- This article is about the medium and art form of comics. For the entertainers known as comics, see comedians.
Comics (sometimes spelled comix, also called sequential art) is an art form that features a series of static images in fixed sequence, usually to
tell a story. Typically, comics are printed on paper, and text is often incorporated into
the images. The most common formats are newspaper strips, magazine-format
comic books, and larger bound volumes called graphic novels.
Manga is the Japanese term for comics,
and French comics are known as Bande Dessinée or "B.D." (literally, "strip drawings"). In the UK, the term comics most
often refers to domestic comic books, whilst comic books implies that they come from the U.S.
Definition
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. Will Eisner called comics
"sequential art" in his book on the craft and techniques of the medium.
In Understanding Comics Scott McCloud defined comics as "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in
deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer"; this definition
excludes single-panel illustrations such as The Far Side,
The Family Circus, and political cartoons from the category, instead classifying those as cartoons. By contrast, the Comics Journal's "100 Best
Comics of the 20th Century" included the works of several single panel cartoonists and a caricaturist.
Fumetti, (sometimes called fotonovelas), are comics using photographs instead of illustrations, with speech balloons added. By some definitions
(including McCloud's, above) the definition of comics extends to digital
media such as web comics and sprite comics.
Most agree that animation, which creates the optical illusion of movement
within a static physical frame, is a separate form. With comics, readers connect a series of static images at their own
individual pace, usually with each in its own frame. Some digital-media works combine the techniques of comics and animation as a
hybrid form.
History
When and where comics originated is another matter of debate, largely dependent on its definition. Scott McCloud observes
precedents in Egyptian hieroglyphics, European stained glass windows, pre-Columbian Central American manuscripts, and the
Bayeux Tapestry. Others say modern comics began in the 1820s with Rodolphe Töpffer.
Satirical cartoons in newspapers were popular in much of the 19th century. R.F. Outcault's Hogan's Alley,
(1895), is widely recognized as the first ongoing newspaper strip to feature regular
characters. Its success in promoting newspaper sales prompted the creation of other strips, and marks the beginning of comics as
an ongoing popular art form as it is still known in the 21st century.
The term comics itself derives from early newspaper strips, which featured a variety of genres, but were largely gag
humor, hence the adjective comic. Collections of strips in the 1930s led to the name comic book. Alternatively, newspaper strips were called
funnies and the collections funny books, though the latter term has faded from use. 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 still fit. The term graphic novel was coined in the late 1970s to
distance the material from this confusion.
While the medium is not intrinsically limited to any particular subject or style, some genres have predominated. For older
readers there have been journalistic, historical, educational, erotic, autobiographical, non-narrative, and propagandistic comics. But most comics have been marketed to the young, who prefer
anthropomorphic funny animals, humor, science fiction, horror, crime, romance, and superheroes. Since the 1960s, humor comic strips and superhero comic books have been the most popular genres.
Underground comics have gradually developed into an
artistically ambitious international movement. Usually published outside the "mainstream" comic book industry, these have been
dubbed "independent" or "alternative" comics.
Media
Most images in printed comics are produced using graphite and/or non-photo blue pencil, then inked using either a pen or brush. Colors or shades of gray are sometimes added, usually using digital
tools. Lettering is often done digitally, but some still use pen and ink. However, the use of other illustrative media is not
uncommon, including paint (either by itself or as a coloring technique), pencil alone, digital
drawing tools, digitally-rendered images, and photographs. In theory, any non-sculptural visual arts medium could be used.
Related articles
Comic Formats
Regional categories
Comic Genres
- Caricature
comics
- Children's
comics
- Educational
comics
- Erotic comics
- Editorial comics
- Political
- Satirical
- Social
- Narrative comics
- Action (see also Superhero)
- Anthromorphic funny animals
- Autobiographical
- Crime/Detective
- Historical/War
- Horror
- Illustrated Classics
- Romance
- Superhero
- Science Fiction
- Non sequitur comics
- Wordless/"Silent"/Pantomime comics
Comic book awards
Miscellaneous
Lists
External links
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