Comic book

A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a book with stories told using pictures. These pictures, called panels, show scenes from the story one after another. The panels often have words in word balloons that show what the characters are saying.

Comic Cuts was a British comic that was published from 1890 to 1953. Before that, Ally Sloper's Half Holiday started in 1884. It used cartoons to tell stories.

The first modern American-style comic book, Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, came out in the US in 1933. It had stories that were first shown in newspapers as comic strips. Japan has the biggest comic book market, with manga being very popular there. In the United States, big companies like Viz Media, DC Comics and Marvel Comics make popular superhero comics with characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, and the X-Men.

Structure

Main article: Comics § Terminology

Comic books are special because of how they are made and how they look. Writers and artists carefully place each part on the page, like the size and spot of each piece. Key parts of a comic book include panels, the boxes that show each scene, and speech bubbles, also called balloons, which hold the characters' words. These bubbles often have a tail that points to the character speaking.

Making a comic book has many steps, such as writing the story, drawing the pictures, and adding color. In the United States, people usually call these books "comic books" when they come out regularly, and they use the term "graphic novel" for books that tell one full story.

American comic books

Main article: American comic book

Comics have been popular in the United States since The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck was printed in 1842, the first known American comic book. The first comic book with the size we know today was Funnies on Parade. It set the shape, how long it would last, and the way books were made.

In 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman. This helped make comic books very popular and started the Golden Age of Comic Books. This time gave us the idea of the superhero archetype.

The history of American comic books has different times or "ages." The Golden Age of Comic Books began in 1938 with Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1. Then came the Silver Age of Comic Books in 1956 with the Flash's first show. After that was the Bronze Age of Comic Books in the early 1970s. Now we are in the Modern Age of Comic Books, which started in the mid-1980s and is still going.

East Asian comics

Japanese manga

Main article: Manga

Manga are comic books or graphic novels from Japan. They started in the late 1800s, but comic art was in Japanese art even earlier. In Japan, manga means any comic or cartoon. Outside Japan, it means comics first published in Japan.

Dōjinshi

Main article: Dōjinshi

Dōjinshi (同人誌, fan magazine) are fan-made comics from Japan. They have a big market there, bigger than in America. The biggest event for these comics is Comiket, which has 500,000 visitors twice a year.

Korean manhwa

Main article: Manhwa

Manhwa are comic books or graphic novels from Korea. Like in Japan, manhwa can mean any comic or cartoon in Korea, but outside Korea it means comics first published there. Manhwa was influenced by Japanese manga but has its own special styles.

Webtoons

Main article: Webtoons

Webtoons are a popular way to read comics in South Korea. They are made to look good on phones and computers, often in color with special effects. Many manhwa have moved from printed books to webtoons because they can make more money and be more creative. Webtoons are now popular in many countries, including China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Western countries. Big companies that share webtoons include Lezhin, Naver, and Kakao.

Chinese manhua

Main article: Manhua

Vietnamese truyện tranh

Main article: Truyện tranh

European comics

Main article: European comics

Franco-Belgian comics

Main article: Bande dessinée

France and Belgium have a long history with comics, called BDs in French, meaning "drawn strips." Belgian comic books in Dutch have their own style but are still influenced by French comics.

British comics

Main article: British comics

British comics became popular in the early 1900s, starting from illustrated books called penny dreadfuls. Two famous British comics, The Beano and The Dandy, began in the 1930s and were very popular with children. Dennis the Menace joined The Beano in the 1950s and became a favorite character. Another well-known comic, Tiger, started in 1954 and featured Roy of the Rovers, a football story many still remember. Other comics like Eagle, Valiant, Warrior, Viz, and 2000 AD also became successful.

Spanish comics

Main article: Spanish comics

Comics in Spain, called historietas or tebeos, began around 1857. After the Spanish Civil War, strict rules limited what could be shown, so many stories focused on history. Popular comics included Carpanta and Mortadelo y Filemón, known for their humor.

Italian comics

Main article: Italian comics

In Italy, comics started as humor strips in the late 1800s and later included adventure stories. After World War II, artists like Hugo Pratt and Guido Crepax introduced Italian comics to the world. Popular series such as Diabolik and Tex Willer remain very popular. Italian artists also create stories for Disney, including adventures of Donald Duck as Superduck.

Comics in other countries

See also: List of comics by country

Comic books and comics are read all over the world. Each country adds its own special touch to this art form. For example, Japan has created manga. These are very popular comic books with many different styles and stories. In Europe, many countries have long traditions of comic books. They often feature unique characters and storytelling styles that reflect their cultures. These comics bring together art and storytelling in fun and creative ways for readers everywhere.

Distribution

Distribution has been hard for the comic book industry. Many stores did not want to keep many comics in stock.

In 2007, Marvel Comics started Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. This service let people read many old comics online. Later, when Avenging Spider-Man #1 came out, Marvel gave away free digital copies with printed books. As smartphones and tablets became popular, big publishers started selling comics digitally. comiXology became a favorite place to read comics, while some services like Graphicly stopped working.

Comic collections in libraries

Many libraries have big collections of comics and graphic novels. These collections let people of all ages read stories told with pictures and words. Libraries often have special sections just for these fun and interesting books.

Guinness World Records

In 2015, Japanese manga artist Eiichiro Oda received a Guinness World Records title for having the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author. His series, One Piece, has been published since 1997.

In 2018, a very large comic book titled Turma da Mônica from Brazil earned a Guinness World Records title for being the largest comic book ever published. It measured about 70 by 100 centimetres.

In 2021, another Japanese artist, Takao Saito, received a record for having the most volumes published for a single manga series with the 201st volume of Golgo 13.