   #copyright

Comics

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Cartoons

   Comics (or, less commonly, sequential art) is a form of visual art
   consisting of images which are commonly combined with text, often in
   the form of speech balloons or image captions. Originally used to
   illustrate caricatures and to entertain through the use of amusing and
   trivial stories, it has by now evolved into a literary medium with many
   subgenres.

   The most common forms of printed comics are comic strips (most commonly
   four panels long) in newspapers and magazines, and longer comic stories
   in comic books, graphic novels and comic albums. In the first two forms
   the comics are secondary material usually confined to the entertainment
   sections, while the latter consist either entirely or primarily of
   comics.

   Depending on the definition of the term, the origin of comics can be
   traced back to 15th century Europe. However, today's form of comics
   (with panels, and using text within the image in speech balloons,
   etc.), as well as the term comics itself, originated in the late 19th
   century.
   Little Sammy Sneeze by Winsor McCay
   Enlarge
   Little Sammy Sneeze by Winsor McCay

Defining comics

   Note: Although it takes the form of a plural noun, the common usage
   when referring to comics as a medium is to treat it as singular.

   Scholars disagree on the definition of comics; some claim its printed
   format is crucial, some emphasize the interdependence of image and
   text, and others its sequential nature. The term as a reference to the
   medium has also been disputed.

   In 1996, Will Eisner published Graphic Storytelling, in which he
   defined comics as "the printed arrangement of art and balloons in
   sequence, particularly in comic books." Eisner's earlier, more
   influential definition from 1985's Comics and Sequential Art described
   the technique and structure of comics as sequential art, "...the
   arrangement of pictures or images and words to narrate a story or
   dramatize an idea."

   In Understanding Comics (1993) Scott McCloud defined sequential art and
   comics as: "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate
   sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic
   response in the viewer"; this definition excludes single-panel
   illustrations such as The Far Side, The Family Circus, and most
   political cartoons from the category, classifying those as cartoons. By
   contrast, The Comics Journal's "100 Best Comics of the 20th Century",
   included the works of several single panel cartoonists and a
   caricaturist, and academic study of comics has included political
   cartoons .

   R.C. Harvey, in his essay Comedy At The Juncture Of Word And Image,
   offered a competing definition in reference to McCloud's: "...comics
   consist of pictorial narratives or expositions in which words (often
   lettered into the picture area within speech balloons) usually
   contribute to the meaning of the pictures and vice versa." This,
   however, ignores the existence of wordless comics.

   Eddie Campbell offered the term graphic storytelling, defining it as
   "the art of using pictures in sequence and its attendant language of
   forms and techniques, refined over many centuries." He contrasted this
   term with comics, which he defines as "humorous art...but with the
   proviso that in our own times it has come to embrace not only cartoons
   but comic strips and comic books which are not necessarily humorous due
   to their own evolutionary patterns, but they remain under this rubric
   as they evolved from it."

   Most agree that animation, which creates the optical illusion of
   movement within a static physical frame, is a separate form, although
   ImageTexT, a peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on comics, accepts
   submissions relating to animation as well , and the third annual
   Conference on Comics at the University of Florida focused on comics and
   animation .

History

   When and where comics originated is another matter of debate, largely
   dependent on its definition. The majority view, represented by many
   authors and academic sources, Scott McCloud being the most recent, is
   that the comic format observes precedents in Egyptian hieroglyphics,
   Japanese emaki, European stained glass windows, pre-Columbian Central
   American manuscripts, and the Bayeux Tapestry.,

   An alternative view is represented by Roger Sabin who argues that the
   definition is predicated on the printed comic form. This perspective is
   increasingly being challenged as electronic distribution of movies,
   music, books and art emphasizes content over the delivery mechanism.

15th–18th centuries

   Last image in William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress
   Enlarge
   Last image in William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress

   Sabin cites the invention of the printing press as the moment when the
   modern form began to crystalise, arguing that the medium of comics has
   been intrinsically linked with printing.

