Editing Comics (section)

==Origins and traditions==

{{main|History of comics|List of comics by country}}

<gallery caption="Examples of early comics" mode="packed" heights="180">
Manga Hokusai.jpg|''[[Hokusai Manga|Manga]]''<br />[[Hokusai]], early 19th century<!-- have to find the date for this example -->
Toepffer Cryptogame 13.png|{{lang|fr|Histoire de Monsieur Cryptogame}}<br />[[Rodolphe Töpffer]], 1830
Max_und_Moritz_tinted_21.png|[[Max and Moritz]]''<br />[[Wilhelm Busch]], 1865
AllySloper.jpg|[[Ally Sloper]] in ''Some of the Mysteries of Loan and Discount''<br />[[Charles Henry Ross]], 1867
Yellow Kid 1898-01-09.jpg|''[[The Yellow Kid]]''<br />[[Richard F. Outcault|R. F. Outcault]], 1898
</gallery>

The European, American, and Japanese comics traditions have followed different paths.{{sfn|Couch|2000}} Europeans have seen their tradition as beginning with the Swiss [[Rodolphe Töpffer]] from as early as 1827 and Americans have seen the origin of theirs in [[Richard&nbsp;F. Outcault]]'s 1890s newspaper strip ''[[The Yellow Kid]]'', though many Americans have come to recognize Töpffer's precedence. [[Wilhelm Busch]] directly influenced [[Rudolph Dirks]] and his [[Katzenjammer Kids]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thegermanprofessor.com/max-und-moritz/ | title=8 Things about Max und Moritz | date=30 March 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dw.com/en/max-and-moritz-how-germanys-naughtiest-boys-rose-to-global-fame/a-18808584 | title=Max and Moritz: How Germany's naughtiest boys rose to fame – DW – 10/27/2015 | website=[[Deutsche Welle]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.outdooractive.com/en/story/harz/the-original-story-of-max-and-moritz/28754663/ | title=The original story of Max and Moritz }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.toonsmag.com/max-and-moritz/ | title=Max and Moritz: A Tale of Mischief and Influence - Toons Mag | date=8 October 2023 }}</ref>{{sfnm|1a1=Gabilliet|1y=2010|1p=xiv|2a1=Beerbohm|2y=2003|3a1=Sabin|3y=2005|3p=186|4a1=Rowland|4y=1990|4p=13}} Japan has a long history of satirical cartoons and comics leading up to the World War&nbsp;II era. The [[ukiyo-e]] artist [[Hokusai]] popularized the Japanese term for comics and cartooning, ''{{Transliteration|ja|[[manga]]}}'', in the early 19th century.{{sfnm|1a1=Petersen|1y=2010|1p=41|2a1=Power|2y=2009|2p=24|3a1=Gravett|3y=2004|3p=9}} In the 1930s [[Harry "A" Chesler]] started a comics studio, which eventually at its height employed 40 artists working for 50 different publishers who helped make the comics medium flourish in "the Golden Age of Comics" after World War II.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/09/12/archives/the-funnies-can-be-serious.html|title=The 'Funnies'|last=Ewing|first=Emma Mai|date=1976-09-12|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-03-05|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128075857/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/09/12/archives/the-funnies-can-be-serious.html|archive-date=2018-11-28|url-status=live}}</ref> In the post-war era modern Japanese comics began to flourish when [[Osamu Tezuka]] produced a prolific body of work.{{sfnm|1a1=Couch|1y=2000|2a1=Petersen|2y=2010|2p=175}} Towards the close of the 20th century, these three traditions converged in a trend towards book-length comics: the [[comic album]] in Europe, the {{Transliteration|ja|[[tankōbon]]}}{{efn|{{nihongo|tankōbon|単行本|extra=translation close to "independently appearing book"}}}} in Japan, and the [[graphic novel]] in the English-speaking countries.{{sfn|Couch|2000}}

