Comics (via Latin, from the Greek "Κωμικ-ός", kōmikos, of or pertaining to "comedy", from kōmos "revel". Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly ^[1]) is a graphic medium in which images are utilised in order to convey a sequential narrative. Graphics (from Greek grc [[wiktγραφικός γραφικός]] see -graphy) are Visual presentations on some surface such as a wall "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" An image (from Latin imago) or picture is an artifact usually two-dimensional that has a similar appearance to some subject &mdashusually A narrative or story is a construct created in a suitable format (written spoken poetry prose images song Theater, or Dance) that describes a sequence of It is the sequential nature of the pictures, and the predominance of pictures over words, that distinguish comics from picture books, though there is some overlap between the two genres. A picture book is a popular form of illustrated Literature &mdashmore precisely a Book with comparatively few words and at least one Picture on each of Most comics combine words with images, often indicating speech in the form of word balloons, but wordless comics, such as The Little King, are not uncommon. Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in Comic books strips The Little King was a Comic strip created by Otto Soglow, famously telling its stories in a style using images and very few words a pantomime comic strip Words other than dialog, captions for example, usually expand upon the pictures, but sometimes act in counterpoint. In Music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and Rhythm, and interdependent in Harmony ^[2]

Although historically the form dealt with humorous subject matter, its scope has expanded to encompass the full range of literary genres. Winsor McCay ( September 26 1867 (? – July 26 1934) was an American Cartoonist and Animator. Humour or humor (see spelling differences) is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke Laughter and provide Amusement A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set

Comics are typically seen as a low art^{[3][4][5] [6][7][8]}, although there are a few exceptions, such as Krazy Kat^[9] and Barnaby. Low culture is a Derogatory term for some forms of Popular culture. Krazy Kat is a Comic strip created by George Herriman that appeared in U The Comic strip Barnaby by Crockett Johnson (best known today for his children's books such as Harold and the Purple Crayon) featured In the late 20th and early 21st century there has been a movement to rehabilitate the medium.

Early precursors of comics include Trajan's Column and the work of William Hogarth. Trajan's Column is a Monument in Rome raised in honour of the Roman emperor Trajan and constructed by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus William Hogarth (10 November 1697 &ndash 26 October 1764 was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic Comics as a mass medium began in the United States in the early 20th century, with the newspaper comic strip. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The twentieth century of the Common Era began on A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint. A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a Comics artist The combination of words and pictures proved popular, and quickly spread throughout the world. Comic strips were soon gathered into cheap booklets, comic books, and original comic books soon followed. A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative Today, comics are found in newspapers, magazines, comic books, graphic novels, and on the web.

Critical discussions of the form appeared as early as the 1920s,^[10][11] but serious studies were rare until the late 20th century. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on ^[12]

Different conventions were developed around the globe, from the Manhua of China to the manga of Japan, the comic books of the United States, and the anthology comic magazines in Europe. ˈmɑŋgə is the Japanese word for Comics (sometimes called komikku コミック and print Cartoons In their modern form manga date from shortly A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative

Although practitioners can eschew any formal constraints, they often use particular forms and conventions to convey narration and speech, or to evoke emotional or sensual responses. Devices such as speech balloons and boxes are used to indicate dialogue and impart establishing information, while panels, layout, gutters and zip ribbons can help indicate the flow of the story. Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in Comic books strips A panel is an individual frame or single drawing in the multiple-panel sequence of a Comic strip or Comic book. Page layout is the part of Graphic design that deals in the arrangement and style treatment of elements (content on a page In comics motion lines (or movement lines or action lines or speed lines) is a term that refers to the abstract lines that appear behind a moving object Comics use of text, ambiguity, symbolism, design, iconography, literary technique, mixed media and stylistic elements of art help build a subtext of meanings. Ambiguity (Am-big-u-i-ty is the property of being ambiguous, where a Word, term notation sign Symbol, Phrase, sentence, or any "Symbolic" redirects here For other uses see Symbolism (disambiguation and Symbolic (disambiguation. Design is used both as a Noun and a Verb. The term is often tied to the various Applied arts and Engineering (See design disciplines Iconography is the branch of Art history which studies the identification description and the interpretation of the content of images A literary technique or literary device is an identifiable Rule of thumb, convention or Structure that is employed in Literature Mixed media, in Visual art, refers to an artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal followed by a group of artists during a restricted period of time or at least with the heyday Art refers to a diverse range of Human activities creations and expressions that are appealing to the Senses or Emotions of a human individual Subtext is content of a book play musical work film video game or television series which is not announced explicitly by the characters (or author but is implicit or becomes ^[13]

Contents 1 Early narratives in art 2 The 15th–18th centuries and printing advances 3 The 19th century: a form established 4 The 20th century and the mass medium 5 Forms 5.1 Publication formats 6 Artistic medium 6.1 Defining comics 6.2 Art styles 6.3 The language 6.4 Comic creation 6.5 Tools 6.6 Computer generated comics 7 Comics in Higher Education 8 See also 9 Notes 10 Bibliography 11 Further reading 12 External links

Early narratives in art

Comics as an art form established itself in the late 19th and early 20th century, alongside the similar forms of film and animation. Trajan's Column is a Monument in Rome raised in honour of the Roman emperor Trajan and constructed by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames The three forms share certain conventions, most noticeably the mixing of words and pictures, and all three owe parts of their conventions to the technological leaps made through the industrial revolution. The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the Although the comics form was established and popularised in the pages of newspapers and magazines in the late 1890s, narrative illustration has existed for many centuries. A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint. Magazines, periodicals or serials are Publications generally published on a regular schedule containing a variety of articles, generally

