Actually comics don't eat. Usually they are “swallowed” if this product is the result of the artist’s good taste. If the comic is “not tasty,” then the result justifies all the criticism that has been leveled at it. Unfortunately, “not tasty” ones are much more common, but this is a common occurrence in any form of art. “Wait, what does art have to do with it?” - you ask. Well, first of all, let’s decide what kind of animal this is.
The word “comic” was formed as a result of the merger of two English words: comic (comic, funny) and strip (strip, picture). In the proper sense of the word, comics appeared only as a result of competition between large New York newspapers, in which it was published in the 90s of the 20th century.
Have you wanted to learn more about comics, but didn't know where to look for good information? Now you have a unique opportunity to become a real expert in this field of art! In the creative almanac Artifex a new column has appeared. Its leader is Oleg Semenyuk, author of the country's first fundamental scientific study in the field of “funny pictures”, and in addition, several articles on the history of Russian comics in various foreign publications, including the American Encyclopedia of Comics.
The author worked for a long time as the editor-in-chief of banking magazines, and is now engaged in the publishing business. Our expert is also interested in yachting, hockey and has a red aikido belt!
Therefore, to see comics in the tapestries of some European monarchs, church chapels, images of stages of the Way of the Cross, popular prints and even Egyptian bas-reliefs - that is, in everything that they persistently try to present as the ancestors of comics - means to be seriously and for a long time mistaken. Because comics are a modern form of storytelling in pictures with or without written text; One of the main signs of comics is the bubble, the main element of the comic language.
It was bubbles that preceded the advent of comic books. Bubbles can be found in the notes of Leonardo da Vinci himself! These were careful attempts to use a new language that would preserve the normative elements of the written word and complement it visually with a picture.
The brilliant English artist and illustrator managed to combine text and image: in his creation A Harlot's Progress (1734) (“Prostitute's Career”), he laid down certain characteristics of comics: he restored the sequential nature of the visual narrative and at the same time depicted actions as on stage, giving them a dramatic touch. His invention was clearly different from the traditional one of the time and it was necessary to call it something. The dramatic tone required the constant use of the so-called “bubble” or “cloud” (a form that had existed for a long time).
The 19th century saw a flourishing of picture stories, spurred by technical innovations such as zincography and, later, phototypes. But in these stories, the text and pictures were still separated from each other. From an artistic point of view, picture stories reached their apogee under the Swiss Rodolphe Töpffer.
The works of this cartoonist and writer were admired by no one but the great Goethe! Today, Töpffer is often called one of the founders of modern caricature and illustrated art, the father of widely distributed drawn comic series (comics) and is deservedly placed on a par with such famous old artists as William Hogarth, Honoré Daumier, Wilhelm Busch.
The German Wilhelm Busch was a more significant figure in the history of comics. His “Max and Moritz” (Max und Moritz), published in Germany in 1865, was distinguished by a previously unprecedented feature: the drawings were inextricably fused with the text, which gives serious reason to consider Max and Moritz a harbinger of comics. Moreover, in the genre of black humor: the story of Max and Moritz ends sadly: the mischievous people fall under the millstones of the mill and go to feed the ducks.
The Frenchman Georges Colomb introduced new techniques: depicting actions from an unusual point of view and a compressed form of storytelling, which was a harbinger of new techniques in comics. As deputy director of the botanical laboratory of the Sorbonne, under the pseudonym Christophe (French Christophe, from the French name of Christopher Columbus - Christophe Colomb), he created comics that were popular among the French intelligentsia, but were published in the children's newspaper Le Petit Français illustré. His comics include L'idée fixe du savant Cosinus (1893-1899), La Famille Fenouillard (1889); Le Sapeur Camember (1890-1896); Les Malices de Plick et Plock (1893-1904) and Le Baron de Cramoisy (1899).
It turns out that by the end of the 19th century, fertile soil for the emergence of a new genre of comics had been prepared and abundantly “flavored” with the European “black soil”. The enterprising Yankees had only to “plow” and “sow” it. But at that time, American artists were far behind their European colleagues. And, in fact, the original impetus for the creation of comics came not from their authors, but from publishers who, in Sunday supplements, created the most suitable means for expressing the ideas of artists.
THE MAGNIFICENT EIGHT
Joseph Pulitzer was the first to use the Sunday supplement as a showcase for his World newspaper. It was on its pages that the “great-grandfather” of all modern comics appeared in 1894. This funny story with the humorously serious title “The Birth of New Species, or an Explanation of the Evolution of the Crocodile” with elements of “black” humor is considered the ancestor of not only comic books, but also silent comic films, and also the famous Disney animation. And it was drawn by the famous American cartoonist, one of the classics of the comic book genre, Richard Felton Outcault.
To further attract readers' attention, Pulitzer increased the number of colorful strips and illustrations, including comics. The connection between these innovations led to the historic appearance of Richard Outcault's Yellow Kid on February 16, 1896. "The Yellow Child" was not a comic in the modern sense of the word, but its appearance became a kind of "birth certificate" for a new genre. The pages of World provided all the basic elements of a comic book look: consistent storytelling, consistent characters, dialogue within the art.
