We explain what the comic is, what its structure is like and its main functions. Also, its characteristics, genres and formats.
Comics can be made on paper or digitally.
What is comics?
The comic, also known as comic, comic strip, comic strip, graphic novel or sequential art, is an artistic genre that consists of a series of illustrated vignetteswith or without accompanying text, which when read in sequence recompose a story.
The comics They can be done on paper or digitallyalso called then e-comics either webcomicswith a boxed strip structure, a full page, a magazine or a complete book. Their stories can be humorous or satirical, juvenile, childish or they can be literary narratives.
It is currently considered the ninth art among the fine arts, along with painting, literature and cinema. Comics are legitimised by numerous editorial sources, critics and even by prestigious institutions such as the Pulitzer Prize which is awarded under the graphic novel category. For example: the recognition given to “Maus” by Art Spiegelman, in 1992.
Comic origin
Yellow Kid was the first comic strip recognized as such.
The origins of comics, like any art form, are uncertain. Many explain that Ancient hieroglyphics would be a first similar form of expression.but political satire and graphic humour are, in the society after the printing press and the daguerreotype, its clearest antecedents.
Despite numerous antecedents in Europe and Japan, The first comic strip recognized as such was published in 1895 in the United States. and it was about The yellow kida name in English that means “The Yellow Boy”, a satirical character who wore a yellow cocoliso with political messages in a wink to the reader.
cartoon structure
The style of the illustrations in the comic is unique to each author.
The structure of a comic or cartoon is usually composed of:
- Vignettes. Boxes in which the action is represented and that distinguish the imaginary universe from the rest of the blank page. They can be of different sizes, even covering the entire page.
- Illustration. Representation of imagined reality, which takes place within the vignettes through an artistic stroke of personal style, dependent on the author.
- Fumetti or sandwich. Text balloons that allude to the different representations of speech (of the characters or the narrator) in the visual story.
- Expression lines. Set of graphic characters that accompany the illustration and refine what is expressed, adding meanings that are difficult to express visually such as movement, sensation, etc.
- Onomatopoeia. Verbal expressions of the sound of things, widely used in comics.
- History or anecdote. General theme of the work, whether it is a long story like a novel, in installments like a magazine, or a three-panel comic gag.
Cartoon genre
Among the main thematic genres of comics, the following stand out:
- Comic or satirical. It is a genre that aims to make people laugh, either as mere entertainment or as part of a project with political intentions.
- Adventure. It is the typical genre of young adult reading, telling more or less fantastic stories in challenging environments that a hero must navigate.
- Science fiction. It is a genre that recreates futuristic environments in which technology and its consequences offer aesthetic, political or social reflections of interest, such as space travel, new forms of life, etc.
- Police. It is a genre that tells detective stories in which the authorship of a crime is hidden.
- Terror. It is a genre that tells stories of fear and suspense.
- Sleeve. It is a genre that emerged as a Japanese variant of the Western comic industry, characterized by its own features of style, narration and editorial production.
Steps to create a comic
The steps to compose a comic are:
- Script writing, where the events that will occur are established in the correct order.
- The graphic conceptualization of the characters and settings (how they will look, how they will be visually).
- The production of a sketch containing the vignettes and situations of the characters.
- The labeling of the vignettes in their final places and the illustration of what will be in each one.
- The addition of text and graphic details.
Production of a comic strip
In the contemporary production of a comic strip, different professionals and specialists may be involved, such as:
- Screenwriter. He is the writer who builds the story and defines the events that will happen.
- Cartoonist. He is the visual artist who illustrates the characters and situations that make up the story.
- Colourist. It is the secondary artist who is responsible for adding image details, such as colors and their degrees, using a computer program.
- Lyricist. This is the graphic designer in charge of adjusting the structure of text boxes, the fonts of written messages and other graphic details.
Cartoon formats
The comics They may appear in daily format (comic strip) in newspapers and pamphlets; in serial format (mini series) when they star in their own monthly magazine of medium or long duration; or in graphic novel format, when they appear in book form and must be read as a novel is read.
Examples of comics
Mafalda portrays the world of a series of children and their parents.
Three examples of recognized comics of different genres and editorial fields are:
- The Uncanny X-men. It is a monthly comic magazine that tells the adventures of a group of mutant superheroes known as “the X-Men.”
- Maus. It is a magazine written and illustrated by Art Spiegelman, it consists of the biography of his father and his vicissitudes in Nazi Germany in the 20th century.
- Mafalda. It was initially published in strips in a newspaper and later compiled into small books. It is an Argentine comic strip written and illustrated by Quino that portrays the world of a series of children and their parents.
Comic book industry
Marvel is one of the largest comic book companies in the world.
Despite its more artisanal origins, comics today form a true publishing industry, with a global presence and in all languagesin which companies like the North American ones Marvel Comics, Image Comics either DC Comics They compete with other regional giants to monopolize sales in the sector.
References
- Comic books at https://americanhistory.si.edu/
- A different girl: Quino and the story of Mafalda’s creation at https://www.latercera.com/
- Babic, A. (2014). Introduction, History of Comics. Comics as history, Comics as literature: Roles of comic book in scholarship, society, and entertainmentFairleigh Dickinson University Press