Rome's Trajan's Column, dedicated in 113 AD, is one of the earliest surviving examples of a narrative told through the use of sequential pictures, while Egyptian heiroglyphics, Greek friezes, mediaeval tapestries such as the Bayeaux Tapestry and illustrated manuscripts also demonstrate the use of images and words combined to convey a narrative. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Trajan's Column is a Monument in Rome raised in honour of the Roman emperor Trajan and constructed by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus This article is about the contemporary North African ethnic group Hieroglyph ( Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " or hieroglyphics ( = grc-Grek τὰ ἱερογλυφικά The Greeks ( Greek: Έλληνες) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions In Architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an Entablature and may be plain or &ndash in the Ionic or Corinthian order &ndash The Bayeux Tapestry (Tapisserie de Bayeux is a 50 cm by 70 m (20 in by 230 ft long embroidered cloth which explains the events leading up to the 1066 Norman invasion of A manuscript is any Document that is Written by hand as opposed to being printed or reproduced in some other way However, these works lack the ability to travel to the reader; it needed the invention of modern printing techniques to allow the form to capture a wide audience and become a mass medium. "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" ^[14][15][16]

The 15th–18th centuries and printing advances

The invention of the printing press, allowing movable type, established a separation between images and words, the two requiring different methods in order to be reproduced. William Hogarth (10 November 1697 &ndash 26 October 1764 was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic A Rake's Progress is a series of eight paintings by 18th century English artist William Hogarth. A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image Movable type is the system of Printing and Typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual letters or punctuation Early printed material concentrated on religious subjects, but through the 17th and 18th centuries they began to tackle aspects of political and social life, and also started to satirise and caricature. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and Performing arts In satire human A caricature is either a Portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness or in literature a description It was also during this period that the speech bubble was developed as a means of attributing dialogue. Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in Comic books strips

William Hogarth is often identified in histories of the comics form. His work, A Rake's Progress, was composed of a number of canvases, each reproduced as a print, and the eight prints together created a narrative. A Rake's Progress is a series of eight paintings by 18th century English artist William Hogarth. As printing techniques developed, due to the technological advances of the industrial revolution, magazines and newspapers were established. The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the These publications utilised illustrations as a means of commenting on political and social issues, such illustrations becoming known as cartoons in the 1840s. Soon, artists were experimenting with establishing a sequence of images to create a narrative.

While surviving works of these periods such as Francis Barlow's A True Narrative of the Horrid Hellish Popish Plot (c. Francis Barlow (1626? &ndash 1704 was an English painter etcher and illustrator 1682) as well as The Punishments of Lemuel Gulliver and A Rake's Progress by William Hogarth, (1726) can be seen to establish a narrative over a number of images, it wasn't until the 19th century that the elements of such works began to crystallise into the comic strip. William Hogarth (10 November 1697 &ndash 26 October 1764 was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a Comics artist

The speech balloon also evolved during this period, from the medieval origins of the phylacter, a label, usually in the form of a scroll, which identified a character either through naming them or using a short text to explain their purpose. Artists such as George Cruikshank helped codify such phylacters as balloons rather than as scrolls, although at this time they were still referred to as labels. George Cruikshank ( September 27, 1792 — February 1, 1878) was an English Caricaturist and book illustrator praised as Although they were now used to represent dialogue, this dialogue was still used for identification purposes rather than to create a dialogue within the work, and artists soon discarded them in favour of running dialogue underneath the panels. The speech balloons weren't reintroduced to the form until Richard F. Outcault utilised them as a means of establishing dialogue within his works. Richard Felton Outcault ( January 14, 1863 - September 25, 1928) was an American comic strip scriptwriter sketcher and painter ^[17]

The 19th century: a form established

Rodolphe Töpffer, a Francophone Swiss artist, is seen as the key figure of the early part of the 19th century. Rodolphe Töpffer ( January 31, 1799 - June 8, 1846) was a Swiss Teacher, Author, painter, Cartoonist Although speech balloons had fallen from favour during the middle part of the 19th century, Töpffer's sequentially illustrated stories, with the text compartmentalised below the images, were reprinted throughout Europe and the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The lack of copyright laws at this time allowed such pirated editions, and these translated versions created a market on both continents for similar works. Copyright is a legal concept enacted by Governments, giving the creator of an original work of authorship Exclusive rights to control its distribution usually for 'Copyright infringement' (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by Copyright law in a manner that violates ^[18]

In 1845 Töpffer formalised his thoughts on the picture story in his Essay on Physiognomics: "To construct a picture-story does not mean you must set yourself up as a master craftsman, to draw out every potential from your material — often down to the dregs! It does not mean you just devise caricatures with a pencil naturally frivolous. Nor is it simply to dramatize a proverb or illustrate a pun. A pun (or paronomasia) is a Phrase that deliberately exploits confusion between similar-sounding Words for humorous or Rhetorical You must actually invent some kind of play, where the parts are arranged by plan and form a satisfactory whole. You do not merely pen a joke or put a refrain in couplets. You make a book: good or bad, sober or silly, crazy or sound in sense. "^[19][20][21]

