(Work In Progress) Of Pictures and Prose:

How our vocabulary impacts the culture of graphic narrative.

By Jonathan Scott MA, BA(Hons)

In the modern era, our use of words and vocabulary have become a hot point of discussion, whether it’s concerning the use of pronouns in the English vernacular or phrases that are now deemed inappropriate by larger society – these subjects have been brought to light through many mediums, including comic books. Comics and zines have for decades been mediums that have the capability to push authorism and unique perspectives via self-publishing and the small press, where polarising names like Robert Crumb and the equally admired Joe Sacco emerge as voices. Comics hold a unique place in visual media as they are intrinsically linked with the concepts of semantics, cyphers, and symbolic language. This essay will examine the ways in which our use of language and semantics impacts how Anglophonic, Francophonic and Far Eastern cultures (CJK) view and interact with comics differently.

Although comics at large can be perceived through the western gaze of the American comic book industry, comics have been created and curated by multiple cultures throughout human history, in many situations coming from very different origins. It is a point that is still made by many that “comics is a medium, not a genre” this sentiment has been brought on by the glut of superhero storytelling in the western comics sphere, another sentiment that many proclaim is “comics are an American art form” which also stems from the popularity of the early superhero comics of the 1930’s. The idea that any one culture or nation can lay claim to this narrative medium is on the one hand, flattering for an oft overlooked storytelling format and on the other completely absurd. But of course, when tracking the world’s earliest comics, a certain level of conjecture is required, and one must engage with the age-old quandary “what is a comic?”

Oxford languages dictionary define comic books as: “A periodical containing comic strips, intended chiefly for children” this definition contrasts with Oxford’s definition of Manga which states: “A style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels, typically aimed at adults as well as children” these definitions tell us a lot more about the cultures the work comes from and how they are considered culturally rather than what a comic is. The Oxford languages dictionary also defines comic strips as: “a series of drawings inside boxes that tell a story and are often published in newspapers” which although, does steer a lot closer to our modern understanding of comics is slightly more restrictive, we can deepen this restriction further by observing the stated definition of a comic “a magazine, usually for children, that tells stories through pictures” which also reinforces the child demographic as seen in previous English definitions.

Will Eisner coined the term “sequential art” when referring to comics in his 1985 book “Comics and Sequential Art”, if we use Eisner’s terminology then we can cast a wide cultural net back in time – Egyptian hieroglyphs, by this definition, are comics. Trajan’s column (Fig 1) in Italy would also fall into this category, with deliberately sequential images. Nicolas Verstappen of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok – writer of “The History of Thai Comics: A Century of Strips and Stripes” gives a different definition – one that puts comics into a familiar context. Verstappen explains that the work must be printed, or reproducible and a key component is the creator of said works must intentionally make them to be comics. This definition frames the medium in a way that is much more relatable to the modern reader, the first account of printed comic material can be found as early as 1575 with Frans Hogenberg’s images of the Spanish Fury, displaying multiple images in sequence to display a narrative. There is an argument for the first formalised comic magazine to be Scotland’s “The Glasgow Looking Glass” from 1825, which featured political and cultural satire in the form of illustrations with captions and speech bubbles often told in sequence and in monthly serialised instalments, by Verstappen’s definition, as well as Eisner’s this qualifies. “The Glasgow Looking Glass” predates the first published American “Comic Book” “The Yellow Kid in McFadden’s Flats” created by E.W Townsend by 72 years. Comic artist and historian Art Spiegalman comments on the concept of The Yellow Kid being the first published comic “The former notion that the birth of comics with the yellow kid, what the yellow kid started was the birth of merchandising which is a very American concept” he goes on to say “There were Yellow Kid cookies and Yellow Kid tobacco pouches” Spiegalman acknowledges that the Yellow Kid was not the first comic, but does add context that it was the first to break into multimedia merchandising, something common place in todays media climate . Although comics coming from Switzerland had penetrated the American zeitgeist almost a century before Superman and Batman made their debut. Rodolphe Töpffer is credited with being the first “cartoonist” in history with his work displaying the template for what we would call comics today, Töpffer’s work stands apart from his English inspiration, William Hogarth. Hogarth had a vast preoccupation with the art of caricature and his designs lent into the era’s flavour of political and social satire. Töpffer on the other hand is concerned with the art of sequence and visual narrative through sequential storytelling, it is however, important to observe that Töpffer did in-fact engage in political satire, as did many illustrators of the time. Hogarth was an active source of inspiration, Töpffer quotes Hogarth’s work “Industry and Idleness” from 1747 as an inspiration for his graphic works, along side works from Thomas Rowlandson. Töpffer completed his work on “Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois” (or published in English as The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck) in 1827, this is widely considered to be the first formalised “Comic Strip”, Where this is set apart from much older examples of narrative sequence or narrative art is in it’s intention: Töpffer plotted, drew and wrote this work to be a comic, there was no retroactive classifications applied to the work post – there is the intertwining of image and text in sequence represented in a reproduce-able media. What else was significant with Töpffer’s picture stories was how he divided the page into, what we might call in modern comics vernacular, panels. When comparing Töpffer’s early picture stories against work from the earlier Glasgow Looking Glass pictorials we see a significant departure in approach and methodology. The Glasgow Looking Glass presented it’s combination of illustrations and commentary in strict tableaux, and although multiple tableaux may be read or placed in sequence, they do not flow and were not designed to move coherently as a visual sequence in the same fashion as Töpffer’s work being displayed in his panels, a similar observation can be made when comparing Töpffer and Hogarth – highlighting the forward thinking nature of the artist.