Soon another comic book character created by Outcault appeared on the pages of the New York Herald - Buster Brown (1902). Few people know that it was Buster Brown who served as the prototype for all modern “supermen” - athletic giants with large backs of heads and strong, strong-willed jaws. And even Superman himself!
William Randolph Hearst, a young rival of Joseph Pulitzer, founded the colorful new supplement American Humorist in 1887, for which he incidentally hired the entire World staff. Under Hirst's watchful gaze, on the pages of this publication, artists gradually unconsciously created a special language, which, together with films, became the cause of a new look at existing reality. Hirst rightfully deserved to be called the “godfather” of the newly created form of storytelling (only much later it would be called “comics”). Of the group of artists he assembled for his American Humorist, three became famous: Richard Outcault, James Guilford Swinnerton and Rudolph Dirks, authors respectively of The Yellow Child, Magazine Tigers and Troubled Babies. (the latter was perhaps the single most significant creation in the history of comic strips).
Comic book artists came up with themes and created conventions at great speed. The refinement of lines and the skill of design were subordinated to the ability to express oneself in a completely new language. Their creations were imbued with an all-encompassing sense of discovery, the desperate impulsiveness of the genre's seemingly endless possibilities.
Frederick Burr Opper was the pioneer who brought order to the chaotic world of comics: he channeled all the fast, daring and often controversial experiments into one channel, while at the same time carrying them out in a clear pattern and in a certain direction. His “Happy Hooligan” became the prototype of Charlie Chaplin’s tramp, and Gloomy Gus already wore a Buster Keaton mask! His special style of black humor and farce was later embodied in the comedies of Mack Sennett. Even his storytelling technique could be found in films.
These were the first four artists who bear the greatest responsibility for the art of comics. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the rough outlines of the new genre were already obvious. Life beliefs and vocabulary of comics: speech bubbles, onomatopoeia, lines of movement, pictures in frames were already used as an accepted norm and gradually entered the consciousness of readers. This explains the more than coincidental similarity between them.
Around 1905 the first conscious efforts to create an independent and original art form were observed. Such an innovator was the artist Winsor McCay. His single-minded and distinguished exploration of new semantic structures and thematic variations, beginning with "Little Sammy Sneezes" and delving into "The Dream of a Soggy Croutons Connoisseur," found its full and dazzling expression in "Little Nemo in Slumberland," where McKay achieved a unity between content and topic.
No man, however, has made as great a contribution to the mainstream comics as did George McManus, a young cartoonist who demonstrated his almost awe-inspiring mastery of line, rare sense of situation, unerring skill in dialogue in such creations, like "Beggar Pete" and "The Honeymooners."
Standing apart from the others is Charles William Keils, who was in love with the genre as such and was so captivated by its multivariate possibilities that he could not associate himself with any one direction.
Each of these artists contributed uniquely to the genre, making it more elegant and inventing many of the narrative and visual techniques that are now part of the comics language. They all worked in different styles, but together they raised comics to the point where they can be recognized as a rigorous and original art form.
More than one generation of teenagers has grown up reading graphic novels about Superman, Batman, Hulk, and Iron Man. Comics have been and remain a cult subject, although explaining why superheroes excite the minds of young and old so much is not an easy task.
The history of comics, as surprising as it may sound, has very ancient roots that go back to the times when people lived in caves and hunted mammoths. It was then that the first examples of cave paintings appeared, in which, along with scenes from real life, the first superheroes appeared, embodied in the images of ancient gods.
Rock paintings of the Hopi Indians in Arizona, USA
The chronology of the development of such a genre as comics is very long and extensive, replete with numerous dates, therefore, listing the main milestones in the development of comics, we will limit ourselves to a journey through the 19th and 20th centuries, since it was during this period that a qualitative leap in the development of the genre took place and the known to us heroes.
The history of comics goes back to primitive times.
When talking about comics, we should start with the personality of Rodolphe Tepfer, a French-speaking Swiss artist who became a key figure in the history of the development of modern comics. At the beginning of the 19th century, he began to illustrate stories consistently, placing text under the images. These comics of his were reprinted throughout Europe and the USA. Due to the lack of copyright laws, pirated editions of "drawn stories" began to be translated and published everywhere around the world.
Drawings by Rodolphe Tepfer
In 1843, satirical drawings that regularly appeared in newspapers and magazines received their name - cartoons.
A key figure in the history of comics development was Rodolphe Tepfer.
The invention of photogravure in 1873 made newspapers relatively inexpensive and allowed them to be produced with more illustrations. This change in technology was the impetus for the development of comics and their mass production. The art of comics has received particular development in America. In 1893, Joseph Pulitzer published his first full-page color comic strip in The New York World, and in the same year, other newspapers began printing color comics.
"The Yellow Kid", 1898
As a tool of popular culture, involving the use of both artistic and literary skills, comics successfully reflected the social issues of their time. By the beginning of the 20th century, regular strips appeared in newspapers in major US cities.
The 1920s and 1930s were a period of active development of the comics industry around the world: in 1929, comics were published, the main character of which was Popeye the sailor. A special feature of this character was the increase in strength after eating spinach. On June 1, 1938, comics were released, the main character of which was Superman, and in 1939, Batman and the first Human Torch appeared on the pages of comics.
Wonderworld Comics, 1939
In the second half of the 20th century, comics were a popular collector's item.
