Pages and Panels

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Some of the people reading these posts are like me. Lovers of comics and well-versed in the language of these books. But some of you are reading without that knowledge and may not quite know what the heck I’m talking about. So this is the first of the Primer, a feature that focuses on educating and clarifying comics- the design, branding, and marketing of comic books, graphic novels, and the people who make, buy, and sell them.

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The Book Basics:

When we talk about comics, there are different styles of designs that comics can fall under. 

Comic Strip

A sequence of drawings in boxes that tell an amusing story, typically printed in a newspaper or comic book.

Comic Book:

A magazine that presents a serialized story in the form of a comic strip, typically featuring the adventures of a superhero.

Titles:

Another name for a comic series, Like Batman or The Avengers.

Single Issues

The name given to each of the serial-style publications. Traditionally 20-32 pages and presented chronologically and numerically.

Collected Edition

Multiple single issues are published together, traditionally 5-6 single issues, to cover the storyline or aspect of the comic’s storytelling.

Collected issues can be released in a variety of ways, including:

• Trade Paperback (TPB) – A paperback format book that collects 5-8 single issues. Also known as a “Trade” or a “Trader copy”.
• Hardcover (HC) – Similar to a Trade Paperback but hardcover. Often collects more single issues than a trade, up to 12 issues, or is the first release of a collected edition.
• Omnibus –  Large hardcover collections. Can be 25 or more singles issues. These are often used to collect entire series runs or cover major story arcs spanning multiple titles and often features behind-the-scenes details about the project.
• Graphic Novel – Often a fancier term for collected edition but can also be used to describe original work. Essentially any comic that’s been bounded like a book with a spine rather than magazine format.
• Original Graphic Novel (OGN) – A comic book released in the trade paperback/hardcover format without being in the serial single issue format beforehand.

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Next Primer:

The next in The Primer will cover terminology around Publishers, including the difference between Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios.

_{Thanks to howtolovecomics.com for the basis for this week’s Primer glossary.}