The origins of the term “Graphic Novel” were first exhibited in 1976 on the dust jacket of the book “Bloodstar” drawn by Richard Corben and written by Robert E. Howard, later in 1976 the book Time and Time again received the subtitle “A Graphic Novel and Red Tide” written by Jim Steranko was given the label of both “Visual Novel” and “Graphic Novel”. The term Visual Novel in the modern context has moved away from printed media and sits firmly in the realm of interactive entertainment. it’s prevalent to include the term “littérature en estampes” from French, which translates into English as “Graphic Literature”, this term was used widely in the late 1700’s to mid 1800’s as a short hand for what would become comic books, graphic novels and presumably the Bande dessinée. Rodolphe Töpffer used this term to self describe his own works, he is recorded as using littérature en estampes in 1845

Töpffer’s use of sequence and pioneering of the comic art form also dispels another common falsehood or misconception, that comics are linked with film and are inspired by the medium. Töpffer’s picture stories largely predate the dawning of film by almost a decade, Auguste and Louis Lumière debuted their Cinématographe in December of 1895, more than eight years after “Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois” was first published. This misconception is usually pared with the previous falsehood, that the comic book is an American art form

It is also relevant to draw the distinction between “Graphic Novel” and “Comic Book”, although these words have become synonymous in many modern circles, they do in fact refer to different variations of visual narratives. The differences between these two phrases lays heavily in our understanding of semantics. As objects, graphic novels and comic books use the same visual mechanics and sequential storytelling take a page from a graphic novel and a page from a comic book and you’d easily assume they’re from the same medium, the real differences are found in the intention and structure of the artifices. Comics books are typically short parts of a larger serialised narrative, whereas graphic novels are contained narratives showcasing a beginning, a middle and an end to the story. There is an apt comparison between comics and graphics novels in television and film. These definitions start to come in to question regarding semantics when the concept of a series of Graphic novels is considered, does a contained story remain contained when it, itself is part of a sequence. One can semantically propose that a clearer difference can be explored in typical page length – an American print comic book issue releases with roughly 22-24 pages of sequential storytelling, bar a few pages for print advertising, whereas a graphic novel’s page length on average is…