During the second half of the 20th century, comics became a very popular collectible, and American comics of the 1970s became the basis for comic book collections.
Plastic Man comic cover, 1943
Comic book heroes appear during this period:
1961 - the first issue of "Fantastic Four" is published - comics about a team of superheroes with various supernatural abilities;
1962 - the time of the birth of Spider-Man and the Hulk;
1963 - comics about Iron Man, Doctor Strange and the X-Men were released;
1966 - the appearance of the Black Panther;
1970 - a series of comics about Conan the Barbarian is published;
1977 - Star Wars comics appear;
1984 - the “birth” of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The founder of the comics genre in Russia is lubok
Despite the fact that comics are considered typical representatives of “Western” culture, they have a fairly long history in our country. The first domestic comics, with a slight stretch, include popular print books, which became widespread at the beginning of the 17th century.
Such a book was a small scroll on which pictures were depicted describing the most current event in socio-political life at the moment. That is why the name of such books sounded like “funny sheets.”
"Strong and brave hero Ilya Muromets." Lubok 1868
The next stage in the development of domestic comics art is associated with the name of Vladimir Dahl. His work “The Adventures of Christian Khristianovich Violdamur and his Arshet” was in many ways reminiscent of modern comics, since the plot, or rather the narrative, was based on a story in pictures. This unique form of presenting the material was not appreciated by Dahl’s contemporaries, so “stories in pictures” did not receive further development.
In August 1914, the association “Today's Lubok” appeared in Moscow, whose members included such representatives of the domestic cultural elite as Kazimir Malevich, Aristarkh Lentulov, David Burliuk, Vladimir Mayakovsky. The society published propaganda leaflets on military topics, which contained both pictures and text information.
The comic book was not widely distributed in the USSR
In Soviet Russia, comics were not widely used: domestic ideological services did their best to prevent the appearance in our country of any elements of “Western” culture, including comics. However, this did not stop him from creating his own alternative to comics, which manifested itself in the release of the collections “History in Pictures”, the illustrated story “The Adventures of Makar the Fierce” by Boris Antonovsky, published on the pages of the Leningrad magazine “Hedgehog”, and the comics “Smart Masha” by Bronislav Malakhovsky.
“A story about bagels and a woman who does not recognize the republic” - a poster from the series “Windows of GROWTH”. August 1920. Artist: Mikhail Cheremnykh. Author of the text: Vladimir Mayakovsky
The spread of comicsography led to the fact that in the 1930s the authorities officially banned it, calling comics “a bourgeois-American way of fooling young people.” For a long time, the only source of new stories and illustrations continued to be the children's magazine “Murzilka”. Only in 1956, the Komsomol Central Committee began publishing a new magazine, “Funny Pictures,” which actively began to use the comic book genre as its main content.
Subsequently, in the USSR and Russia, comics about Oktyabrin, a series of comics “Hare Pts and his imaginary friends: Shch, F, a hot water bottle and a pork chop with peas” and a collection of comics “Cat” appeared throughout the world and became famous throughout the world.
The main person in the history of Marvel is logically older than his heroes - the company itself will appear when he is already 16, and he will begin working in it almost from the day it was founded. First, as an assistant, filling inkwells and buying coffee; a few years later - one of the authors. And in the early 1960s, Lee and his co-authors would come up with almost all the main Marvel characters that would bring success to the publishing house: from Spider-Man to the X-Men.
1939 Timely Comics founded
In the late 1930s, comics about superheroes were just beginning to appear - and publisher Martin Goodman, who published pulp fiction and detective and adventure magazines, decided to master this niche at the same time. All of his various comics and magazines were made by the same team of writers, but as part of Goodman's controversial business model, they were published under the brands of fictitious publishers. One of them was Marvel Comics - 22 years later, when Goodman finally decided to switch to superhero comics, this fiction would become reality - and become the new name of the company.
March 1941. Captain America: The First Avenger
In 1941, Timely Comics created Captain America, a patriotic superhero transformed from a wimp into a secret living weapon in the fight against fascism. During World War II, there were many such heroes in comics, and even soldiers at the front read about them - however, Captain America turned out to be more successful than others. After the war, the Captain's popularity would decline, and he would return to the Marvel pantheon only in 1964: members of the newly formed Avengers group would find his frozen body in the Atlantic Ocean and actually resurrect him.
1961. Creation of the Marvel Universe
By the early 1960s, some superheroes were already familiar with each other - although they did not belong to Marvel: Batman and Superman regularly met each other in the pages of DC Comics. Stan Lee, who took on the first issue of Fantastic Four, decided to develop and deepen this idea: from that moment on, all Marvel heroes lived in the same universe, together influenced the fate of their world - and together determined the future fate of the company. Fantastic Four was a minor revolution in the genre for another reason: Lee began to show superheroes as individuals for the first time. The four were not just a team, but a family: they lived in the same house, solved personal problems, made peace, quarreled - everything was like people.
1962. Hulk and Thor
That year was generally extremely fruitful for Marvel - it was then that the future headliners of the publishing canon, Doctor Doom and Spider-Man, appeared on the pages of comics. At the same time, Stan Lee came up with the radioactive monster Hulk, the most physically powerful character in the Marvel universe. Three months later, the Hulk's power needed to be balanced, and Lee released the Norse demigod Thor into the world of Marvel. However, the Hulk remained the champion: it is believed that his strength is inexhaustible; The more Hulk gets angry, the stronger he becomes, and he can stay angry indefinitely. Among other things, Hulk and Thor marked the expansion of Marvel's genre horizons - the first was clearly inspired by science fiction, the second came straight from the Elder Edda.
