Mr James Nichols

My research focusses on comics and sequential narrative in the digital space and how these digital spaces impact the reading process and experience of both experienced and new readers of comics. My current research forms the foundation of my PhD thesis in which I outline and discuss current thinking about how traditional comics and graphic novels are read in order to define what cognitive and reading processes allow us to make sense of comics narratives. I then apply this understanding to the digital space and identify and explain how comics viewed and read on tablet and other mobile displays.

This will lead to a comprehensive study of the reading processes of comics on paper and on screen which will form a basis for eye-tracking and digital interaction studies to be performed.