Oldest form of comics, where the stories are told in captions below the images
Histoire de Monsieur Cryptogame (1830) byRodolphe Töpffer, an early example of a text comic. Notice the text underneath the images
Text comics or atext comic is a form ofcomics where the stories are told incaptions below the images and without the use ofspeech balloons. It is the oldest form of comics and was especially dominant inEuropean comics from the 19th century[1] until the 1950s, after which it gradually lost popularity in favor of comics with speech balloons.
A text comic is published as a series of illustrations that can be read as a continuous story. However, within the illustrations themselves no text is used: nospeech balloons, noonomatopoeias, no written indications to explain where the action takes place or how much time has passed. In order to understand what is happening in the drawings the reader has to read the captions below each image, where the story is written out in the same style as a novel.
Much like other comics text comics were pre-published in newspapers and weekly comics magazines as a continuous story, told in daily or weekly episodes. When published in book format the comics were sometimes published as actual illustrated novels. In some cases the original text was kept, but only a few drawings were used as illustrations, rather than the entire comic. In the Netherlands text comics were published in small rectangular books, calledoblong books, due to the shape of the books.
Text comics are older than balloon comics. Ancient Egyptian wall paintings withhieroglyphs explaining the images are the oldest predecessors. In the late 17th century and early 19th century picture narratives were popular in Western Europe, such asLes Grandes Misères de la guerre (1633) byJacques Callot,History of the Hellish Popish Plot (1682) byFrancis Barlow, the cartoons ofWilliam Hogarth,Thomas Rowlandson andGeorge Cruikshank.[2] These images provided visual stories which often placed captions below the images to explain a moral message.
The earliest examples of text comics are the Swiss comics seriesHistoire de Mr. Vieux Bois (1827) byRodolphe Töpffer, the French comicsLes Travaux d'Hercule (1847),Trois artistes incompris et mécontents (1851),Les Dés-agréments d'un voyage d'agrément (1851) andL'Histoire de la Sainte Russie (1854) byGustave Doré, the GermanMax und Moritz (1866) byWilhelm Busch and the BritishAlly Sloper (1867) byCharles Henry Ross andÉmilie de Tessier. Töpffer often put considerable effort in the narrative captions of his graphic narratives, which made them just as distinctive and appealing as the drawings.Wilhelm Busch used rhymingcouplets in his captions.[2]
During the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century text comics were the dominant form in Europe. In the United States of America the speech balloon made its entry in comics with 1895'sThe Yellow Kid byRichard F. Outcault.Frederick Burr Opper'sHappy Hooligan andAlphonse and Gaston further popularized the technique.[1] As speech balloons asked for less text to read and had the advantage of linking the dialogues directly to the characters who were speaking or thinking, they allowed readers to connect better with the stories. By the early 1900s most American newspaper comics had switched to the speech balloon format.[1]
While speech balloon comics became the norm in the United States, the format didn't always catch on as well in the rest of the world. In Mexico andArgentina speech balloons were adapted very quickly,[1] while in Europe they remained a rarity until deep in the 1920s. In other parts of Europe, most notably the Netherlands, text comics even remained dominant as late as the early 1960s.[1] Many European moral guardians looked down upon oncomics as low-brow entertainment that made the youth too lazy to read. Christian comics magazines and newspapers closely supervised the content of their publications and preferred text comics, as the format still encouraged children to read actual written texts. They were also ideal to adapt classic novels and guide young readers towards "real" literature. In some instances foreign balloon comics were simply re-adapted by erasing the balloons and adding captions underneath them. It even happened with the EuropeanTintin in the Land of the Soviets (1929) by Hergé, which was republished in the French magazineCoeurs Vaillants, but with captions.[1] Other comics, likePip, Squeak and Wilfred byBertram Lamb, used both speech balloons and captions. Under the Nazi, Fascist and Communist regimes in Western and/or Eastern Europe balloon comics were even banned in favor of comics with captions underneath them.[1]
The success ofThe Adventures of Tintin by Hergé from 1929 on, influenced many other European comics, especially in theFranco-Belgian comics market, to adapt speech balloons. Translations of popular American comics such asMickey Mouse,Donald Duck,Popeye throughout the 1930s and especially after the liberation of Europe in 1945 further encouraged the speech balloon format. By the 1960s text comics had lost popularity worldwide and only a few remained.[citation needed]
Magical Mystery Tour byBob Gibson, a text comic based on the 1967 TV filmMagical Mystery Tour, available inside the sleeve of the soundtrack album.[98]
The Merry Tales of Mimi and Marny by Jim Turnbull.[87]
Morgyn the Mighty byDudley D. Watkins (started out as a text comic when it debuted in 1928, but was turned into a balloon comic when Watkins republished it a decade later inThe Beano).[95]
