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Comic books on display at a museum, depicting how they would have been displayed at a rail station store in the first half of the 20th century.

A common comic-book cover format displays the issue number, date, price and publisher along with an illustration and cover copy that may include a story's title.

A comic book or comicbook,^[1] also called comic magazine or simply comic, is a publication that consists of comic art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by brief descriptive prose and written narrative, usually dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form. Although comics has some origins in 18th century Japan, comic books were first popularized in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1930s. The first modern comic book, Famous Funnies, was released in the U.S. in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips, which had established many of the story-telling devices used in comics.^[2] The term comic book derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone; however, this practice was replaced by featuring stories of all genres, usually not humorous in tone.

The largest comic book market is Japan. By 1995, the manga market in Japan was valued at ¥586.4 billion ($6–7 billion),^[3] with annual sales of 1.9 billion manga books/magazines in Japan (equivalent to 15 issues per person).^[4] The comic book market in the United States and Canada was valued at $1.09 billion in 2016.^[5] As of 2017^[update], the largest comic book publisher in the United States is manga distributor Viz Media, followed by DC Comics and Marvel Comics.^[6] Another major comic book market is France, where Franco-Belgian comics and Japanese manga each represent 40% of the market, followed by American comics at 10% market share.^[7]

Structure[edit]

Comic books are reliant on their organization and appearance. Authors largely focus on the frame of the page, size, orientation, and panel positions. These characteristic aspects of comic books are necessary in conveying the content and messages of the author. The key elements of comic books include panels, balloons (speech bubbles), text (lines), and characters. Balloons are usually convex spatial containers of information that are related to a character using a tail element. The tail has an origin, path, tip, and pointed direction. Key tasks in the creation of comic books are writing, drawing, and coloring.

American comic books[edit]

Comics as a print medium have existed in America since the printing of The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842 in hardcover,^[8] making it the first known American prototype comic book. Proto-comics periodicals began appearing early in the 20th century, with historians generally citing Dell Publishing's 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics as the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing".^[9] The introduction of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman in 1938 turned comic books into a major industry^[10] and ushered the Golden Age of Comics. The Golden Age originated the archetype of the superhero.According to historian Michael A. Amundson, appealing comic-book characters helped ease young readers' fear of nuclear war and neutralize anxiety about the questions posed by atomic power.^[11]

Historians generally divide the timeline of the American comic book into eras. The Golden Age of Comic Books began in the 1930s; which is generally considered the beginning of the comic book that we know today.^[12] The Silver Age of comic books is generally considered to date from the first successful revival of the then-dormant superhero form, with the debut of the Flash in Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956).^[13][14] The Silver Age lasted through the late 1960s or early 1970s, during which time Marvel Comics revolutionized the medium with such naturalistic superheroes as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four and Lee and Steve Ditko's Spider-Man. The demarcation between the Silver Age and the following era, the Bronze Age of Comic Books, is less well-defined, with the Bronze Age running from the very early 1970s through the mid-1980s.^[15] The Modern Age of Comic Books runs from the mid-1980s to the present day.^[16]

A notable event in the history of the American comic book came with psychiatrist Fredric Wertham's criticisms of the medium in his book Seduction of the Innocent (1954), which prompted the American Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency to investigate comic books. In response to attention from the government and from the media, the U.S. comic book industry set up the Comics Magazine Association of America.^[17] The CMAA instilled the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the self-censorship Comics Code that year, which required all comic books to go through a process of approval. It was not until the 1970s that comic books could be published without passing through the inspection of the CMAA.^[18] The Code was made formally defunct in 2011.

Underground comic books[edit]

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a surge of creativity emerged in what became known as underground comix. Published and distributed independently of the established comics industry, most of such comics reflected the youth counterculture and drug culture of the time. Many had an uninhibited, often irreverent style; their frank depictions of nudity, sex, profanity, and politics had no parallel outside their precursors, the pornographic and even more obscure "Tijuana bibles". Underground comics were almost never sold at newsstands, but rather in such youth-oriented outlets as head shops and record stores, as well as by mail order.

Frank Stack's The Adventures of Jesus, published under the name Foolbert Sturgeon,^[19][20] has been credited as the first underground comic;^[19][20] while R. Crumb and the crew of cartoonists who worked on Zap Comix popularized the form.

Alternative comics[edit]

The rise of comic book specialty stores in the late 1970s created/paralleled a dedicated market for "independent" or "alternative comics" in the U.S. The first such comics included the anthology series Star Reach, published by comic book writer Mike Friedrich from 1974 to 1979, and Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, which continued sporadic publication into the 21st century and which Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini adapted into a 2003 film. Some independent comics continued in the tradition of underground comics. While their content generally remained less explicit, others resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre, but were published by smaller artist-owned companies or by single artists. A few (notably RAW) represented experimental attempts to bring comics closer to the status of fine art.

During the 1970s the "small press" culture grew and diversified. By the 1980s, several independent publishers - such as Pacific, Eclipse, First, Comico, and Fantagraphics - had started releasing a wide range of styles and formats—from color-superhero, detective, and science-fiction comic books to black-and-white magazine-format stories of Latin American magical realism.

A number of small publishers in the 1990s changed the format and distribution of their comics to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The "minicomics" form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing, arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s,^[21] despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small press.

Small publishers regularly releasing titles include Avatar Comics, Hyperwerks, Raytoons, and Terminal Press, buoyed by such advances in printing technology as digital print-on-demand.

Graphic novels[edit]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published this instructional graphic novel in 2018 to keep youth from spreading infectious diseases

In 1964, Richard Kyle coined the term "graphic novel".^{[citation needed]} Precursors of the form existed by the 1920s, which saw a revival of the medieval woodcut tradition by Belgian Frans Masereel,^[22] American Lynd Ward and others, including Stan Lee.
In 1950, St. John Publications produced the digest-sized, adult-oriented "picture novel" It Rhymes with Lust, a 128-page digest by pseudonymous writer "Drake Waller" (Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller), penciler Matt Baker and inker Ray Osrin, touted as "an original full-length novel" on its cover. In 1971, writer-artist Gil Kane and collaborators devised the paperback "comics novel" Blackmark. Will Eisner popularized the term "graphic novel" when he used it on the cover of the paperback edition of his work A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories in 1978.

Digital comics[edit]

Market size[edit]

In 2017, the comic book market size for North America was just over $1 billion with digital sales being flat, book stores having a 1 percent decline, and comic book stores having a 10 percent decline over 2016.^[23]

Comic book collecting[edit]

The 1970s saw the advent of specialty comic book stores. Initially, comic books were marketed by publishers to children because comic books were perceived as children's entertainment. However, with increasing recognition of comics as an art form and the growing pop culture presence of comic book conventions, they are now embraced by many adults.^[17]

Comic book collectors are often lifelong enthusiasts of the comic book stories, and they usually focus on particular heroes and attempt to assemble the entire run of a title. Comics are published with a sequential number. The first issue of a long-running comic book series is commonly the rarest and most desirable to collectors. The first appearance of a specific character, however, might be in a pre-existing title. For example, Spider-Man's first appearance was in Amazing Fantasy #15. New characters were often introduced this way, and did not receive their own titles until there was a proven audience for the hero. As a result, comics that feature the first appearance of an important character will sometimes be even harder to find than the number 1 issue of a character's own title.

Some rare comic books include copies of the unreleased Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 from 1939. Eight copies, plus one without a cover, emerged in the estate of the deceased publisher in 1974. The "Pay Copy" of this book sold for $43,125 in a 2005 Heritage auction.^[24]

The most valuable American comics have combined rarity and quality with the first appearances of popular and enduring characters. Four comic books have sold for over $1 million USD as of December 2010^[update], including two examples of Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman,^[25][26] both sold privately through online dealer ComicConnect.com in 2010, and Detective Comics #27, the first appearance of Batman, via public auction.

Updating the above price obtained for Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman, the highest sale on record for this book is $3.2 million, for a 9.0 copy.^[27]

Misprints, promotional comic-dealer incentive printings, and issues with extremely low distribution also generally have scarcity value. The rarest modern comic books include the original press run of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #5, which DC executive Paul Levitz recalled and pulped due to the appearance of a vintage Victorian era advertisement for "Marvel Douche", which the publisher considered offensive;^[28] only 100 copies exist, most of which have been CGC graded. (See Recalled comics for more pulped, recalled, and erroneous comics.)

In 2000, a company named Comics Guaranty (CGC) began to "slab" comics, encasing them in a thick plastic and giving them a numeric grade. As of 2014^[update], there are two companies that provide third party grading of comic book condition. Because condition is so important to the value of rare comics, the idea of grading by a company that does not buy or sell comics seems like a good one. However, there is some controversy about whether this grading service is worth the high cost, and whether it is a positive development for collectors, or if it primarily services speculators who wish to make a quick profit trading in comics as one might trade in stocks or fine art. Comic grading has created valuation standards that online price guides such as GoCollect and GPAnalysis have used to report on real-time market values.

The original artwork pages from comic books are also collected, and these are perhaps the rarest of all comic book collector's items, as there is only one unique page of artwork for each page that was printed and published. These were created by a writer, who created the story; a pencil artist, who laid out the sequential panels on the page; an ink artist, who went over the pencil with pen and black ink; a letterer, who provided the dialogue and narration of the story by hand lettering each word; and finally a colorist, who added color as the last step before the finished pages went to the printer.

When the original pages of artwork are returned by the printer, they are typically given back to the artists, who sometimes sell them at comic book conventions, or in galleries and art shows related to comic book art. The original pages of the first appearances of such legendary characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Spider-man are considered priceless.

Asian comics[edit]

Japanese manga[edit]

The first comic books in Japan appeared during the 18th century in the form of woodblock-printed booklets containing short stories drawn from folk tales, legends, and historical accounts, told in a simple visual-verbal idiom. Known as "red books" (赤本, akahon), "black books" (黒本, kurobon), and "blue books" (青本, aohon), these were written primarily for less literate readers. However, with the publication in 1775 of Koikawa Harumachi's comic book Master Flashgold's Splendiferous Dream (金々先生栄花の夢, Kinkin sensei eiga no yume), an evolved form of comic book originated, which required greater literacy and cultural sophistication. This was known as the kibyōshi (黄表紙, lit. yellow cover). Published in thousands of copies, the kibyōshi may have been the earliest fully realized comic book for adults in world literary history. Approximately 2,000 titles remain extant.

Modern comic books in Japan developed from a mixture of these earlier comic books and of woodblock prints ukiyo-e (浮世絵) with Western styles of drawing. They took their current form shortly after World War II. They are usually published in black-and-white, except for the covers, which are usually printed in four colors, although occasionally, the first few pages may also be printed in full color. The term manga means "random (or whimsical) pictures", and first came into common usage in the late 18th century with the publication of such works as Santō Kyōden's picturebook Shiji no yukikai (四時交加) (1798) and Aikawa Minwa's Comic Sketches of a Hundred Women (1798). During the Meiji period, the term Akahon was also common.

Western artists were brought over to teach their students such concepts as line, form, and color; these were things which had not been regarded as conceptually important in ukiyo-e, as the idea behind the picture was of paramount importance. Manga at this time was referred to as Ponchi-e (Punch-picture) and, like its British counterpart Punch magazine, mainly depicted humor and political satire in short one- or four-picture format.

Dr. Osamu Tezuka (1928–1989) further developed this form. Seeing an animated war propaganda film titled Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (桃太郎　海の神兵, Momotarō Umi no Shinpei) inspired Tezuka to become a comic artist. He introduced episodic storytelling and character development in comic format, in which each story is part of larger story arc. The only text in Tezuka's comics was the characters' dialogue and this further lent his comics a cinematic quality. Inspired by the work of Walt Disney, Tezuka also adopted a style of drawing facial features in which a character's eyes, nose, and mouth are drawn in an extremely exaggerated manner. This style created immediately recognizable expressions using very few lines, and the simplicity of this style allowed Tezuka to be prolific. Tezuka's work generated new interest in the ukiyo-e tradition, in which the image is a representation of an idea, rather than a depiction of reality.

Though a close equivalent to the American comic book, manga has historically held a more important place in Japanese culture than comics have in American culture. Japanese society shows a wide respect for manga, both as an art form and as a form of popular literature. Many manga become television shows or short films. As with its American counterpart, some manga has been criticized for its sexuality and violence, although in the absence of official or even industry restrictions on content, artists have freely created manga for every age group and for every topic.

Manga magazines—also known as "anthologies"—often run several series concurrently, with approximately 20 to 40 pages allocated to each series per issue. These magazines range from 200 to more than 850 pages each. Manga magazines also contain one-shot comics and a variety of four-panel yonkoma (equivalent to comic strips). Manga series may continue for many years if they are successful, with stories often collected and reprinted in book-sized volumes called tankōbon (単行本, lit. stand-alone book), the equivalent of the American trade paperbacks. These volumes use higher-quality paper and are useful to readers who want to be brought up to date with a series, or to readers who find the cost of the weekly or monthly publications to be prohibitive. Deluxe versions are printed as commemorative or collectible editions.

Dōjinshi[edit]

Dōjinshi (同人誌, fan magazine), fan-made Japanese comics, operate in a far larger market in Japan than the American "underground comics" market; the largest dōjinshi fair, Comiket, attracts 500,000 visitors twice a year.^[29]

Korean manhwa[edit]

Korean manhwa have quickly gained popularity outside Korea in recent times as a result of the Korean Wave. The manhwa industry has suffered through two crashes and strict censorship since its early beginnings as a result of the Japanese occupation of the peninsula which stunt the growth of the industry but has now started to flourish thanks in part to the internet and new ways to read manhwa whether on computers or through smartphones. In the past manhwa would be marketed as manga outside the country in order to make sure they would sell well but now that is no longer needed since more people are now more knowledgeable about the industry and Korean culture.

Webtoons[edit]

Webtoons have become popular in South Korea as a new way to read comics. Thanks in part to different censorship rules, color and unique visual effects, and optimization for easier reading on smartphones and computers. More manhwaga have made the switch from traditional print manhwa to online webtoons thanks to better pay and more freedom than traditional print manhwa. The webtoon format has also expanded to other countries outside of Korea like China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Western countries. Major webtoon distributors include Lezhin, Naver, and Kakao.

Chinese manhua[edit]

European comics[edit]

Franco-Belgian comics[edit]

René Goscinny (1926 – 1977), writer of the Astérix comic book series.

France and Belgium have a long tradition in comics and comic books, called BDs (an abbreviation of bande dessinées) in French and strips in Dutch. Belgian comic books originally written in Dutch show the influence of the Francophone "Franco-Belgian" comics, but have their own distinct style.

The name bande dessinée derives from the original description of the art form as drawn strips (the phrase literally translates as "the drawn strip"), analogous to the sequence of images in a film strip. As in its English equivalent, the word "bande" can be applied to both film and comics. Significantly, the French-language term contains no indication of subject-matter, unlike the American terms "comics" and "funnies", which imply an art form not to be taken seriously. The distinction of comics as le neuvième art (literally, "the ninth art") is prevalent in French scholarship on the form, as is the concept of comics criticism and scholarship itself. Relative to the respective size of their populations, the innumerable authors in France and Belgium publish a high volume of comic books. In North America, the more serious Franco-Belgian comics are often seen as equivalent to graphic novels, but whether they are long or short, bound or in magazine format, in Europe there is no need for a more sophisticated term, as the art's name does not itself imply something frivolous.

In France, authors control the publication of most comics. The author works within a self-appointed time-frame, and it is common for readers to wait six months or as long as two years between installments. Most books first appear in print as a hardcover book, typically with 48, 56, or 64 pages.

British comics[edit]

Cover to 27 December 1884 edition of Ally Sloper's Half Holiday. Ally Sloper is regarded as the first recurring character in comics.^[30]

Although Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (1884), the first comic published in Britain, aimed at an adult market, publishers quickly targeted a younger demographic, which has led to most publications being for children and has created an association in the public's mind of comics as somewhat juvenile. British comics in the early 20th century typically evolved from illustrated penny dreadfuls of the Victorian era (featuring Sweeney Todd, Dick Turpin and Varney the Vampire).^[31]

The two most popular British comic books, The Beano and The Dandy, were released by DC Thomson in the 1930s. By 1950 the weekly circulation of both reached two million.^[32][33] Explaining the enormous popularity of comics in British popular culture during this period, Anita O'Brien, director curator at London's Cartoon Museum, states: “When comics like the Beano and Dandy were invented back in the 1930s - and through really to the 1950s and 60s - these comics were almost the only entertainment available to children."^[32]

In 1954, Tiger comics introduced Roy of the Rovers, the hugely popular football based strip recounting the life of Roy Race and the team he played for, Melchester Rovers. The stock media phrase "real 'Roy of the Rovers' stuff" is often used by football writers, commentators and fans when describing displays of great skill, or surprising results that go against the odds, in reference to the dramatic storylines that were the strip's trademark.^[34] Other comic books such as Eagle, Valiant, Warrior, Viz and 2000 AD also flourished. Some comics, such as Judge Dredd and other 2000 AD titles, have been published in a tabloid form. Underground comics and "small press" titles have also appeared in the UK, notably Oz and Escape Magazine.

The content of Action, another title aimed at children and launched in the mid-1970s, became the subject of discussion in the House of Commons. Although on a smaller scale than similar investigations in the U.S., such concerns led to a moderation of content published within British comics. Such moderation never became formalized to the extent of promulgating a code, nor did it last long. The UK has also established a healthy market in the reprinting and repackaging of material, notably material originating in the U.S. The lack of reliable supplies of American comic books led to a variety of black-and-white reprints, including Marvel's monster comics of the 1950s, Fawcett's Captain Marvel, and other characters such as Sheena, Mandrake the Magician, and the Phantom. Several reprint companies became involved in repackaging American material for the British market, notably the importer and distributor Thorpe & Porter. Marvel Comics established a UK office in 1972. DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics also opened offices in the 1990s. The repackaging of European material has occurred less frequently, although The Adventures of Tintin and Asterix serials have been successfully translated and repackaged in softcover books.

In the 1980s, a resurgence of British writers and artists gained prominence in mainstream comic books, which was dubbed the "British Invasion" in comic book history.^[35] These writers and artists brought with them their own mature themes and philosophy such as anarchy, controversy and politics common in British media. These elements would pave the way for mature and "darker and edgier" comic books and jump start the Modern Age of Comics.^[36] Writers included Alan Moore, famous for his V for Vendetta, From Hell, Watchmen, Marvelman, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen;^[37]Neil Gaiman with The Sandman mythos and Books of Magic; Warren Ellis, creator of Transmetropolitan and Planetary; and others such as Mark Millar, creator of Wanted and Kick-Ass. The comic book series Hellblazer, which is largely set in Britain and starring the magician John Constantine, paved the way for British writers such as Jamie Delano.^[38]

At Christmas time, publishers repackage and commission material for comic annuals, printed and bound as hardcover A4-size books; "Rupert" supplies a famous example of the British comic annual. DC Thomson also repackages The Broons and Oor Wullie strips in softcover A4-size books for the holiday season.

On 19 March 2012, the British postal service, the Royal Mail, released a set of stamps depicting British comic-book characters and series.^[39] The collection featured The Beano, The Dandy, Eagle, The Topper, Roy of the Rovers, Bunty, Buster, Valiant, Twinkle and 2000 AD.^[39]

Italian comics[edit]

Hugo Pratt (1927–1995), author of the Corto Maltese comic book series.

In Italy, comics (known in Italian as fumetti) made their debut as humor strips at the end of the 19th century, and later evolved into adventure stories. After World War II, however, artists like Hugo Pratt and Guido Crepax exposed Italian comics to an international audience. Popular comic books such as Diabolik or the Bonelli line—namely Tex Willer or Dylan Dog—remain best-sellers.

Mainstream comics are usually published on a monthly basis, in a black-and-white digest size format, with approximately 100 to 132 pages. Collections of classic material for the most famous characters, usually with more than 200 pages, are also common. Author comics are published in the French BD format, with an example being Pratt's Corto Maltese.

Italian cartoonists show the influence of comics from other countries, including France, Belgium, Spain, and Argentina. Italy is also famous for being one of the foremost producers of Walt Disney comic stories outside the U.S. Donald Duck's superhero alter ego, Paperinik, known in English as Superduck, was created in Italy.

Czech comics[edit]

Čtyřlístek (in English translated as Lucky Four or Four-Leaf Clover) is one of the most well-known comics for children published in the Czech Republic.

Distribution[edit]

Distribution has historically been a problem for the comic book industry with many mainstream retailers declining to carry extensive stocks of the most interesting and popular comics. The smartphone and the tablet have turned out to be an ideal medium for online distribution.^[40]

Digital distribution[edit]

On November 13, 2007, Marvel Comics launched Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, a subscription service allowing readers to read many comics from Marvel's history online. The service also includes periodic release new comics not available elsewhere. With the release of Avenging Spider-Man #1, Marvel also became the first publisher to provide free digital copies as part of the print copy of the comic book.^[41]

With the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets, many major publishers have begun releasing titles in digital form. The most popular platform is comiXology. Some platforms, such as Graphicly, have shut down.

Comic collections in libraries[edit]

Many libraries have extensive collections of comics in the form of graphic novels. This is a convenient way for many in the public to become familiar with the medium.^[42]

Guinness World Record[edit]

The largest comic book ever published was on the 5th of August 2018 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. It is named Turma da Mônica — O Maior Gibi do Mundo! by Panini Comics Brasil and Mauricio de Sousa Editora, and it measures at 69.9 cm by 99.8 cm (2 ft 3.51 in by 3 ft 3.29 in).^[43]

The Japanese manga author Eiichiro Oda has made comic book history by attaining a Guinness World Record title for having the "Most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author". His widely popular comic titled One Piece was first serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine (Shueisha) in Japan, back in December 1997. In the space of less than two decades, the series has accumulated an incredibly loyal following and has gone on to sell an incredible 320,866,000 units, with a substantial 77 volumes of the comic book released over that period.^[44]

See also[edit]

• Cartoon


• Comic book archive


• Comic book therapy


• Comics studies


• Comics vocabulary


• Comparison of image viewers


• Digital comics


• List of best-selling comic series


• List of best-selling manga


• Webcomic

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• 
  Kern, Adam L. (2006). Manga from the Floating World: Comic book Culture and the Kibyôshi of Edo Japan. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN 978-0-674-02266-9.
  


• 
  Inge, M. Thomas (1979). "Comics as Culture". Journal of Popular Culture. 12 (631).
  


• 
  Martin, Tim (2 April 2009). "How Comic Books Became Part of the Literary Establishment". Telegraph.
  

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Comic books.

• Comic book Speculation Reference


• Comic book Reference Bibliographic Datafile


• Sequart Research & Literacy Organization


• 
  Comic Art Collection at the University of Missouri
  


• Collectorism - a place for collectors and collectibles