This thesis explains how the element of the panel layout in comics conveys both a linear progression of narrative and a simultaneous image for the reader. Using Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory this research asserts that the portrayal of time and space in a comic should be considered as a network. While most definitions of comics rely on the sequential juxtaposition of the form, this thesis demonstrates how panel relations operate both sequentially and nonsequentially to produce meaning for the reader and thus changing the defining feature of the medium. To demonstrate how changes in panel layout affects various networks of time and space in comics I have examined three contemporary comics, Watchmen, “A Contract with God,” and Violent Cases
