, M. (1995). Don’t Panic! Drukkerij Zuidam & Zonen. Flemish De Moor, B. (1990). De avonturen van Johan en Stefan: De Zondebokken. Uitgeverij Boumaar. VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 31

D’Hont, E., & Ravijts, R. (1996). Baxter: H20. Standaard Uitgeverij. Merho. (1996). Kiekeboe: Schiet niet op de pianist. Standaard Uitgeverij. De Budt, L. (1998). Thomas Pips: De rode Heks. Uitgeverij 9de Kunst. Broeckx, J., & Legendre, M. (1999). Waterland: Onweer. Standaard Uitgeverij. 2000- Dutch Unknown. (2000). Sjors & Sjimmie: Van dik hout. Big Balloon. 2010 Steeman, J. (2001). Noortje: Altijd opgeruimd. VNU Tijdschriften. Heuvel, E., Metselaar, M., Van der Rol, R., & Groeneweg, H. (2003). De ontdekking. Anne Frank Stichting. Stok, B. (2003). Je geld of je leven. Nijgh & Van Ditmar. De Bel, M. (2008). De Kriegels: Happy Halloween, Mister Zablow. Standaard Uitgeverij. Flemish Legendre, M. (2001). Biebel: De Doos. Standaard Uitgeverij. Jean-Pol, & Swerts, W. (2003). Samson & Gert: De vliegsiroop. Studio 100. Van Asten, L., Swerts, W., & Leemans, H. (2004). W817: Een keivet akke-fietje. Standaard Uitgeverij. Roelens, P. (2006). K3: De hoed van YaYaYippee. Studio 100. Van Aken, A., Paquet, P. & Van Uffelen, Y. (2009). Weer over naar jou. Bries. 2010- Dutch Hogenbirk, P. (2013). De Ruyter: De Engelsen komen! Strip 2000. now Van Barneveld, R. (2014). Rood: Feestje met de regen. Het Syndikaat. Van Raffe, R. (2014). Zonder filter. Oog & Blik. Heuvel, E., & Mok, I. (2015). Quaco: leven in slavernij. WalburgPers. Kriek, E. (2017). In The Pines: 5 murder ballads. Scratch. Flemish Geirnaert, J. (2010). Het Grote Kabouter Wesley Boek. De Harmonie. De Decker, F. (2013). Otto: Op hete kolen. Het Syndikaat. Merho. (2014). : Vluchtmisdrijf. Standaard Uitgeverij. D’Auwe. (2016). FC Schwalbe: Daar is ‘m. Strip2000 Leemans, H. (2016). F.C. De Kampioenen: Miss Moeial. Standaard Uitgeverij.

VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 32

Appendix 2: Visual Morphology Coding Guide References for images have been provided in the format of (Book, volume #: page #, panel #). This visual morphology coding guide contains 82 types of morphemes. The complete list of the 73 types of morphemes used in JVL is provided online at: http://www.visuallanguagelab.com/A/jvlmorphology.html

Colours are used to represent larger subtypes of morphemes: green is used for panel-level suppletions, grey is used for semantic features of carriers, yellow is used for surface representations of carriers, orange is used for upfixes and blue is used for the other various types of affixes, reduplications and suppletions.

Morpheme Meaning Type Position Example/Reference

Straight affixing Movement Affix Behind object motion line

Samson & Gert, 30: 10, 2

Curly affixing Behind or next motion line Movement Affix to object (swirl)

De Ontdekking: 5, 2

Circumfixing Movement, Affix Around object motion lines shaking (circumfix)

FC Schwalbe, 1: 7, 1

Suppletive Substituting for Movement Suppletion motion lines object

De Ontdekking: 15, 2 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 33

Movement Movement Affix Trailing object clouds

Samson & Gert, 30: 37, 6

Backfix Movement Background Behind object

Dik van Dieren en zo, 1: 9, 9

Reduplication Reduplicatio Movement Any for motion n

Agent 327, 7: 14, 1 Layered offset Reduplication Reduplicatio Shaking of repeated for shaking n lines

Reduplication Layered offset Someone’s Reduplicatio for double of repeated double vision n vision lines or signs