Outside of these genealogies, comics theorists and historians have seen precedents for comics in the [[Lascaux|Lascaux cave paintings]]{{sfnm|1a1=Gabilliet|1y=2010|1p=xiv|2a1=Barker|2y=1989|2p=6|3a1=Groensteen|3y=2014|4a1=Grove|4y=2010|4p=59|5a1=Beaty|5y=2012|p=32|6a1=Jobs|6y=2012|6p=98}} in France (some of which appear to be chronological sequences of images), [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], [[Trajan's Column]] in Rome,{{sfn|Gabilliet|2010|p=xiv}} the 11th-century Norman [[Bayeux Tapestry]],{{sfnm|1a1=Gabilliet|1y=2010|1p=xiv|2a1=Beaty|2y=2012|2p=61|3a1=Grove|3y=2010|3pp=16, 21, 59}} the 1370 {{lang|fr|[[bois Protat]]}} woodcut, the 15th-century {{lang|la|[[Ars moriendi]]}} and [[block book]]s, Michelangelo's ''[[The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)|The Last Judgment]]'' in the Sistine Chapel,{{sfn|Gabilliet|2010|p=xiv}} and [[William Hogarth]]'s 18th-century sequential engravings,{{sfn|Grove|2010|p=79}} amongst others.{{sfn|Gabilliet|2010|p=xiv}}{{efn|David Kunzle has compiled extensive collections of these and other proto-comics in his ''The Early Comic Strip'' (1973) and ''The History of the Comic Strip'' (1990).{{sfn|Beaty|2012|p=62}} }}

{{Panorama
|image   = File:Tapisserie de Bayeux 31109.jpg
|height  = 85
|alt     = An extremely long embroidered cloth depicting events leading to the Norman conquest of England.
|caption = Theorists debate whether the [[Bayeux Tapestry]] is a precursor to comics.
}}

===English-language comics===
[[File:An angry snarl between friendly relations (BM 1902,1011.9702).jpg|thumb|300px|"An angry snarl between friendly relations" - Satirical print on the politics around the [[Caroline Affair]] (1840–1841)]]
{{multiple image
 | width = 180
 | footer = ''The Upside Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo'', comics by Gustave Verbeek containing [[reversible figure]]s and [[ambigram]] sentences (March 1904).
 | image1 = Ambigrams by Gustave Verbeek (1904) - comics The Upside Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo - At the house of the writing pig.jpg
 | caption1 = ''At the house of the writing pig''.

}}
{{main|British comics|History of American comics|American comic book}}

Illustrated humour periodicals were popular in 19th-century Britain, the earliest of which was the short-lived ''[[The Glasgow Looking Glass]]'' in 1825.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dempster |first1=Michael |title=Glasgow Looking Glass |url=https://wee-windaes.nls.uk/glasgow-looking-glass/ |website=Wee Windaes |publisher=National Library of Scotland |access-date=20 June 2022}}</ref> The most popular was ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'',{{sfn|Clark|Clark|1991|p=17}} which popularized the term ''cartoon'' for its humorous caricatures.{{sfn|Harvey|2001|p=77}} On occasion the cartoons in these magazines appeared in sequences;{{sfn|Clark|Clark|1991|p=17}} the character [[Ally Sloper]] featured in the earliest serialized comic strip when the character began to feature in its own weekly magazine in 1884.{{sfn|Meskin|Cook|2012|p=xxii}}

American comics developed out of such magazines as ''[[Puck (magazine)|Puck]]'', ''[[Judge (magazine)|Judge]]'', and ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]''. The success of illustrated humour supplements in the ''[[New York World]]'' and later the ''[[New York American]]'', particularly Outcault's ''The Yellow Kid'', led to the development of newspaper comic strips. Early [[Sunday comics|Sunday strips]] were full-page{{sfn|Nordling|1995|p=123}} and often in colour. Between 1896 and 1901 cartoonists experimented with sequentiality, movement, and speech balloons.{{sfn|Gordon|2002|p=35}} An example is [[Gustave Verbeek]], who wrote his comic series "The UpsideDowns of Old Man Muffaroo and Little Lady Lovekins" between 1903 and 1905. These comics were made in such a way that one could read the 6-panel comic, flip the book and keep reading. He made 64 such comics in total. In 2012, a remake of a selection of the comics was made by Marcus Ivarsson in the book 'In Uppåner med Lilla Lisen & Gamle Muppen'. ({{ISBN|978-91-7089-524-1}})