   An early surviving work which is recognisable as being in the form of
   printed comics is Francis Barlow's A True Narrative of the Horrid
   Hellish Popish Plot (c.1682). The Punishments of Lemuel Gulliver by
   William Hogarth, (1726), is another early work that bears similarities
   of form, although Eddie Campbell has argued that these may be more a
   collection of cartoons rather than actual comics. Other notable artists
   producing work in this period are Thomas Rowlandson, Jan Vandergucht,
   James Gillray and George Cruikshank. Rowlandson and Gillray are
   credited with having codified the speech balloon in its present form,
   from the previous convention of having speech represented by banners.

   An example of Rowlandson's work from 1782, satirising the politics of
   the day, shows it to be an early variation of the strip cartoon. His
   work popularised the strip form as a pictorial narrative.

The 19th century

   Rodolphe Töpffer, a Francophone Swiss artist, is the key figure of the
   early part of the 19th century. His work is reprinted throughout Europe
   and in the U.S., creating a market on both continents for similar
   works.

   In 1845 Töpffer formalised his thoughts on the picture story in his
   Essay on Physiognomics: "To construct a picture-story does not mean you
   must set yourself up as a master craftsman, to draw out every potential
   from your material —often down to the dregs! It does not mean you just
   devise caricatures with a pencil naturally frivolous. Nor is it simply
   to dramatize a proverb or illustrate a pun. You must actually invent
   some kind of play, where the parts are arranged by plan and form a
   satisfactory whole. You do not merely pen a joke or put a refrain in
   couplets. You make a book: good or bad, sober or silly, crazy or sound
   in sense."

   Sir Ernst Gombrich certainly felt Töpffer to have evolved a new
   pictorial language, that of an abbreviated art style, which worked by
   allowing the audience to fill in gaps with their own imagination.

   Satirical drawings in newspapers were popular through much of the 19th
   century. In Britain, in 1841, Punch, a magazine containing such
   drawings launched. In 1843 Punch referred to its 'humorous pencilings'
   as cartoons in satirical reference to Parliament, who were organising
   an exhibition of cartoons at the time. This usage became common
   parlance and has lasted into the present day. Similar magazines
   containing cartoons in continental Europe included Fliegende Blätter
   and Charivari, whilst in the U.S. Judge and Puck were popular.

   In Germany in 1865 Max and Moritz by Wilhelm Busch was published within
   a newspaper. This strip is thought to be a significant fore-runner of
   the comic strip.

   It is around this time that Manhua, the Chinese form of comics, started
   to formalise, a process that lasted up until 1927.

   In 1884, Ally Sloper's Half Holiday was published, reputed to be the
   first comic strip magazine to feature a recurring character. In 1890
   two more comic magazines debuted to the British public, Comic Cuts and
   Illustrated Chips. These magazines also republished American material,
   previously published in newspapers in the U.S.. They established the
   tradition of the British comic as being a periodical containing comic
   strips.

   Depending on the criteria used, the first successful comics series
   featuring regular characters was either R.F. Outcault's single-panel
   cartoon series Hogan's Alley (1895) or Rudolph Dirks' multi-panel strip
   The Katzenjammer Kids (1897). The Yellow Kid, the star of Hogan's
   Alley, became so popular as to drive newspaper sales, and in doing so
   prompted the creation of other strips. This boom marks the beginning of
   comics as an ongoing popular art form.

The 20th century

   The term comics in the U.S. came to define early newspaper strips,
   which initially featured humorous narratives , hence the adjective
   comic. In 1929, strips started to broaden their content, with Buck
   Rogers and Tarzan launching the action genre. More strips followed,
   with the term "comic" quickly adopting through popular usage to refer
   to the form rather than the content, .

   1929 also saw the first appearance of The Adventures of Tintin
   published as a black-and-white strip in Le Petit Vingtième, a
   supplement to Le Vingtième Siècle, a Belgian newspaper. The strip was
   collected as Tintin in the Land of the Soviets in 1930, being published
   in the European comic album format.