In 1843 the satirical drawings which had regularly been appearing in newspapers and magazines gained a name: cartoons. An editorial cartoon, also known as a political cartoon, is an illustration or Comic strip containing a political or Social message that usually The word cartoon has various meanings based on several very different forms of Visual art and Illustration. The British magazine Punch, launched in 1841, referred to its 'humorous pencilings' as cartoons in a satirical reference to the Parliament of the day, who were themselves organising an exhibition of cartoons, or preparatory drawings, at the time. Punch was a British weekly Magazine of Humour and Satire published from 1841 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2002 The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories This usage became common parlance, lasting into the present day. ^[22] Similar magazines containing cartoons in continental Europe included Fliegende Blätter and Le Charivari, while in the U. Le Charivari was an illustrated newspaper published in Paris, France from 1832 to 1937. S. Judge and Puck were popular. Judge was a weekly magazine published in the United States of America between 1881 and 1936 Puck was America's first successful Humor magazine known for its sharp humor and colorful Cartoon Caricatures satirizing the political ^[23]

1865 saw the publication of Max and Moritz by Wilhelm Busch by a German newspaper. For the rockets launched in 1934 by Wernher von Braun, see Aggregate_series#A2 Max and Moritz (A Story of Seven Boyish Pranks is a Wilhelm Busch ( 15 April 1832 - 9 January 1908) was a German Caricaturist, painter and Poet who Busch refined the conventions of sequential art, and his work was a key influence within the form, Rudolph Dirks inspired by the strip to create The Katzenjammer Kids in 1897. Rudolph Dirks ( February 26, 1877 &ndash April 20, 1968) was one of the earliest and most noted Comic strip artists ^[24]

It is around this time that Manhua, the Chinese form of comics, started to formalise, a process that lasted up until 1927. Manhua ( are Chinese Comics originally produced in China. Possibly due to their greater degree of artistic freedom of expression and closer international ties China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National ^[25] The introduction of lithographic printing methods derived from the West was a critical step in expanding the form within China during the early 20th century. Lithography is a method for Printing using a plate or stone with a completely smooth surface This article refers to the cardinal direction for other uses see West (disambiguation. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Like Europe and the United States, satirical drawings were appearing in newspapers and periodicals, initially based on works from those countries. One of the first magazines of satirical cartoons was based on the United Kingdom's Punch, snappily re-branded as "The China Punch". The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located ^[25] The first piece drawn by a person of Chinese nationality was "The Situation in the Far East" from Tse Tsan-Tai, printed 1899 in Japan. Year 1899 ( MDCCCXCIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. By the 1920s a market was established for palm-sized picture books like Lianhuanhua. Lianhuanhua ( Chinese: 连环画 ( Simplified) 連環畫 ( Traditional) Pinyin: Liánhuánhuà or 連環圖 is a palm-size ^[26]

In 1884, Ally Sloper's Half Holiday was published, a magazine whose selling point was a strip featuring the titular character, and widely regarded as the first comic strip magazine to feature a recurring character. Ally Sloper's Half Holiday is a British comic, first published on 3 May 1884. In 1890 two more comic magazines debuted to the British public, Comic Cuts and Illustrated Chips, establishing the tradition of the British comic as an anthology periodical containing comic strips. Jack Shepherd (born 29 October 1940 is an English Actor, Playwright, Theatre director, Saxophone player and Jazz A British comic is a periodical published in the United Kingdom that contains comic strips ANThology is the first Major label album by Alien Ant Farm released on March 6, 2001 in the USA and March 19 ^[16]

In the United States, R.F. Outcault's work in combining speech balloons and images on Hogan's Alley and The Yellow Kid has been credited as establishing the form and conventions of the comic strip. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Richard Felton Outcault ( January 14, 1863 - September 25, 1928) was an American comic strip scriptwriter sketcher and painter The Yellow Kid emerged as the lead character in Hogan's Alley drawn by Richard F The Yellow Kid emerged as the lead character in Hogan's Alley drawn by Richard F ^[27] Although this view is being revised by current academics, who are uncovering many other works which combine speech bubbles and a multi image narrative, the popularity of Outcalt and the position of the strip in a newspaper is credited as being the driving force of the form. ^[28][29]

The 20th century and the mass medium

The 1920s and 1930s saw further booms within the industry. In China a market was established for palm-sized picture books like Lianhuanhua,^[26] while the market for comic anthologies in Britain had turned to targeting children through juvenile humour, with The Dandy and The Beano launched. Lianhuanhua ( Chinese: 连环画 ( Simplified) 連環畫 ( Traditional) Pinyin: Liánhuánhuà or 連環圖 is a palm-size The Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom. The Beano comic is a long-running British children's comic, published by D In Belgium, Hergé created the Tintin newspaper strip for a comic supplement; this was successfully collected in a bound album and created a market for further such works. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Georges Prosper Remi ( May 22, 1907 - March 3, 1983) better known by the Pen name Hergé, was a Belgian The Adventures of Tintin (Les Aventures de Tintin is a series of Comic strips created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi Le Petit Vingtième ("The Little Twentieth" was the weekly youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle ("The Twentieth The same period in the United States had seen newspaper strips expand their subject matter beyond humour, with action, adventure and mystery strips launched. The collection of such material also began, with The Funnies, a reprint collection of newspaper strips, published in tabloid size in 1929. The Funnies is an American publication of the late 1920s that was a seminal precursor of Comic books.

A market for such comic books soon followed, and by 1938 publishers were printing original material in the format. It was at this point that Action Comics#1 launched, with Superman as the cover feature. Action Comics 1 is a Comic book that was published in April 1938 (cover-dated June by National Allied Publications a corporate predecessor of DC Comics Superman is a fictional Comic book Superhero widely considered to be one of the most recognized of such characters and an American Cultural icon The popularity of the character swiftly enshrined the superhero as the defining genre of American comics, and although the genre fell out of favour in the 1950s, the 1960s saw it re-establish its domination of the form until the late 20th century.

