Children's comics are comics intended primarily for children.
Unlike adult comics, children's comics generally don't contain material that could be considered thematically inappropriate for children, including vulgarity, morally questionable actions, disturbing imagery, and sexually explicit material. [1] : 7 In some places, this can be enforced through legal or industry bodies, such as the Comics Code Authority in the second half of the 20th century in the United States. [1] : 7
Charles Hatfield claims that one of the common characteristics of children's comics is "cuteness". [2] : 127
Traditionally, comics were often intended for children, and are still often considered less "serious" than books, but this perception, and their target audience, has been gradually shifting, leading to the growing popularity of the adult comics. [3]
The focus on children makes them part of the children's literature, and distinguishes them from general audience comics, known as adult comics. [4] : 15 In between those two, the term young adult comics (also adolescent comics [4] : 15 ) is sometimes used. [1] [5] Those terms are somewhat arbitrary, with Roger Sabin defining children's comics as those for readers aged 16 or less, and within that group distinguishing nursery comics for those aged 8 or below, and adolescent comics for the group of 12-16 years old). [4] : 15 Some comics have also been described as "all ages" (ex. Little Lit ). [6] [7]
Among the most popular children's comics in the United States are Disney's comics such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck , which have also been widely translated around the world. [8] [9] [10] : 155
In Poland, classic children's comics include titles such as Pan Kleks , Tytus, Romek i A'Tomek and Kajko i Kokosz . [11]
Comics are a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically takes the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate dialogue, narration, sound effects, or other information. There is no consensus among theorists and historians on a definition of comics; some emphasize the combination of images and text, some sequentiality or other image relations, and others historical aspects such as mass reproduction or the use of recurring characters. Cartooning and other forms of illustration are the most common means of image-making in comics. Photo comics is a form that uses photographic images. Common forms include comic strips, editorial and gag cartoons, and comic books. Since the late 20th century, bound volumes such as graphic novels, comic albums, and tankōbon have become increasingly common, along with webcomics as well as scientific/medical comics.
Fredric Wertham was a German-American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafargue Clinic at a time of heightened discrimination in urban mental health practice. Wertham also authored a definitive textbook on the brain, and his institutional stressor findings were cited when courts overturned multiple segregation statutes, most notably in Brown v. Board of Education.
Charlotte's Web is a book of children's literature by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams. It was published on October 15, 1952, by Harper & Brothers. The novel tells the story of a livestock pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte writes messages in her web praising Wilbur, such as "Some Pig", "Terrific", "Radiant", and "Humble", to persuade the farmer to let him live.
Maus, often published as Maus: A Survivor's Tale, is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, serialized from 1980 to 1991. It depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. The work employs postmodern techniques, and represents Jews as mice and other Germans and Poles as cats and pigs respectively. Critics have classified Maus as memoir, biography, history, fiction, autobiography, or a mix of genres. In 1992 it became the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary is an autobiographical comic by American cartoonist Justin Green, published in 1972. Green takes the persona of Binky Brown to tell of the "compulsive neurosis" with which he struggled in his youth and which he blamed on his strict Roman Catholic upbringing. Green was later diagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and came to see his problems in that light.
Mom's Cancer is an autobiographical graphic medicine webcomic by Brian Fies which describes his mother's fight against metastatic lung cancer, as well as his family's reactions to it. Mom's Cancer was the first webcomic to win an Eisner Award, winning in 2005. Its print collection, published in 2006, won a Harvey Award and a Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis.
Killing Aurora is a novel by Helen Barnes about a girl with anorexia. It was published in 1999 by Penguin Books.
Celia Rees is an English author.
The Corriere dei Piccoli, later nicknamed Corrierino, was a weekly magazine for children published in Italy from 1908 to 1995. It was the first Italian periodical to make a regular feature of publishing comic strips.
Skim is a Canadian graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and drawn by Jillian Tamaki. Set in 1993, in a Toronto Catholic girls high school, it is about an outsider girl called Skim.
Il giornalino della Domenica was ‘the prototype of the modern periodical for children in Italy’. The magazine which was a high-quality publication was published between 1906 and 1927.
Archie Giant Series was a comic book title published by Archie Comics from 1954 to 1992, which featured an ever revolving subtitle. It began in 1954 as Archie's Christmas Stocking, and continued with this title for six yearly issues. Beginning with the seventh issue, Katy Keen Holiday Fun, the book began to be published more frequently and feature a number of different titles, each with the cover heading Archie Giant Series. Titles included World of Archie, World of Jughead, Katy Keene, Betty and Veronica Summer Spectacular, Sabrina's Christmas Magic and many others, including additional appearances of Archie's Christmas Stocking. The book became a regular 32-page book with issue #234. while still retaining the "Giant" in the title. One additional interesting item about this title is that it twice skipped in its numbering: it continued up to #35, then skipped to #136; it then continued up to #251, then skipped to #452 and continued to #632. It was replaced with the quarterly books Archie and Friends (1992–2012), Betty and Veronica Spectacular (1992–2009), and World of Archie (1992–1996).
Graphic medicine connotes the use of comics in medical education and patient care.
The Smurfette principle is the practice in media, such as film and television, to include only one woman in an otherwise entirely male ensemble. It establishes a male-dominated narrative, where the woman is the exception and exists only in reference to the men. The concept is named after Smurfette, the only female among the Smurfs, a group of comic book creatures.
The Dream Catcher is a 1986 young adult dystopian fiction novel by Monica Hughes.
A time slip is a plot device in fantasy and science fiction in which a person, or group of people, seem to accidentally travel through time by unknown means, or by a means unknown to the character(s).
Il Pioniere was a weekly children's comic magazine which existed between 1950 and 1970. It was headquartered in Rome, Italy. The magazine was close to the Italian Communist Party although it did not overtly contain political writings.
Tison Pugh is a literary scholar. He has been a professor of English at the University of Central Florida (UCF) since 2006. Before coming to UCF, Pugh was a lecturer at the University of California, Irvine, in the 2000–2001 academic year.
Holiday House: A Book for the Young is a novel by Catherine Sinclair. It was first published in Edinburgh by William Whyte & Co. in 1839.
Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults: A Collection of Critical Essays is a 2017 collection of essays edited by Michelle Ann Abate and Gwen Athene Tarbox, published by University Press of Mississippi.