Tintin VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 34

Scopic line: Affix (path Affixes to eyes Path of vision dots line) and seen object

Otto, 2: 5, 2 Path of vision Scopic line: Affix (path Affixes to eyes with manner of hearts line) and seen object lust/love Path of vision Scopic line: Affix (path Affixes to eyes with manner of daggers line) and seen object anger or ill-wil

Path of vision Scopic line: Affix (path Affixes to eyes with manner of lightning line) and seen object anger

Baxter, 2: 13, 3

Radial Lines: Affix (path Smell, heat Above object Smell line)

Rood, 1: 6, 8

Radial lines: Affix (radial Shine/glow Above object Shine/glow path line)

Ambrosius: 2, 11 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 35

Radial Lines: Affix (path Near noise- Sound sound line) maker

Thomas Pips, 5: 1, 1

Radial Lines: Affix (path Near place of Pain pain line) pain

Elno: 4, 9

Surrounding focal object Draws focal Zoom lines Affix and/or coming attention from panel edges

Otto, 2: 5, 19

Draws attention Scopic focal to eye to show Affix (path Radiates from lines (spidey someone line) eyes sense) sees/realizes something

Willeke, 4: 13, 8

Gunshot Attaches to Gun firing Affix (flame/star) muzzle of gun

De Ontdekking: 14, 3 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 36

Attaches to impacting Impact or Impact Star Affix objects (or collision location of former impact)

FC Schwalbe, 1: 16, 5

Shock star Shock, surprise Affix Surrounds head

De Ontdekking: 6, 4 Legs or arms Suppletion for Moving object replace for Suppletion motion (usually limbs) circular spinning lines

Replacement of Dotted line Invisibility, Suppletion solid lines for invisibility absence dotted lines

Rood, 1: 9, 12

Sputtering, Surrounding Leaping saliva Affix eating mouth

Joop Klepzeiker, 6: 13, 4 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 37

Surrounding Leaping tears Crying Affix head

De Kiekeboes, 55: 19, 7

Surprise, Leaping sweat Affix (and/or Surrounding nervousness, (plewds) upfix) head fear

F.C. De Kampioenen, 56: 27, 8

Squiggly Replacement of Nervousness, nervous Suppletion solid lines for fear, fright suppletion squiggly lines

Piet Pienter en Bert Bibber, 24: 13, 5 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 38

Surrounding or Pain star Pain Affix next to object

De Ontdekking: 11, 8 Devilishness, Attaches to Devil Horns Affix deviousness forehead

Attaches above Halo Innocence Affix head

Otto, 2: 43, 5 Replacement Zipper mouth Embarrassment Suppletion for mouth

Surrounding Steam out of Anger Affix head, emerging ears from ears

FC Schwalbe 1: 4, 6

Items tossed Items tossed Scene level Fight from from a room template door/window

Ambrosius: 12, 7 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 39

Surrounds or is Floating music Music Affix near music- notes making object

Thomas Pips, 5: 1, 1 Panel-level

suppletions

Panel level Depiction in full Action Star Event/Action suppletion panel

Biebel: 16, 2

Full panel Panel level Depiction in full Explosion explosion suppletion panel

Sjors & Sjimmie, 1: 11, 12 Suppletion Replacement Fight Cloud Fighting (possibly full for fighting panel) Suppletion Replacement Poof Cloud Transformation (possibly full for a panel) transformation VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 40

Semantic features of carriers +RA, +AA Public Affix Attaches to root Stereotypically speech balloon (speaking) +RA, -AA Private Affix Attaches to root Stereotypically thought bubble (thinking) -RA, +RA Non-Sentient Affix Attaches to root Stereotypically mechanical carrier (soundmaking) Attaches to -RA, -AA Affix/Free Satellite root/free Stereotypically caption (caption) morpheme floating Surface represent-

tations of carriers

Absence of Non-depicted No Carrier N/A depicted carrier affix

FC Schwalbe, 1: 8, 6

Absence of Non-depicted No Tail N/A depicted tail index of affix

Elno: 6, 1

Carrier Image content meaning Content of Enclosed within carrier applied to affix (Carrier) carrier image content

