Comics

Comics are stories told with drawings. The pictures are in boxes called panels. Words go in speech bubbles to show what people say. Comics can be funny, scary, or full of action.

Kinds of Comics

Comic strips are short comics in newspapers, often with just a few panels. Comic books are longer and tell bigger stories. Graphic novels are like whole books made of comics. Web comics are comics people read on the internet.

An old Japanese comic page showing people in action poses.
An old Japanese comic page showing people in action poses. (Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Original uploader, Nataraja / Wikimedia Commons)

Famous Comics

Superman and Batman are two of the oldest comic book heroes. Peanuts, with Charlie Brown and Snoopy, is a famous comic strip. Calvin and Hobbes is about a boy and his stuffed tiger. Kids all over the world love comics.

Fun Facts

  • The first Superman comic came out in 1938.
  • Some comic books sell for millions of dollars today.
  • The word comic comes from a word meaning funny.

Did You Know?

Comic book artists use special marks called motion lines to show when something is moving or shaking.