MANGA

It could be potentially damaging to only consider western interpretations of sequential art when searching for a definition, the most well-known example of comics hailing from Asia is Manga, a term first coined by famed woodblock printmaker Hokusai who is most well-known for his print “The Great Wave”, Manga roughly translated to English reads “Playful Drawings”, Hokusai’s Manga sketches were published in between 1814 and 1878 and featured black and white wood block prints. Despite the official translation of Manga as “Playful Drawings” another linguistic interpretation can be simply “Sketches” which falls in line with the western origins of the word “Cartoons” which etymologically stems from the Italian “Cartone” stemming back further to the Latin “Carta” – which would literally translate to “Strong, heavy paper” but was mostly used in the art world to describe a preliminary drawing on brown card. This draws a strong parallel between the term Manga and cartoon, both potentially being pseudonyms for sketching.

Despite this linguistic link between Hokusai and our modern term from Manga, this ignores the influence felt by foreign cultures, and perhaps uses written semantics to divert from proper meaning rather than reinforce it. Many would correlate the rise of modern Manga with the works of Osamu Tezuka, who is credited as the grandfather of Manga, and god of Manga on occasion. There is no doubt that Tezuka’s impact on serialised, graphic storytelling was significant, but to draw a correct lineage, and thus a fuller understanding of what the word “Manga” actually means in context, one should delve into Tezuka’s influences. Tezuka has been quoted as taking heavy influence from reprinted American newspaper comics such as “Bringing up Father” by George McManus, which was originally distributed by King Features Syndicate from January 2nd, 1913 to May 28th, 2000, and entered Japan with a translation as “Oyaji kyoiku” in the Asabi Graph newspaper from 1923 to 1940. Another significant influence on Tezuka were bootleg and licensed Walk Disney comics, when observing his artistic influences adjacent to his body of work, especially his early bibliography, the influence is stark and clear. Deborah Shamoon of the University of Singapore suggests that the previous link between Tezuka’s Manga and Hokusai’s Manga was strengthened through a nationalist agenda to have Manga appear to be unequivocally Japanese. By linking the often overlocked or mistreated graphic medium of Manga to the high art status of woodblock print masters such as Hokusai, the sequential storytelling medium would be elevated. Manga, much like comics, still struggles to gain cultural legitimacy, which highlights a vernacular pattern

Besides its cultural origins there are practical differences between western comics and Japanese manga. Manga has several key genres targeting different demographics, some of which include: Shojo(少女漫画) (targeting young women), Shonen(少年漫画) (targeting young men), Seinen(青年漫画) (targeting young adult and adult men), Josei(女性漫画) (targeting adult women) and Kodomo(子供向け漫画) (targeting children). Along with these demographics, Japanese comics also have somewhat unique genres and genre terms within them, for example “Bara”(薔薇) which literally translated into English reads “Roses” refers to comics with key LGBT+ content, “Ryori Manga” (料理漫画) which are comics centred around cooking as a theme which grew to prominence during the gourmet and economic boom of the 1980’s, “Harem Works” (ハーレムもの) which refers to comics involving polygynous and polyandrous content, “Isekai” (異世界) which translates to otherworld in English are works that involve the protagonist entering a different world from their own, “Magical Girl” (魔法少女) which centre around female characters who possess magical powers, “Robot Manga” (ロボット漫画) which usually gets talked about with the phrase “Mecha” are works that have mechanical robots has key plot elements this itself splits into sub genres such as “Real Robot” and “Super Robot”, Otomechiku (乙女ちっく) which reads as “Maidenesque” in English, is a Shojo subgenre that focuses on the day to day goings on in an ordinary teenage girl’s life akin to the “Slice of life” genre in other mediums, “Sports Manga” (スポーツ漫画) books focusing on sports or athleticism, Teen’s Love (ティーンズラブ) commonly abbreviated as “TL” is a Josei sub-genre that focuses on teenagers first romantic experiences, there are also “Boy’s love” and “Girl’s Love” which share the same focus as TL albeit with same-sex relationships, shortened to BL and GL, respectably.

