Complex Network Analysis of a Graphic Novel: The Case of the Bande Dessin\'ee Thorgal

TL;DR

This paper constructs and analyzes character networks from the European graphic novel Thorgal, comparing its social structure to real and fictional networks, and exploring gender roles and thematic similarities using complex network tools.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed complex network analysis of a European bande dessinée, including character filtering effects and thematic comparisons with Icelandic sagas.

Findings

Thorgal's network shares features with real-world social networks.

Character filtering impacts network structure significantly.

Women occupy central and diverse roles in the series.

Abstract

The task of extracting and analyzing character networks from works of fiction, such as novels and movies, has been the object of a number of recent publications. However, only a very few of them focus on graphic novels, and even fewer on European graphic novels. In this article, we focus on Thorgal, a bande dessin{\'e}e, i.e. a comic of the French-Belgian tradition. We manually annotate all the volumes of this series, in order to constitute a corpus allowing us to extract its character network. We perform a descriptive analysis of the network structure and compare it to real-world and fictional social networks. We also study the effect of character filtering over the network structure. Finally, we leverage complex network analysis tools to answer two research questions from the literature, related to the similarity between Thorgal and the Saga of Icelanders; and to the position of women in the series. Our data and source code are both publicly available online.