Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A book of comic strips or cartoons, often relating a sustained narrative.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun comics A book or magazine that uses sequences of drawings to tell a story or series of stories, primarily in serialized form, usually fiction.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a magazine devoted to comic strips

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Comments

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  • Does anyone else hate it when people refer to comic books just as books?

    March 1, 2007

  • No, but I hate it when people refer to comic books as comics.

    No, seriously! It makes me think of Sunday newspaper comics, which are not the same thing at all.

    March 1, 2007

  • Count me in. I also hate when books are referred to as "product"--singular, as though they're one big mashup of paper and boards. Eeeesh.

    March 1, 2007

  • Oh reesetee, I hate when anything which should be plural is referred to as product. In fact, product is going on my Rubbies list! Retail!

    I have a friend who thinks I'm uptight over the whole comic book book thing. But I feel it gives the wrong impression. She might say, "I read 20 books this weekend," and I'm all impressed when what she meant was that she read 20 comics (sorry c_b, I refer to them as comics. Sunday comics are either comics or [funnies).

    March 1, 2007

  • Retail indeed! If only we could do without it. I remember the first time I heard that word applied to books. I thought I would die.

    I wonder whether "comics" vs. "comic books" is a regional thing? I'm with c_b on that, if only because it can be confusing. Is it a comic book or a page from the newspaper? Of course, "funnies" might resolve the confusion. :-)

    March 1, 2007

  • "Funnies." Now that's a Rubbie of mine. Largely because there is a fair number of newspaper comics that aren't remotely funny.

    March 1, 2007

  • granted.

    March 1, 2007

  • Hmm. Good point, u. I skip about half of the strips that run in my local newspaper, come to think of it. They're humor-free.

    March 1, 2007

  • AZ, is it that hard to just add another syllable and instead of saying comics, say comic books? Please? *makes puppy eyes*

    March 2, 2007

  • Sorry kid, that's just too much to ask.

    March 2, 2007

  • *turns away dejected*

    March 2, 2007

  • My, my. The interesting conversations that pop up when one clicks "random word"!

    July 18, 2008

  • Would "graphic novel" solve this?

    July 18, 2008

  • *frowns*

    July 18, 2008

  • I'm still harrumphing about "product" myself. :-)

    July 22, 2008

  • I don't know about comic books, but comic strips and comic panels are typically called FEATURES and the cartoonists who draw them are called CREATORS. Ex. Bill Hinds is the creator of two features for Universal Press Syndicate, "Cleats" and "Tank McNamara".

    July 22, 2008