Lesson 14 — Activity 2: Comic Strips
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Lesson 14 — Activity 2: Comic Strips
Political and editorial cartoons have a lot in common with comic strips.
They both use illustrations to communicate a message. They are often
used to make comments about current events in society. Comic strips
also have a lot in common with short stories. They often use the
elements of a story, which are
plot (the events of the story), characters, setting, and theme. The
story that is told in a comic strip includes illustrations to help
communicate/send the message across. Comic strips use a style of
dialogue in which the speakers' words or thoughts appear in voice
balloons or thought balloons as the characters in the comics have
conversations.
Example of an ancient pictogram
Image courtesy of Pixabay
Stories told with pictures have been around since ancient times. Prehistoric people used pictograms to illustrate events in their lives. Over the past 100 years or so, comic strips have been appearing in newspapers in various forms. Single pictures (sometimes called panels) with added features such as colour editions would only appear in the weekend paper. Some comic strips are published in comic books.
Comic books take many variations and forms. Some are like soap operas that begin a story and take days or weeks to complete. Other comic strips deal with a different story each day. However, most have characters that stay the same age throughout the series. For example, Charlie Brown has been a kid in every episode. Some comic books allow their characters to age with time. The comic strip called The Far Side focuses on different characters every day, although the comic strips are based on one main character (the protagonist) and a familiar group of family and/or friends.
Comic strips vary in their
purpose: most deal with events that the
readers can relate to. Not all comic strips are purely for
entertainment or humour. Some comic strips make political observations
or express different points of view regarding certain social issues.
Not only do we find comic strips in most newspapers and comic book collections, but they are also very popular on the Internet. Comic strip characters such as Garfield are even appearing in movies!