   Another notable publication of 1929 was The Funnies, a reprint
   collection of newspaper strips. Reputed to be the first four-colour
   comic newsstand publication in the United States, it was published in
   tabloid size, a size which left it easily confused with the Sunday
   supplements of the time and so harmed sales to the extent that
   publication ceased after 36 issues.

   The first publication to use a format recognisable today as a comic
   book was Funnies on Parade which took the tabloid size used for the
   Sunday supplements and folded it in half. Published in 1933 by two
   workers for the Eastern Colour Printing Company of New York, Harry
   Wildenberg and Max Gaines as an advertising giveaway, its success led
   to similar giveaways being published. On a hunch, Gaines distributed
   extra copies to newstands, with a ten cent cover price, returning to
   find them all sold. This led to Eastern publishing Famous Funnies in
   May 1934 for sale through the newsstands.

   By 1935 comic books were commissioning original material, mostly
   influenced by the pulp magazines of the day, whilst also repackaging
   foreign material. Will Eisner was one who supplied foreign material,
   and in his retooling of the material to fit the comic book format
   Eisner is credited with inventing the grammar of the comic book.
   Techniques devised by Eisner whilst adapting the material for this new
   format include the "jump cut".

   In 1938 Action Comics #1 was published, featuring the first appearance
   of Superman and ushering in what is now referred to as the Golden Age
   of Comic Books. Also in 1938, Spirou first appeared in Belgium,
   starting the typical custom of weekly magazines featuring mostly
   Franco-Belgian comics.

   After World War II the form in Japan, known as manga started to
   modernise. The lifting of a ban on non-propaganda publications, allowed
   Osamu Tezuka to re-energise both the content of manga and the style of
   its presentation Tezuka's first book work was an updating of Treasure
   Island, appropriately titled New Treasure Island (1947).

   During the latter half of the 20th century comics have become a very
   popular item for collectors and from the 1970s comics publishers have
   actively encouraged collecting and shifted a large portion of comics
   publishing and production to appeal directly to the collector's
   community. The collecting of comics is today known by a separate term
   known as panelology.

   The modern double usage of the term comic, as an adjective describing a
   genre, and a noun designating an entire medium, has been criticised as
   confusing and misleading. In the 1960s and 1970s, underground
   cartoonists used the spelling comix to distinguish their work from
   mainstream newspaper strips and juvenile comic books; ironically,
   although their work was written for an adult audience, it was usually
   comedic in nature as well, so the "comic" label was still appropriate.
   The term graphic novel was popularised in the late 1970s, having been
   coined at least two decades previous, to distance the material from
   this confusion.

   In the 1980s comics scholarship started to blossom in the U.S., and a
   resurgance in the popularity of comics was seen, with Alan Moore and
   Frank Miller producing notable superhero works and Bill Watterson's
   Calvin & Hobbes being syndicated.

   In 2005 Robert Crumb's work was exhibited in galleries both sides of
   the Atlantic, and The Guardian newspaper devoted its tabloid supplement
   to a week long exploration of his work and idioms.

Artistic medium

   An artist sketching out a comics page
   Enlarge
   An artist sketching out a comics page

   Comics artists will generally sketch a drawing in pencil before going
   over the drawing again in ink, using either a dip pen or a brush.
   Artists will also make use of a lightbox when creating the final image
   in ink. Some artists, Brian Bolland being a notable example, are now
   using digital means to create artwork, with the published work being
   the first physical appearance of the artwork.

   By many definitions (including McCloud's, above) the definition of
   comics extends to digital media such as webcomics.

Art styles

   Whilst almost all comics art is in some sense abbreviated, and also
   whilst every artist who has produced comics work brings their own
   individual approach to bear, some broader art styles have been
   identified.

   The basic styles have been identified as realistic and cartoony, with a
   huge middle ground for which R. Fiore has coined the phrase liberal.
   Fiore has also expressed distaste with the terms realistic and
   cartoony, preferring the terms literal and freestyle, respectively.

