History Main / ThoughtCaption

Captions have been used in the comics medium to convey narration, description, and setting. It has become a recent trend in Western comics, starting from approximately UsefulNotes/{{the Dark Age|of Comic Books}}, to represent characters' thoughts with captions as opposed to {{thought bubble}}s, a comic-book equivalent of the cinematic technique of first-person narrative voice-over.

* The third Flash is notable in that his CatchPhrase[=/=]BadassCreed usually only appeared in the Thought Captions. "I'm Wally West. They call me Franchise/TheFlash. And I'm [[SuperSpeed the fastest man alive]]. "
* During ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' Tim's caption boxes change from green to white with a red drop-shadow and then to straight red with his Robin symbol. The only other character who regularly has their own captions, Stephanie, has them presented as journal excerpts.

When captions are used to represent the thoughts of different characters, it becomes an issue to indicate to which character the thoughts belong. Measures often taken to do so usually involve using different [[UsefulNotes/{{Fonts}} fonts]], different caption colors, or even different font colors that generally [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience match]] the costume or personality of whoever is using them.

Not to be confused with when a character's writing (e.g., [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Rorschach's]] journal) is represented by a caption, or when a character's dialogue takes place in a caption (most commonly used for flashbacks).

->"[Thought] captions seem to acknowledge the audience in a way that [thought] balloons don't, as if the character was sending their thoughts directly to the reader, and they can give the text an extra level of intimacy. They also don't require the thinker to be in panel to show where the thought originates from, so they can appear an panels that are framed from the thinker's point of view. Such 'thought captions' are usually in present tense ... and first person ... but past tense narration ... can cover a lot of the same ground." (155).

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' uses this nearly all of the time.

** This actually seems to be a line-wide stylistic choice in DC comics, as it's been seen in ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/{{Batman}}, ComicBook/WonderWoman, ComicBook/GreenLantern, [[ComicBook//TheFlash Flash]], etc.

** This actually seems to be a line-wide stylistic choice in DC comics, as it's been seen in Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, etc.

* Used throughout Craig Thompson's ''Blankets'' to draw biblical parallels from events in his life.

When captions are used to represent the thoughts of different characters, it becomes an issue to indicate to which character the thoughts belong. Measures often taken to do so usually involve using different [[UsefulNotes/{{Fonts}} fonts]], different caption colors, or even different font colors. Said colors generally [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience match]] the costume or personality of whoever is using them.

* ''ComicBook/NewWarriors'' #7-9 (vol. 1) has ''three'' boxes: a light yellow one for Silhouette, a light blue one for ComicBook/ThePunisher and a yellow one with a white outline for Speedball. All of them are prominents characters of this arc. Note that Speedball's box matches the depiction of his superpower-altered voice.

When captions are used to represent the thoughts of different characters, it becomes an issue to indicate to which character the thoughts belong. Measures often taken to do so usually involve using different [[UsefulNotes/{{Fonts}} fonts]] for different characters, different caption colors for different characters, or different font colors for different characters.

Not to be confused with when a character's writing (e.g., [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Rorschach's]] journal) is represented in a caption or captions that don't represent thoughts.

[[folder: Marvel ]]

* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}. In fact, he currently has ''two'': one "normal" (yellow, with handwritten text, like his speech bubbles) and one more rational (white, with typewriter-like text), which dialogue between themselves as much (or even more, DependingOnTheWriter) as they do with 'Pool. It is hinted that each of them represents one of his brain's hemispheres, as seen in a ''Comicbook/DarkReign'' story involving him fighting Bullseye-as-Hawkeye: he has an arrow stuck in his head that does not let him think straight. When he removes it, his yellow boxes come back normally, but his white box blabs incoherently for a while.

* Madrox in ''ComicBook/XFactor'', who currently sees himself as a FilmNoir detective rather than a superhero, and therefore has a PrivateEyeMonologue.

Creator/ScottMcCloud said it best in ''[[ComicBook/UnderstandingComics Making Comics]]'':

* Scott [=McCloud=]'s ''ComicBook/{{Zot}}'' uses this sparingly, namely in the early part of the series (viz., the opening monologue) and the later part (the characters' escapist monologues).
** In ''Making Comics'', [=McCloud=] points out this trope and discusses Thought Captions versus thought bubbles at length (see the quote above).

* SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}}. In fact, he currently has ''two'': one "normal" (yellow, with handwritten text, like his speech bubbles) and one more rational (white, with typewriter-like text), which dialogue between themselves as much (or even more, DependingOnTheWriter) as they do with 'Pool. It is hinted that each of them represents one of his brain's hemispheres, as seen in a ''Comicbook/DarkReign'' story involving him fighting Bullseye-as-Hawkeye: he has an arrow stuck in his head that does not let him think straight. When he removes it, his yellow boxes come back normally, but his white box blabs incoherently for a while.

[[AC:Dark Horse Comics]]

[[AC:DC Comics]]

[[AC:Eclipse Comics]]
* Scott [=McCloud=]'s ''ComicBook/{{Zot}}'' uses this sparingly, namely in the early part of the series (viz., the opening monologue) and the later part (the characters' escapist monologues).
** In ''Making Comics'', [=McCloud=] points out this trope and discusses Thought Captions versus thought bubbles at length (see the quote above).

[[AC:Marvel]]

[[AC:Slave Labor Graphics]]

[[AC:Top Shelf Productions]]

** The ''[[Comicbook/{{Doom}} Doom Comic]]'' employs this both as a narration device and to represent the protagonist's thoughts.

* The third Flash is notable in that his CatchPhrase[=/=]BadassCreed usually only appeared in the Thought Captions. "I'm Wally West. They call me TheFlash. And I'm [[SuperSpeed the fastest man alive]]. "

** In ''Making Comics'', [=McCloud=] points out this trope and discusses [[ThoughtCaption Thought Captions]] versus thought bubbles at length (see the quote above).

* {{Deadpool}}. In fact, he currently has ''two'': one "normal" (yellow, with handwritten text, like his speech bubbles) and one more rational (white, with typewriter-like text), which dialogue between themselves as much (or even more, DependingOnTheWriter) as they do with 'Pool. It is hinted that each of them represents one of his brain's hemispheres, as seen in a ''Comicbook/DarkReign'' story involving him fighting Bullseye-as-Hawkeye: he has an arrow stuck in his head that does not let him think straight. When he removes it, his yellow boxes come back normally, but his white box blabs incoherently for a while.

* ''Comicbook/{{Doom}}'': All captions reflect Doomguy's thoughts. The odd one out is "Scant seconds later...", which either isn't a thought, or indicates Doomguy's mind is even weirder than previously thought.

* ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'' employs this in a few instances with an [[InnerMonologue internal monologue]] from Johnny and [[spoiler:Johnny's [[strike:final]] soliloquy (before he says it aloud).]]

* Used throughout Craig Thompson's ''{{Blankets}}'' to draw biblical parallels from events in his life.

* Madrox in ''XFactor'', who currently sees himself as a FilmNoir detective rather than a superhero, and therefore has a PrivateEyeMonologue.