perceived vs received information, i hear you. writing is less accessible than visual narrative arts, thats true, but does verbal communication not also afford more control? sure, theyll never see that sunset the way it is in your mind, but they also know more about it than the film viewer, the comic-reader. nonverbal communication feels like a bigger minefield to me. while ofc most good writing shows rather than tells, verbally describing the nonverbal, theres still that selective emphasis. while it varies by stylisation, visual narrative arts leaves less space for that kind of emphasis by omission.
while comics, for the most part, are more accessible for the reader, i dont think that makes the creators work easier. i could even argue its harder. i think quite verbally, so this might be part of that, but i find that communicating complex emotion and nuance requires a lot more careful thought when working visually than it does while working verbally, and i always think the greatest alchemy in every artform is the things you tell the audience without them realising, even though they get the message. the more accessible the media, the more they dont realise youre telling them, maybe?
(sorry for jumping round your post btw, so nonlinear, naughty naughty.) like i said, limitation - innovation. but cutting your tools down to one doesnt mean your machine has more parts, it just means that one tool does more jobs. prose is amazing, i love it, i envy it, the ability to construct narrative and visuals and all kinds of sensation through words alone is amazing, but as someone who consumes, analyses, and works in both prose and visual media, i just dont think it has more moving parts than film or comics.
are comics not linear? I mean, like, questionable, sure, nonlinear comics are very exciting, but just as avant-garde as nonlinear prose. films linear too. tv, theatre, dance. they have a beginning and an end, a line follows a line, a move then a move, a second then a second - panel, then panel. i think this is where youre getting at received vs perceived again, so i dont have much to say on this part.