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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Louis Riel is a 2003 historical biography in comics by Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown (pictured). It deals with the relationship of Métis rebel leader Louis Riel with the newly established Canadian government. It begins shortly before the 1869 Red River Rebellion, and ends with Riel's 1885 hanging for high treason. The book explores the possibly schizophrenic aspect of Riel's personality—he believed God had named him Prophet of the New World, destined to lead the Métis people to freedom. The work is noted for its emotional disengagement, its intentionally flat dialogue, and a minimalist drawing style inspired by Harold Gray's comic strip Little Orphan Annie. The lengthy, hand-lettered appendix provides insight on Brown's creative process and biases, and highlights where he changed historical facts to create a more engaging story. It was the first comic book to receive a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. It was critically well received, and won three Harvey Awards. The original serialization (1999–2003) sold poorly, but the book version was a surprise bestseller. Its success played a major part in gaining shelf space for serious graphic novels in mainstream North American bookstores.

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Anniversaries for May 18

1917: birth of Bill Everett, American comic book writer best known for creating Namor the Submariner and co-creating Daredevil
1931: birth of Don Martin, American comic book artist and author best known for his work on MAD magazine
1942: birth of Don Donahue, American comic book publisher, known for operating Apex Novelties
1953: birth of Alan Kupperberg, American comics artist known for working in both comic books and newspaper strips
1953: birth of Arthur Suydam, American comic book artist known for his work on horror comics
1960: birth of James W. Fry, American comic book pencil artist best known for his work on Star Trek comics
1988: first appearance of Pugad Baboy, Filipino comic strip created by Pol Medina Jr.
2001: debut of Zatch Bell!, Japanese shōnen manga by Makoto Raiku
2017: death of Oscar González Guerrero, Mexican comic book artist known for his co-creation of Zor y Los Invencibles and Hermelinda Linda, and being the artistic director of ¡Ka-Boom! Estudio

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General images

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

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

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

... that the USC Trojans team that won the 2022 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship had been compared to the Marvel Comics' Avengers?
... that the robotic enemies in the video game The Incredible Hulk were influenced by Marvel Comics' objection to the Hulk killing humanoid characters?
... 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 Kake has been described as "a sort of Johnny Appleseed ... spreading the seeds of liberated, mutually satisfying, ecstatically explicit gay sex"?
... that Steve Englehart wrote the Captain America comic book storyline "Secret Empire" as an allegory for the Watergate scandal?
... that open depictions of sexual acts were a defining trait of early works of josei manga ('women's comics')?
... that Hikaru Natsumi contributed to adult comic magazines while still in high school?
... that Kamome Shirahama, in addition to writing and illustrating her best-selling Witch Hat Atelier manga series, has created variant covers for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and the Star Wars franchise?

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Credit: J-E Nyström

Carl Barks (March 27, 1901 – August 25, 2000) was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck (1947), Gladstone Gander (1948), the Beagle Boys (1951), The Junior Woodchucks (1951), Gyro Gearloose (1952), Cornelius Coot (1952), Flintheart Glomgold (1956), John D. Rockerduck (1961) and Magica De Spell (1961). The quality of his scripts and drawings earned him the nicknames The Duck Man and The Good Duck Artist. Writer-artist Will Eisner called him "the Hans Christian Andersen of comic books."

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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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The comics medium is a very specialized area of the Arts, home to many rare and talented blooms and flowering imaginations and it breaks my heart to see so many of our best and brightest bowing down to the same market pressures which drive lowest-common-denominator blockbuster movies and television cop shows. Let's see if we can call time on this trend by demanding and creating big, wild comics which stretch our imaginations. Let's make living breathing, sprawling adventures filled with mind-blowing images of things unseen on Earth. Let's make artefacts that are not faux-games or movies but something other, something so rare and strange it might as well be a window into another universe because that's what it is.

— Grant Morrison

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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.