Comics

A detailed Summary of Comics

Comic books or "funny books" have been around since the late 1800's and have since become one of the world's most famous sources of comic relief, imagination, and creativity. Because comic books are collector's items, many people attend comic book conventions, and try to get that oh so prized comic of all comics. Usually an early issue, (the closest to the first volume; first printing the better) or an issue that reveals something important in the storyline. (Usually the introduction of a new character, or the revealing of a popular characters true secret identity.) And where would the readers be without the writers, pencilers, inkers, and everyone else that is involved in the production of our reading delight? Probably not very far. Many people pick up a comic and don't think about where and how every thing was put together. Many people overlook the process that is the backbone of the comic industry. Comic book production has many steps and this paper will address the pre-press part of the production process.

The first step in making a comic book is generation. This is when the characters, storyline, background, and entire universe of the comic are on the drawing board. At this stage of the game just about any thing is changeab

The second type of traditionalist consists of those who have either no knowledge of or no access to computers and their many facets and assets. These inkers are students of the older styles of inking but have decided to disregard the major rules of inking when it is convenient. These inkers choose a light source and create shadows that are pleasing to the eye and if realistic shadows and textures come about it is an added bonus.

The traditional inkers consist of two major groups of people. The first is the group of old inkers employed by Marvel, D.C., and many, many newspapers. These inkers either have created an original style (Betty and Veronica/Archie and Jughead) or have studied older styles of inking. These artists tend to strive for real and accurate shadows and textures; if these textures and shadows are appealing to the eye it is an added bonus.

After the whole hard copy has been penciled and inked, it is ready to be transferred from hard actual matter to an actual file on a computer disk. The normal floppy disks that most everyone has are not big enough to fit complex art graphics on them. These files take up a lot of memory. They require the use of what is known as a "zip" disk. These disks carry roughly twice the memory of a regular disk. After the proper disk is chosen and installed in the correct port of the computer, we are ready to convert the hard copy of the comic to a file on the zip disk. This is accomplished with the help of a scanner. Scanners work just like photocopiers but instead of copying onto paper these copies onto disk.

After all the preliminary artwork, computer detailing, and final editing is done and everything is in order, the very comic itself is ready to go to press. This is where the actual copies of the book are fabricated. Most printers will take the computer software and shoot a preliminary copy of the comic and show it to the artists. This ensures that every thing is the way it should be before hundreds of copies are made. At this

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Approximate Word count = 1343
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts