Five of the most famous comics from different countries. The world of American comics is large, diverse and accessible

Mark Millar's comic book "Superman - Son of the Reds" has been republished in the USA. This is an alternate history where a rocket carrying baby Kal-El from the planet Krypton lands not in the heart of Kansas, but in one of the collective farms of Soviet Russia. The world's greatest super hero is being raised by communists! In American comics there are other, both positive and negative, images of Soviet heroes.

Black Widow

One of the earliest examples of a positive Russian hero, Black Widow was originally a Soviet spy, an opponent of Iron Man. She then defected to the US side and quickly became one of the most complex legends in Marvel comics history. Former ballerina Natalia Romanova was recruited into the KGB, where she received spy training. Also, with the help of chemicals in her body, aging was slowed down. Natalya Romanova could well be the heiress of the overthrown tsar.

Colossus

In 1975, the X-Men comic debuted. They decided to give the X-Men team international character. This is how the heroes Storm, Banshee, the little-known Canadian mutant Wolverine and Colossus appeared in it - perhaps the most famous Russian hero in comics. His image is very stereotypical. These stereotypes were most evident when Colossus was recruited by Arcadia and became a proletarian, wearing a red jumpsuit with a hammer and sickle and a portrait of Vladimir Lenin.

Red Ghost and his super monkeys

Like many of Marvel's early creations, Fantastic Four has its origins in Stan Lee's anti-communist propaganda. Reed Richards launches his ship into a stream of cosmic rays to land on the moon before the Russians. He faces off against evil rivals from the Soviet space program - an astronaut with three gorillas with superpowers.

Deadshot (Death Shot)

This character's political beliefs are not entirely clear. He is terrified of Batman, grows a mustache and shoots people. But in one of the early issues it is said that Deadshot joined the party and learned Russian to spite his father, a wealthy industrialist.

Collective man

As a result of the mutation, the five brothers gained the ability to merge into one, collective person. This Collective Man not only possessed the power of all five, but could further increase his power at the expense of the entire population of the Republic of China - the living embodiment of the power of communism.

Like the Collective Man, the Soviet super-soldiers represented various aspects of the USSR. Among them is the character Big Bear - a major in the Red Army.

Omega Red

Omega Red was created already in the 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR. Omega Red is a product of genetic engineering by the KGB. He was encased in ice and then thawed out to fight the X-Men. It was assumed that the Omega Red image was created to frighten young children.

Red Rocket

Red Rocket was a member of the Justice League, but then turned into Manhunter - one of the intergalactic robots. They were created by the Guardians of the Universe, who waited a thousand years and then betrayed their heroes.

Red Trinity

Anatoly, Bebek and Cassiopeia are three Russian super-agents who received superpowers as a result of an experiment. They could move at crazy speed.

KGBist

In one of the Batman comics, KGBiste appears, a Russian assassin who tries to kill the President.

More than one generation of teenagers has grown up reading graphic novels about Superman, Batman, Hulk, and Iron Man. Comics have been and remain a cult subject, although explaining why superheroes excite the minds of young and old so much is not an easy task.

The history of comics, as surprising as it may sound, has very ancient roots that go back to the times when people lived in caves and hunted mammoths. It was then that the first examples of rock paintings appeared, in which, along with scenes from real life, the first superheroes appeared, embodied in the images of ancient gods.

Rock paintings of the Hopi Indians in Arizona, USA

The chronology of the development of such a genre as comics is very long and extensive, replete with numerous dates, therefore, listing the main milestones in the development of comics, we will limit ourselves to a journey through the 19th and 20th centuries, since it was during this period that a qualitative leap in the development of the genre took place and the known to us heroes.

The history of comics goes back to primitive times.

When talking about comics, we should start with the personality of Rodolphe Tepfer, a French-speaking Swiss artist who became a key figure in the history of the development of modern comics. At the beginning of the 19th century, he began to illustrate stories consistently, placing text under the images. These comics of his were republished throughout Europe and the USA. Due to the lack of copyright laws, pirated editions of "drawn stories" began to be translated and published everywhere around the world.

In 1843, satirical drawings that regularly appeared in newspapers and magazines received their name - cartoons.

A key figure in the history of comics development was Rodolphe Tepfer.

The invention of photogravure in 1873 made newspapers relatively inexpensive and allowed them to be published big amount illustrations. This change in technology was the impetus for the development of comics and their mass production. The art of comics has received particular development in America. In 1893, Joseph Pulitzer published his first full-page color comic strip in The New York World, and in the same year, other newspapers began printing color comics.

As a tool of popular culture, involving the use of both artistic and literary skills, comics successfully reflected social problems of its time. By the beginning of the 20th century, regular strips appeared in newspapers in major US cities.

The 1920s and 1930s were a period of active development of the comics industry around the world: in 1929, comics were published, the main character of which was Popeye the sailor. A special feature of this character was the increase in strength after eating spinach. On June 1, 1938, comics were released, the main character of which was Superman, and in 1939, Batman and the first Human Torch appeared on the pages of comics.

In the second half of the 20th century, comics were a popular collector's item.

During the second half of the 20th century, comics became a very popular collectible, and American comics of the 1970s became the basis for comic book collections.

Cover of the comic "Plastic Man", 1943

Comic book heroes appear during this period:
1961 - the first issue of the Fantastic Four is published - comics about a team of superheroes with various supernatural abilities;
1962 - the time of the birth of Spider-Man and the Hulk;
1963 - comics about Iron Man, Doctor Strange and the X-Men were released;
1966 - the appearance of the Black Panther;
1970 - a series of comics about Conan the Barbarian is published;
1977 - Star Wars comics appear;
1984 - the “birth” of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The founder of the comics genre in Russia is lubok

Despite the fact that comics are considered typical representatives of “Western” culture, they have a fairly long history in our country. The first domestic comics, with a slight stretch, include popular print books, which became widespread at the beginning of the 17th century.

Such a book was a small scroll on which pictures were depicted describing the most current event in socio-political life at the moment. That is why the name of such books sounded like “funny sheets.”

"Strong and brave hero Ilya Muromets." Lubok 1868

The next stage in the development of domestic comics art is associated with the name of Vladimir Dahl. His work “The Adventures of Christian Khristianovich Violdamur and his Arshet” was in many ways reminiscent of modern comics, since the plot, or rather the narrative, was based on a story in pictures. This unique form of presenting the material was not appreciated by Dahl’s contemporaries, therefore further development"stories in pictures" did not receive.

In August 1914, the association “Today's Lubok” appeared in Moscow, whose members included such representatives of the domestic cultural elite as Kazimir Malevich, Aristarkh Lentulov, David Burliuk, Vladimir Mayakovsky. The society published propaganda leaflets on military topics, which contained both pictures and text information.

The comic book was not widely distributed in the USSR

In Soviet Russia, comics were not widely used: domestic ideological services did their best to prevent the appearance in our country of any elements of “Western” culture, including comics. However, this did not stop him from creating his own alternative to comics, which manifested itself in the release of the collections “History in Pictures”, the illustrated story “The Adventures of Makar the Fierce” by Boris Antonovsky, published on the pages of the Leningrad magazine “Hedgehog”, and the comics “Smart Masha” by Bronislav Malakhovsky.

“A story about bagels and a woman who does not recognize the republic” - a poster from the series “Windows of GROWTH”. August 1920. Artist: Mikhail Cheremnykh. Author of the text: Vladimir Mayakovsky

The spread of comicsography led to the fact that in the 1930s the authorities officially banned it, calling comics “a bourgeois-American way of fooling young people.” The only source of new stories-illustrations for a long time continued to remain children's magazine"Murzilka". Only in 1956 did the Komsomol Central Committee begin to publish new magazine“Funny Pictures”, which actively began to use the comic book genre as its main content.

Subsequently, in the USSR and Russia, comics about Oktyabrin, a series of comics “Hare Pts and his imaginary friends: Shch, F, a hot water bottle and a pork chop with peas” and a collection of comics “Cat” appeared throughout the world and became famous throughout the world.

The Village continues to promote effective self-education. This week, together with experts, we figure out how comics differ from each other and which ones are best to read first if you haven’t gotten around to it before.

Vasily Shevchenko

co-owner of the comic book store "Chuk and Gik"

Since comics in Russia are a fairly young phenomenon, it still exists without any established rules. This is great: a person approaches this world as openly as possible, can be interested in different genres and formats, read a little of everything, and then choose what he likes. Comics are, in principle, for everyone. And it is not entirely true that one must necessarily grow out of them: no more than from some other cultural medium. Comics are not an intermediate stage between a picture and a book; they are an independent phenomenon.

There are famous mistakes made by people who don't know anything. You can fight with them a little, but without being boring.

First important thought, which should be heard when we start talking about comics: it's a format, not a genre. With the help of comics you can tell any story. Superheroes are the most popular format, but there are also biography, science fiction, detective stories and everything else.

Another famous terminological error. There are comics different countries: American, French (BD, or bande dessinée, - hand-drawn strip) and Asian (manga). And these are all comics, each existing in its own world.