A unique format that belongs to Japanese manga is the “Yonkoma Manga” (4コマ漫画) format, translating to four cel manga, or to be fully westernised, four panel comic. In practice, these comics function in a similar fashion to comic strips from newspapers, although typically feature a vertical layout. Yonkoma also expresses its own use of structure: the first panel is referred to as “Ki” (起) and forms the intent of the story, setting the scene, the second panel is called “Shō” (承) and builds on the foundation of panel one, the third panel is “Ten” (転) this is where the narrative would reach its climax, the final panel is called “Ketsu” (結) and acts as the conclusion of the tale, typically reacting to the aftermath of panel three. Although this narrative structure can be seen in a myriad of comics from other cultures, Manga gives each frame its own unique name and term. When discussing narrative structure regarding manga, one cannot ignore the unique pacing the belongs to many works of Japanese origin, including comics. A narrative structure that is unique to Japan is Jo-ha-kyū (序破急), which roughly translates into English as “beginning, break, rapid”. This pacing is present in many aspects of Japanese culture but is mostly seen outside of the country via narrative media, this approach gives a much slower, precise first act to a narrative that contrasts with the typical first act set ups of American and European works, which offer a more balanced approach. The last act of the Jo-ha-kyū method displays a swift ending to the narrative, which likewise contrasts with typical western storytelling methods. The Jo-ha-kyū approach can clash with international audiences who perceive the structure as rushing an ending possibly due to production complications, which is an issue in western narrative production on occasion. The fixing of Manga to the Kishotenketsu sequence has come under scrutiny from Manga and comic studies scholars – who levy an accusation similar to that aimed at the link between Hokusai and Tezuka, stipulating that the sequence format is being forced upon the Yonkoma medium only to strengthen the Japanese origins of the art form.

Yonkoma itself is highly influenced by American and European newspaper strips, one of the earliest examples of a Yonkoma being printed and drawn by the Japanese is by Kitazawa Rakuten who created under the pen name of “Kitazawa Yasuji”, in 1902. One key influence for Kitazawa was Australian cartoonist Frank A. Nankivell, who is notable because of his popularity in Japan compared to his own country of Australia. Nankivell was one of the very few cartoonist who were more popular in Tokyo than in his native country. Nankivell spent three years in Tokyo from 1891-1894, during this time he became acquaintances with Kitazawa and left a lasting impression. Eight years after Nankivell left the island of Japan, Kitazawa started publishing his yonkoma in “Jiji Manga”, the comics page of the publication “Jiji Shimpo”

As can be seen from these examples, the genres that have emerged from Japanese manga are vast and unique, and although there are counter parts in western comics, their reintroduction and rise in modern western comics can be strongly attributed to the manga explosion in the 1980’s and 90’s through publishers like Vis media and Malibu comics publishing translated reprints of manga work. Manga now rules the comic sales globally, having a majority market share. Despite Manga being quintessentially Japanese, its modern origins do focus on influence from the west, specifically the United States of America. Osamu Tezuka is largely recognised as the grandfather of modern Manga, with his career as a Mangaka starting in 1946 with the release of “Mah-chan’s Diary”, a Yonkoma Manga that featured character designs highly reminiscent of those from Hollywood’s animation boom of the early 1900’s. The American influence can also be felt in the premise of the strip: A young boy named Mah-Chan wishes to learn English from an American soldier stationed in his hometown rather than from his own father. “Mah-Chan’s Diary” was published from 1946-47 in the “Shokokumin Shimbun” newspaper.

