Comics facts for kids
Comics are a fun way to tell stories or share information. They use pictures, or sometimes pictures and words together. In comics, a story unfolds through many pictures, usually placed inside boxes called panels. You read the first panel first, then move to the next. Each panel shows a moment in time, moving the story forward.
Contents
What Are Comics?
Comics are a unique type of art and storytelling. They combine drawings with text to create a narrative. The word "comic" first meant "funny." This is because the earliest comic strips were often humorous. Even today, many comics are serious, but they still keep the name "comics."
Different Kinds of Comics
There are many types of comics you might enjoy:
- Comic strips are short comics. You often find them in newspapers. They usually tell a quick joke or a small part of a story.
- Comic books are thin magazines. They contain longer stories, often about superheroes or exciting adventures.
- Graphic novels are like full books made of comics. They can be very long and tell complex stories.
- Manga is the Japanese word for comics. Manga is very popular in Japan and around the world. People use the word "manga" to talk about Japanese comics in English and other languages.
How Comics Tell Stories
In comics, characters usually speak through special shapes called word balloons. These balloons point to the character who is speaking. There are different kinds of word balloons:
- A speech balloon shows what a character is saying out loud.
- A thought balloon shows what a character is thinking. It often looks like a cloud.
- A scream balloon shows a character yelling. It might have jagged edges.
Related pages
Images for kids
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A caption (the yellow box) gives the narrator a voice. The characters' dialogue appears in speech balloons. The tail of the balloon indicates the speaker.
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Histoire de Monsieur Cryptogame Rodolphe Töpffer, 1830
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Ally Sloper in Some of the Mysteries of Loan and Discount Charles Henry Ross, 1867
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The Yellow Kid R.F. Outcault, 1898
See also
In Spanish: Historieta para niños
