This is how the comic evolved, in this article we will talk about it. For almost any cartoonist who starts in the world of comics, there are titles and creators that are so familiar to us that we consider them part of our life, that they are part of our everyday life.
But what do we really know about comics as such? In the following text, we will go through the beginnings of the art of comics, to know in depth how the evolution of comics was. From the beginnings of humanity to the present, and thus, to know why and how, of the actuality of this style so contemporary, as ancient. With nothing more to say, continue reading!
The beginnings of the Comic
The beginnings of the comic are undoubtedly those days when the hunter of the times of the first cave civilizations, wanted to capture forever, the triumph of bringing that precious booty to his tribe, on cave walls, engraved with the charcoal that remained from their cooking, 14,000 years ago.
We have to wait a few thousand years more, to find comics on paper, which, in their beginnings, were created to satirize society and politics, in drawings without continuity, and of perhaps a single image, presenting a punctual situation.
In 1809, Thomas Rowlandson, published The Travels of Doctor Syntax, being thus, catalogued as the inventor of the comic strip as we know it today, this was the first serialized story, and with continuity, thus inspiring the first comic strip, The Katzenjammer kids, known as Pim, Pam, Pum in Spanish, published in The New York Yournal.
It told the adventures of two brothers and their mother. Later, in 1907, the first comic strip published daily, Mutt and Jeff, by Bud Fisher, was born and was published until the end of 1982.
In 1910, the magazine The Funniest, which consisted only of comic strips, was published monthly, and gave rise to the first publication of a comic book, Funnies on Parade.
The word comic derives from the English expression Comic Strip, which literally means comic strip, and, although some stories are far from comedy, the term is used to catalog the genre, indiscriminately of the content it presents, whether adventure, drama or superheroes.
In a more contemporary way if you will, we find the most popular comic strip in the world, Asterix and Obelix, the most famous Gauls in the genre, who, with their adventures, filled us with moments of laughter and knowledge, as they made us relive history through time, with vignettes inspired by ancient Rome.
In 1967, the adventures of Corto Maltes, the sailor protagonist of The Ballad of the Salty Sea, created by the Italian Hugo Pratt, appeared, breaking the universal connection between comics and the generations of children and adults, being exclusively aimed at an older audience, referring to the novels of Conrad Stevenson or Jack London, changing the dialogues, the drawings, and the way of communicating with the reader.
To refer to the Underground comic, we will cite the world-renowned Zap Comix, where we enter the world of Mr. Natural, a rebellious guru, who shouted the truths of the modern world, being the representative of a youth who shouted enough, and fought for revolution.
At the end of the 70’s, in Europe, we find Nikopol, Enki Bilal’s trilogy, which marks the beginning of the comic book created exclusively for adults, venturing into the genre of science fiction and fantasy, leaving a door open to future generations, which reach the present day.
They generate the pleasures of comic book fans even without being children. This is how superheroes are born, fictional characters with a supernatural characteristic, which induces us to live their adventures and wait for the next issue, to find out how they will save the world this time.
We are not going to list all the idols of our childhood since they are known by all, taken to the movies, and connecting with society, beyond their printed editions, we all know who they are, Batman, Superman and Spiderman, even if we have never read a single comic book of them.
Fundamental, always a good script
The characteristics that continue to be maintained through the years, regardless of the genre, are the script, which is the fundamental to start a story, guiding the characters through the world we create to represent them in drawings, which are formed within the pictogram, usually rectangular in shape, where we find an action and time at a time, to go joining others and thus form the comic.
We also find the balloon, which is the space dedicated to dialogue, sounds or thoughts of the protagonists, in order to tell the story separately from the image. The onomatopoeias or visual metaphors, which are phonemes with graphic value, expressing a sound that makes hear with letters the action represented, these visual metaphors, express the psyche of the character, representing with symbols, what cannot be said with words.
With the passing of the years and the advances of technology, the comic practically stopped being drawn freehand to begin to be created digitally, being more practical to store, to correct and to create, but this does not detract from the merit of its artists, since, beyond the technique used, the comic is part of popular culture, and is one of the most sold and outstanding arts in history.
Conclusion
As we could observe during the article, in short, drawing is one of the first forms of expression of the human race, with it we can express emotions, feelings, and even stories of a past time.
With drawing we can create, tell, assemble and disassemble our thoughts on paper, and what better companion for expression than words! The comic in its different stages teaches us that it is no coincidence that it evolves along with society, since the human being in his creations can not be alien to the social.
That is why the comic through the years has grown and transgressed with its vignettes the way of telling the story, and that, my friends, is art!