MANHUA

This draws cultural comparisons between cartoons and manga being quick, messy, and playful as many preliminary sketches tend to be when planning out a larger, more significant piece. The use of the word “Cartoon” dates back to the 1600s – in modern vernacular a phrase like “Thumbnail” bares a stronger comparative meaning. Linguistically Korean and Chinese comics share links with Japanese manga – The Korean expression for comics is Manhwa, whilst the Chinese term is Manhua all three translating to combinations of “Whimsical pictures”. Comic’s Korean origins share some similarities with that of Manga in terms of style and application but have a very different cultural beginning. On the subject of the naming conventions of comics around the world it is also important to note that in china the term “Manhua” is a relatively recent term first appearing in 1904 in a periodical entitled “Current Affairs Comics” (时事漫画)within the Shanghai based newspaper: Jingzhong Daily, before the common use of Manhua the Chinese would use a litany of different terms to describe comics including: Ruyi Hua (Allegorical pictures 如意畫 / 如意画 ), Jilu Hua (Recording pictures 紀錄畫 / 纪录画 ), Shishi Hua (Current pictures 時事畫 / 时事画 ), Baodao Hua (Reporting pictures 報導畫 / 报导画 ), Huaja Hua (Amusement pictures 滑稽畫 / 滑稽画 ), Xiao Hua (Comedy pictures 笑畫 / 笑画 ), Fengci Hua (Satirical pictures 諷刺畫 / 讽刺画 ) and Zhengzhi Hua (Political pictures 政治畫 / 政治画 ). Despite the ban on American media during Mao’s revolution in China, American film and culture still managed to have an impact on the popular culture of China during this period. In 1980 a Chinese comic strip version of George Lucas’ space opera Star Wars (1977) made its way into the hands of the Chinese public, drawn by artist Song Feideng(宋飞等) and published by Guangzhou. The book features one panel per page with Chinese captions beneath each image, in this respect it bears a closer similarity to earlier iterations of comic magazines, rather than the multi-panel layouts that are commonplace across the medium today, in China this style of comic is commonly called Lianhuanhua(连环画) which translates to “Linked Pictures”. Much like Manhua, before this nomenclature was standardised the name of these palm sized picture books varied based on your geographical location within China, if you were based in Shanghai they’d be referred to as Xiao Shu (小書) or Tuhua Shu (圖畫書), translating to” little book” or “Picture book” respectively, Guangzhou and Hong Kong used the term “Gongzai Shu (公仔書) meaning “Doll book”, Wuhan province opted for Yaya Shu (伢伢書) “Children’s book” and provinces in northern China said Xiaoren Shu (小人書) the less formal “Kid’s book”. Lianhuanhua first gained mass popularity in approximately 1884 when Dainshizhai Pictorial (the illustrated supplement to Shanghai publication “Shen Bao”) experimented with printed lithographs accompanying a narrative based on the Korean rebellion. The rise of popularity that Lianhuanhua found correlates strongly with lithographic printing techniques being introduced to the Shanghai press from the west, a less obvious cultural influence. The book proved extremely popular with the Chinese masses, which prompted many more graphic adaptations of western film to arrive in China. In modern times the Chinese market has grown to global notoriety, with western entertainment and media taking it into consideration when developing internationally released content, a concept that wouldn’t have entered the public consciousness half a century ago.