In Japan, a country with a long tradition for illustration and whose language evolved from pictures, comics were hugely popular. Referred to as manga, the Japanese form was established after World War II by Osamu Tezuka, who expanded the page count of a work to number in the hundreds, and who developed a filmic style, heavily influenced by the Disney animations of the time. ˈmɑŋgə is the Japanese word for Comics (sometimes called komikku コミック and print Cartoons In their modern form manga date from shortly World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including was a Japanese manga artist, Animator, producer and Medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine The Japanese market expanded its range to cover works in many genres, from juvenile fantasy through romance to adult fantasies. Japanese manga is typically published in large anthologies, containing several hundred pages, and the stories told have long been used as sources for adaptation into animated film. In Japan such films are referred to as anime, and many creators will work in both forms simultaneously, leading to an intrinsic linking of the two forms.

During the latter half of the 20th century comics have become a very popular item for collectors and from the 1970s American comics publishers have actively encouraged collecting and shifted a large portion of comics publishing and production to appeal directly to the collector's community. Comic book collecting is a Hobby that treats Comic books and related items as Collectibles or artwork to be sought after and preserved

Writing in 1972, Sir Ernst Gombrich certainly felt Töpffer to have evolved a new pictorial language, that of an abbreviated art style, which worked by allowing the audience to fill in gaps with their own imagination. Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich, OM, CBE ( 30 March 1909 &ndash 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born Art historian ^[30]

The modern double usage of the term comic, as an adjective describing a genre, and a noun designating an entire medium, has been criticised as confusing and misleading. In the 1960s and 1970s, underground cartoonists used the spelling comix to distinguish their work from mainstream newspaper strips and juvenile comic books; ironically, although their work was written for an adult audience, it was usually comedic in nature as well, so the "comic" label was still appropriate. Underground comics (or comix) are Small press or self-published Comic books that began to appear in the US in the late 1960s ^[31] The term graphic novel was popularised in the late 1970s, having been coined at least two decades previous, to distance the material from this confusion. A ^[32]

In the 1980s comics scholarship started to blossom in the U. S. ,^[33] and a resurgence in the popularity of comics was seen, with Alan Moore and Frank Miller producing notable superhero works and Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes being syndicated. Alan Moore (born November 18 1953 in Northampton) is an English Writer most famous for his influential work in Comics, including the acclaimed Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American Writer, Artist and Film director best known for his dark William B "Bill" Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) an American Cartoonist, is the author of the Comic strip Calvin and Hobbes Calvin and Hobbes is a Comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Watterson, following the humorous antics of Calvin, an imaginative

In 2005 Robert Crumb's work was exhibited in galleries both sides of the Atlantic, and The Guardian newspaper devoted its tabloid supplement to a week long exploration of his work and idioms. Robert Dennis Crumb (born August 30, 1943) often credited simply as R ^[34]

Forms

Comics have been presented within a wide number of publishing and typographical formats, from the very short panel cartoon to the more lengthy graphic novel. A panel is an individual frame or single drawing in the multiple-panel sequence of a Comic strip or Comic book. A The cartoon, traditionally containing satirical or humorous content in the manner of those seen in The New Yorker or Private Eye, originate from the mid nineteenth century. The word cartoon has various meanings based on several very different forms of Visual art and Illustration. An editorial cartoon, also known as a political cartoon, is an illustration or Comic strip containing a political or Social message that usually A gag cartoon is a single-panel Cartoon, usually including a written caption that appears beneath the drawing most often published in magazines The New Yorker is an American Magazine that publishes reportage commentary criticism essays fiction satire cartoons and poetry Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical Magazine, edited by Ian Hislop. This form of comics is still popular, although the last few years has seen a reduction in the number of editorial cartoonists employed in the US media. ^[35] Although there is some dispute as to whether the cartoon constitutes a form of comics, a precursor or a related form, it has been argued that since the cartoon both combines words with image and constructs a narrative, it merits inclusion as a form of comics.

The comic strip is simply a sequence of cartoons which unite to tell a story within that sequence, and were originally known as strip cartoons. A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a Comics artist Originally the term comic strip was used to apply to any sequence of cartoons, no matter the venue of publication or length of the sequence, but now, mainly in the United States, the term refers to the strips published in newspapers. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the These strips are now typically humorous or satirical strips, such as Hägar the Horrible and Doonesbury, but have often been action themed, educational or even biographical. Hägar the Horrible (sometimes referred to as simply Hagar) is the title and the name of the main character of a syndicated Comic strip Doonesbury is a Comic strip by G B Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of a vast array of different characters of different ages professions In the United States the term "comics" is sometimes used to describe the page of a newspaper upon which comic strips are found, with the term "comic" quickly adopting through popular usage to refer to the form rather than the content. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[36][37] Said pages are also referred to as the "funny pages", and comics are hence sometimes called "the funnies". ^[38] In the United Kingdom, the term comic strip is still applied to the longer stories which appear in comics such as 2000 AD or The Beano. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Beano comic is a long-running British children's comic, published by D

