Comic book

A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication made of comics art. Its panels show scenes one after another, and the characters' words usually appear in word balloons. Word balloons are a symbol of the comics art form. For the comics art medium itself, see Comics.

Comic Cuts was a British comic published from 1890 to 1953. Before it, Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (1884) used a series of cartoons to tell a story. British readers also enjoyed exciting stories like Spring-heeled Jack, which were printed in "penny dreadfuls." They also read boys' "story papers" and the funny magazine Punch. Punch was the first to use the word "cartoon" in its modern sense of a funny drawing.

The first modern American-style comic book, Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, came out in the United States in 1933. It reprinted older newspaper comic strips. Those strips had already developed many of the ways of telling a story that comics still use. The term "comic book" comes from American comics that were once collections of funny comic strips. Later, comic books began to tell all kinds of stories, and most of them were not funny.

Japan has the largest comic book market. By 1995, the manga market in Japan was worth about ¥586.4 billion (about $6–7 billion). About 1.9 billion manga books were sold each year. These included tankōbon volumes and manga magazines. In 2020, the Japanese manga market reached a new record of ¥612.5 billion. In the United States, the largest comic book publisher is Viz Media, which sells manga. It is followed by DC Comics and Marvel Comics, which publish superhero comics such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, and the X-Men.

Structure

Main article: Comics § Terminology

Comic books depend a lot on how they are arranged and how they look. Creators think about the page, its size, and where each panel sits, so the story is easy to follow. Important parts of a comic book include panels, speech bubbles (also called balloons), lines of text, and characters. Speech balloons are rounded shapes that hold dialogue or other information. A small tail usually links each balloon to a character. Making a comic book takes several steps, such as writing, drawing, and coloring. In the United States, people usually use the term "comic book" for periodicals and trade paperbacks. The word "graphic novel" is used for books that stand on their own.

Main article: American comic book

Comics in the United States date back to 1842, when The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck was printed as a hardcover book. The first comic in standard size was Funnies on Parade, which set the size and style of the modern comic book. Dell Publishing then released Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, the first true American comic book sold at newsstands. In 1938, Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, helped make comic books a major industry and started the Golden Age of Comic Books. Historians divide the years after that into the Silver Age of Comic Books, the Bronze Age of Comic Books, and the Modern Age of Comic Books, which runs from the mid-1980s to today. During the Silver Age, Marvel Comics changed the medium with heroes such as Spider-Man.

In 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham criticized comics in his book Seduction of the Innocent. This led the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency to look into comic books. The industry responded by creating the Comics Code Authority, which required comics to be approved before they were published. This process lasted until the 1970s. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, underground comix were published independently of the main industry. In the 1970s, comic book stores began to appear, and alternative comics grew in popularity. In 1964, Richard Kyle coined the term "graphic novel." Comics were once made mainly for children, but many adults enjoy them now too.

East Asian comics

Main article: Manga Main article: Dōjinshi Main article: Manhwa Main article: Webtoons Main article: Manhua Main article: Truyện tranh

Manga (漫画) are comic books or graphic novels from Japan. Most manga use a style that began in Japan in the late 1800s. The art form has a long history in older Japanese art. In Japan, the word manga can mean comics or cartooning in general. Outside Japan, it usually means comics that were first published in Japan. Japan also has dōjinshi (同人誌, fan magazine), which are fan-made comics. Dōjinshi are much more popular in Japan than underground comics are in America. The biggest dōjinshi fair, Comiket, has many visitors twice a year.

Manhwa (만화) are comic books or graphic novels from Korea. In Korea, the word manhwa can mean comics or cartooning in general. Outside Korea, it usually means comics first published in Korea. Manhwa is strongly influenced by Japanese manga, but it has its own special features. It is different from both manga and manhua. Webtoons have become popular in South Korea as a new way to read comics. This is partly because of different censorship rules, colors and special visual effects, and designs that make reading on phones and computers easier. More manhwa have moved from paper printing to online webtoons, which can pay artists better and give them more freedom. The webtoon style has also spread to other countries, including China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Western countries. Some major webtoon companies are Lezhin, Naver, and Kakao.

European comics

Main article: European comics

France and Belgium have a long history of comics. In French, they are often called BDs, short for bandes dessinées, which means "drawn strips." In Dutch or Flemish, they are called strips. Belgian comics written in Dutch are influenced by Francophone "Franco-Belgian" comics, but they have their own style.

British comics began with Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (1884). It was made for adults, but publishers soon turned to younger readers. Early British comics grew out of illustrated penny dreadfuls from the Victorian era. These stories included Sweeney Todd, Dick Turpin and Varney the Vampire. The two most popular British comic books, The Beano and The Dandy, were first published by DC Thomson in the 1930s. By 1950, each sold about 2 million copies a week. Dennis the Menace was created in the 1950s. In 1954, Tiger introduced Roy of the Rovers, a football comic about Roy Race and his team, Melchester Rovers. Other comics did well too, including Eagle, Valiant, Warrior, Viz and 2000 AD. Judge Dredd was published in tabloid form. In the 1980s, British writers and artists such as Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis and Mark Millar became well known in mainstream comic books. This time is called the "British Invasion."

In Spain, comic books (also called historietas or tebeos) first appeared around 1857. The magazine TBO helped make them popular. After the Spanish Civil War, the government strictly controlled what could be published. Because of this, superhero comics were banned, and comic heroes were often based on historical fiction. Spanish artists have also found success in American and British markets and in Franco-Belgian comics. Italian comics, known as fumetti, started as humor strips at the end of the 19th century. Later, they grew into adventure stories. Artists like Hugo Pratt and Guido Crepax brought Italian comics to readers around the world. Popular titles such as Diabolik and the Bonelli line are still best-sellers. Italy is also famous for making many Walt Disney comic stories. Donald Duck's superhero alter ego, Paperinik, was created there.

Comics in other countries

See also: List of comics by country

Distribution

Getting comic books into stores has long been hard for the comic book industry. Many big shops chose not to carry large amounts of popular comics.

On 13 November 2007, Marvel Comics started Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, a subscription service. Readers can read many comics from Marvel's history online. The service also adds new comics from time to time that cannot be found anywhere else. With Avenging Spider-Man #1, Marvel also became the first publisher to give free digital copies along with the printed comic. As smartphones and tablets became more popular, many major publishers began releasing comics in digital form. The most popular platform is comiXology. Some platforms, such as Graphicly, have closed.

Comic collections in libraries

Many libraries have large collections of comics and graphic novels.

Guinness World Records

In 2015, Japanese manga artist Eiichiro Oda received a Guinness World Records title for the "Most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author." He writes and draws the manga series One Piece. It has been published in the Japanese magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since December 1997. By 2015, 77 collected volumes had come out, and Guinness World Records reported that they had sold 320,866,000 copies. The series also holds a record for the "Most copies published for the same manga series."

In 2018, the Brazilian comic book Turma da Mônica—O Maior Gibi do Mundo! was named the "Largest comic book ever published." It was published by Panini Comics Brasil and Mauricio de Sousa Produções. It measures 69.9 by 99.8 centimetres and has 18 pages. Only 120 copies were printed. In July 2021, Japanese manga artist Takao Saito received a record for the "Most volumes published for a single manga series." This happened when the 201st collected volume of his series Golgo 13 came out. Golgo 13 has been published in the magazine Big Comic since October 1968. This makes it the oldest manga still being published.