MANHWA/ Webtoons

Comics in South Korea have become dominated by the rise of online comics, comprehensively referred to by South Koreans as “Webtoons” (웹툰), a portamento of “Website” and “Cartoon”, this shows a contrast to the Anglophonic phrase used for such works “Web Comics”. The use of this phrasing was adopted by comic hosting application “Kakao Webtoon” a service that’s widely used throughout East and Southeast Asia, generally comics are referred to as “Manhwa” (만화) in Korean. Despite Manhwa gaining its popularity during the 1910 -1945 Japanese occupation of Korea, Korea is credited with having the first example of moveable, printable type. Choe Yun-ui produced printed Buddhist teachings in 1250 C.E. Manhwa in this era was commonly used as forms of subversion and rebellion against the occupying force and government before getting banned by the Japanese because of the political and satirical nature of the content. This piece of historical context can explain comics widespread use as propaganda tools in North Korea, which are still active today. The majority of manhwa that’s published in the democratic republic of Korea is considered propaganda, with many deploying “creative” adaptations of historical events and keen lore for the ruling family the Kim dynasty. All manhwa comes from state owned publishing houses which include: Kŭmsŏng Youth Publishing (금성 청년 출판사), Literature and Arts Publishing House (문학 예술 출판사), Korea Fine Arts Publishing, Workers’ Organisation Publishing House (근로 단체 출판사), Korea Publications Exchange Association (조선 출판물 교류 협회), Korea Publications Export-Import Corporation, and the Social Science Publishing House. The term “Manhwa” is rarely used in North Korea and is usually spoken regarding works that parody South Korea. In the DPRK, North Koreans use several phrases to describe comics, the most used word is kŭrimch’aek (그림책) which translates to simply “Picture Book”. North Korean kŭrimch’aek are culturally unique due to their strict publishing rules and regulations, many must glorify the Kim regime, albeit, without ever visually depicting anyone from the Kim dynasty. The superhero subgenre is nowhere to be seen in North Korean comics, despite its western association with the anti-axis propaganda of the 1930’s and 40’s, it is possible that this subgenre’s ties to the United States are simply too strong to ignore for the Kim regime.

BD

In the French speaking world, the medium is referred to as “Bande dessinée” which translates to “Drawn Strips” a phrase first established in the 1930’s, this is also like the term used by the Dutch “Stripverhalen” or “strip stories” and the much more similar Portuguese term for comics “Banda desenhada”. These naming conventions are a significant departure from the vernacular used in the east and anglophonic communities which make a direct reference to subjects within their names e.g; comic books implying a comedic subject or manga (whimsical pictures) implying whimsey. Rather, the Franco Belgian artform only implies an objective perspective of what the medium involves. This can also be explored through the cultural lens the artform is viewed from, anglophonic communities have historically dismissed the artform as being for children, or only having comedic qualities cementing it as a low art. Contrast this with how the artform is seen by the rest of the European continent, in francophone communities it is often described as “The 9^th Art” which places it alongside other great classical artforms such as painting, sculpture and performance. This re-enforcing of comics as a legitimate artform has also had impressive economic impacts – in 2021 the French government issued a scheme intitled “French cultural pass” which issued coupons worth roughly 300 Euros to French citizen’s aged 18 years of age, to boost engagement with cultural industries in the country, the coupons could be used to purchase tickets to performances, recorded music, films, and books. Young people at that time spent an overwhelmingly large amount on buying French language Manga, within 3 weeks of the coupons issue manga sales rocketed 80%. By the end of 2021, reports showed that one in four books sold were comic books and one in two sold were manga, boosting the French manga market to become 40% of the comic book market in France whilst reaching a record setting 900 million euros. These localised market statistics are reenforced by global statistics, the Japanese Manga industry commands a 43% global market share in the genre of comics and graphic novels and is worth 613 billion yen. Many point to this as the key reason that the north American comic book industry hit a record high revenue of $2.075 billion in 2021, the biggest year for north American comics in history.

FUMETTI

Another romance language, Italian has a unique colloquialism for comic books and graphic novels, in Italy they are often referred to as “Fumetti” (Plural) or “Fumetto” (Singular) which in a literal translation into English reads: “Little puffs of smoke” a light-hearted euphemism for speech and thought bubbles, this analogy goes further as it is common for such comics to be jointly referred to as “Nuvoletta” or little clouds. The first Italian publication that was solely dedicated to presenting fumetti was released on December 27^th, 1908, entitled “Corriere dei Piccoli” roughly translating to “Little courier” in English. Studies in late 2021 showed that the Italian comic reading population is growing vastly, with 8.7 million readers aged 14 and over which translated to roughly 18 percent of the Italian population as of 2021, contrast this with the figured from 2019 which sat at 7.28 million readers a vast increase that could likewise have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The age demographics for fumetti skew older than what can be seen in English language comics with a survey reporting 26 percent of readers being aged between 18-24 and 23 percent ranging from 25 to 34, the data also indicates that there are more Italian comic readers aged 45 to 54 than readers aged 15 to 17. The demographic data could indicate a more diverse age range of readers due to the variety of narrative on sale and pushed by publishing media, another explanation for this disparity between older and younger demographics could be the technological differences between generations. Italy also plays host to Europe’s largest comic art festival “Lucca comics and games”. Among genres that are commonplace in the graphic narrative sphere, there is one genre that is uncharacteristically popular within fumetti, the “western” genre. Striking a parallel with the “Spaghetti western” films of the 1950’s