   Scott McCloud has created The Big Triangle as a tool for thinking about
   comics art. He places the realistic representation in the bottom left
   corner, with iconic representation, or cartoony art, in the bottom
   right, and a third identifier, abstraction of image, at the apex of the
   triangle. This allows the placement and grouping of artists by
   triangulation. This approach to artistic analysis where comics are
   concerned was parodied by Penny Arcade in this comic.
     * The cartoony style is one which utilises comic effects and a
       variation of line widths as a means of expression. Noted exponents
       of this style are Carl Barks, Will Eisner and Jeff Smith.

     * The realistic style, also referred to as the adventure style is the
       one developed for use within the adventure strips of the 1930s.
       They required a less cartoony look, and used the illustrations
       found in pulp magazines as a basis. This style became the basis of
       the superhero comic book style, since Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel
       originally worked Superman up for publication as an adventure
       strip.

The language

   As noted above, two distinct definitions have been used to define
   comics as an art form: the combination of both word and image; and the
   placement of images in sequential order. Both definitions are lacking,
   in that the first excludes any sequence of wordless images; and the
   second excludes single panel cartoons such as editorial cartoons. The
   purpose of comics is certainly that of narration, and so that must be
   an important factor in defining the art form.

   Comics, as sequential art, emphasise the pictorial representation of a
   narrative. This means comics are not an illustrated version of standard
   literature, and whilst some critics argue that they are a hybrid form
   of art and literature, others contend comics are a new and separate
   art; an integrated whole, of words and images both, where the pictures
   do not just depict the story, but are part of the telling. In comics,
   creators transmit expression through arrangement and juxtaposition of
   either pictures alone, or word(s) and picture(s), to build a narrative.

   The narration of a comic is set out through the layout of the images,
   and whilst there may be many people who work on one work, like films,
   there is one vision of the narrative which guides the work. The layout
   of images on a page can be utilised by artists to convey the passage of
   time, to build suspense or to highlight action.

Forms within comics

   Comics as an art form represents many different forms and publication
   formats, not all of which are physical.

Cartoon

   The cartoon, originally an artist's prepartory drawings, is considered
   by some scholars, notably R.C. Harvey, as a form of comics. Although a
   singular image, it has been argued that since the cartoon both combines
   words with image and constructs a narrative, it merits inclusion as a
   form of comics. Cartoons typically take one of three forms, that of the
   gag cartoon, the editorial cartoon or the political cartoon.

Comic strip

   The comic strip, also known as a strip cartoon, is a sequence of
   images. The term has currently become most commonly used when referring
   to the shortened newspaper comic strip, but historically the term was
   designed to apply to any strip, there being no upper limit on the
   length of a strip, the minimum length being two. This usage is still
   fairly common in the United Kingdom. In the United States the term
   "comics" is sometimes used to describe the page of a newspaper upon
   which comic strips are found, and through this usage has also grown to
   be used as a definition for comic strips.

   Newspaper comic strips come in two formats, daily strips and Sunday
   strips. Daily strips usually run Monday through Saturday, and
   historically have been presented in black and white, although color is
   used more often since the early nineties. Sunday strips are much larger
   and have always tended to be in colour.

   Note: In the "Toronto Star" The "Sunday" comics are on Saturday.

Comic book

   The comic book is predominantly a United States term, with the term
   comic or comic magazine preferred in Europe. Comic books are often
   called comics for short. Although the term implies otherwise, the
   subject matter in comic books is not necessarily humorous, and in fact
   its dramatic seriousness varies widely. The term "comics" in this
   context does not refer to comic strips (such as Peanuts or Dilbert).

Comic magazine

   The primary format for first publication of Franco-Belgian comics, and
   also the format used in the United Kingdom, where it is commonly
   referred to as a "comic", plurally as "comics". The British comic dates
   back to before 1884, a year which saw the publication of Ally Sloper's
   Half Holiday. Over the next century many different titles have been
   published, with The Dandy, the longest running comic in the United
   Kingdom, debuting in 1937 and the Beano in 1938. More recent
   established titles include 2000 AD and Viz

Graphic novel

   Graphic novel is a term for a kind of comic book, usually with long and
   fairly complex storylines and often aimed at more mature audiences.
   However, the term is not strictly delimited, and can be notoriously
   difficult to pin down. It is often used to imply subjective
   distinctions in artistic quality between graphic novels and other kinds
   of comics which can be quite controversial. Graphic novels often
   encompass several separate issues of comic books and can be published
   over a period of several months or years and then republished in larger
   volumes.

