The comic as a binary language. An hypothesis on comic structure∗

Abstract

This article uses some simple non-parametric statistical methods to study the structure of comics. By reducing the sequence of vignettes in a comic to a sequence of binary symbols using the run theory, an explanatory hypothesis is proposed on the relation between the number of runs in the sequence and the number that might be expected under perfect randomness. The hypothesis is tested experimentally by means of an unexpected empirical regularity that the former actually explains. Finally, its possible relevance to the study of the structure of language is briefly considered.

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