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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Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards: A Tale of Edward Drinker Cope, Othniel Charles Marsh, and the Gilded Age of Paleontology is a graphic novel written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by the company Big Time Attic. The book tells a slightly fictionalized account of the Bone Wars, a period of intense excavation, speculation, and rivalry which led to a greater understanding of dinosaurs in the western United States. This novel is the first semi-fictional work written by Ottaviani; previously, he had taken no creative license with the characters he depicted, portraying them strictly according to historical sources. Bone Sharps follows the two scientists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Marsh as they engage in an intense rivalry for prestige. Ottaviani has Cope and Marsh interact and meet many important figures of the Gilded Age, from P. T. Barnum to U.S. Grant, as the two scientists pursue their hotheaded and sometimes illegal acquisitions of fossils. Unlike in his previous books, "the scientists are the bad guys this time". Upon release, the novel received praise from critics for its exceptional historical content, although some reviewers wished more fiction had been woven into the story.

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Anniversaries for May 23

1919: birth of Robert Bernstein (comics), American comic book writer
1951: birth of John Bolton, is a British comic book artist and illustrator most known for his work on horror comics
1963: birth of Mike Deodato, Brazilian comic book artist best known for his work on Wonder Woman
1966: birth of Mark Buckingham (comic book artist), British comic book artist
1994: death of Don Thompson, American pioneer of comic book fandom
1999: death of John Prentice, American comic strip artist best known for continuing Rip Kirby
2005: the Blank Label Comics website, a collective of webcomics, goes online
2006: death of Kiko, Egyptian-Belgian comics creator best known for Foufi

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General images

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

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

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... that the first time The Witcher universe was portrayed outside the novels was in the 1993–1995 Polish comic book series of the same name?
... that Hikaru Natsumi contributed to adult comic magazines while still in high school?
... 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"?
... that the writer of the 2022 comic book miniseries Poison Ivy, starring the eponymous Batman villain, described it as a "love story" that features "plant-based body horror"?
... that the comic book Nietzsche, se créer liberté tries to express Friedrich Nietzsche's personality visually?
... that Iván Arias's eccentric but successful 2021 La Paz mayoral campaign involved an action figure, comics, and chocolate kisses named and styled in his likeness?
... that a 1944 serial film was the first film appearance of Captain America and the first film appearance of any Marvel Comics character?

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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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You know, I distrust people who 'read' comics ... you don't read a comic book. You look at a comic book. While you're looking at a comic, sure, you read the words; as well, you learn to look at the panels in a certain order, in a certain way ... if you start out to 'read' a comic book, you're starting out with the wrong mind-set.

— Samuel R. Delany

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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.