A guide to comics part 6 (Glossary)

If you only want to read one of these posts, this is the one for you. I add stuff to this list quite often so it's worth checking the bottom of this list every week or so and see what's new.

Finally, here we are at the 6th and concluding post in my introductory guide to comics. It's not meant o be exhaustive, but hopefully it'll give anyone new to comics, or without a lot of knowledge about the terms that are used when talking about comics, enough information to not be lost when I post about comics. It's said that there's a comic for everyone and I think that's pretty broadly speaking true. If you've never read one, or haven't for a long time, I'm sure there's one for you.

The last post in this series is going to be a list of terms that get used in comics that I haven't covered yet but first I'll post a short recap of some of the terms that have been covered. A Cliff's Notes version of the last 5 posts if you will.

Publisher  The company that publishes the comic.More like a record label than a book publisher these are brands in their own right.

Big Two Marvel & DC the two biggest comic publishing companies in America, they dominate that market.

Independent Smaller publishers in general but more specifically companies that are smaller than Marvel & DC but still have a significant level of availability in mainstream comic shops.

Small Press Small independent publishers that aren't always easy to find in shops.

Direct Market Collective term for comic shops rather than book shops or newsagents/newsstands that have a comic section.

Company owned comic A comic that is owned by the company that publishes it.

Creator owned comic A comic that is owned by the people who created it.

Licensed comic A comic that is owned by neither the creators or publishing company but a third party that license it to another company.

Creators Either the creative team that works on a book (the artist, writer, cartoonist inker, colourist, letterer, see part 2 for more information on these terms) or the people who created the characters.

Issue A single issue of a comic. These generally come out monthly. They're sometimes called floppies because they are bound with a slightly thicker paper stock than the inside pages.These generally have 22+ pages, not including adverts and letters columns. Think of them as single episodes of a TV series.


Trade paperback A collection of issues. 6 issues is pretty standard but the number can vary. These mostly collect a set of issues that form one story together. These are generally the comics you find in bookstores and at Amazon. Think of these as season boxsets of TV series. Often abbreviated to TPB or shortened to trade.


Hard Cover A trade with a hard cover. Often abbreviated to HC.


(Original) Graphic novel Sometimes used as a collective term for comics bound like books, including trade paper backs and hard covers. Technically a graphic novel is longer comic that has never been published in single issues. To differentiate from the collective term these are sometimes called Original Graphic Novels. These are abbreviated as GN and OGN respectively. 


Omnibus/Compendium Trade paperbacks or hard covers with many more issues in. The Walking Dead trade paperbacks contain 6 issues, The Walking Dead compendiums collect 48 issues.

Manga Japanese comics. This term is sometimes used to refer to other Asian comics too and Manga styled comics in other countries also exist, for instance American Manga. Manga is usually sold, in the west, in a more standard book size height than Western comics.


Bandes Dessinées Francophone comics from Europe, particularly from Belgium. I don't see this used to much by English speakers but it does pop up now and then. I've never seen this used to refer to a French Canadian comic, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.


Album Another term for comics from Europe, again particularly Franco-Belgian ones. Basically a trade paperback, hard cover or graphic novel. Think Tintin or Asterix comics and you've got it.


Runs A series of stories by the same creators on the same comic. For instance Larry Hama's 155 issues of G.I. Joe for Marvel is his run on the book.


Arcs A story told through multiple issues. Generally what is collected into a trade paperback or hard cover.


Ongoing series A title that is published with no intention of it ending. For instance, Batman.


Limited series A title that is published for a set number of issues that was decided before the run started. Watchmen for example was planned to be 12 issues.


Mini series The most common type of limited series. Generally either 4, 6 or 8 issues in length.


Maxi series A longer limited series. I can't think of any that go above 12 issues, but they may exist.


One Shot A single issue story that is only planned as one issue. Sometimes these have more pages than a regular single issue, often double length. I suppose these are just a really short limited series.


One and done An issue of an ongoing or limited series that tells a complete story in and of itself. For instance Marvel's recent UK based Revolutionary War was an 8 issue mini series with issues 2 through 7 telling one and done stories that were set up in issue one and concluded in issue 8.


Web comic Easy, a comic posted on the web. They're mostly like the comic strips that appear in newspapers.


Digital comic Distinct from a web comic these are comics that are available to be bought digitally through a site like comixology but aren't designed to be read on a web browser. They're the mp3 or the comics world. Some only exist digitally, others are digital versions of print comics.


Golden Age The first American comics. Lasting from the late 1930's to the early 1950's. Lots of iconic superheroes, particularly DC superheroes, were created here; Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America (for clarities sake Captain America is a Marvel property).


