Comics (via Latin, from the Greek "Κωμικ-ός", kōmikos, of or pertaining to "comedy", from kōmos "revel")is a graphic medium in which images are utilised in order to convey a sequential narrative. It is the sequential nature of the pictures, and the predominance of pictures over words, that distinguish comics from picture books, though there is some overlap between the two media. Most comics combine words with images, often indicating speech in the form of word balloons, but wordless comics, such as The Little King, are not uncommon. Words other than dialog, captions for example, usually expand upon the pictures, but sometimes act in counterpoint.
Early precursors of comics include Trajan's Column and the work of William Hogarth.
Around 19th century, the medium as we know it today, began to take form among European and American artists. Comics as a real mass medium started to emerge in the United States in the early 20th century, with the newspaper comic strip, where its form began to be standardized (image-driven, speech balloons etc).
The combination of words and pictures proved popular, and quickly spread throughout the world. Comic strips were soon gathered into cheap booklets, comic books, and original comic books soon followed. Today, comics are found in newspapers, magazines, comic books, graphic novels, and on the web.
Different conventions were developed around the globe, from the manhua of China to the manga of Japan, the comic books of the United States, and the anthology comic magazines in Europe.
Although practitioners can eschew any formal constraints, they often use particular forms and conventions to convey narration and speech, or to evoke emotional or sensual responses. Devices such as speech balloons and boxes are used to indicate dialogue and impart establishing information, while panels, layout, gutters and zip ribbons can help indicate the flow of the story. Comics use of text, ambiguity, symbolism, design, iconography, literary technique, mixed media and stylistic elements of art help build a subtext of meanings.