{{wide image
|1   = Mr. A. Mutt Starts in to Play the Races 1907.jpg
|2   = 600px
|3   = [[Bud Fisher]]'s ''[[Mutt and Jeff]]'' (1907–1982) was the first successful daily comic strip (1907).<!-- what's the date?!? -->
|alt = Five-panel comic strip.}}

Shorter, black-and-white daily strips began to appear early in the 20th century, and became established in newspapers after the success in 1907 of [[Bud Fisher]]'s ''[[Mutt and Jeff]]''.{{sfn|Harvey|1994|p=11}} In Britain, the [[Amalgamated Press]] established a popular style of a sequence of images with text beneath them, including ''[[Illustrated Chips]]'' and ''[[Comic Cuts]]''.{{sfn|Bramlett|Cook|Meskin|2016|p=45}} Humour strips predominated at first, and in the 1920s and 1930s strips with continuing stories in genres such as adventure and drama also became popular.{{sfn|Harvey|1994|p=11}}

Thin periodicals called [[American comic book|comic books]] appeared in the 1930s, at first reprinting newspaper comic strips; by the end of the decade, original content began to dominate.{{sfn|Rhoades|2008|p=2}} The success in 1938 of ''[[Action Comics]]'' and its lead hero [[Superman]] marked the beginning of the [[Golden Age of Comic Books]], in which the [[Superhero comics|superhero genre]] was prominent.{{sfn|Rhoades|2008|p=x}} In the UK and the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]], the [[DC Thomson]]-created ''[[The Dandy|Dandy]]'' (1937) and ''[[The Beano|Beano]]'' (1938) became successful humor-based titles, with a combined circulation of over 2 million copies by the 1950s. Their characters, including "[[Dennis the Menace (UK)|Dennis the Menace]]", "[[Desperate Dan]]" and "[[The Bash Street Kids]]" have been read by generations of British children.{{sfn|Childs|Storry|2013|p=532}} The comics originally experimented with superheroes and action stories before settling on humorous strips featuring a mix of the Amalgamated Press and US comic book styles.{{sfn|Bramlett|Cook|Meskin|2016|p=46}}

[[File:WonderworldComics3.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=|[[Superhero comics|Superheroes]] have been a staple of [[American comic book]]s (''Wonderworld Comics'' {{No.}}3, 1939; cover: [[Flame (comics)|The Flame]] by [[Will Eisner]]).]]

The popularity of superhero comic books declined in the years following World War&nbsp;II,{{sfn|Gabilliet|2010|p=51}} while comic book sales continued to increase as other genres proliferated, such as [[Romance comics|romance]], [[Western comics|westerns]], [[Crime comics|crime]], [[Horror comics|horror]], and humour.{{sfn|Gabilliet|2010|p=49}} Following a sales peak in the early 1950s, the content of comic books (particularly crime and horror) was subjected to scrutiny from parent groups and government agencies, which culminated in [[United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency|Senate hearings]] that led to the establishment of the [[Comics Code Authority]] self-censoring body.{{sfn|Gabilliet|2010|pp=49–50}} The Code has been blamed for stunting the growth of American comics and maintaining its low status in American society for much of the remainder of the century.{{sfn|Gabilliet|2010|p=50}} Superheroes re-established themselves as the most prominent comic book genre by the early 1960s.{{sfn|Gabilliet|2010|pp=52–55}} [[Underground comix]] challenged the Code and readers with adult, countercultural content in the late 1960s and early 1970s.{{sfn|Gabilliet|2010|p=66}} The underground gave birth to the [[alternative comics]] movement in the 1980s and its mature, often experimental content in non-superhero genres.{{sfnm|1a1=Hatfield|1y=2005|1pp=20, 26|2a1=Lopes|2y=2009|2p=123|3a1=Rhoades|3y=2008|3p=140}}

