97 © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 M. Gray, I. Horton (eds.), Seeing Comics through Art History, Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93507-8_6 Aesthetics of Reception: Uncovering the Modes of Interaction in Comics Nina Eckhoff-Heindl Abstract First developed in the literary studies of the late 1960s, the aesthetics of reception was gradually applied within the discipline of Art History. This methodology considers the artwork itself as the result of the interaction between the work and its viewers. Consequently, this approach encourages a focus on the possibilities of perception, experience and the mechanisms in the artwork which unveil these potentials. The approach to aesthetics of reception here are based on a discussion of three early art-historical approaches, namely, those of Wolfgang Kemp, Gottfried Boehm and Max Imdahl. Using two comic examples by Chris Ware, I will demonstrate the potential of reception aesthet- ics for Comics Studies, and, in a fnal step, evince the challenges associated with it. A frst attempt at an explanation of the method’s restrictions was undertaken by Janneke Wesseling, who critically refected and expanded on the perspec- tives of the 1970s and 1980s. Drawing from her insights, this chapter con- cludes with an outlook on aspects essentially connected to comics and which should be followed in developing a reception aesthetics of comics. As I argue from a perceptual-theoretical orientation, comics can be characterised as a visual-tactile medium, which has to be understood in its dialogical relation with its reading viewers. N. Eckhoff-Heindl (*) University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland e-mail: Nina.Heindl@uni-koeln.de