Comics facts for kids
In Comics, stories or information are given using pictures, or pictures and words together. In comics, a story is told with many pictures, mostly in panels. The first panel is supposed to be read first, and takes place earlier in time than the panels that follow it.
There are many kinds of comics. Comic strips are short comics which are often found in newspapers. Comic books are thin comics magazines. Graphic novels are books of comics. In Japan, comics are very popular, and Japanese comics are popular around the world. The Japanese word for comics is manga, and people use this word for Japanese comics in English and other languages.
The first comic strips in the United States were funny. "Comic" is another word for "funny", so they were called "comic strips". The first comic books were collections of comic strips. Today, many comics are serious, but they are still called "comics".
In comics, speech is usually shown through word balloons. There are many different kinds of word balloons, such as the "speech balloon", the "thought balloon" and the "scream balloon".
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