Comics in the US has had a [[Low culture|lowbrow]] reputation stemming from its roots in [[mass culture]]; cultural elites sometimes saw popular culture as threatening culture and society. In the latter half of the 20th century, popular culture won greater acceptance, and the lines between high and low culture began to blur. Comics nevertheless continued to be stigmatized, as the medium was seen as entertainment for children and illiterates.{{sfn|Lopes|2009|pp=xx–xxi}}

The [[graphic novel]]—book-length comics—began to gain attention after [[Will Eisner]] popularized the term with his book ''[[A Contract with God]]'' (1978).{{sfn|Petersen|2010|p=222}} The term became widely known with the public after the commercial success of ''[[Maus]]'', ''[[Watchmen]]'', and ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' in the mid-1980s.{{sfnm|1a1=Kaplan|1y=2008|1p=172|2a1=Sabin|2y=1993|2p=246|3a1=Stringer|3y=1996|3p=262|4a1=Ahrens|4a2=Meteling|4y=2010|4p=1|5a1=Williams|5a2=Lyons|5y=2010|5p=7}} In the 21st century graphic novels became established in mainstream bookstores{{sfn|Gabilliet|2010|pp=210–211}} and libraries{{sfn|Lopes|2009|p=151–152}} and webcomics became common.{{sfn|Thorne|2010|p=209}}

===Franco-Belgian and European comics===

{{main|European comics|Franco-Belgian comics}}

The francophone Swiss [[Rodolphe Töpffer]] produced comic strips beginning in 1827,{{sfn|Gabilliet|2010|p=xiv}} and published theories behind the form.{{sfn|Harvey|2010}} [[Wilhelm Busch]] first published his [[Max and Moritz]] in 1865.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/culture/arts-architecture/150-years-of-max-and-moritz | title=150 years of Max and Moritz | date=22 October 2015 }}</ref> Cartoons appeared widely in newspapers and magazines from the 19th century.{{sfn|Lefèvre|2010|p=186}} The success of ''[[Zig et Puce]]'' in 1925 popularized the use of speech balloons in European comics, after which Franco-Belgian comics began to dominate.{{sfnm|1a1=Vessels|1y=2010|1p=45|2a1=Miller|2y=2007|2p=17}} ''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]'', with its signature [[Ligne claire|clear line]] style,{{sfnm|1a1=Screech|1y=2005|1p=27|2a1=Miller|2y=2007|2p=18}} was first serialized in newspaper comics supplements beginning in 1929,{{sfn|Miller|2007|p=17}} and became an icon of Franco-Belgian comics.{{sfnm|1a1=Theobald|1y=2004|1p=82|2a1=Screech|2y=2005|2p=48|3a1=McKinney|3y=2011|3p=3}}

Following the success of {{lang|fr|[[Le Journal de Mickey]]}} (est. 1934),{{sfn|Grove|2005|pp=76–78}} dedicated comics magazines{{sfnm|1a1=Petersen|1y=2010|1pp=214–215|2a1=Lefèvre|2y=2010|2p=186}} like ''[[Spirou (magazine)|Spirou]]'' (est. 1938) and ''[[Tintin (magazine)|Tintin]]'' (1946–1993), and full-colour comic albums became the primary outlet for comics in the mid-20th century.{{sfn|Petersen|2010|pp=214–215}} As in the US, at the time comics were seen as infantile and a threat to culture and literacy; commentators stated that "none bear up to the slightest serious analysis",{{efn|{{langx|fr|"...&nbsp;aucune ne supporte une analyse un peu serieuse."}}&nbsp;– Jacqueline & Raoul Dubois in {{lang|fr|La Presse enfantine française}} (Midol, 1957){{sfn|Grove|2005|p=46}} }} and that comics were "the sabotage of all art and all literature".{{sfn|Grove|2005|pp=45–46}}{{efn|{{langx|fr|"C'est le sabotage de tout art et de toute littérature."}}&nbsp;– Jean de Trignon in {{lang|fr|Histoires de la littérature enfantine de ma Mère l'Oye au Roi Babar}} ([[Hachette (publisher)|Hachette]], 1950){{sfn|Grove|2005|p=46}} }}