Publication formats

Over time a number of formats have become closely associated with the form, from the comic book to the webcomic. A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are Comics Published on a Website, often exclusively providing easy access to an The American comic book originated in the early part of the twentieth century, and grew from magazines which repackaged comic strips. An American comic book is a small Magazine originating in the United States and containing a Narrative in the Comics form Eventually, original material was commissioned, and the material developed from its humorous origins to encompass adventure stories, romance, war and superheroes, with the latter genre coming to dominate the comic book publishing industry in the latter parts of the twentieth century. Although referred to as comic books, these publications are actually more akin to magazines, having soft covers printed on glossy paper, with the interiors consisting of newsprint quality paper or higher grade. In Europe, magazines were always a venue for original material in the form, and such comic magazines or comic books soon grew into anthologies, in which a number of stories would be serialised. In continental Europe a market soon established itself to support collections of these strips. All of these publications are generally referred to as "comics" for short, with typical American and British comic books or magazines running 32 pages, including advertisements and letter column. (These are sometimes known as 36-page books, counting the covers. ) European comic magazines have wildly varying page numbers, currently ranging mostly between 52 and 120 pages, while European comic albums traditionally had between 32 and 62 pages.

In the United States, when a publisher collects previously serialised stories, such a collection is commonly referred to as either a trade paperback or as a graphic novel. Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding. A These are books, typically squarebound and published with a card cover, containing no adverts. They generally collect a single story, which has been broken into a number of chapters previously serialised in comic books, with the issues collectively known as a story arc. Such trade paperbacks can contain anywhere from four issues (for example, there is Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross) to as many as twenty (The Death of Superman). Mark Waid (born March 21 1962 in Hueytown Alabama) is an American Comic book Writer. Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American Comic book painter, Illustrator and The Death of Superman is a Comic book Storyline (culminating in Superman #75 in 1992 that served as the catalyst for DC Comics ' In continental Europe, especially Belgium and France, such collections are usually somewhat larger in size and published with a hardback cover, a format established by the Tintin' series in the 1930s. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Adventures of Tintin (Les Aventures de Tintin is a series of Comic strips created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi These are referred to as comic albums,^[39] a term which in the United States refers to anthology books. The United Kingdom has no great tradition of such collections, although during the 1980s Titan publishing launched a line collecting stories previously published in 2000 AD.

The graphic novel format is similar to typical book publishing, with works being published in both hardback and paperback editions. The term has proved a difficult one to fully define, and refers not only to fiction but also factual works, and is also used to describe collections of previously serialised works as well as original material. Some publishers will distinguish between such material, using the term "original graphic novel" for work commissioned especially for the form.

Newspaper strips also get collected, both in Europe and in the United States, and these are sometimes also referred to as graphic novels. In the UK it is traditional for the children's comics market to release comic annuals, which are hardback books containing strips, as well as text stories and puzzles and games. ^[40][41][42] In the United States, the comic annual was a summer publication, typically an extended comic book, with storylines often linked across a publisher's line of comics.

Webcomics, also known as online comics and web comics, are comics that are available on the Internet. Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are Comics Published on a Website, often exclusively providing easy access to an The World Wide Web (commonly shortened to the Web) is a system of interlinked Hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. Many webcomics are exclusively published online, while some are published in print but maintain a web archive for either commercial or artistic reasons. Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view An archive refers to a collection of historical records and also refers to the location in which these records are kept With the Internet's easy access to an audience, webcomics run the gamut from traditional comic strips to graphic novels and beyond. A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a Comics artist

Webcomics are similar to self-published print comics in that almost anyone can create their own webcomic and publish it on the Web. Currently, there are thousands of webcomics available online, with some achieving popular, critical, or commercial success. The Perry Bible Fellowship is syndicated in print, while Brian Fies' Mom's Cancer won the inaugural Eisner Award for digital comics in 2005 and was subsequently collected and published in hardback. The Perry Bible Fellowship (or PBF) is a Newspaper comic strip and Webcomic by Nicholas Gurewitch Mom's Cancer is a webcomic created by writer Brian Fies The comic is an autobiographical story dealing with his mother's fight against metastatic Lung cancer The Will Eisner Comic Industry Award is a prize given for creative achievement in American Comic books It is named in honor of the pioneering writer and artist Will Eisner

The comics form can also be utilized to convey information in mixed media. For example, strips designed for educative or informative purposes, notably the instructions upon an airplane's safety card. These strips are generally referred to as instructional comics. The comics form is also utilized in the film and animation industry, through storyboarding. Storyboards are illustrations displayed in sequence for the purpose of visualizing an animated or live-action film. An illustration is a visualization such as a Drawing, Painting, Photograph or other work of Art that stresses subject more than A storyboard is essentially a large comic of the film or some section of the film produced beforehand to help the directors and cinematographers visualize the scenes and find potential problems before they occur. Often storyboards include arrows or instructions that indicate movement.

Like many other media, comics can also be self-published. Self-publishing is the Publishing of Books and other media by the Authors of those works rather than by established Third-party One typical format for self-publishers and aspiring professionals is the minicomic, typically small, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. A minicomic is a small creator-published Comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding A photocopier (or copier is a machine that makes Paper copies of documents and other visual images quickly and cheaply These are a common inexpensive way for those who want to make their own comics on a very small budget, with mostly informal means of distribution. Distribution (or place) is one of the four elements of Marketing mix. A number of cartoonists have started this way and gone on to more traditional types of publishing, while other more established artists continue to produce minicomics on the side. A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing Cartoons Traditionally much of this work was and still is humorous and is intended primarily for entertainment purposes

Artistic medium

Defining comics

Note: Although it takes the form of a plural noun, the common usage when referring to comics as a medium is to treat it as singular.