Comic annual

   The comic annual is an annual publication predominantly specific to the
   United Kingdom. Marvel Comics (makers of Spider-Man, X-Men and more)
   did annuals for many of its comics throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Comic album

   In Europe, a comic album is the equivalent to a graphic novel, being of
   A4 size and hardcover, typically with 48 pages. They contain either new
   stories or collections of previously serialised strips.

   In American terminology, a graphic album is an anthology-format comic
   book with multiple stories that is published and distributed as a book
   rather than a periodical as distinguished from a graphic novel which
   has similar format but tells a single story.

Webcomic

   Webcomics, also known as online comics and web comics, are comics that
   are available on the Internet. Many webcomics are exclusively published
   online, while some are published in print but maintain a web archive
   for either commercial or artistic reasons. With the Internet's easy
   access to an audience, webcomics run the gamut from traditional comic
   strips to graphic novels and beyond.

   Webcomics are similar to self-published print comics in that almost
   anyone can create their own webcomic and publish it on the Web.
   Currently, there are thousands of webcomics available online. Some
   webcomics have gained popular, critical, or commercial success.

Instructional comics

   The instructional comic is a strip designed for educative or
   informative purposes, notably the instructions upon an aeroplane's
   safety card.

Storyboard

   Storyboards are like illustrations displayed in sequence for the
   purpose of previsualizing an animated or live-action film. A storyboard
   is essentially a large comic of the film or some section of the film
   produced beforehand to help the directors and cinematographers
   visualize the scenes and find potential problems before they occur.
   Often storyboards include arrows or instructions that indicate
   movement.

Minicomic

   A minicomic is a small, creator-published comic book, often photocopied
   and stapled or with a handmade binding. These are a common inexpensive
   way for those who want to make their own comics on a very small budget,
   with mostly informal means of distribution. A number of cartoonists
   have started this way and gone on to more traditional types of
   publishing, while other more established artists continue to produce
   minicomics on the side. Minicomics are even less mainstream than
   alternative comics.

   The term was originally used in the United States and has a somewhat
   confusing history. Originally, it referred only to size: a digest comic
   measured 5.5 inches wide by 8.5 inches tall, while a minicomic was 5.5
   inches by 4.25 inches. These sizes were convenient for artists using
   standard office supplies: a US letter page could be folded in half to
   make a digest, or in quarters for a minicomic. These comics were
   generally photocopied, although some that were produced in larger
   quantities used offset printing. An early and unusually popular example
   of this minicomic format was Matt Feazell's Cynicalman, which began in
   1980. (The earliest and most popular comics in mini- and digest
   sizes—predating not only the term minicomic, but even the standard
   comic-book format—were the anonymous and pornographic Tijuana bibles of
   the 1920s.)

   Currently, the term is used in a more general sense which emphasizes
   the handmade, informal aspect rather than the format. By this loose
   definition, a single photocopied page folded in quarters would still be
   a minicomic, but so would a thicker digest-sized comic, or even a
   large, elaborate, and relatively expensive photocopied booklet with a
   silkscreened cover. Even some professionally printed and bound booklets
   are referred to as minicomics, as long as they are published by the
   artist and marketed in minicomic venues, but this usage is
   controversial.

The creation of comics

   The nature of the comics work being created determines the number of
   people who work upon its creation, with successful comic strips and
   comic books being produced through a studio system, in which an artist
   will assemble a team of assistants to help in the creation of the work.
   However, works from independent companies, self-publishers or those of
   a more personal nature can be produced by as little as one creator.

