Comics
Influence on "high" culture: Pop art - Roy Lichtenstein
Ranxerox in New York (1982) - Liberatore and Tamburini [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
After all these years, the sight of a comic book by Tanino Liberatore enthralls me just as much as when I first discovered him, back in my early twenties. There is no equivalent for the sheer draughtmanship, the comically violent imagery and over the top storyboards.
Wallestein was an horror comics series, published in Italy from 1974 to 1982 and in France from 1977 to 1980
Related: adult comics - American comics - caricature - drawing - fumetti - erotic comics - European comics - graphic novel - Italian comics - manga - photonovel
The 2000 film X-Men is considered to be the patriarch of the current "Comic Book Movie Age" that Hollywood is experiencing, as this film's box office success helped such films as Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, The Punisher, Constantine, Batman Begins, V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Hulk, Superman Returns, Ghost Rider, and of course the X-Men sequels, X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand. [Sept 2006]
Characters: Barbarella - Diabolik - Gwendoline - Lucifera - Pravda - Satanik - Valentina - Vampirella
Authors: Enki Bilal - Dick Bruna - Guido Crepax - Robert Crumb - Hergé - Tanino Liberatore - Jean Giraud - Milo Manara - Alan Moore - Guy Peellaert - Georges Pichard - François Schuiten - Eric Stanton - Jacques Tardi - John Willie - Georges Wolinski
Magazines: Cannibale - L'Echo des Savanes - Frigidaire - Hara Kiri - Heavy Metal
Publishers: EC Comics - Eric Losfeld - Elvipress - Glittering Images
Roger Sabin cites the invention of the printing press as the moment when the form began to crystalise, arguing that the medium of comics has been intrinsically linked with printing, and thus whilst variations existed before, they are antecedents and can not be viewed as within the same tradition. [Mar 2006]
Definition
Comics is an art form using a series of static images in fixed sequence. Written text is often incorporated into the images. Comics are traditionally printed in newspapers, magazines or comic books. In French, they are called bandes dessinées, in Italian fumetti and in Japanese manga --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics [2004]
Alternative comics
The term "alternative comics" is one of several labels applied to a wide range of comic books, graphic novels, and allied forms created independently of large comic publishers such as Marvel comics or DC comics. These comics have appeared since about 1980, in the wake of the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 70s. The works in question have variously been labelled "independent", "small press," "new wave," "post-underground" or "art comics." Self-published "minicomics" may also fall under the "alternative" umbrella.
What these disparate works have in common is that they present an alternative to the formulaic genre comics which dominate the US comic book industry (such as the superhero-themed products of Marvel and DC comic companies). Those "mainstream" comics are typically produced by a team of workers operating on tight deadlines: a writer, a penciler, an inker, a letterer, a colorist, and an editor. The subject matter and style of "mainstream" comics is in large part dictated by their publisher, who hires the personnel to produce the comics. By contrast, alternative comics are often the product of a single creator who performs all of those functions and are published whenever deemed complete by the author, with little regard for regular distribution schedules. Where the content of "mainstream" comics is influenced by corporate managers attempting to maximize sales, "alternative" comics are often published in small numbers for specialized audiences, which allows for the publication of material that many in a more general readership would likely find obscure or offensive. In all of these ways, "alternative" comics build directly on the precedent set by underground comix. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_comics [Feb 2005]
Underground comics
Some fans and artists use the term 'underground' comics to refer only to the first wave of independently produced comics, in the 1960s and 1970s. Later waves are sometimes referred to as 'independent', 'alternative', 'small press', or 'mini-' comics. --http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_comics
External links
http://www.lambiek.net/home.htm --Lambiek is a European antiquarian comic shop. Located in Amsterdam, Lambiek has a huge selection of comics in many languages. [Feb 2006]Meanwhile, at Amazon
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