March 1963. Iron Man
One of the most charismatic Marvel characters and the youngest member of the current Avengers team: the heir of a brilliant inventor, the owner of a capitalist industrial empire, a bon vivant, a cynic, an egoist, an almost ready-made Ayn Rand character. Stan Lee envisioned Tony Stark, who, under the influence of circumstances, donned a mechanical suit that gave superpowers, as a hero who would resist the new humanism and political correctness of the early 1960s - accordingly, the story of Stark's spiritual rebirth can in its way serve as a parallel to what was at that moment happened to the power (adjusted for the fact that Iron Man instilled humanitarian values with the help of firearms). Rapper Ghostface Killa has recorded more than once under the pseudonym Tony Stark.
1963. The Avengers debut
Single heroes existing in the same universe, after a couple of years, logically gathered into one team - and its name was “The Avengers”. Marvel caught the trend here too - around the same time DC Comics came up with the Justice League, however, the Avengers differed from their competitors in that they did not consist of stars, but relatively new characters: Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp. However, over forty years, almost all the main heroes have managed to become Avengers: membership in the team is the highest recognition in the Marvel universe.
1965. S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. (S.H.I.E.L.D.) is one of the main government organizations in the Marvel Universe, something like a mixture of the FBI and the CIA. They appeared in the mid-1960s in comics about Nick Fury and at first were a spy organization with vague functions, and Fury himself played the role of a conditional James Bond. For fifty years, S.H.I.E.L.D. grew to become a full-fledged political force, sometimes rising above the American government: for example, they were the main supporters of the Superhero Registration Act and major players in the Civil War (see below). In the S.H.I.E.L.D. films They get involved less in politics and are rather focused on trying to keep superheroes and other anomalies under control.
1966. The first black superhero
The Black Panther organization and the Marvel hero Black Panther appeared almost simultaneously, but the creators of the comic did not have an agenda in mind - it just coincided. The color of his skin was revolutionary in itself (other dark-skinned superheroes did not appear until five years later), and in addition, Marvel also made him an intellectual: Black Panther had a doctorate in physics, and Wakanda, the fictional African country he ruled, - was a very technologically advanced power.
1973. First character death
The Green Goblin kidnaps Spider-Man's blonde girlfriend Gwen Stacy and throws her off a bridge; The spider catches his beloved in his web, but too sharply - and breaks her neck. The public is in shock - until now, on the pages of comics, if anyone has died, it has been only villains and supporting characters. This issue of Spider-Man marked the end of the romantic and naive Silver Age of comics: from that moment on, the villains became scarier, the problems became more real, and the relatives and friends of superheroes (especially female ones) turned into cannon fodder.
1986. “Howard the Duck”: the first full-length film based on Marvel comics
Marvel's first film adaptation, oddly enough, was based not on the flagship series, but on a postmodern comic book about a humanoid duck from outer space named Howard. In the books about Howard there was a lot of satire and commentary on the topic of the day, but with the film it was the opposite - George Lucas, who produced it, was most interested in the special effects. As a result, Howard the Duck grossed only a million more than was spent on its production, and Marvel did not return to the cinema until the late 1990s.
1992. The first gay superhero
The theme of the fight for the rights of minorities for comics about the X-Men has always been decisive: there are obvious parallels between Professor X and Martin Luther King, Magneto’s anti-Semitism, and a large number of non-Americans among the most popular characters in the franchise (Wolverine is Canadian, Storm is African, Colossus is Russian and so on). In the 1990s, Marvel decided to break sexual taboos: the supporting mutant Polar Star openly declared in the pages of the comic that he was gay. Since then, dozens of characters from both Marvel and their competitors have come out as gay, and North Star is about to host the first superhero same-sex wedding.
1992. The Marvel Schism and the Founding of Image
Writers and artists have long been virtually powerless creatures in the comics industry, regardless of their talent or popularity. Everything changed when eight Marvel stars of the early 1990s left the company and founded their own amusement park, Image Publishing. The new company did not deprive authors of their rights and did not bother them with advice, allowed much more on the pages of their publications and eventually became the main independent comic book producer, second only to the “Big Two” - Marvel and DC.
1994. The animated series "Spider-Man"
By that time, animated series based on Marvel comics already existed, but only based on them. “Spider-Man” and “X-Men” on the Fox channel set a new standard: the authors of the series regularly translated into television format all the key plots of the original sources, including the darkest ones, such as the death of Jean Gray in “X-Men.” And for good reason: the cartoons were very popular and actually became the reason for Marvel to seriously engage in new formats - games and movies.
1998. "Blade"
For most of the 1990s, things were tough with comic book adaptations: despite the success of Burton's Batman films, his successor Joel Schumacher again, like 30 years ago, reduced the subgenre to optional fetishistic giggles. Most of all other comic book films were classified at most in the "B" category - and this cannot be said about the wild and little-seen adaptations of "Captain America" and "Fantastic Four". To bring Marvel back to the silver screen in a decent form, it was necessary to greatly update the existing secondary vampire fighter character: from a blaxploitation horror hero, he turned into a martial artist, began to age much faster and dress in black leather from head to toe.
