Three-Dimensional Panel Arrangements in Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality Comics

Digital comics are commonly read on the screens of smartphones, tablets and personal computers. The popularity and widespread adoption of these devices have driven the development of apps, games and experiences utilising augmented, virtual and mixed reality technology. Alongside this rise in popularity, the digital mediation and hybridisation of the form of comics have allowed for the creation of comic formats designed to be read and navigated in three dimensions via these technologies. This article provides a practice-based examination of the use of three-dimensional panel arrangements within digitally mediated comics. Case studies are provided from a range of prototypes that were created by the authors to explore the use of augmented, virtual and mixed reality in digital comic delivery. The design and analysis of these prototypes draws on existing theory and practice established around comics and their mediation in print, digital and architectural formats. The article considers the use of tropes appropriated from the architectural and digital mediation of the comics’ form. It highlights the ways in which narrative effect can be created by the relative position in three-dimensional space between reader and panel sequence. The tension between the fixed sequences of comics’ narrative and the free-form exploration of three-dimensional space is also examined. Finally, the article examines how spatial depth impacts on the reader’s experience of panel sequences and the layout and navigational challenges this raises.