2. Print History
Comics is a visual medium used to express ideas via images, often combined with text or visual information. Comics frequently takes the form of
juxtaposed sequences of panels of images. The Comics has had a lowbrow reputation for much of its history, but towards the end of the 20th
century began to find greater acceptance with the public and within academia. The English term comics derives from the humorous (or comic)
work which predominated in early American newspaper comic strips; usage of the term has become standard also for non-humorous works. It is
common in English to refer to the comics of different cultures by the terms used in their original languages, such as "manga" for Japanese comics,
or "bandes dessinées" for French-language comics. There is no consensus amongst 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. The increasing cross-pollination of concepts from different comics cultures and eras has further
made defining the medium difficult.
in the 19th century, story papers (containing illustrated text stories),from their cover price, served as entertainment for British children. Full of
close-printed text with few illustrations, they were essentially no different from a book, except that they were somewhat shorter and that
typically the story was serialised over many weekly issues in order.
These serial stories could run to hundreds of installments if they were popular. And to pad out a successful series, writers would insert quite
extraneous material such as the geography of the country in which the action was occurring, so that the story would extend into more issues.
Plagiarism was rife, with magazines pirating competitors' successes under a few cosmetic name changes. Apart from action and historical
stories, there was also a fashion for horror and the supernatural, with epics like Varney the Vampire running for years. Horror, in particular,
contributed to the epithet "penny dreadful". Stories featuring criminals such as 'Spring-Heeled Jack', pirates, highwaymen (especially Dick
Turpin), and detectives (including Sexton Blake) dominated decades of the Victorian and early 20th-century weeklies.
Comic strips—stories told primarily in strip cartoon form, rather than as a written narrative with illustrations—emerged only slowly. Ally Sloper's
Half Holiday (1884) is reputed to be the first comic strip magazine to feature a recurring character, and the first British comic that would be
recognised as such today. This strip cost one penny and was designed for adults. Ally, the recurring character, was a working class fellow who
got up to various forms of mischief and often suffered for it.
In 1890 two more comic magazines debuted before the British public, Comic Cuts and Illustrated Chips, both published by Amalgamated Press.
These magazines notoriously reprinted British and American material, previously published in newspapers and magazines, without permission.
The success of these comics was such that Amalgamated's owner, Alfred Harmsworth, was able to launch The Daily Mirror and The Daily Mail
newspapers on the profits.
3. Comics
Main comics are linked up to
two main producers for the
industry, DC Comics and Marvel.
These two have been up to
debate for years, fighting one
another to try to get the best
spot on the podium. This is also
known against many fans out
there in the world that usually
breaks down into an argument
between the two.
Vs