1999. First album by MF Duma
An alcoholic intellectual and a hugely influential hip-hop figure at the turn of the millennium, Daniel Dumile was one of the first among a galaxy of rappers who were not ashamed of their geek roots (see also: Pharrell Williams and his Star Trek label). The iron mask, which Dumile almost never takes off, and the pseudonym MF Doom refer to the brilliant Marvel scientist Victor von Doom, the dictator of the Central European country of Latveria and the main enemy of the Fantastic Four. Dumile is not alone in this approach: long before him, actor Nicolas Coppola took a pseudonym in honor of Marvel’s “hero for hire,” Luke Cage.
2000: Joe Quesada becomes editor-in-chief of Marvel
The plump, smiling artist and screenwriter received in full for not turning his back on Marvel in difficult times (the company went bankrupt in the late 1990s when the comic book market practically collapsed). During the ten years of his reign, the publishing house not only revived, but even strengthened its position. Quesada brought his friends from the “independent” camp into the company and focused on reprinting already published stories in book form, which upset small comic shops, but pleased those who did not want to go there every week.
2000. "X-Men"
Initially, the idea of inviting Bryan Singer, director of chamber dramas and thrillers, to a blockbuster about flying, biting and emitting lightning people with a budget of 75 million looked, to put it mildly, unobvious. The result, however, exceeded all expectations: this film is usually considered the reason for the Hollywood comic book boom of the last decade. A subtle script by David Hayter, British theater veterans in the leading roles, Hugh Jackman with claws, Anna Paquin with the kiss of death - a new era was born.
2000: Ultimate Marvel launched
One of the main complaints about mainstream comics as an art form is that only very special people can remember all the details of the characters’ biography (Captain America, let us remind you, is already seventy). The Ultimate Marvel line was created to challenge these perceptions: the company's most popular heroes (X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four) start with a clean slate. The local version of the Avengers, “Ultimates,” is the apotheosis of the purifying approach: the main characters can easily be killed, leadership in the team belongs to approximately those who usually make Thor coffee, the world collapses and is not restored.
2007. The Death of Captain America
Titanic in scope and covering absolutely all the heroes of the Marvel universe, “Civil War” is probably the best crossover in comics over the last ten years and one of the most head-on metaphors for the ideological confrontation in the US political system (statists versus idealists). The ideologist of the series, Mark Millar, author of the postmodern Wanted, was clearly inspired by Watchmen - but what Alan Moore had as a self-contained story, here changed the entire vast universe. The symbolic icing on the cake was the death of Steve Rogers, the first and main Captain America: he was shot on the steps of the court, not being allowed to hear charges of opposing the Superhero Registration Act. Of course, he did not die completely, but for some time the world of Marvel was plunged into complete darkness.
2008. “Iron Man” in cinema
Ideal jackets, self-irony, references to films about wars in the Middle East, criticism of the US military-industrial complex and discussions about the terrorist underground, conversations about nuclear physics, bald and bearded Jeff Bridges - the first film shot by the newly created Marvel film division, as if deliberately tested the intellectual level of the average viewer. And it worked: critics were delighted, Downey Jr.’s career dramatically restarted, and Iron Man, previously known to the masses only as a symbol of the fight against alcoholism, took his place in the pantheon of the world’s main superheroes.
2009. Disney buys Marvel
2011. Musical about Spider-Man
Three films, eight animated series and a great many games have already been released about the main Marvel character - only Broadway was not covered. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark became the most expensive and perhaps the most scandalous musical in history. Actors and stuntmen were injured during rehearsals and run-throughs, director Julie Taymor quit before the premiere, the only ones who got off easy were the composers - Bono and the Edge from U2. However, the first training camp shows that everything was not in vain.
2011. The Amazing Spider-Man - Afro-Latino
The popular remake of the Spider-Man comics, "Ultimate Spider-Man", unexpectedly ends tragically: Peter Parker dies protecting his aunt. While New York says goodbye to the hero, a new Spider-Man appears on the streets, Miles Morales, the son of an African-American and Puerto Rican woman. The event was so significant that USA Today reported on it before the comic went on sale; Marvel was accused of betraying tradition, thanked for justice and suspected of trying to make money on Obamamania.
2012. Premiere of "The Avengers"
Begun in 2008 with the release of Iron Man, the work of transforming the comic book universe into the Marvel cinematic universe is completed: five films about superheroes, connected by a single plot, culminating in an epic film in which Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America and "SHIELD." (or, to put it another way, Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson). The director was appointed by the idol of geeks Joss Whedon, who had never before received such a budget in his hands, but wrote comics for Marvel; At the same time, it is expected that the picture will not repeat the fate of Whedon’s other creations, unknown to anyone except geeks. However, ten years ago, no one except them knew what the Avengers were and who Iron Man was, so the calculation is clear.
Defines comics as "stories in pictures".
Comics do not necessarily contain text; there are also “silent” comics with an intuitive plot (for example, “Arzak” by Jean Giraud). But most often, direct speech in comics is conveyed using a “word bubble,” which is usually depicted as a cloud emanating from the mouth, or, in the case of depicting thoughts, from the character’s head. The author's words are usually placed above or below the frames of the comic.
