Have You Ever Been "Sucked into a Comic Book?" There's an Explanation For This.

Reading a comic book is a rather unique experience, the combination of good story and artwork can really suck you into the book itself.

Did you know there is a term for this?

It's called presence and it's something which is researched by university communication professors across the country in film, television, novels, comics, video games and more. Cleveland State University communication professor Dr. Paul Skalski is a comic book fan/reader and also an expert in the field of presence.

"I first learned about presence around 1998-1999 and started conducting research on it when I began my Ph.D. work at Michigan State University in 2000," Dr. Skalski said. "I am co-editor of the book 'Immersed in Media: Telepresence in Everyday Life,' published by Routledge in 2010. My presence related work has also appeared in the journals 'New Media & Society' and 'Media Psychology,' among others."

Dr. Skalski goes on to relate presence with comics.

"There is a least one study on comic book presence by a researcher named Matthew Jones, [who is a] graduate of Temple University Ph.D. program who worked with the presence guru there, Matthew Lombard," Dr. Skalski said. "Comic books require more active engagement than passive media like TV and film, and as part of this, readers must construct mental models of spaces and situations.  

"These can lead to spatial presence-like sensations among readers who are highly involved and immersed while reading comic books. And this will be especially likely to happen when the storytelling and art is good."

But is presence a good thing while reading comics?

"Presence is mostly a good thing with comic books—it means readers are feeling [that they are] 'there,'" Dr. Skalski said, then played devil's advocate. "But if they want to be in the world of comic books too much and it causes problems in their outside life, this would obviously be a bad thing."

So if you've ever felt like you were immersed into a comic to the point where it felt like you were actually in the book itself, you have experienced presence. Now get out to your local comic book store and experience presence in comics again. And again. And again.

Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Paul Skalski, his teachings, his research and his friendship. Rest in peace.