The paper analyses the use of pictoral runes as a specific visual semiotic mode employed in comic books. The research relies on Forceville’s (2011) discussion of the meaning of pictorial runes and his method for rune naming, description and classification. The aim of the paper is to confirm the applicability of the method by identifying and categorising the pictorial runes in the Italian comic book series Gea created by Luca Enoch. New pictorial runes that fit Forceville’s model are discovered and the distribution of the runes in the series is briefly described. The paper also argues that the newly discovered runes are indexical rather than symbolic signs.