What's the difference between comic books and comics?

The word comic book used to be called picture book (because there are many little people painted in it), which is the kind of small comic book with words and stories on it.

The Advanced Chinese Dictionary explains comics as follows:

strip cartoon

Lian L.

[picture book-story book; Comic book (comic book) is arranged into a series of illustrated pamphlets according to the plot described in the story.

So now you may find the problem of expression. According to the definition of comics, the comics we are talking about now have also become comics! Yes, that's it. The "comic book" we are talking about now is really a "comic book" in the formal definition of Chinese.

So the question now is the definition of comics.

At first, what we said in Chinese was "Zi Yue Comics", which was Feng Zikai's earliest satirical painting with exaggerated and interesting pictures in China. The theme of this kind of cartoon is funny, funny or ironic. The word "person" is said casually here, which means "doodling". Now we often see such cartoons in newspapers. In the United States, there are often so-called "political cartoons" that satirize political figures in the form of cartoons.

The "comics" we are talking about now, such as Dragon Ball and One Piece, are all called "comics", which are actually the result of Japanese being introduced into Chinese.

In China, comics and comics are two things, but there is no such distinction abroad. From a funny little picture to several cartoons, a few consecutive pictures are used to express a small joke or a short story, and then it develops into a long story with many consecutive cartoons. As a result of this evolution, although the fascinating story composed of repeated pictures, plump characters and profound dialogues is completely different from the earliest interesting pictures, they all follow the same name, namely "comic" in English and "manga" in Japanese.

From the long-term development of a cartoon, we can see the epitome of this evolution. American comics are different from Japanese comics. The copyright of a character belongs to the publishing company, and their stories will be compiled and drawn by different authors. In the early days, these characters were fairy tale knights serving children. For example, the American superhero cartoon "Green Lantern" was originally a science fiction story for children readers. The Green Lantern roams the universe, helping aliens from various planets to fight against the bad guys. But when an author begins to think, "Why can't he return to Earth? In this way, more adults will read our story, and this story will become an adult. The old black man shouted to the green lantern, "I have heard your story!" "You help people with green skin, purple skin and red skin regain their homes. However, you have never cared about our dark-skinned people! " As a result, racial conflicts are written into cartoons every time, and the story has changed from children's fairy tale dreams to the leisure thoughts of young people and adults.

Comics in the United States and Japan have gone through such a development process, from children's playthings to cultural carriers widely accepted by society, forming so-called comics and comics. Due to historical reasons, China has not experienced this development, so comics and comics are divided into two strict categories. But now we can say that the cartoon development process in the United States or Japan is progressing rapidly. Although the demonization of this cultural carrier has a long way to go, it is the only way after all.