Comic book creation

   Within the comic book industry of the United States, the studio system
   has come to be the main method of creation. Through its use by the
   industry, the roles have become heavily codified, and the managing of
   the studio has become the company's responsibility, with an editor
   discharging the management duties. The editor will assemble a number of
   creators and oversee the work to publication.

   Any number of people can assist in the creation of a comic book in this
   way, from a plotter, a breakdown artist, a penciller, an inker, a
   scripter, a letterer, and a colorist, with some roles being performed
   by the same person.

   See also Creation of a Tintin album for a description of a comic book
   creation steps by Hergé.

Comic strip creation

   A comic strip tends to be the work of a sole creator, usually termed a
   cartoonist. However it is not unusual for a cartoonist to employ the
   studio method, particularly when a strip become successful. Mort Walker
   is one such creator who employed a studio, whilst Bill Watterson was
   one such cartoonist who eschewed the studio method, preferring to
   create the strip himself.

Cartoon creation

   A cartoonist in this instance typically works alone, although again it
   is not unheard of for a cartoonist to use assistants.

Tools of the trade

   An artist will use a variety of pencils, paper, typically Bristol
   board, and a waterproof ink. When inking, an artist may choose to use a
   variety of brushes, dip pens, a fountain pen or a variety of technical
   pens or markers. Mechanical tints can be employed to add gray tone to
   an image. An artist might also choose to create his work in paints;
   either acrylics; gouache; poster paints; or watercolors. Colour can
   also be achieved through crayons, pastels or colored pencils.

   Erasers, rulers, templates, set squares and a T-square assist in
   creating lines and shapes. A drawing board gives a good angled surface
   to work from, with lamps supplying necessary lighting. A light box
   allows an artist to trace his pencil work when inking, allowing for a
   looser finish. Knives and scalpels will fill a variety of tasks,
   including cutting board or scraping mistakes. A cutting mat will assist
   when cutting paper. Process white is a thick opaque white handy for
   covering mistakes, whilst adhesives and tapes are helpful in
   composition where an image may need to be assembled from different
   sources.

Computer generated comics

   With the growth of computer processing power and ownership, there are
   now an increasing number of examples of comic books or strips where the
   art is made by using computers, either mixing it with hand drawings or
   replacing hand drawing completely. Dave McKean is one artist who
   combines the paper and the digital methods of composition. Still, it is
   important to separate between traditional drawing done with a graphics
   tablet and actual computer graphics (CG). Computers are widely used for
   both lettering and coloring, with Blambot Comicraft two studios which
   proved digitised fonts for comics.

Comics awards

   There are numerous awards given out within the comics industry, some
   taking their name from noted creators, others from famous characters or
   publications. Each country has its own indigenous awards.

United States

   The Pulitzer Prizes have included an award for Editorial Cartooning
   since 1922. The first awards designed specifically for cartoonists in
   the United States were the Reubens, followed in 1946. They were named
   in honour of Rube Goldberg and are presented annually by the National
   Cartoonists Society of the United States.

   The Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards, also known as Shazams, were
   created in 1970, the first awards being given out in 1971. The awards
   had a very short life, and were no longer being presented by the late
   1970s.

   In 1984 the Kirby Awards, named for Jack Kirby, were launched, aimed
   specifically at the comic book industry. The awards were sponsored by
   Fantagraphics through their magazine Amazing Heroes. These awards ran
   until 1987 before a dispute over the ownership of the awards led to
   their ending. In 1988 two separate awards were launched, both aimed at
   the comic book industry. The Harvey Awards were named in honour of
   Harvey Kurtzman, and include the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame. Voting for
   the Harvey Awards is performed through a ballot of industry
   professionals. The Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards were also
   launched in 1988, named in honour of Will Eisner. The Eisner
   nominations are decided by a panel of five judges before being voted on
   by retailers, creators and publishers within the industry.

   The Ignatz Awards, named for the brick-throwing mouse in George
   Herriman's Krazy Kat, began in 1997 and are awarded annually at the
   Small Press Expo. The attendees of the Expo vote for the winners based
   on a shortlist drawn up by independent judges.

