comic

Comics are an art form involving typically (but not always) simplistic drawings augmented by text, usually drawn in bubbles or balloons, which tell you what the characters are saying. Comics are typically found in <em>comic strips</em> (which are often featured prominently in their own section in the newspaper) and in <em>comic books</em> which typically feature a single contiguous story or episode many pages long; comic books are often compiled into or written as <em>graphic novels</em>, which are basically just long comic books or collections thereof. The Japanese have a distinct style of comic book known as <em>Manga</em>.