Portal:Comics

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Introduction

Comics are a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically takes the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate dialogue, narration, sound effects, or other information. There is no consensus among theorists and historians on a definition of comics; some emphasize the combination of images and text, some sequentiality or other image relations, and others historical aspects such as mass reproduction or the use of recurring characters. Cartooning and other forms of illustration are the most common image-making means in comics; Photo comics is a form that uses photographic images. Common forms include comic strips, editorial and gag cartoons, and comic books. Since the late 20th century, bound volumes such as graphic novels, comic albums, and tankōbon have become increasingly common, along with webcomics as well as scientific/medical comics.

The English term comics is used as a singular noun when it refers to the medium itself (e.g. "Comics is a visual art form."), but becomes plural when referring to works collectively (e.g. "Comics are popular reading material."). (Full article...)

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Selected article

Self-portrait, 1922

George Joseph Herriman III (August 22, 1880 – April 25, 1944) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip Krazy Kat (1913–1944). More influential than popular, Krazy Kat had an appreciative audience among those in the arts. Gilbert Seldes' article "The Krazy Kat Who Walks by Himself" was the earliest example of a critic from the high arts giving serious attention to a comic strip. The Comics Journal placed the strip first on its list of the greatest comics of the 20th century. Herriman's work has been a primary influence on cartoonists such as Elzie C. Segar, Will Eisner, Charles M. Schulz, Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Bill Watterson, and Chris Ware.

Herriman was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to mixed-race Creole parents, and grew up in Los Angeles. After he graduated from high school in 1897, he worked in the newspaper industry as an illustrator and engraver. He moved on to cartooning and comic strips—a medium then in its infancy—and drew a variety of strips until he introduced his most famous character, Krazy Kat, in his strip The Dingbat Family in 1910. A Krazy Kat daily strip began in 1913, and from 1916 the strip also appeared on Sundays. It was noted for its poetic, dialect-heavy dialogue; its fantastic, shifting backgrounds; and its bold, experimental page layouts.

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Anniversaries for May 19

1777: birth of Richard Newton, English caricaturist, miniaturist and book illustrator
1903: birth of Pete Costanza, American comics artist best known for Captain Marvel
1942: birth of Shirrel Rhoades, American writer, publisher, and filmmaker, known for being the executive vice president of Marvel Entertainment
1962: birth of Maitena Burundarena, Argentine comics artist best known for Mujeres Alteradas
1963: birth of Reggie Byers, American comics writer and artist best known for work on Robotech comics
1966: birth of Jodi Picoult, American comics writer known for Wonder Woman
1967: birth of Steve Lieber, American comic book illustrator known for his work on books such as Detective Comics and Hawkman
2008: death of Rory Root, American owner of the influential comic book store Comic Relief
2017: death of Rich Buckler, American comics artist and penciller, creator of the character Deathlok for Marvel Comics

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General images

The following are images from various comics-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Cover to 27 December 1884 edition of Ally Sloper's Half Holiday. (from British comics)
Image 2
Comics artist Mœbius (2008), who achieved international renown through Métal Hurlant
(from Bande dessinée)
Image 3Image of bathers from the Hokusai manga (from History of manga)
Image 4A page by Rodolphe Töpffer, whose work is considered influential in shaping the comics form. (from History of comics)
Image 5Hokusai Manga (early 19th century) (from History of manga)
Image 6The San Diego Convention Center during Comic-Con in 2013 (from San Diego Comic-Con)
Image 7Chōjū-giga (12th century), traditionally attributed to a monk-artist Kakuyū (Toba Sōjo) (from History of manga)
Image 8During panels at comic book conventions, the audience is sometimes invited to line up and ask questions using a dedicated microphone. (from Comic book convention)
Image 9Japanese wood block illustration from 19th century (from History of manga)
Image 10Phoenix Fan Fusion's 2017 convention in Phoenix, Arizona (from Comic book convention)
Image 11Close Hergé collaborator and magazine contributor Bob de Moor (from Bande dessinée)
Image 12Convention crowd outside of Golden Hall in 1982 (from San Diego Comic-Con)
Image 13A Fallout Cosplayer photographed at a Comic Con in a Fallout Themed area (from Comic book convention)
Image 14Comic Con crowds in 2011 as seen from a helicopter (from San Diego Comic-Con)
Image 15The French comic Les Pieds Nickelés (1954 book cover): an early 20th-century forerunner of the modern Franco-Belgian comic (from Bande dessinée)
Image 16Comic-Con crowd inside the second floor of the convention center in 2011 waiting for the exhibition hall to open (from San Diego Comic-Con)
Image 17Cover of Illustrated Chips in 1896 featuring the first appearance of the long-running comic strip of the tramps Weary Willie and Tired Tim. (from British comics)
Image 18Sequential depictions on Trajan's Column in Rome, Italy (from History of comics)

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that the Franco-Belgian comic book Hans had its title changed in Poland due to lingering ill-feeling toward Germany?
... that while Marvel Comics originally designated the main reality depicted in the MCU multiverse as Earth-199999, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness established it as Earth-616?
... that Fabrizio Dori wants his comic book Il dio vagabondo to bring attention to an ancient Greek view of death?
... that Arnie Roth debuted as a gay Marvel Comics character at a time when the publisher maintained a "No Gays in the Marvel Universe" policy?
... that the original release of Jason Shiga's comic Demon included a four-page issue, a sixty-page issue, and an issue in which all the panels were black?
... that although its publisher Dark Horse Comics is American, a significant proportion of artists involved with the comic book series The Witcher have been Polish?
... that Steve Englehart wrote the Captain America comic book storyline "Secret Empire" as an allegory for the Watergate scandal?
... that Kake has been described as "a sort of Johnny Appleseed ... spreading the seeds of liberated, mutually satisfying, ecstatically explicit gay sex"?

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Credit: Comic: Zach Weiner

A panel from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, a webcomic by Zach Weiner first published in its current iteration in 2002. This daily comic features no recurring characters or storylines, and has no set format; some strips may be a single panel, while others may go on for ten panels or more. Recurring themes include atheism, God, superheroes, romance, dating, science, research, parenting and the meaning of life.

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More did you know...

...that publication of comics in Hungary largely stopped during World War II due to Nazi pressure?

... that the graphic novel Building Stories by Chris Ware was published as a box that contained fourteen printed objects, including cloth-bound books, newspapers, broadsheets, and flip books?

... that Harvey Kurtzman's Jungle Book (1959) was the first book-length work of original comics in the United States?

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Selected quote

[t]he standards of comics include inventiveness, originality, and consistency. The best comics really are great artworks — great by the intrinsic standards of that art form.

— David Carrier

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This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Comics}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.