   The Lulu Awards were also created in 1997. These are awarded by Friends
   of Lulu, an organisation concerned with furthering the appeal of comic
   books to a female audience.

Publication awards

   The Alley Awards, presented by the fanzine Alter Ego, began in 1961,
   with the awards decided by the fanzine's team of editors. Alley Awards
   had ceased to be presented by the start of the 1970s. The Comics Buyer
   Guide has been giving annual awards, chosen by reader poll, since 1983.
   In 1999 Wizard Magazine launched its Wizard Fan Awards, chosen through
   two rounds of voting by the magazine's readers.

United Kingdom

   The Eagle Awards were launched in 1976, named in honour of The Eagle
   comic. The awards have lessened in importance and prestige,
   disappearing entirely for a period during the 1990s. The current status
   of the awards is unknown.

   The National Comics Awards were launched in 1997, originally awarded at
   the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention, before moving to that event's
   succesor, the Comics Festival.

   The Cartoon Art Trust's British Cartoonist Awards are annual awards
   presented to newspaper cartoonists.

Canada

   The National Newspaper Awards of Canada include a category for
   Editorial Cartoonist.

   The Bédélys Prize have been awarded to French language comics at the
   Promo 9e Art Foundation since 2000.

   The Doug Wright Awards were inaugurated at the Toronto Comics Art
   Festival in 2005, with the intention of honouring excellence in
   alternative or artistic comics across Canada. (website:
   www.wrightawards.ca)

   The Shuster Awards were also created in 2005. The awards are named in
   honour of Canadian-born co-creator of Superman, Joe Shuster
   (1914-1992), and are awarded at the Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon.

Belgium

   The city of Brussels awards since 1971 but on an irregular basis the
   Prix Saint-Michel in different categories (author, debut, ...). This is
   the oldest European comics award still in existence.

   The Bronzen Adhemar, named after a character from Nero, is given every
   two years since 1977 to a Flemish comic book author. Twice, a golden
   Adhemar has been awarded.

France

   The Prix de la critique is a prize awarded by the Association des
   Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinée annually.

   Angoulême International Comics Festival Prizes (formerly known as the
   Alfred and later the Alph'arts) and the Grand Prix de la ville
   d'Angoulême are given yearly at the Angoulême festival since 1975.

Germany

   The Max & Moritz Prizes are awarded biannually at the " Internationaler
   Comic-Salon" fair in Erlangen.

Italy

   The Pantera di Lucca Comics is a series of prizes awarded in Italy
   between 1966 and 1992.

The Netherlands

   The Stripschapprijs is awarded yearly since 1974 to an author.

Poland

   Grand Prix Międzynarodowego Festiwalu Komiksu has been awarded annually
   since 1991. It is presented as part of the International Comics
   Festival in Łódź.

Spain

   The Haxtur Awards, (Premios Haxtur), are awarded annually at the Salón
   Internacional del Cómic del Principado de Asturias.

Sweden

   The Adamson Awards are awarded annually by the Swedish Academy of Comic
   Art at the Gothenburg Book Fair between 1965 and 2002. The Urhunden
   Prizes is another Swedish annual award for comic books, awarded since
   1987 by Seriefrämjandet (The comics promotion association).

Japan

   Below are some of the notable awards that are still active in Japan:

   1. The Tezuka Award and Akatsuka Award, awarded since 1971 and 1974
   respectively, are biannual manga awards offered by the Japanese
   publisher Shueisha, under the auspices of its Weekly Shonen Jump
   magazine. Both of the awards designed to cultivate new manga artists,
   the Tezuka Award focuses on Story Manga while the Akatsuka Award
   focuses on Comedic Manga.

   2. The Shogakukan Manga Award, sponsored by the manga publisher
   Shogakukan Publishing has been awarded since 1955.

   3. The Kodansha Manga Award are another set of publisher sponsored
   awards, in existence since 1960.

   4. The Osamu Tezuka Culture Award, named after the famous artist Osamu
   Tezuka, awards annually since 1997.

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