Historietas (Spain)

Spanish, another romance language has its own, unique terms and phrases for comics. “Historietas” is commonly used alongside “comics”. Historietas translates into English as “Anecdote” or “Funny Story” which does place the phrase in the same vein as “Comic Book” whilst also suggesting a biographical nature. Another phase that is commonly paired with comic or historietas is “Tebeo” a reference to a long running comic magazine “TBO” which has become synonymous with the medium in Spain. When using the word tebeo, the Spanish are most likely mentioning a comic magazine, or magazine that features comic content. The magazine TBO first launched in 1917. Spanish comic practitioners have made impacts overseas, mostly within the European and UK comic markets.

STRIPVERHAAL (Dutch)

The Netherland’s has its own unique phrases concerning comics, the foremost phrase used is “Stripverhaal” or “Stripverhallen” translating to “Strip Stories” which as previously stated, gives a more impartial description of the medium in question. In Dutch there is also an antiquated expression for the phrase picture book, “Beeldverhaal” although this is used rarely in modern daily discourse.

ROMANCE LANGUAGES FEMININE/ MASCULINE

When comparing terms from differing romance languages, a common quality unifies them together – in romance languages, words either fall into feminine or masculine forms, and words referring to comics unilaterally and consistently fall into the feminine form except for the Italian “Fumetto/ Fumetti” which is masculine.

COMPARE THE HIGHEST COMIC SALES ACROSS ALL CULTURAL DEMOGRAPHICS (UK/US/CHINA/JAPAN/KOREA/FRANCE/BELGIUM/ITALY)

There is an obvious correlation between this record high sales number and the COVID-19 global pandemic, even taking the corona virus into account it is still very telling that comic books received this much of a market boost, especially taking into consideration that the highest sale ratio within that number is attributed to graphic novels and the lowest to sales of digital comic books, this could be a result of the need for physical interaction following the tight restrictions of the early pandemic.

COMPARE WORKS FROM CREATORS OF MULITPLE BACKGROUNDS/ NATIONALITIES

When charting the classification of works and the appropriate vernacular to use in reference to them, several qualities must be observed. One could classify a work by the culture or nationality of the creators, the aesthetic qualities of said work, the narrative genre the work belongs to or perhaps the format sub-genre. When considering works from artists who differ in their cultural and national background, the question arises “What do we call such works” for instance, the long running serialized story Judge Dredd was conceived by two British writers, namely, Patrick Mills and John Wagner, but drawn by the Spanish artist Carlos Ezquerra. Given this information, which would be a more appropriate term, comic or historietas? Judge Dredd is largely considered to be a British comic character mostly due to the stories being published by famed weekly comics magazine 2000AD. It is important to consider that the character is American, two of the creators are British and the original artist is Spanish, posing the further question: are the cultural and national ties to a serialized work tied to the nationality of the publisher? Another example would be Silver Surfer: Parable (1988) written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jean Giraud “Moebius”. This example sees two practitioners who are largely iconic in their representation of their respective comics cultures, the cultures in question being the American comic book and Bande dessinée, respectively. Showing Silver Surfer: Parable to a reader with no previous knowledge of the American comics sphere will no doubt prescribe the label of Bande dessinée to the works, possibly superficially, based on Moebius’ visual aesthetic and storytelling pace. But whereas the lead character is of American creation and the writer of this work of American origin, so as the publishing house, it is considered an American production, despite one hundred percent of the visuals to be of French design. The query could be proposed that if you remove the dialog, branding and other ancillary type, would this indeed be a Bande dessinée by omission? Likewise, when Sanho Kim, a South Korean artist, was working for the likes of Charlton and Marvel comics in the late 1960s to mid 1970s, was his work wrongly attributed to American comics, should they have rather been called Manhwa? Sanho Kim works in a Korean influenced aesthetic, which did set his artwork apart from his colleagues at Charlton and Marvel. From these examples we can gleam that in the mind share at large, the “nationality” of a comic is derived from the publishing house rather than the individual artists who work on its creation. So if a book was made from an Argentinian writer and a Chinese artist, but published by Belgium publishing house, the book by default would be a Bande dessinée.

