In comparing Victorian illustrated books with contemporary graphic novels, I found it interesting to consider how the simultaneity between the text and images of the latter and the non-simultaneity of the text and images of the latter contributes to how each medium projects meaning. Earlier in the course, I've found it interesting how illustrations in Victorian books often anticipate the textual scenes they are depicting, leaving the reader to essentially predict how the illustration they are looking at fits into the story. I initially assumed that because in contemporary graphic novels the image and text are set directly beside each other in real time, this would make for a radically different reading experience. However, as I read the Christmas Carol graphic novel, I noticed that - perhaps due to the nature of perception - I was unconciously processing the images before comprehending the text. So there remained the image ---> text hierarchy present in Victorian illustrated books. Though the proximity between text and image that graphic novels present does make for a different reading experience in some respects (e.g., the reader does not have to "predict" how the image he/she is viewing will fit into the story), I found it interesting how relatively similar the two mediums are.