Scholars disagree on the definition of comics; some claim its printed format is crucial, some emphasize the interdependence of image and text, and others its sequential nature. The term as a reference to the medium has also been disputed.

In 1996, Will Eisner published Graphic Storytelling, in which he defined comics as "the printed arrangement of art and balloons in sequence, particularly in comic books. William Erwin Eisner ( March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an acclaimed American Comics Writer, Artist and Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in Comic books strips "^[43] Eisner's earlier, more influential definition from 1985's Comics and Sequential Art described the technique and structure of comics as sequential art, ". Comics & Sequential Art is a 1985 Book by Will Eisner that provides an academic overview of the principles of Sequential art, focusing . . the arrangement of pictures or images and words to narrate a story or dramatize an idea. "^[44]

In Understanding Comics (1993) Scott McCloud defined sequential art and comics as: "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer";^[45] this definition excludes single-panel illustrations such as The Far Side, The Family Circus, and most political cartoons from the category, classifying those as cartoons. Understanding Comics The Invisible Art is a 215-page Non-fiction Comic book, written and drawn by Scott McCloud and originally published Scott McCloud (born Scott McLeod on June 10 1960 is an American Cartoonist and theorist on comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium The Far Side is a popular one-panel syndicated comic created by Gary Larson. The Family Circus (originally The Family Circle) is a syndicated Comic strip created and written by cartoonist Bil Keane and inked/colored An editorial cartoon, also known as a political cartoon, is an illustration or Comic strip containing a political or Social message that usually The word cartoon has various meanings based on several very different forms of Visual art and Illustration. By contrast, The Comics Journal's "100 Best Comics of the 20th Century",^[46] included the works of several single panel cartoonists and a caricaturist, and academic study of comics has included political cartoons[1]. The Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is a US magazine of news and criticism pertaining to Comic books and strips

R. C. Harvey, in his essay Comedy At The Juncture Of Word And Image, offered a competing definition in reference to McCloud's: ". . . comics consist of pictorial narratives or expositions in which words (often lettered into the picture area within speech balloons) usually contribute to the meaning of the pictures and vice versa. "^[47] This, however, ignores the existence of wordless comics.

Most agree that animation, which creates the optical illusion of movement within a static physical frame, is a separate form, although ImageTexT, a peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on comics, accepts submissions relating to animation as well[2], and the third annual Conference on Comics at the University of Florida focused on comics and animation[3]. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames The University of Florida ( Florida or UF) is a public land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant major Research

Art styles

While almost all comics art is in some sense abbreviated, and also while every artist who has produced comics work brings their own individual approach to bear, some broader art styles have been identified. For the HTML tag see HTML element. An abbreviation (from Latin brevis "short"

The basic styles have been identified as realistic and cartoony, with a huge middle ground for which R. Realism is a visual art style that depicts the actuality of what the eyes can see Fiore has coined the phrase liberal. Fiore has also expressed distaste with the terms realistic and cartoony, preferring the terms literal and freestyle, respectively. ^[48]

Scott McCloud has created The Big Triangle^[49] as a tool for thinking about comics art. He places the realistic representation in the bottom left corner, with iconic representation, or cartoony art, in the bottom right, and a third identifier, abstraction of image, at the apex of the triangle. For other uses of the term see Icon (disambiguation. For a list of icons for use on Wikipedia see WikipediaIcons. --> Abstraction is the process or result of generalization by reducing the information This allows the placement and grouping of artists by triangulation. In Trigonometry and Geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by measuring angles to it from known points at either

• The cartoony style is one which utilises comic effects and a variation of line widths as a means of expression. Characters here tend to have rounded, simplified anatomy. Noted exponents of this style are Carl Barks, Will Eisner, Ray Mullikin and Jeff Smith. Carl Barks ( March 27, 1901 &ndash August 25, 2000) was a famous Disney Studio illustrator and Comic book creator who Jeff Smith (born 1960 is an American Cartoonist, best known as the creator of the self-published Comic book series Bone ^[48]
• The realistic style, also referred to as the adventure style is the one developed for use within the adventure strips of the 1930s. They required a less cartoony look, focusing more on realistic anatomy and shapes, and used the illustrations found in pulp magazines as a basis. An illustration is a visualization such as a Drawing, Painting, Photograph or other work of Art that stresses subject more than Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps" were inexpensive Fiction magazines ^[50] This style became the basis of the superhero comic book style, since Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel originally worked Superman up for publication as an adventure strip. Joseph "Joe" Shuster (July 10 1914 - July 30 1992 was a Canadian -born American Comic book Artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics Jerome "Jerry" Siegel (October 17 1914 – January 28 1996 who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, Siegel was a fan of movies Superman is a fictional Comic book Superhero widely considered to be one of the most recognized of such characters and an American Cultural icon ^[51]

Another style is the Ligne claire of Hergé and many others, which uses very simplified, uniform lines. Ligne claire ( French for "clear line" is a style of Drawing pioneered by Hergé, the Belgian creator of The Adventures Georges Prosper Remi ( May 22, 1907 - March 3, 1983) better known by the Pen name Hergé, was a Belgian

The language

As noted above, two distinct definitions have been used to define comics as an art form: the combination of both word and image; and the placement of images in sequential order. Both definitions are lacking, in that the first excludes any sequence of wordless images; and the second excludes single panel cartoons such as editorial cartoons. The purpose of comics is certainly that of narration, and so that must be an important factor in defining the art form. A narrative or story is a construct created in a suitable format (written spoken poetry prose images song Theater, or Dance) that describes a sequence of

Comics, as sequential art, emphasise the pictorial representation of a narrative. This means comics are not an illustrated version of standard literature, and while some critics argue that they are a hybrid form of art and literature, others contend comics are a new and separate art; an integrated whole, of words and images both, where the pictures do not just depict the story, but are part of the telling. Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter Art refers to a diverse range of Human activities creations and expressions that are appealing to the Senses or Emotions of a human individual In comics, creators transmit expression through arrangement and juxtaposition of either pictures alone, or word(s) and picture(s), to build a narrative.