De Ontdekking: 7, 3 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 41

Carrier Music content meaning Content of Enclosed within carrier applied to affix (carrier) carrier musical content

De Ontdekking: 60, 7

Typically Manner of Rounded/circul Speech balloon speaking carrier ar carrier

De Ontdekking: 57, 2

Many rounded Typically Manner of Thought bubble shapes of thinking carrier carrier

De Ontdekking: 37, 8

Typically Manner of Quadrilateral Caption exposition carrier carrier

De Ontdekking: 29, 5 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 42

Adjoined Typically Manner of Text below the satellite exposition carrier panel

Eric de Noorman: 1, 1/2

Quadrilateral Machine Manner of carrier with Mechanical utterance carrier lightning squiggles

De Kiekeboes, 123: 10, 6

Manner of Dotted line Whisper Whisper carrier carrier

Quaco: 16, 2

Manner of Angular line Jagged edged Loudness carrier carrier

F.C. De Kampioenen, 56: 5, 4 Dripping Manner of Carrier with Sarcasm Sarcastic carrier drips VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 43

Flirty or sucking Manner of Carrier with Flowery sweet up carrier flowers

Joop Klepzeiker, 6: 14, 3

Ominousness, Distorted Manner of Dark bordered distorted balloon carrier carrier speech

F.C. De Kampioenen, 56: 4, 9

Old-timey or Manner of Scroll shaped Scroll official carrier carrier

Ambrosius: 3, 1 Upfixes

Above/near- Upfix: Hearts Love, lust Upfix above head

F.C. De Kampioenen, 56: 11, 10 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 44

Upfix: broken Above/near- Heartbreak Upfix hearts above head

Samson & Gert, 30: 32, 3

Questioning, Above/near- Upfix-? Upfix curiosity above head

Samson & Gert, 30: 30, 2

Surprise, Above/near- Upfix: ! shock, Upfix above head realization

VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 45

De Kiekeboes, 55: 11, 1

Dizziness, Above/near- Upfix: clouds Upfix shock above head

Sjors & Sjimmie, 1: 4, 4

Above/near- Upfix: Lightbulb Inspiration Upfix above head

Biebel: 1, 7

Exasperation, Above/near- Upfix: \ | / Upfix shock, surprise above head

Samson & Gert, 30: 22, 6 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 46

Above/near- Upfix: heat lines Anger Upfix above head

Elno: 5, 1

Pain, dizziness, Above/near- Upfix: Stars Upfix sleepiness above head

Sjors & Sjimmie, 1: 6, 9

Upfix: Stars & Above/near- Pain, dizziness Upfix Motion lines above head

Willeke, 4: 13, 5

Above/near- Upfix: Gears Thinking Upfix above head

Otto, 2: 47, 12 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 47

Above/near- Upfix: Birds Dizziness Upfix above head

Otto, 2: 10, 17

Above/near- Upfix: Zzzz Sleepiness Upfix above head

FC Schwalbe, 1: 17, 1

Above/near- Upfix: $$$ Greed Upfix above head

Otto, 2: 18, 2 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 48

Upfix: Storm Gloom or Above/near- Upfix clouds depression above head

Blook: 7, 1

Drunkeness, Above/near- Upfix: Bubbles Upfix love above head

De Kiekeboes, 123: 8, 10

Upfix: Skull & Above/near- Death/Anger Upfix Bones above head

De Kiekeboes, 55: 44, 10 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 49

Upfix: Swirl & Above/near- Dizziness Upfix Stars above head

De Kiekeboes, 55: 11, 8

Anxiety, anger Above/near- Upfix: Swirl Upfix or confusion above head

De Ontdekking, 22, 2

Gloom or Above/near- Upfix: Scribble Upfix depression above head

Otto, 2: 27, 20 VISUAL MORPHOLOGY IN DUTCH AND FLEMISH COMICS 50

Above/near- Upfix: Steam Anger Upfix above head

De Kiekeboes, 55: 43, 1 Upfix: Hamster Above/near- Thinking Upfix wheel above head

Upfix: Lightning Above/near- Anger Upfix bolts above head

De Kiekeboes, 123: 11, 5 Above/near- Upfix: Fire Anger Upfix above head