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 means of image-making 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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Explorers on the Moon (French: On a marché sur la Lune; literally: We walked on the Moon) is the seventeenth volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was serialised weekly in Belgium's Tintin magazine from October 1952 to December 1953 before being published in a collected volume by Casterman in 1954. Completing a story arc begun in the preceding volume, Destination Moon (1953), the narrative tells of the young reporter Tintin, his dog Snowy, and friends Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, and Thomson and Thompson who are aboard humanity's first crewed rocket mission to the Moon.

Developed in part through the suggestions of Hergé's friends Bernard Heuvelmans and Jacques Van Melkebeke, Explorers on the Moon was produced following Hergé's extensive research into the possibility of human space travel – a feat that had yet to be achieved – with the cartoonist seeking for the work to be as realistic as possible. Hergé continued The Adventures of Tintin with The Calculus Affair, while the series itself became a defining part of the Franco-Belgian comics tradition. Critics have held the illustrative detail of the book in high regard, but have expressed divided opinions of the story; some consider it to be among the most mature and emotionally resonant entries in the series, while others fault it for downplaying the humour seen in previous volumes in favour of the scientific focus of the narrative. The story was adapted for the 1957 Belvision animated series Hergé's Adventures of Tintin, the 1989 computer game Tintin on the Moon, the 1991 Ellipse/Nelvana animated series The Adventures of Tintin, and the 1992-3 BBC Radio 5 dramatisation of the Adventures.

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Anniversaries for July 1

1917: birth of Jack Adler, American comic book artist who worked as a cover artist and colorist for DC Comics
1935: birth of Billy Graham, African-American comics artist known for his work on the Marvel Comics characters Luke Cage and Black Panther
1935: birth of Draper Hill, American cartoonist and writer
1949: birth of Mike Baron, American comic book writer, creator of Badger and the co-creator of Nexus
1952: death of Jimmy Bancks, Australian cartoonist best known for his comic strip Ginger Meggs
1995: first issue of X-wing Rogue Squadron, an American comic book in the Star Wars universe
1996: debut of Frumpy the Clown, American comic strip created by Judd Winick which ran only until 1998
1999: first publication of Angelic Layer, Japanese manga by CLAMP

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

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 John Romita Sr. has been credited with introducing romance comic themes to Spider-Man comic books?
... that although Blizzard's franchise Overwatch is centered around video games, its lore is mainly told through animated shorts, comics, and novels?
... 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 a 1944 serial film was the first film appearance of Captain America and the first film appearance of any Marvel Comics character?
... that a teacher of medieval literature and comic books writes the blog Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle?
... that Pinky & Pepper Forever is a graphic novel that follows two anthropomorphic dog girlfriends through hell?
... that otomechikku, a subgenre of Japanese girls' comics focusing on stories about ordinary teenaged protagonists, has been compared to monogatari and the genre of Bildungsroman?

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Credit: Emuzesto

Scott McCloud, whose work Understanding Comics identified the different styles of art used within comics.

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More did you know...

...that the Super Friends had two sets of sidekicks: Wendy & Marvin, and then the Wonder Twins?

...that during World War II, the Czech comics illustrator Kája Saudek was imprisoned in a German concentration camp?

...that Marvel Studios considered making stand-alone short films‍—‌known as Marvel One-Shots‍—‌for Loki, Black Panther, and Damage Control?

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Selected quote

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.