Comics as a medium of mass communication: typological characteristics

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of defining comics as a special communicative phenomenon, which can combine verbal and nonverbal components. On the basis of already existing definitions, a unified one is provided – with an overview of the development of its subjective functions (educational, informational). The main characteristics of the comics as a means of mass communication are given; an overview of composite features is made. The article also describes how the typological features of the comics allows it to take over functions from other means of mass communication, what perspectives open up against it in view of the development of its educational and informational functions. In this regard, a description of such a concept as comics journalism, which has been developing in Europe over the past decades, is given. The conclusions drawn in the article can be used in the study of the communicative component of the comics phenomenon and comics-journalism.