Monday, May 17, 2010

British Comics


Historically called comic papers, British comics are the (optimistically named) 'funny pages' in the news paper.
They can also be sold in traditional American comic form, like with the Dandy or the Beano.

I've asked around the internet, and the general consensus seems to be that if you began reading British comics, you'll find them more entertaining than American ones.

http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/AboutMe/AboutMeWhole.asp

^^^This site talks about one man's obsession with British comics and he says:
"Although I came across the American superhero comic-books, I'm afraid they just didn't do anything for me. Maybe it was because I started reading British comics first, and used the likes of Battle Picture Weekly and Action as a benchmark. Who knows, had I started reading DC and Marvel comics first, I might have thought that British comics were a bit bland."

Funnily enough, I began reading the Beano years before i knew what an American comic book was, although i seem to be a singularity.

British comics tend to be very dry and less focused on artwork. It was only until the 1990s that they were published in full colour.
They are usually aimed at children, and are rarely aimed at teenagers (and if they are, they're not funny).

The first British comic was Funny Folks (first published in 1874), according to most sources, but in the early 1800s there were 'penny bloods' and the 'penny dreadfuls' which were small pamphlets with a picture or two and a story in them. They were usually published weekly and provided poor people with a sort of book. (The printing press had just been invented, so books were still expensive, about 6 shillings each.)
The first penny blood was published in 1832 and was called the penny story-teller. There were 564 issues.
(example of a penny blood)>>>>

In the 1890s there seemed to be an explosion of British comics as they became more detailed, more popular and more widespread. The printing press helped greatly with this.

Nowadays, British comics tend to be less gorey, althoigh they're still aimed at the middle to lower classes.


to see some British comics online see:
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/FullStrip/FullStripMain.asp


picture:
http://www.scarcecomics.com/images/competition_beano85_front.jpg
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/History/HistoryWhole.asp?PassedEra=Story%20Papers%201

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