Comic Book A Day Club

Interesting Historical Facts About Comics

Hi All, I am starting off the new year with some interesting facts about comic books. Most of our books you are receiving are American or Canadian but comics have a worldwide start. So here is a little comic book history for you today! The word Comics was derived from the Greek word “Komikos” meaning “Comedy”. The use of Comedy in graphic medium conveys a sequential plot of traditional tales of humor portrayed during the Greek civilization. During the 19th century, the concept of the comic books was adopted in American and European countries. The massive appeal of the medium started to emerge in America during the 20th century through the release of the newspaper entitled “Comic Strip”. The newspaper, however, made use of standardized image patterns and speech balloons for the younger readers around the world. In the early 21st century up to the 1920’s, an unnamed movement was formed to critique on the popularity of the medium. The movement studied the impact of using speech balloons as devices to convey humor in the story. According to the movement, the use of speech balloons and boxes indicates the establishment of the flow throughout the story. Comics are said to make use of ambiguity, symbolism, iconography and stylistic approaches of art to further develop the meaning of humor. During the 1920’s and 1930’s, China invented a palm-sized photo book called “Lianhuanha” while Britain created child-friendly comic books entitled “The Beano” and “The Dandy” to address the effect of humor on children. In Belgium, the “Tintin” comic strip was created by Herge under the Belgian comic supplement. In 1929, the reprinted edition of America’s “The Funnies” was published in tabloid size and distributed at newspaper stands in the US and the UK. In 1938, US-based publishers already started printing original comic book formats. In the same year, the Archie comic books were launched. In Japan, the medium became hugely popular for its use of traditional Japanese writing systems for indicating pictures. The Japanese comic books emerged in the global market during the post World War years when Ozamu Tezuka invented the Manga comic book series. The Manga style is said to be hugely influenced by American animation such as the Disney animation of the early 1940s up to present. The Manga comic books are hugely known for their themes depicting child or adult fantasy and action.
I hope you found this interesting. Until next time keep reading!


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