What is Comic? / Korean Comic / Japanese Comic/ American Comic
Comic: –adjective
<1. of, pertainingto, or characterized by comedy: comic opera.>
<2. of or pertaining to a person who acts in or writes comedy: a comic actor; a comic dramatist.>
<3. of, paintaining to a person who acts in or writes comedy; a comic actor; a comic dramatist>
<4. provoking laughter; humourous; funny; laughable>
<5. of relating to, characterized by, or characteristic of comedy>
<6. (prenominal) acting in, writing, or composing comedy: a comic writer>
<7. humourous; funny>
Comic:-noun
<1. a comedian>
<2. comic book>
<3. comics, comic strips>
<4. a person who is comic, esp a comic actor; comedian>
<5. a book or magazine containing comic strips>
<6. chiefly (US), (CANADIAN) (USUALLY PLURAL) comic strips in newspapers, etc.>
- Comic is a graphic medium in which images convey a sequential narrative. The term derives from the mostly
humourus early work in the medium. Early precursors of comic as they are known today include Trajan's Column
and the work of William Hogarth. Comic stripswere soon gathered into cheap booklets and reprint comic books.
In the late 20th and early 21st century there has beemmovement to rehabilitate the medium. Though practitioners
may eschew formal traditions, they often use particular forms and conventions to convey narration and speech,
or to evoke emotional or sensuous reponses. Devices such as speech balloons and boxes are used to indicate
dialogue and impart establishing information, while panels, layout, gutters and zip ribbons can help indicate the
flow of the story. Comics use of text, ambiguity, symbolism, design, iconography, literary technique, mixed
media and stylistic elements of are help build a subtext of meanings. Though comics are non-linear structures
and can be hard to read sometimes, it is simply presented. However, it depends of the reader's "frame of mind"
to read and understand the comic. Different conventions were developed around the globe, from the manga
of Japan to the manhua of China and the manhwa of Korea, the comicbooks of the United States, and the larger
hardcover albums in Europe.
·
In 1827, Switzerland's Rodolphe Topffer created a comic strip and continued
on to publish seven graphics novels. In 1837, "The Adventure of Obadiah Oldbuck" was published by Rudolphe Topffer and
it is considered the earliest known comic book.
Korean Comics ( Manhwa )
-Manhwa is the general Korean term for comics and print cartoons (common usage also includes animated cartoons). Outside of
Korea, the term usually refers specifically to South Korean comics. The term, along with manga, is a cognate of the Chinese Manhua.
Manhwa were inspired by classic Asian arts, especially Chinese
- Manhwa Style
a mainstream style similar to manga. Distinctive manhwa can be found in editorial comic strips artistically-oriented works, and webcomics serials.
-The face and eyes are often exaggerated in a cartoon style while the figure is more realistic in proportion
-There is (usually) a more frequent use of gradient screentone.
-The left-to-right reading direction of the book.
-The Korean name of the author/artist. It is usually double-barreled and with syllables that do not exist in Japanese.
-The Korean names of the characters in the manhwa.
-The untranslated sound effects are in hangul
- History of Term ( Manhwa )
Linguistically, 漫画 (manga), 漫畫 (manhua), and 만화 (漫畫 manhwa)all mean comics in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean respectively.
This term is a Japanese-invented compound using kanji (Chinese character) roots. These type of words are called 和製漢語 (wasei kango).
An parallel example is the term 電話 (denwa "telephone") which was created in Japan from the kanji roots 電 (electric) and 話 (speak).
This term was then adopted in Chinese and Korean, and even if written in Chinese characters or Korean Hangul, the original term is
a Japanese creation. (Similar to how English coined "telephone" from the Greek roots of "tele" and "phonos" and then the word telephone
spread back into Greek and other languages.) Complications arise because in these languages the terms manga/manhua/manhwa can
all mean comics in general but also specifically refer to Japanese-style comics. Specifically, Korean-style manga is often called 한국 만화
(Korean Manhwa/Manga) in Korean.
- Korean Famous Comic Publish Company
Topaz Agency Inc | ![]() |
Daewon C.I . | ![]() |
Haksan Pubing Co., Ltd | ![]() |
Seoul Culture Corporation | ![]() |
Shinwon Agency Corporation | ![]() |
Japanese Comics ( Manga )
- Manga a cognate of the Chinese manhua, consist of comics and print cartoons, in the Japanese language conforming to the style developd
in Japan in the late 19th century. In their modern from, manga date from shortly after World War II, but they have a long complex pre-history
in earlier Japnese art.
- In Japan, people of all ages read manga. The medium includes works in a broad range of genres: action-adventure, romance, sports and
games, historical drama, comedy, scienct fiction and fantasy, mystery, horror, sexuality, and business/commerce, among others. Since 1950s,
manga have steadily become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry, representing a 406 billion yen market in Japan in 2007
(approximately $3.6 billion). Manga have also gained a signigicant worldwide audience. In 2008, the U.S. and Canadian manga market
was valued at $175 million. Manga are typically printed in black-and-white, although some full-color manga exist. In Japan, manga are
usually serialized in large manga magazines, often containing many stories, each presented in a single episode to be continued in the next
issue. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in papaerback books called tankōbon. A manga artist typically
works with a few assistants in a small studio and is a associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company. If a manga
series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run, although sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously
existing live-action or animated films.
- Japanese Famus Comic Publish Company
American Comics
- Since the invention of the modern comic-book format in 1933, the United States had produced the most examples, with only the
British comic books (during the inter-war period and up until the 1970s), the italian ones, called by them fumetti and the Japanese
manga as close competitors in terms of quantity.
- Sales of comic books began to decline after World War II, when the medium had to face competition with the spread of television
and mass-market paperback books. Confirming the trend, mass-media researchers in the period found comic-book reading among
children with television sets in homes "drastically reduced". In the 1960s, comic books' audience expanded to include college students
who favored the naturalistic, "superheroes in the real world" trend initiated by Stan Lee at Marvel Comics. The 1960s also saw the
advent of the underground comics. Later, the recognition of the comic medium among academics, literary critics and art museums
helped solidify comics as a serious artform with established traditions, stylistic conventions, and artistic evolution.
- American Famous Comic Publish Company
215 ink. | ![]() |
Alias Enterprises | ![]() |
Gestalt Publishing | ![]() |
Bluewater Production | ![]() |
Crystal Fractal Comics | ![]() |