Comics can be anything in terms of literary genre or drawing style. Even the works of literary classics are adapted into comics. But historically, the most common genres of comics are adventure and caricature. This stereotype has long tarnished the reputation of comics.
The drawing in the comic has a certain degree of convention. It is simplified for speed of drawing and ease of perception and identification of the reader with the character.
In terms of volume, comics range from short “strips” of several (usually three) pictures to voluminous graphic novels and series with many issues.
Comics are closely related to cinema, and especially to animation. As the same McCloud notes, “A film on film is a very slow comic book. Space is to a comic what time is to a film.” In English, the word “cartoon” - “caricature” can mean both a comic strip and a cartoon. Many Japanese anime cartoons are film adaptations of Japanese manga comics.
Standard comic composition
- The cover conveys the main meaning of the comic. In addition to the picture, the cover may contain: name, company logo, price, advertising, date, artist signatures. The cover can be on two sheets, the right side of the cover is “front”, the left side is “back”.
- Frontispiece - drawing in front of the title page. Gives the reader the opportunity to learn more about the comic.
- Title page - it may contain: a brief introduction, the names of authors, artists, outliners, etc. May be accompanied by small illustrations.
- The main part is pages, the number of which is unlimited, but in standard comics there are from 20 to 40.
- Pin-up page - additional art from the main artists or from other people who have something to do with the comic, such as alternate covers.
History of origin
Stories in pictures
Drawings by Rodolphe Tepfer
The tradition of picture stories dates back to the 16th and 17th centuries, when in Valencia and Barcelona they began to sell pictures for the people, most often with religious themes. This is a retelling of the lives of the saints in a series of small engravings printed on pieces of colored paper (“halleluis”). The drawings on secular subjects were called “(Spanish. aucas)" (from Spanish) jeu de l"oie ) .
"Alleluia" was widespread in Flanders, France and Germany in the 16th and 17th centuries.
After 1870, illustrated weeklies in Europe began to use a form of popular prints called "Epinal pictures". Louis Lumière borrowed the plot of "The Waterer" from such picture albums.
Comics are coming to the USA
The first American comic strip, “The Little Bears and the Tiger,” was published in 1892 in The San Francisco Examiner (edited by William Randolph Hearst). The Hearst Printing Trust made extensive use of illustration, and with the advent of comics, they became the favorite weapon of the Hearst press, as well as the press of his rival Joseph Pulitzer.
One of Hearst's most prominent cartoonists at the time was Winsor McCay, who was considered more of a specialist in political cartooning than in comics. He contributed to Hearst's New York newspaper, the New York American, and in his free time drew the cartoon "Gertie the Dinosaur".
Thanks to these color series, Hearst and Pulitzer's newspapers became known as the "yellow press".
Golden age
In the 20th century, comics became one of the popular genres of mass culture. By this time, comics had largely lost the comic quality for which they got their name. The main genre of comics became adventures: action films, detective stories, horror, science fiction, stories about superheroes.
In the 60s, the Marvel company also entered the world stage. The well-known Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby create some of the most popular heroes in the history of comics: Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor, X-Men, Iron Man and many others. The main center of the comic book industry remains the United States, where they are extremely popular. The largest world-famous companies are Marvel, Dark Horse and Image Comics.
Bronze Age
Bronze Age of Comics(eng. Bronze Age of Comic Books) is the name of a period in the history of American comics, and although the exact framework of this period does not exist, it is generally accepted that it began in 1973 and ended in 1985. Comics' plots became more realistic and adult, now addressing current topics such as drug use, alcoholism, and environmental pollution.
One event most often cited as the start of the Bronze Age was the death of Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man's love interest in 1973's The Amazing Spider-Man #121-122.
Modern age
The most recent period in the history of comics development lasts from 1986 to the present day. Precise frames, as in the case of bronze age, does not exist. In addition, there are several versions of the name of the period. The modern age is characterized by even greater realism in comics, the emergence of anti-heroes and the darkness of plots.
At the end of the 20th century, Asian comic genres became very popular: Japanese manga and, somewhat less known, Chinese manhua and Korean manhwa. The development of manga in Japan began with the end of World War II, but Asian comics remained little known in the West until many of the manga were filmed as anime (a genre of Japanese animation).
At the beginning of the 21st century, comics received a new incarnation due to new computer technologies used in coloring comics, as well as a number of talented artists such as Ashley Wood, Todd McFarlane, Sam Keith, Paolo Rivera, Greg Capullo, Humberto Ramos, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Tomm Moore and others. Comics began not only to draw in pencil, but also to write in oils, and also to combine the first and second in combination with graphic digital technologies. Many of the comics have been filmed in Hollywood, and the films have had incredible success all over the world.
Development of the comics industry in the United States
- March 1897 The first mention of the comic was in the New York American newspaper. It was the artist Richard Outcault.
- 1922 Comic Monthly magazine begins regularly dedicating a column specifically to comics.
- From 1929 to 1933 George Delacote printed 36 issues of The Funnies, the first color stand-alone edition of the comic.