Art vs. product

It is difficult to interpret the sales impact in the UK market as distributors and publishers rarely publish their sales data, unlike other regions. This lack of transparency could potentially be written off as a low priority, a symptom of defining the work as low art. Another possible fallout of the differences in nomenclature between cultures would be how comic conventions or festivals are represented between BD and comics. One of the biggest and most notable comic conventions in the western world is San Diego comic con (originally the Golden State Comic Book Convention circa 1970) in the United States of America, which drew crowds of 130,000 people in 2022 and features not only the major American comic publishers Marvel comics, DC comics, IDW, Darkhorse and Image Comics but also publishers and distributors of film, video games and merchandise. In 2022 the event was held at the San Diego Convention Centre, where it has been held since 2003, from the announcements at SDCC22 only 15% were direct announcements about comic books (giving news on comics releasing or awards for comic creators), 52% of announcements were concerning film and television products (announcements and giving more information about upcoming streaming, television, and film releases) 19% were about animated products (animated streaming, television and film releases) 5% were video game related and another 5% were merchandise announcements. Many of these product announcements were comic book adjacent, meaning projects that feature characters from comics or adaptations of comic material. Although being comic book adjacent isn’t a necessity at comic cons in the US and UK, many guests and exhibitors are representing film only projects or video game projects. Comic conventions in the anglophonic world have shifted since their inception to be a much broader exposition of popular culture at large, which increases their market reach and attendee retention.

On the European mainland you can find the Bande dessinée festival “Angouleme” named, much like SDCC, after the town in which it takes place. Angouleme is completely comic and publication focused and has been since its inception in 1974, even to the point that the events are referred to as “Editions” to keep in the publication theming. Angouleme is largely regarded as the second largest comic festival in Europe, being beaten out by Lucca comics and games from Lucca, Italy. Although Angouleme does feature official sponsors who aren’t directly connected to comics, in 2021 they had sponsorship from car manufacturer Volvo and television station France.TV, they do have a slew of institutional sponsors and partners such as Centre National Du Livre, Grand Angouleme and CCI Charente. Angouleme features a much heavier “Grass Roots” nature, rather than being hosted in a grand convention centre, this comics festival is splayed across a whole French village, the UK festival “The Great Lakes comic festival” operates in a similar fashion albeit, on a much smaller scale turning the town of Kendal, UK into the festival venue.

LOOK INTO MOST COMMON GENRES WITHIN EACH CULTURE

A key element to consider when approaching the language around graphic narrative, both domestically and internationally is the practice of verbal semantics. In brief semantics is how we attribute meaning to words both spoken and read. Within this study we’ve seen a multitude of words and phrases that, although do describe artifices with distinct differences, are all referring to the use of visuals placed in sequence to convey ideas of narratives. The lingering question remains: does the culture of a nation, and thus their vernacular impact how that culture views and interacts with that art? Or do the interactions and uses of the art prompt a difference in language and thus impact the culture? The chicken or the egg? Is our language and approach a result of the art or is the art a result of our culture and language?