The narration of a comic is set out through the layout of the images, and while there may be many people who work on one work, like films, there is one vision of the narrative which guides the work. The layout of images on a page can be utilised by artists to convey the passage of time, to build suspense or to highlight action. ^[52]

For a fuller exploration of the language, please see Comics vocabulary. Comics vocabulary consists of many different techniques and images which a Comic book artist employs in order to convey a Narrative within the medium of

Comic creation

Comics artists will generally sketch a drawing in pencil before going over the drawing again in ink, using either a dip pen or a brush. A dip pen (also sometimes called a " Nib pen" usually consists of a metal nib with capillary channels like those of Fountain pen "Paintbrush" redirects here For other uses see Paintbrush (disambiguation. Artists will also make use of a lightbox when creating the final image in ink. In photography a lightbox has several applications One is a container with several Lightbulbs and a pane of Frosted glass on the top Some artists, Brian Bolland being a notable example,^[53] are now using digital means to create artwork, with the published work being the first physical appearance of the artwork. Brian Bolland (born 1951 is a British Comics Artist, known for his meticulous detailed linework and eye-catching compositions

By many definitions (including McCloud's, above) the definition of comics extends to digital media such as webcomics and the mobile comic. Digital media (as opposed to analog media) usually refers to Electronic media that work on digital Codes. Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are Comics Published on a Website, often exclusively providing easy access to an A Mobile comic is a digital Comic or cartoon strip that can be purchased downloaded read and sometimes edited or shared with friends via Mobile phones

The nature of the comics work being created determines the number of people who work upon its creation, with successful comic strips and comic books being produced through a studio system, in which an artist will assemble a team of assistants to help in the creation of the work. A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a Comics artist A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative A studio is a Artist 's or worker's workroom or an artist and his or her Employees who work within that studio However, works from independent companies, self-publishers or those of a more personal nature can be produced by as little as one creator. Self-publishing is the Publishing of Books and other media by the Authors of those works rather than by established Third-party

Within the comic book industry of the United States, the studio system has come to be the main method of creation. Through its use by the industry, the roles have become heavily codified, and the managing of the studio has become the company's responsibility, with an editor discharging the management duties. The editor will assemble a number of creators and oversee the work to publication.

Any number of people can assist in the creation of a comic book in this way, from a plotter, a breakdown artist, a penciller, an inker, a scripter, a letterer, and a colorist, with some roles being performed by the same person. Mythos (Aristotle In literature the plot comprises all the events in a story particularly rendered towards the achievement of some particular Artistic or Emotional A script breakdown is an intermediate step in the production of a play, Film, Comic book, or any other work that is originally planned using a script A penciller (or penciler) is one of a number of types of Artists working within the Comic book industry The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional Comic book, or Graphic novel. A letterer is a member of a team of Comic book creators responsible for drawing the Comic book 's text In Comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black and white line art

In contrast, a comic strip tends to be the work of a sole creator, usually termed a cartoonist. However, it is not unusual for a cartoonist to employ the studio method, particularly when a strip become successful. Mort Walker is one such creator who employed a studio, while Bill Watterson was one such cartoonist who eschewed the studio method, preferring to create the strip himself. Addison Morton Walker (born September 3, 1923 in El Dorado, Kansas) more popularly known as Mort Walker, is an American William B "Bill" Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) an American Cartoonist, is the author of the Comic strip Calvin and Hobbes Gag, political and editorial cartoonists tend to work alone as well, although again it is not unheard of for a cartoonist to use assistants.

Tools

An artist will use a variety of pencils, paper, typically Bristol board, and a waterproof ink. Bristol board (also referred to as Bristol paper) is a heavyweight paper used for Technical drawing, Illustration, and other two-dimensional art forms An ink is a Liquid containing various Pigments and/or Dyes used for coloring a surface to produce an Image, text, or When inking, an artist may choose to use a variety of brushes, dip pens, a fountain pen or a variety of technical pens or markers. "Paintbrush" redirects here For other uses see Paintbrush (disambiguation. A dip pen (also sometimes called a " Nib pen" usually consists of a metal nib with capillary channels like those of Fountain pen A fountain pen is a Pen that contains a reservoir of water-based liquid ink. A technical pen is a specialized instrument used by an Engineer, Architect, or draftsperson (British draughtsperson) to make lines of constant Mechanical tints can be employed to add grey tone to an image. “Tint” redirects here For other uses see Tint (disambiguation In Color theory, a tint is the mixture of a Color with An artist might also choose to create his work in paints; either acrylics; gouache; poster paints; or watercolors. Acrylic paint is fast-drying Paint containing pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer Emulsion. Gouache, Pronounced "Gouash" (from the Italian guazzo, "water paint splash" or bodycolor (the term preferred by art historians Gouache, Pronounced "Gouash" (from the Italian guazzo, "water paint splash" or bodycolor (the term preferred by art historians Watercolor ( US) or Watercolour ( UK) (and "aquarelle" in French is a Painting method Color can also be achieved through crayons, pastels or colored pencils.

