# Comics

- Source: Simple English Wikipedia (simple.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, Simple English Wikipedia contributors
- Reading level: Grades 6 to 8
- Subjects: Arts and Culture, Stories
- Topics: comics, comic, first, strips, balloon, books
- Length: 150 words, about 1 min
- Published: 2004-11-30
- Original: <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics>
- Page: <https://sprout.rootsofreason.org/r/simple-wikipedia/comics>
- Open in Sprouts: <https://sprout.rootsofreason.org/?read=simple-wikipedia/comics>

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Little Nemo sea

![](https://sprout.rootsofreason.org/media/simple-wikipedia-comics-8e57088d5e.jpg)

America's Best Comics #26

In **comics**, stories or information are given using pictures, or pictures and words together. A story is told with pictures, mostly in panels. The first panel is supposed to be read first, and takes place earlier in time than the panels that follow it.

There are many kinds of comics. Comic strips are short comics which are often found in newspapers. Comic books are thin comics magazines. Graphic novels are books of comics.

The first comic strips in the United States were funny. "Comic" is another word for "funny", so they were called "comic strips". The first comic books were collections of comic strips. Today, some comics are serious, but they are still called "comics".

In comics, speech is usually shown through word balloons. There are many different kinds of balloons, such as the "speech balloon", the "thought balloon" and the "scream balloon".

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## Picture credits

- Public domain (<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Little_Nemo_sea.jpg>)
- Unknown source Unknown source, Public domain (<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AmericasBestComics2606.jpg>)