Third - formats, in which comics are published. There are monthly magazines with 32 pages, which is what you usually imagine when you hear the word “comic book”. There are collections ranging from 120 to a thousand pages, bringing together any number of these thin comics. There are also graphic novels, which are often just trying to be called slightly smarter comics. In principle, the only difference between this format is that it is never published in a thin notebook. Saying “I don’t read comics, I only read graphic novels” is the same as saying “I don’t watch TV series, I only watch mini-series.”

And another big mistake- you shouldn’t try to read comics from publishers. This division is already outdated. In fact, this is a commercial association of various authors. Marvel has pathetic superheroics, and then there are indie comics. A good reader is not afraid of different publishers and genres.

There is no need to be afraid of the comic shops themselves. I can’t answer for everything, but it seems to me that they exist not only for those who already know everything. The world of comics is endless.

Unfortunately, there is currently no website that collects all the announcements, news and analytics on comics. This is a cool niche that is occupied by absolutely no one. If you think of the comics industry as a community of publishers, sellers, readers and analysts, then the analysts and the press are the ones furthest behind. Comics, like any art form, require expert opinion.

For some reason, no one argues that you need to know a good opera in order to love it. It's the same here. You need to start with good comics and then choose those that are closer in spirit. As practice shows, what is available in Russian is better perceived.

17 comics worth reading
if you don't understand anything about them

"Mouse"

The only comic to receive Pulitzer Prize. An example of how in the comics genre you can make works about anything, in in this case- about the Holocaust, about the experience of experiencing and communicating with people who survived this tragedy.

"Saga"

To describe it in a not-so-successful format, it’s “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” meets “Romeo and Juliet.” Now “Saga” is one of the coolest modern comics, a new science-fiction, funny, driving and about love.

"Scott Pilgrim"

A series of comics about the life of 23-year-old Canadian Scott Pilgrim, who must defeat seven of his girlfriend's exes. Perhaps the main teen comic of the 2000s, which works very clearly and gives a lot of references to modern pop culture.

"Little Nemo"

Winsor McCay is the first person to experiment with comics. Not only was he one of the pioneers of the format (“Little Nemo” was created at the beginning of the 20th century), he also studied comics in detail as a phenomenon. The book features newspaper pages on which McKay experimented with depicting worlds and fantasies.

"Persepolis"

An important independent comic in the autobiographical genre right now. The story is about an Iranian girl who grew up during the Islamic Revolution and the war with Iraq. She talks about what it's like to grow up as society transforms into an increasingly closed one.

"Sandman"

Recognized as a cult comic by Neil Gaiman about the Lord of Dreams, published since the late 80s. Along with Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, it helped establish comics as serious literature.

"Hellboy"

A story about a demon - a paranormal investigator. In some ways, a mix of myths and fairy tales under a superhero shell with stories from the Bible, poems by Edgar Allan Poe and rumors about the Nazi space program.

"Keepers"

The action of "Watchmen" takes place in the 1980s in the United States in an alternative reality. All events differ from events in our world in only one way: costumed heroes act here. Watchmen is one of the comic book world's top bestsellers and the only graphic novel on Time magazine's list of the 100 greatest novels.

"Young Avengers"

A true teen comic with jokes about Tumblr and Twitter, cute gay couples and drawings that make the plot look like a reality show. The translation of the first five in the series was recently published by the small comic book publisher Jellyfish Jam.

"The Adventures of Tintin"

One of the most popular European comics of the 20th century by the Belgian self-taught artist Hergé. A series of neat detective stories where the main character is newspaper reporter Tintin.

"Barefoot Gen"

The manga by Keiji Nakazawa tells the story of the life of a six-year-old boy, Gen, and his family before and after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It is considered one of the most important anti-war works of the second half of the 20th century.

"Batman. Arkham Asylum"

An iconic publication, unlike other comics about Batman and superheroes in general. The story follows Batman's journey through the hospital where his worst enemies like Two-Face, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter and Joker are kept.

Interest in comics in our country has grown greatly, largely thanks to Hollywood hits and the popular TV series “The Walking Dead.” If this culture has long and firmly taken root in America ( best comics about Superman or Batman have reigned on the US market for decades), then our parents had never heard of graphic novels.

By the way, many people ask – what is the difference between comics and graphic novels? In general, nothing, except that graphic novels are usually published in the form of a book rather than a magazine. The essence remains the same: numerous “cartoon” drawings, accompanied by text (of which there is little). Today we will introduce you to the Top 10 best comics of all time (published in novel format).

