Comic books
Comic books are also known as funny books or comic magazines that service both the young generation and also the old. Comic books contain different and individual scenes that are followed by dialog and also prose that are descriptive. Comics made the first appearance in the early 1934 in the United States though this was a reprinting of the earlier copies of comic strips. The reprinting of the strips into a general book earned the combined comic strips the term comic book. The comic book “prisoners of the sun: the adventures of Tintin is one example of the comic books and is a result of many comic strips that have been brought together to create a book (Doonan, 1993).
Modern comic books do not always give humorous stories but vary in genre. Majority of comic books in the United States and also in China are in the category of comic books that do not always offer humor. There are many genres under which comic books fall. Such examples include superhero comics such as wonder woman, X-men, Spiderman among others, adventure comics; some depict action, war and other stories. In Japan, Manga comics are very popular (Barry, Abel & Madden, 2008). Other genres of comics include science fiction comic books and fantasy books. In the science fiction comic books they have characters that are portrayed in a futuristic setting whereby there is advancement in technology and many times are seen to travel through time and space. Fantasy comics as the word suggests involving having mythological and fantasy creatures. The Conan Barbarian series is fantasy comic book. The horror comic books also as the title suggests have creatures such as zombies, vampires among other frightening creatures. The adventure comic books contain real-life characters such as detectives and police persons in battles against offenders. There are also romance comic books that mainly focus on the older generation as they are filled with themes of relationships and love.
Picture books
Picture books mainly aim at the older generation and also the young children as they are a combination of both visual and also verbal narratives. The major characteristics of picture books are that they aim at different age sectors. Those that are specifically for children have words that children can understand but cannot read. In this case the parent reads to the child before the child can learn to read by itself. Picture books for young children have also termed board books as they are covered by cardboards for durability when the child plays with the book. Other categories also target the older children and picture books such as the “Tibet through the red box” is an example that targets the older generation (Doonan, 1993).
In picture books there is a balance between the pictures and also the words but the pictures usually have a much deeper effect than the words. Just as the comic books there are different kinds of genres into which picture books can be categorized into. They include the magic realism, literature that is usually in most cases traditional, animal stories or what can be termed as anthropomorphic. The picture books also have a category of non-fictional books.
The similarities of both the comic books and the picture books are that they both entail having sequential pictures. The sequential part of both books makes it easy to tell a story from the pictures. Another similarity between the two is that they both involve words other than the exceptional comic and picture books that are wordless. Among the main difference between the comic and picture books is the number of pictures that are found on a single page. Comics also are able to show the invisible or nonverbal link in characters through elements such as speech balloons and sound effects. They also both have different categories into which they can be classified. There are similarities in these categories such as nonfictional books which have real characters, magic realism where there are fantasy creatures and environments among others (Barry, Abel & Madden, 2008).
It would not prove wise to translate the comic Herge’s Prisoners of the Sun into a picture book for a variety of reasons. There is a need for high reading competency in the 21st century as this happens to be visual culture. Comic books such as Herge’s Prisoners of the Sun give a fine representation of printed words and pictures, a unique combination that allows the reader to have an understanding of the sequence of activities and also the ability to interpret the nonverbal gestures. In the information society the comics are part of the print media. Comics offer a pervasive and influential media form as part of a popular culture. To prove that there is great interest in comics there have been several conferences held. There have been conferences and seminars such as the International Conference on Graphical novel that was held at the University of Massachusetts in 1998 and the Annual Conference on Comics at the University of Florida in 2000. According to Edmunds (page 1) although comic books offer recreational reading they are also very useful in art and literature and are thus finding their way into classrooms. According to Barry (1997, pages 75-78) images communicate more deeply than words. In comic books where there is a combination of both words and pictures or illustrations, words become secondary to pictures. It would thus not prove effective if comic books were converted into picture books. This is because of the need to cultivate the reading culture among all generations. Also it includes developing a child’s reading skills if he or she can interpret the nonverbal gestures and words. Comics offer more pictures and illustrations than picture books. It would thus prove very important to have the comic books rather than convert them into picture books.
It therefore remains that converting comic books such as the Herge’s Prisoners of the Sun that have held interest in many people into picture n books might not have the best effect as anticipated. For comic books to be seen as a success it means that it either has critics who have taken notice of the book or it has massive followers (Doonan, 1993). A classic comic book such as the Herge’s Prisoners of the Sun started as a comic strip before it was reprinted again into a book which is now known as Herge’s Prisoners of the Sun comic book. It holds an era in terms of people who can relate to it.
Comic books on the other hand create a new teaching era whereby they are used as supplements in classes. This is because they can hold the young reader’s attention for long as they incorporate the pictures and also the words. It also helps the reader to interpret the nonverbal gestures which are very critical in the 21st century.
It therefore remains that converting classic comic books such as Herge’s Prisoners of the Sun would not result in any success. It would be just another picture book that does not reach out to many people. In the categories of which comic books can be generalized, converting the comic book into a picture book would decrease the genres into which comic books can be generalized or be classified.
References
Barry, L. Abel, J. & Madden, M. (2008). The Best American Comics. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin press.
Doonan, J. (1993). Looking at pictures in picture books. South Woodchester, GB: Thimble press.