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| Comics | |
|---|---|
| Name | Comics |
| Origin | Ancient pictographs and sequential prints |
| Years | Antiquity–present |
| Types | Comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, webcomics, manga, bande dessinée |
Comics
Comics are a medium that combines sequential art and text to convey narratives, information, or humor. Practitioners and institutions across regions such as France, Japan, United States, Belgium, and United Kingdom developed diverse formats exemplified by works published by DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Shueisha, Kodansha, Dargaud, and Éditions Glénat; creators like Will Eisner, Hergé, Osamu Tezuka, Stan Lee, and Alan Moore shaped formal conventions and popular reception.
Comics employ sequential panels, gutters, captions, speech balloons, and visual onomatopoeia to narrate scenes as seen in publications from The New York Times, The Beano, Le Monde, The Guardian, and Shōnen Jump; panels may vary in layout similar to innovations by Frank Miller, Jack Kirby, Moebius, R. Crumb, and Winsor McCay. Visual storytelling techniques derive from traditions including Egyptian hieroglyphs, Bayeux Tapestry, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Hokusai, and Gutenberg Bible-era print culture; narrative pacing and montage mirror practices used by Sergei Eisenstein, Andrei Tarkovsky, Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, and Orson Welles. Stylistic schools—such as manga aesthetics prominent in works by Hayao Miyazaki collaborators, Mahiro Maeda, and Takehiko Inoue—contrast with ligne claire exemplified by Hergé and chiaroscuro approaches used by Will Eisner and Dave McKean.
Precursors appear in artifacts from Lascaux cave, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, and Mesoamerica; printed sequential imagery advanced with Johannes Gutenberg innovations and woodblock prints tied to Utagawa Hiroshige and Hokusai. Serialized newspaper strips flourished in the United States and United Kingdom during the late 19th and early 20th centuries with creators like Winsor McCay, George Herriman, E. C. Segar, and syndicates such as King Features Syndicate and Tribune Content Agency. The comic book boom involved publishers DC Comics and Marvel Comics and landmark events including the rise of superheroes via characters like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, and editorial developments by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Postwar movements include the Franco-Belgian bande dessinée scene centered in Brussels and Paris, the manga revolution led by Osamu Tezuka and magazines like Weekly Shōnen Jump, the underground comix era with Robert Crumb and Kitchen Sink Press, and the graphic novel legitimization through works published by Pantheon Books and recognized by institutions such as the Pulitzer Prize and national libraries.
Formats range from newspaper comic strips in outlets like Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post to anthology magazines such as Heavy Metal (magazine), pocket-sized tankōbon by Shueisha and Kodansha, serialized periodicals like Marvel Comics Presents, and long-form graphic novels distributed by Vertigo (DC Comics), Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, and Drawn & Quarterly. Digital and web-native forms appear on platforms such as Webtoon, hosted projects supported by Kickstarter, and archives maintained by institutions like the Library of Congress; adaptations extend to animated series on studios like Studio Ghibli, film adaptations by Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox, and merchandise licensed by companies such as Hasbro and Takara Tomy.
Genres include superhero narratives exemplified by Marvel Comics and DC Comics characters, manga subgenres like shōnen and shōjo serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump and Ribon, bande dessinée works by Tintin creator Hergé and Astérix creators René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, noir and crime stories seen in Crime and Punishment-inspired works, fantasy and science fiction as in publications from Heavy Metal (magazine) and creators like Moebius, autobiographical comics by Art Spiegelman and Alison Bechdel, and political cartoons published in outlets such as The New Yorker, Le Monde Diplomatique, and The Times. Themes often interrogate identity, colonialism, gender, trauma, and geopolitics, with landmark works addressing events like World War II, Vietnam War, and social movements associated with Civil Rights Movement and Me Too.
Creation involves writers, pencillers, inkers, colorists, letterers, editors, and publishers such as Jim Shooter, Karen Berger, Stan Sakai, Scott McCloud, and studios like Studio Ghibli for adaptations; freelance networks include agencies like Illustrators' Partnership of America and unions represented historically in negotiations with companies like DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Specialized roles emerged with digital coloring by artists influenced by software from companies such as Adobe Systems and lettering standards shaped by pioneers like Tom Orzechowski and John Workman.
Distribution channels include direct market comic shops associated with distributors like Diamond Comic Distributors, newsstand sales tracked by entities such as Nielsen BookScan, and digital storefronts run by ComiXology and LINE Corporation. Industry economics involve publishers Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, and conglomerates like Warner Bros. Discovery and Sony Pictures managing cross-media rights; conventions such as San Diego Comic-Con International, Angoulême International Comics Festival, Comiket, and New York Comic Con serve as marketplaces and cultural hubs.
Comics have influenced visual culture, pedagogy, and filmic language through cross-pollination with figures like Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, Hayao Miyazaki, and institutions like Smithsonian Institution and British Library which archive prominent works. Critical debates concern censorship exemplified by the Comics Code Authority, representation controversies addressed in scholarship around authors like Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, and legal battles over intellectual property involving Jerry Siegel and Jack Kirby estates; academic study is fostered by programs at universities such as Columbia University, University of Oxford, University of Toronto, and journals published by Rutgers University Press.
Category:Sequential art