In the 1960s, the term {{lang|fr|bandes dessinées}} ("drawn strips") came into wide use in French to denote the medium.{{sfn|Grove|2005|p=51}} Cartoonists began creating comics for mature audiences,{{sfnm|1a1=Miller|1y=1998|1p=116|2a1=Lefèvre|2y=2010|2p=186}} and the term "Ninth Art"{{efn|{{langx|fr|neuvième art}} }} was coined, as comics began to attract public and academic attention as an artform.{{sfn|Miller|2007|p=23}} A group including [[René Goscinny]] and [[Albert Uderzo]] founded the magazine ''[[Pilote]]'' in 1959 to give artists greater freedom over their work. Goscinny and Uderzo's ''[[Asterix|The Adventures of Asterix]]'' appeared in it{{sfn|Miller|2007|p=21}} and went on to become the best-selling French-language comics series.{{sfn|Screech|2005|p=204}} From 1960, the satirical and taboo-breaking ''[[Hara-Kiri (magazine)|Hara-Kiri]]'' defied censorship laws in the countercultural spirit that led to the [[May 1968 events in France|May 1968 events]].{{sfn|Miller|2007|p=22}}

Frustration with censorship and editorial interference led to a group of ''Pilote'' cartoonists to found the adults-only ''[[L'Écho des savanes]]'' in 1972. Adult-oriented and experimental comics flourished in the 1970s, such as in the experimental science fiction of [[Jean Giraud|Mœbius]] and others in ''[[Métal hurlant]]'', even mainstream publishers took to publishing prestige-format [[adult comics]].{{sfn|Miller|2007|pp=25–28}}

From the 1980s, mainstream sensibilities were reasserted and serialization became less common as the number of comics magazines decreased and many comics began to be published directly as albums.{{sfn|Miller|2007|pp=33–34}} Smaller publishers such as [[L'Association]]{{sfn|Beaty|2007|p=9}} that published longer works{{sfn|Lefèvre|2010|pp=189–190}} in non-traditional formats{{sfn|Grove|2005|p=153}} by ''[[Auteur theory|auteur]]''-istic creators also became common. Since the 1990s, mergers resulted in fewer large publishers, while smaller publishers proliferated. Sales overall continued to grow despite the trend towards a shrinking print market.{{sfn|Miller|2007|pp=49–53}}

===Japanese comics===

{{main|History of manga|Manga}}

[[File:Tagosaku to Mokube no Tokyo Kenbutsu.jpg|thumb|alt=|[[Rakuten Kitazawa]] created the first modern Japanese comic strip. (''Tagosaku to Mokube no Tōkyō Kenbutsu'',{{efn|{{Nihongo|''Tagosaku and Mokube Sightseeing in Tokyo''|田吾作と杢兵衛の東京見物|''Tagosaku to Mokube no Tokyo Kenbutsu''|lead=yes}} }} 1902)]]

Japanese comics and cartooning (''{{Transliteration|ja|[[manga]]}}''),{{efn|{{Nihongo|''"Manga"''|漫画||lead=yes}} can be [[gloss (annotation)|glossed]] in many ways, amongst them "whimsical pictures", "disreputable pictures",{{sfn|Karp|Kress|2011|p=19}} "irresponsible pictures",{{sfn|Gravett|2004|p=9}} "derisory pictures", and "sketches made for or out of a sudden inspiration".{{sfn|Johnson-Woods|2010|p=22}} }} have a history that has been seen as far back as the anthropomorphic characters in the 12th-to-13th-century ''{{Transliteration|ja|[[Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga]]}}'', 17th-century ''{{Transliteration|ja|[[toba-e]]}}'' and ''{{Transliteration|ja|[[kibyōshi]]}}'' picture books,{{sfn|Schodt|1996|p=22}} and [[Woodblock printing|woodblock prints]] such as [[ukiyo-e]] which were popular between the 17th and 20th centuries. The ''{{Transliteration|ja|kibyōshi}}'' contained examples of sequential images, movement lines,{{sfn|Mansfield|2009|p=253}} and sound effects.{{sfn|Petersen|2010|p=42}}

Illustrated magazines for Western expatriates introduced Western-style satirical cartoons to Japan in the late 19th century. New publications in both the Western and Japanese styles became popular, and at the end of the 1890s, American-style newspaper comics supplements began to appear in Japan,{{sfn|Johnson-Woods|2010|pp=21–22}} as well as some American comic strips.{{sfn|Schodt|1996|p=22}} 1900 saw the debut of the ''Jiji Manga'' in the ''Jiji Shinpō'' newspaper—the first use of the word "manga" in its modern sense,{{sfn|Johnson-Woods|2010|p=22}} and where, in 1902, [[Rakuten Kitazawa]] began the first modern Japanese comic strip.{{sfnm|1a1=Petersen|1y=2010|1p=128|2a1=Gravett|2y=2004|2p=21}} By the 1930s, comic strips were serialized in large-circulation monthly girls' and boys' magazine and collected into hardback volumes.{{sfnm|1a1=Schodt|1y=1996|1p=22|2a1=Johnson-Woods|2y=2010|2pp=23–24}}

The modern era of comics in Japan began after World War II, propelled by the success of the serialized comics of the prolific [[Osamu Tezuka]]{{sfn|Gravett|2004|p=24}} and the comic strip ''[[Sazae-san]]''.{{sfnm|1a1=MacWilliams|1y=2008|1p=3|2a1=Hashimoto|2a2=Traphagan|2y=2008|2p=21|3a1=Sugimoto|3y=2010|3p=255|4a1=Gravett|4y=2004|4p=8}} Genres and audiences diversified over the following decades. Stories are usually first serialized in magazines which are often hundreds of pages thick and may contain over a dozen stories;{{sfnm|1a1=Schodt|1y=1996|1p=23|2a1=Gravett|2y=2004|2pp=13–14}} they are later compiled in {{Transliteration|ja|[[tankōbon]]}}-format books.{{sfn|Gravett|2004|p=14}} At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, nearly a quarter of all printed material in Japan was comics.{{sfnm|1a1=Brenner|1y=2007|1p=13|2a1=Lopes|2y=2009|2p=152|3a1=Raz|3y=1999|3p=162|4a1=Jenkins|4y=2004|4p=121}} Translations became extremely popular in foreign markets—in some cases equaling or surpassing the sales of domestic comics.{{sfn|Lee|2010|p=158}}

=== Korean comics ===
{{Main|Manhwa}}
Manhwa ( 만화 ) refers to Korean comics and print cartoons, with the term often used internationally to designate comics originating in Korea. While manhwa shares cultural and linguistic roots with Japanese [[manga]] and Chinese [[manhua]], it has developed a unique identity influenced by Korea’s historical, cultural, and artistic landscape. Modern manhwa has gained global popularity, partly due to the rise of [[Webtoon (platform)|webtoons]]—digitally formatted comics designed for scrolling on mobile devices. This success has contributed to adaptations into movies, dramas, and television series.

The concept of manhwa emerged under the influence of Japanese manga during the Japanese occupation of Korea in the early 20th century. Manga’s established presence in Japan during this period strongly shaped the foundational styles and formats of Korean comics. As [[Korea]] transitioned into independence, manhwa evolved into a distinct medium, balancing the artistic influences of its neighbors with traditional Korean aesthetics and storytelling.