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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Maus, often published as Maus: A Survivor's Tale, is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, serialized from 1980 to 1991. It depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. The work employs postmodern techniques, and represents Jews as mice and other Germans and Poles as cats and pigs respectively. Critics have classified Maus as memoir, biography, history, fiction, autobiography, or a mix of genres. In 1992 it became the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize.

In the frame-tale timeline in the narrative present that begins in 1978 in New York City, Spiegelman talks with his father Vladek about his Holocaust experiences, gathering material and information for the Maus project he is preparing. In the narrative past, Spiegelman depicts these experiences, from the years leading up to World War II to his parents' liberation from the Nazi concentration camps. Much of the story revolves around Spiegelman's troubled relationship with his father and the absence of his mother, who died by suicide when Spiegelman was 20. Her grief-stricken husband destroyed her written accounts of Auschwitz. The book uses a minimalist drawing style and displays innovation in its pacing, structure, and page layouts.

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Anniversaries for May 5

1905: birth of Floyd Gottfredson, American comic book artist best known for the Mickey Mouse comic strip
1913: birth of Frank Tashlin, American animator, cartoonist, children's writer, illustrator, screenwriter, and film director
1915: birth of Dan Zolnerowich, American comic book artist, known for his work during the Golden Age of Comics
1931: birth of Greg, prolific Belgian comics author and artist, editor-in-chief of Tintin magazine
1932: birth of Stan Goldberg, American comic book artist, best known for his work with Archie Comics
1950: birth of Juan Ortiz, comic book artist and writer
1961: birth of Mike Collins, English comic book artist and writer, known for work with TV and movie tie-in comics
1967: first appearance of Mr. Natural, comic book character created by Robert Crumb
1967: birth of Adam Hughes, American comic book artist
1975: death of George Baker, American comics artist best known for Sad Sack
1979: first issue of Jackpot, British comic which ran until 1982
1999: first issue of The Phantom Menace, a graphic novelisation of the Star Wars movie of the same name
2000: debut of Imadoki!, Japanese manga by Yuu Watase
2001: Ghastly's Ghastly Comic, webcomic by Chris Cracknell, makes its debut

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General images

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

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

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

... 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 Fabrizio Dori wants his comic book Il dio vagabondo to bring attention to an ancient Greek view of death?
... that circulation numbers for early comic books featuring Captain America remained close to a million copies per month, outstripping news magazines such as Time?
... that the 1992 comic book storyline "Man and Wolf", in which Captain America is transformed into a werewolf, has been described as "one of the most bizarre moments of the core Marvel Universe"?
... that John Romita Sr. has been credited with introducing romance comic themes to Spider-Man comic books?
... that comic book artist Barry Windsor-Smith wrote, drew, inked, and lettered every page of his graphic novel Monsters by himself?
... that comic book creator Brandon Dayton chose medieval Russia as the setting for his minicomic Green Monk after watching Andrei Tarkovsky's film Andrei Rublev?
... that according to one source, The Embroidered Couch is "most likely China's earliest vernacular pornographic novel"?

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Credit: He.Who.Wanders

The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin. Created by Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger and Bob Kane, the character first appeared in Batman #1 (Spring 1940).

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More did you know...

...that Jeff Hawke, a science fiction comic strip, almost perfectly predicted the date of the first human moon landing more than ten years before?

...that Thrud the Barbarian, a comic character parodying Arnold Schwarzenegger's depiction of Conan the Barbarian, (pictured) has the intelligence of a garden snail?

...that E. Normus Johnson is a fictional advertising mascot depicted in comic art on Big Johnson T-shirts that use double entendres?

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Selected quote

A lot of the people who read comics think of comics as a culture—or as a subculture; something with its own private codes that mark its members as belonging, and everybody else as not belonging.

— Douglas Wolk, 2006

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Featured content

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.