ABSTRACT: Words explain images; while images exemplify words. This is usual in arts and science, from painting to mathematics: this is what the expression «demonstration» says in English; and we insist on the difference with the standard idea of «proof». This is why we are looking for references and meanings, rather than logical deduction. Actually this is what happens in comics: the combination of pictures and words realizes «the truth of figure» (in Auerbach’s sense) and builds a tale through images. In the following pages we sketch some elements of what we call the «drawing reason». We support our idea with examples from Walt Disney comics and from the interesting experiment of mixing philosophy and Western suggested by the Italian editor Sergio Bonelli.

KEYWORDS: Word, figure, demonstration, empiricism, comics.