Silver Age A few years after the end of the Golden Age, this started in 1956 when DC published The Flash again with a new hero bearing the name. Lots of iconic Marvel superheroes debuted in this period; Spiderman, The Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, The X-Men, The Fantastic Four. It ended, by consensus, in 1970.


Bronze Age Ran from 1970-1985. Superheroes began to deal with more 'realistic' issues like drug abuse and poverty, as well as facing off against supervillains. During this time comics were sold less and less through newsstands and more through specialty comic shops.


Modern Age Started in 1985 and continues to the present day. Started with more 'grim & gritty' comics like Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. I really dislike this term, comics from now are much different compared to comics from the 1980's and 1990's. Some people call the current comics era post modern, but that doesn't have a lot of mainstream acceptance. One consequence of the Modern Age was comics trying to shake the idea of being for kids and over compensating massively. The idea of having multiple comics in the same month with the same main character really took hold in the Modern Age and is still ongoing..

Shared Universe The characters from one publisher living in the same world. For instance Superman's Metropolis and Batman's Gotham aren't separate worlds but two different cities in the same country.


Event Comics Comics from a publisher that affect all or most of the shared universe. Almost always superhero stories these involve a large threat that all of the characters have to face together. Rather than Spiderman having to stop Green Goblin killing him all of the characters are affected by a world wide event. Think of The Avengers movie, and that's basically a comics event. These always promise/threaten to change everything forever but very rarely do.


Crossover Two or more characters from separate universes meeting in a story. One member of the Avengers turning up in a story about another Avengers member isn't really a crossover, more a guest appearance. A member of the Avengers turning up in The Walking Dead would be a crossover. Crossovers often feature characters that aren't owned by the same company or creator.


Underground Comix Started in the late 1960's and had their heyday in the mid 1970's. A type of small press comic that were sold in alternative book shops. Varying in size these are surprisingly difficult to define in a few words. These comics were often drug amd/or sex themed. Basically as far away from the standard superhero comics as you could get. Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar, the subject of the film American Splendor, are two of the most prominent creators from this movement. Crumb's book Hup, from the 1980's, has recently been reissued if you want to get a feel for underground comix. My wife loves Hup but I've yet to read any of them. 


Alternative Comics The successor to Underground Comix. It overlaps with smaller independent comics quite a lot. As the name suggests, these are comics that are different to comics from DC & Marvel and company owned superhero comics in general. Probably the most famous alternative comic is Ghost World by Daniel Clowes.


Cheesecake At the suggestion of my wife. Cheesecake is an art style that features women drawn in hyper-sexualised poses. This is much more common in comics than it really should be. The rarer male equivalent to this is beefcake. 


Continuity All the events that have happened in a shared universe. This can apply to stories that only happen in only one book but it's much more of a concern in shared universes. DC and Marvel have been publishing for 50+ years and publishing dozens of titles a month for most of that time. That leads to a lot of continuity. Making sure things fit in to continuity is a big deal for some fans, who tend to be quite vocal. 


Retcon a shortened form of retroactive continuity. This happens mostly in comics that are based around continuing stories that have long histories. A retcon involves a writer saying that something that happened in past comics either didn't happen or happened in a different way than the reader thought. An example is Bucky Barnes, Captain America's sidekick. As written originally Bucky Barnes died in an issue published in 1948, seven years after his debut. In 2005 then-Captain America writer Ed Brubaker brought Bucky back, establishing that he'd never actually died but had been captured by Soviet agents while wounded. Not all retcons concern bringing dead characters back to life; they can be used to change things from a characetrs past that a writer or editor dislikes.


Comic Death the idea that in comics, no major or supporting character really stays dead. This is most prevalent in Big Two comics but it can & does happen in comics by many publishers. Some characters are essentially created to be killed, Spiderman's Uncle Ben for example, but pretty much every other character from a DC or Marvel comic can come back from the dead. Sometimes characters are resurrected by supernatural means and other times by the characetrs not being shown as dead on panel. And sometimes it was a clone/shapeshifter all along.


Grimdark a story or universe that is full of bad things happening, often in a misguided, (in my opinion at least), attempt to show that comics aren't just for kids and are full of mature stories. How mature grimdark stories actually are is of course open for discussion. DC are more often considered to publish grimdark stories; I only buy two DC books a month so I don't feel qualified to say if that's true or not.


Longbox A box to hold single issues of comics in. They're a bit wider and a bit taller than a comic and much longer, hence the name. There's also a shorter version called, that's right, a shortbox.

With that I bring the guide to comics to a close. I hope you enjoyed it, learned a little something about comics and, hopefully, have a bit more desire to read some. Or at least not skip my thoughts about comics when I post them.