Comic – Definition, Characteristics, Types, Fine Arts, and More

What is the Comic?

• The term Comic is an accepted loan from the English language (comic, that is, “funny”), which today we know as a synonym for a comic strip or even graphic novel.
• It is a form of artistic expression and a means of communication, consisting of a series of illustrations.
• We can read in a continuous sequence, allow the reader to compose a story of some kind.
• They frame it in vignettes, that is, in boxes whose form and style correspond to the narrative or thematic content inside.
• And also, they may or may not be supported by the written text or by signs and characters of the genre.

Fine Arts and Digital Format

• Similarly, it can be drawn on different paper types or even in digital format (Web comics).
• It is often the result of collaborations between various kinds: cartoonists, screenwriters, colorists, and designers.
• The same goes for its audience, which can be highly varied: there is a theme and comic style for practically all reading tastes, even the most artistically demanding.
• For this reason, the comic is considered today as the ninth art (of the Fine Arts recognized by the Academy).
• Finally, the term comic comes from comic books that were one of the first massive formats for producing this type of work.

Characteristics

The comic in its narrative marks the times:

• Present, past, and future, through its vignettes.
• Also, use flashback and flashforward to set the tempo.
• The analepsis (flashback) narratively alters the chronological sequence in history. It refers us to the past.
• Prolepsis (flashforward) is a jump forward in time, then returns to the present.

Elements

It uses verb-iconic language (verbal and iconic elements):

• It uses transfer texts to relay (passing from one time to another) or anchor (passing from one space to another).
• And also, it also uses diagonal texts (balloons) and onomatopoeia.
• It resorts to the use of specific codes:
• Bullets, balloons, movement indications, and gestural expressions
• It is a mass communication medium.
• Although social needs make it rather instructive, it intends to distract, which means that it seeks to leave teaching.
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Comic Types

• There is no formal classification of comics, as even their vocabulary appears to be controversial.
• Some reject the term to find closely linked to the ephemeral and banal origin Cartoon teen, proposing more sophisticated terms like Art s ecumenical (Will Eisner).
• However, according to its publication format, it is usually spoken of:

1. Comic strips

• Whether they come inserted in the newspaper (they still do) or inside magazines, or even in compilation books of a specific artist.
• The comic strips respect the format that their name indicates.
• They are a strip of three or more vignettes in which a short narrative represents, often similar to the joke.
• Also, the gag or to the narration by installments, typical of the 19th century.
  Comics or comic magazines
• Printed on higher or lower quality paper, but usually in full color, professionally finished, and in mass print runs, these are the classic bullet point magazines.
• However, they are far from being just superheroes or extraordinary adventures.

2. Graphic novels

• It is a broad and diverse category, the most formal, cultured, and demanding artistic proposals fit.
• It is often for an informed public, willing to interpret them as a written or illustrated work of art.

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