Speech Bubbles

Speech Bubbles

Figure 1

Nothing new is new. If you think that speech bubbles are a modern invention of the comic book industry, please think again. The concept of linking text with a figure via a line or a ribbon dates back centuries. The oldest that I know of was found in Pompeii.

    On Pompeian [wall painting], arranged in adjacent panels, like a comic strip and accompanied by speech 'bubbles' in colloquial Latin, appears to tell the story of a couple of young men having a night out; they are shown first meeting, then being served by a barmaid, then tossing dice at a table, finally quarreling and being turned out by the landlord. [Ling, p163] [see figure 2]

Figure 2

But, early examples, such as the one from Pompeii, just have text floating around the images. A medieval invention was to link the text to a person by several methods.

figure 3

1) Free Floating Text.

Improving on the classical Roman method of graffiti like text, medieval scribes modified the text so that it appeared to flow out of the speaker's mouth. They also used different colors to denote individual speakers. Figures 4, 5 and 6 are examples from the same source of this method. Notice how the scribe used red and black to denote speakers. And in figure 4, you can see that the text is arraigned in an order so that the conversion can be followed.

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

figure 7

2) Lines

Simple lines were used to connect the text bubble with the speaker. This was the beginning of the text style that we are used to, today. Figure 8 is the only clear image I could find of this style.

Figure 8

The art historian Lucy Freeman Sandler has devoted considerable attention to this scene (a transcription and literal translation is found in this publication). Using her work, while rewording her literal translation, the following conversation may be overheard:
The figure on the left starts, with a strange mantra: “They die because of heat, they die because of heat.” Then the two young people on his right speak, probably addressing their father [according to Sandler], who is walking behind them: “Sir, we die of cold!” The father, carrying a heavy toddler, orders them to stop whining: “Behold your little brother in front of us, he is only wearing a hood.” (He is right, because he is otherwise naked.) Then the toddler speaks, uttering universal toddler sounds: “Wa we”. Finally the two children in the back come into play. “Sir, I am carrying too much weight,” says the one on the left. The one on the right closes the conversation by comparing his own misery to that of his brother and father, stating “It is not they who carry the heaviest burden.” [Kwakkel]

3) Banderole

The final aspect was a method of condensing the spoken word and combining it with a method that not only portrays the speaker, but enhances the artwork at the same time. Visually, the banderole was used to not only give words to a figure, but for the figure to physically claim those words: the figure pointing to, or even grabbing, the words [figure 9].

figure 9

This method of speech bubble was used up until the 19th century.

figure 10

figure 11

In figure 11, a man is repeating the words whispered into his ear by a devil on his left shoulder, "Non est deus" ("There is no god"). The man is holding onto his words, claiming them as his own. Perhaps so that they do not escape.

figure 12

Banderoles were often used with images of old testament prophets to distinguish them from the book writing evangelists. It might have been a metaphor as the old testament, like the Torah, was written out as a scroll, while the new testament was written in book form. It is worth noting that the use of banderoles were not restricted to religious figures. 

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Beard, Mary. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome 1st Edition. Home Ancient History & Civilisation 

Ling, Roger. Roman Painting. Cambridge University Press, Mar 7, 1991

Majkut, Paul. Smallest Mimes. Defaced Representation and Media Epistemology. Zeta Books, May 20, 2014

Kukkonen, Karin. Studying Comics and Graphic Novels.  John Wiley & Sons, Jun 28, 2013

Kwakkel, Erik. Medieval Speech Bubbles. January 23, 2015. https://medievalbooks.nl/2015/01/23/medieval-speech-bubbles/

Saenger, Paul. Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading. Stanford University Press, 1987

fig 1 - Genesis 25 - Birth of Esau and Jacob as an example of twin’s fate against the arguments of astrology by Francois Maitre c1475-1480

fig 2 - A brawl in a bar over a game of dice. In this nineteenth-century copy of some of the paintings from the Bar of Salvius in Pompeii, the argument starts in the left–hand panel. ‘Exsi’ shouts one of the players, ‘I’ve won, I’m out’, while his opponent disputes the throw. In the next scene, the landlord, on the right, is not only telling them to get out, but man-handling them towards the door.. Beard p.79

fig 3 - The Guthlac Roll

fig 4 - Breviculum ex artibus Raimundi Lulli electum - St. Peter perg. 92 11v

fig 5 - Breviculum ex artibus Raimundi Lulli electum - St. Peter perg. 92 8r

fig 6 - Breviculum ex artibus Raimundi Lulli electum - St. Peter perg. 92 12r

fig 7 - Gorleston Psalter, British Library, Additional 49622, fol. 190v

fig 8 - British Library, Stowe MS 49, fol. 122r

fig 9 - Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 11978 

fig 10 - A Masonic Anecdote, 18th century, from Wikipedia

fig 11 - Angeles, Getty Museum, MS 66

fig 12 - The Queen Mary Psalter