Eraser, rulers, templates, set squares and a T-square assist in creating lines and shapes. An eraser or rubber is an article of Stationery that is used for removing Pencil and sometimes Pen writings A ruler, or rule, is an instrument used in Geometry, Technical drawing and engineering/building to measure distances and/or to rule straight In American English, a set square is an alternative name for a T-square. A T-square is a Technical drawing instrument primarily a guide for drawing Horizontal lines on a Drafting table. A drawing board gives a good angled surface to work from, with lamps supplying necessary lighting. A drawing board (also drawing table, drafting table or architect's table) is in its antique form a kind of multipurpose Desk which can be A light box allows an artist to trace his pencil work when inking, allowing for a looser finish. In photography a lightbox has several applications One is a container with several Lightbulbs and a pane of Frosted glass on the top Knives and scalpels will fill a variety of tasks, including cutting board or scraping mistakes. A knife is a handheld sharp-edged instrument consisting of handle attached to a Blade used for cutting A scalpel is a small but extremely sharp knife used for Surgery, anatomical Dissection, and various Arts and crafts. A cutting mat will assist when cutting paper. Process white is a thick opaque white handy for covering mistakes, while adhesives and tapes are helpful in composition where an image may need to be assembled from different sources. Glue or adhesive is a compound that adheres or bonds two items together For uses of the word ' tape see the disambiguation page Tape.

Computer generated comics

With the growth of computer processing power and ownership, there are now an increasing number of examples of comic books or strips where the art is made by using computers, either mixing it with hand drawings or replacing hand drawing completely. Dave McKean is one artist who combines both paper and the digital methods of composition for comics,^[54] while in 1998 Pete Nash pioneered the use of fully digitised 3D artwork on his Striker comic strip for The Sun. David Tench McKean (born 29 December 1963 in Maidenhead, Berkshire) is an English Illustrator, Photographer, Pete Nash is the creator of the football Comic strip Striker, which appears daily in The Sun newspaper 3D computer graphics (in contrast to 2D computer graphics) are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer Striker is a Comic strip (and for a time it was a magazine in the British tabloid The Sun, created by Pete Nash. The Sun is a Tabloid daily newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland with the highest circulation of any daily English-language ^[55] Computers are also now widely used for both lettering and coloring.

Comics in Higher Education

A growing number of universities around the world are recognizing the academic legitimacy of comics studies, leading to the presence of comics courses being offered at the college level. See "Links" and "Syllabi" at http://www.teachingcomics.org for lists of available courses.

See also

• List of comics awards
• Gorillas in comics
• Woodcuts
• Cartoon Research Library
• Manga

Notes

Bibliography

• Arnold, Andrew (Apr. 05, 2001). "Does X Mark the Spot?". Time. Accessed May 30, 2005. Events 1416 - The Council of Constance, called by the Emperor Sigismund a supporter of Antipope John XXIII burns Jerome of Prague following Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
• Fiore. R (2005). Adventures in Nomenclature: Literal, Liberal and Freestyle. The Comics Journal Message Board. Retrieved on June 14, 2005.
• McCloud, Scott (1993). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Kitchen Sink Press. ISBN 0-87816-243-7.  
• Perry, George; Aldridge, Alan (1989 reprint with introduction). The Penguin Book Of Comics. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-002802-1.  
• Sabin, Roger (1993). Adult Comics An Introduction. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-04419-7.  
• Santos, Derek (1998) Comic History. The Comic Page. Retrieved on June 26, 2005.
• Varnum, Robin & Gibbons, Christina T. editors (2001). The Language of Comics: Word and Image. University Press Mississippi. ISBN 1-57806-414-7.  
• Williams, Jeff COMICS: A TOOL OF SUBVERSION? Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 2(6) (1994) 129-146

Further reading

• David Carrier, The Aesthetics of Comics, Penn State Press, 2002 ISBN 0-271-02188-8
• Will Eisner Comics and Sequential Art Poorhouse Press 1985 ISBN 0-9614728-0-4
• Will Eisner Graphic Storytelling Poorhouse Press 1995 ISBN 0-9614728-3-9
• Maurice Horn ed. William Erwin Eisner ( March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an acclaimed American Comics Writer, Artist and The World Encyclopedia of Comics Avon 1977 ISBN 0877543232
• Scott McCloud Understanding Comics - the Invisible Art HarperCollins 1994 ISBN 0-613-02782-5
• Roger Sabin Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: a History of Comic Art Phaidon 1996 ISBN 0714839930
• Coulton Waugh The Comics The Macmillan Company 1947 ISBN 0878054995
• ed. Scott McCloud (born Scott McLeod on June 10 1960 is an American Cartoonist and theorist on comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium Roger Sabin is a comics writer and lecturer at Central St Martins in London, England. Frederick Coulton Waugh ( March 10 1896, Cornwall, England - May 23 1973) was a Cartoonist, painter Gary Groth & R. Gary Groth (born 1954 is an American Comic book editor, Publisher, and Critic. Fiore The New Comics Berkley Books 1988 ISBN 0425113663

External links

• Andy's early comics archive History of early comics
• The Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco Comics exhibitions
• Cartoon Research Library
• Comic Art Collection of Michigan State University
• Comics Scholars' Discussion List Academic forum
• ImageTexT Interdisciplinary Comics Studies
• The Senate Investigation Excerpt from "Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code"
• Stories Without Words:A Bibliography with Annotations (access via Wayback Machine Internet Archive)
• TIME Archives' Collection of Comics

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