Category Archives: OnomontoPOWia

Buddhist monks can waste their time wondering what the sound of one hand clapping is if they want, but as for me and Marvel Comics, we want to know what the sound of one hand crushing a demon alien's spine is. The answer:

That's "Fwak-tchh", from which (which as all linguists know) derives our modern "Fracture". Marvel, educating the mind and the blood lust at the same time for well over forty years.

(Images ©1993, Marvel Comics UK Ltd., "Battle Tide II")

By virtue of the authority vested in me by BAs in Art and English ("Why get one useless degree when you can get two?"), I hereby coin a new word to describe visual sound effects used in comic books*:

OnomontoPOWia: turning text into art in order to render sound. From onomatopoeia.

Yes, capitalizing the POW is required. And if I could figure out how to insert an exclamation point in there without killing half the librarians in the world with a brain aneurysm, I would.

You see examples of onomontoPOWia in pretty much every title on the stands. "Sound effects" help bring the page to life, strangely making the action seem more real even while inserting a completely unreal visual element into the scene. The 1960's camp series "Batman" really brought this technique to prominence, with spinning "POW!" and "BAM!" starbursts flying from the Caped Crusader's fists. But they've been with the medium virtually from the beginning, and they continue to make comic books better and better. Or worse and worse, depending on how they're used.

And so, as an homage to this underrated comic book element, every Friday I will attempt to bring you an awesome example of onomontaPOWia, like this mind-blowing example found in Marvel Comics' "Battle Tide II":

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