All About Comics Today we can read comics almost anywhere in books on phones and tablets and in newspapers and magazines Here are just a few types of comics enjoyed all over the world Which ones do you read Comic books are fairly short most are about 32 pages and can stand alone or be part of an ongoing story A Trade collects several comic books into one bigger book Graphic novels are longer comics that usually tell one big story Zines are handmade books that may include a mix of comics stories diaries and other things
Webcomics are comics that are originally posted online instead of in print Comic strips are short comics that are often found in newspapers Bandes dessinées BAND DESS-in-nay or BDs are French language comics that are particularly popular in Europe Manga are a Japanese style of comics that are often in black and white and read from right to left Today most single-issue comic books cost between 3 and 4 Back in 1938 a comic book cost just 10 cents If you keep comics long enough and in great condition they might even become valuable one day In 2014 a copy of Action Comics 1 the first Superman comic sold for more than 3 million 3
Ancient Comics Who’s the oldest person you know Multiply that by several hundred and you’ll get an idea of how long people have been using art to tell stories Like modern comics ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs HI-ro-gliffs used pictures to describe events This form of storytelling is also called sequential see-QWEN-shul art which means art that’s arranged in a specific order Cave paintings and engravings date back tens of thousands of years Many of them showed bison deer and other animals Hieroglyphs are pictures or symbols that were found in ancient Egyptian writing
Often made of silk Japanese tapestries brought decorative art into people’s homes Ancient Greek art showed people and other images on architecture vases and wall paintings Medieval speech scrolls helped artists show what someone in a picture was saying See It may seem like comics are pretty new but the art form has evolved over centuries 5