- 1933 This idea was picked up by employees of the New York company Eastern Color Printing Company. They printed a thirty-two-page comic called Funnies On Parade with a circulation of 10,000 copies, which soon grew to a quarter of a million. The comics started selling out in a matter of days.
- From 1933 to 1940 Comics began to be published regularly in various newspapers and published as separate books. The monthly magazine “Famous Funnies” began to be published, the circulation of which was already initially large (400 thousand copies).
- 1938 The beginning of the "Golden Age". Another magazine appeared - “Action Comics” - the main hero of which was Superman, and a little later a dark hero appeared - Batman.
- From 1944 to 1952 a whole barrage of new super comics hits, such as “Captain America”, “Wonderful Woman”, the “War Comics” series, “Police Comics” and a whole set of cartoon characters: “Bugs Bunny Rabbit”, “Donald the Duckling”, “Mickey Mouse”, “Porky Pig”, etc. Series of patriotic, anti-war, anti-fascist comics, the first appearance of horror comics with the villain Frankenstein and much more.
- 1953-1959 A slight decline in the sale of comics due to their relatively low quality.
- 1956 The end of the "Golden Age", the beginning of the "Silver Age".
- 1960-1970 The rise again, and the biggest event was the appearance in August 1962 of a comic book with Spider-Man, it was created by writer Stan Lee and drawn by artist Steve Ditko.
- 1970 The end of the "Silver Age", the beginning of the "Bronze Age". A new boom was created by the comic book “Conan the Barbarian” based on the novel by Robert E. Howard.
- 1970-1980 A furious competition in the comics business begins between the two largest printing companies, Marvel and Dell. Dell begins reprinting comics from the 30s to the 50s, and Marvel Comics responds with a series of original and entertaining Spider-Man adventures.
- 1977 Three months before the release of the film "Star Wars", the Marvel Comics company began publishing a series of comics based on the scripts of this film. Star Wars exceeded all expectations, breaking all record sales. Warner Communications attracted readers with the characters Hulk, Doctor Strange, Dick Tracy and Flash Gordon. Subsequently, feature and animated films were made based on these comics. Heavy Metal magazine has released an avant-garde comic book by the best European artists.
- 1980 - 1990 The comic book industry is in full bloom.
- 1984 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, published by Mirage Studious and written by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, created a real sensation. A comic book series is released, an animated series of the same name (1987) and a feature film (1991) are released.
- 1985 End of the Bronze Age, beginning of the Modern Age.
- 1988 Mirage Studious is selling some of the rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Archie Comics. The comics under her auspices were called TMNT Adventures. Actually, this series began the spread of comics about TMNT to other countries. In Britain, these comics were published by Fleetway Publications. In Russia they were published by the publishing house "Makhaon".
- 1989 was Batman's fiftieth anniversary. The comic book series was dedicated to this year and the feature film “Batman” was shot; the film became the highest-grossing American box office in the history of cinema this year.
- 1990 The series “Classics in Illustrations” was published, which included “Moby Dick”, “The Raven”, poems by Edgar Poe, “Great Expectations” by Dickens, “Alice Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll.
- 1993 Matt Groening (author of the comic strip Life in Hell) and his colleagues create the Bongo Comics Group. They produce many comics based on the animated series The Simpsons.
- 1997 The first webcomics appeared, for example, "Sluggy Freelance".
- 2000 Marvel Comics is relaunching the most popular classic comics for a modern generation under the umbrella title Ultimate Marvel. The Dark Horse company begins to print comics based on films such as “Alien”, “Predator”, “Terminator”. At a time when comic book companies compete with each other, the Walt Disney Company is producing children's stories with Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Pluto and its other characters.
Types of comics
Comics based on historical events
Canadian animators and 2007 Oscar nominees Maciek Szczerbowski and Chris Lavis hosted the first international free youth lifestyle magazine Vice Magazine popular comic "The Untold Tales of Yuri Gagarin" for 10 years. The main character of the comic was Yuri Gagarin.
Fantastic comics
A type of comic book based on fantasy themes. Dmitry Zlotnitsky in his article “Fantastic comics” in the magazine “World of Fantasy” identifies 5 areas of fantasy comics: comics based on famous TV series, comics based on literary works, comics based on game universes, comics based on series that have lost popularity (comics based on adventures Indiana Jones, the Xena Warrior Princess comic series, Red Sonja comics, Conan mini-series, Dynamite Entertainment's Highlander series, Wildstorm's 2003 Robotech comics, numerous Transformers comics from Marvel, DreamWave and IDW Publishing) and author's original comics without connection to existing fantasy works (Richard and Wendy Pini ElfQuest - "Saga of the Forest Riders" 1978, the world of Warlands by DreamWave and Image Comics, the Sojourn series by Crossgen Comics, the world of Soulfire, V for Vendetta and a series about the city between the worlds GrimJack).
Web comics
Comics in the Empire, USSR and Russia
Poster for "Windows of GROWTH" created by Vladimir Mayakovsky using comic book technique
During Soviet times, the comic book was not widely used. However, some examples still existed.
Thus, Vladimir Mayakovsky used the comic book technique in his propaganda posters, Windows of ROSTA satire. In the 1930s, the magazine "Yozh" regularly published stories in pictures, such as the cycle "Smart Masha"(1934−1937). In 1937, the children's book-album “Stories in Pictures” by artist Nikolai Radlov was published.
