Material form as a structural force in Nicki Greenberg’s The Great Gatsby and Hamlet

Abstract

Comics or ‘sequential art’ has historically been considered an art of time. Yet, many recent artists privilege comics’ spatial extensions over the dimension of time. This article explores the role played by space in structuring comics. It does so by analysing two comics by Australian artist Nicki Greenberg, The Great Gatsby (2007) and Hamlet (2010). These two adaptations, which marry conventions of comics with a photo album and a theatrical stage, exploit the tension between material forms outside the comic, the material forms that influence the comic’s creation, and the material form taken by the work itself. They are examples of innovative comics made possible when material form is viewed as a structural force. Through analysing Greenberg’s methods for adapting existing works ‘through’ other material forms, I argue that material form is a structural force that can be analysed alongside optional conceptual structures such as the panel and gutter.