In 1991-1994, the magazine “Mukha” was published. The enterprise of the Russian Union of Afghanistan Veterans "Veles-VA" in 1990-1998 published comics magazines, focused mainly on the patriotic education of youth, there were also simply entertaining comics; the magazine is considered successful and the comics are still being republished today. From 1999 to 2003, the magazine “Magnificent Adventures” was published. However, until the 2010s, comics were not popular in Russia, and many said that comics culture in Russia had not developed.
In the mid-2010s, Russia experienced a comic book boom for the first time in its history. More than a dozen publishing houses began to publish drawn stories, among them “42”, XL Media, “Comics Art”, “Panini”, “Azbuka”. The most famous foreign graphic novels were published in Russian, and specialized comic book stores emerged. Since 2002, the comic book festival “ComMission” has been held annually, and since 2014, within the framework of the “Igromir” exhibition, the Comic-Con Russia festival has been held, where comics are also widely represented. According to some publishers, this boom is due to the success of comic book adaptations (such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and the emergence of comic book fandom.
In addition, in the 2010s, the number of publications of Russian comics increased significantly. So, in 2012, the publishing house Bubble Comics began publishing four series of its comics: “Major Thunder”, “Devilboy”, “Red Fury” and “Monk”; two years later, two new series were released - “Exlibrium” and “Meteora”. Also in 2012, the comic book “The Illustrated Constitution of Russia” was published.
Portal "Comics" Comic in Wiktionary Comic on Wikimedia Commons
A couple of weeks ago we published a review in the #Shelfporn section, and received unexpected feedback from our readers: they say, explain for beginners what an “omnibus”, “strip”, etc. is. Otherwise, not everything in your articles is clear. This idea seemed very sensible to us: many experienced comics readers use specific slang in their speech, which is not always understandable to beginners. Therefore, we have compiled a short glossary of the main terms found in our texts. Do you want to add something? Still have questions? Write in the comments!
Absolute(aka Absolute) is a format named after the DC comic book line of the same name. The main distinguishing features are the large size of the book (more hardcover And oversized), the presence of additional bonus materials and a special cardboard box for storage (the so-called. slipcase, slipcase). It was DC Comics that in the early 2000s began mass production of comics in this format under the Absolute brand: the first releases in this series were Absolute Authority (2002), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) and Absolute Danger Girl (also 2003).
Other publishers also publish comics in this format, but call it differently: for example, for Image it can be Smorgasbord Edition (in the case of the Chew series), or even Omnibus (in the case of The Walking Dead).
Artist's Edition(aka, with some parlance, Artifact Edition and Gallery Edition) - a line of large and expensive (from $100) collector's editions from IDW, which print exclusively original (black and white) art of famous artists, scanned from sheets sent once by the author to the publishing house. Complete stories (story arcs) are usually released under the Artist’s Edition label, but the Artifact Edition collects everything that could be found under a hard cover. See our review for an example. Well, Gallery Editions are similar books from other publishers (Graphitti Designs and Dark Horse).
Big two- leaders of the American comics market, publishing houses DC and Marvel Comics.
C.G.C.(aka Comics Guaranty LLC) is a company that evaluates and ranks comic books. It happens like this: specialists receive a single from the owner, which they check for all sorts of defects (torn pages, dirt, etc.), pack it in a sealed package and assign it a number on a scale from 0.5 to 10. The higher the rating - the higher the cost of the comic at various auctions.
Custom bind(aka custom bind) - a hardcover sewn or made to order or with your own hands. We have already talked about this phenomenon in detail.
Oversized(aka Oversized Hardcover, OHC) - This hardcover increased size, usually 28.2x19 cm (versus 26.5x17.5 cm). Also called by many publishers deluxe.
Omnibus(aka omnibus, "omnic", Omnibus) is the general name for all these weighty hardcover volumes that decorate any bookshelves. Often contains either all wounds some author, or (if it is impossible to fit all issues on 1000 pages) part of him. In other words, they are very thick and expensive oversized. As a rule, the volume of such a volume is up to 1000 pages, the cost is 75-100 dollars, although it all depends on the arrogance of the publisher.
Some publishers call publications of other formats the word Omnibus - for example, see The Walking Dead Omnibus, which is completely identical in size to absolutes.
For example:
Hellboy Artist's Edition from IDW
Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths
Wonder Woman Omnibass
Hardcover Lumberjanes
Trade Hellblazer
strip(aka comic strip, comic trip) - a certain sequence of images with text captions, interconnected by a plot. Simply put, it’s a short comic strip in newspaper format. That is, “Snoopy” with “Calvin and Hobbes”, and even the giant 1-page adventures of baby Nemo from Winsor McCay easily fit into this definition.
Trade(aka Trade Paperback, TPB) - actually, a collection in paperback. The cheapest way to collect several (from 3-4 to 10) issues of a series under one cover. It is also the easiest way to acquire a home collection: cheap and cheerful. True, very often such publications use low-quality paper (see many Vertigo trades). The paperback collection is exactly the same size as the single.
Hardcover(aka hardcover, HC, “hard”) is the basic unit of measurement for hard cover comics. Essentially it's still the same trade, only with a hard cover instead of a soft cover. And (sometimes) just a little more.