Batman, Zombies, Watchmen: the best comics published in graphic novel format

He Has Seven Names: Gaiman's Sandman

Now all the avid TV fans (in our case, these are people who love and appreciate masterpiece series) are frozen in anticipation of the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel “American Gods.” In addition to prose, Neil also works on comics, the best of which is The Sandman, which has gone through several editions (including a four-volume hardcover and a series of ten paperback books). The title character of the series (also called a “comic for intellectuals”) is the supernatural creature Sandman. It is known by different names: Morpheus, Death, Dream, Delirium, Desire, Fate, Despair. Symbolism, mythology, horror, and history are closely intertwined in the plot of the comic.

The Joker as a tragic figure: a killing joke

Alan Moore's graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke is a rare case where the Joker is shown not just as a complete psychopath and ruthless sadist, but as a tragic figure. He lost his family, he was deceived by evil people who accidentally turned a good guy into a madman. This is one of the best comics from the Batman series, and the Dark Knight fades into the background here: the main character is the Joker.

Arkham Asylum: Sorrowful House on Sorrowful Land

The original graphic novel Batman: Arkham Asylum. The Mournful House on the Mournful Land was one of the most gothic and best comics in the series. It inspired the popular Batman games and other comic book writers for years to come. The novel told about the history of the creation of the mental hospital, its builder Amadeus Arkham, and about everything supernatural that is hidden in the dark corridors of the mental hospital. However, the publication of the comic, dedicated to its 25th anniversary, turned out to be simply unsurpassed - thanks to writer Grant Morrison.

In the world of the walking dead you need to be on your guard

In October 2003, the first volume of the graphic novel “The Walking Dead” by Robert Kirkman was released. This is one of the best comics of our time, so work on it continues. In 2010, a comic book about Sheriff Rick Grimes, his family and friends trying to survive after a zombie epidemic received an Eisner Award, and in the same year the series of the same name premiered - “The Walking Dead” is already in its seventh season and is not slowing down. By the way, Kirkman recently explained why the characters use the terms “walkers,” “rotten,” and “biters.” It turns out that the characters live in a universe where the concept of “zombies” (and books and films about them) did not exist.

300 against thousands

Almost everyone has heard about the graphic novel “300” - after all, this work by Frank Miller was filmed by Zack Snyder. The main characters of Peplum - King Leonidas and his antagonist Xerxes - were played by Gerard Butler and Rodrigo Santoro. “300 Spartans” is an almost perfect adaptation of the comic book, telling about the confrontation between the warriors of Sparta and the Persians, who met in the bloody Battle of Thermopylae.

Jack the Ripper came to London from hell

Alan Moore is a legendary author of the best comics, so his name will appear in our ranking more than once. A very dark black and white graphic novel, "From Hell" resurrects the troubled days late XIX century, when Jack the Ripper was at work in the poorest quarters of London's East End. This is one of the creepy pages victorian era, and although the victims of the maniac were not noble ladies, but Whitechapel prostitutes, the Ripper’s crimes still excite the imagination. Moore's comic depicts these events, detailing the exact nature of the atrocities and following the story of police officer Eberline. In 2001, Hollywood staged a film based on the comic book; Johnny Depp played the main role in the film “From Hell”.

V for Vendetta: Terrorist against Totalitarianism

And again - Alan Moore, and his dystopian comic book “V for Vendetta”. The main character of the novel is the same V who is trying to fight the pro-fascist totalitarian regime that has reigned in Great Britain in the near future. The government persecutes people of other faiths, gays, and illegal immigrants. V actively opposes him - the fighter against the regime planned to blow up the Parliament. He even wears the mask of his distant predecessor, who also tried to cause an explosion - Guy Fawkes. The comic was brought to the big screen, with the film starring Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman.

There's something scary going on in Sin City.

Popular author Frank Miller became co-director with Robert Rodriguez when the Mexican-American director took on the task of adapting the comic books from the Sin City series. No wonder the crime stories in this series are considered the best comics in their niche. Those who saw the film were likely impressed by this bloody noir and memorable characters, including the Yellow Bastard Roarke Jr. (played in the film by Nick Stahl), the maniac Kevin (Elijah Wood) and the desperate Marv (Mickey Rourke).

The Dark Knight returns, tired and disillusioned

Frank Miller's third and best comic from this top, The Dark Knight Returns, had a huge influence on other comics, video games and films. It was this graphic novel that became the basis for Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy with Christian Bale and inspired Snyder to film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Miller's work shows Batman as very mature and has experienced a lot. He's older, darker, and a little tired of fighting evil.

Guardians will not let this world die

Closing the top of the best comics is the novel by Alan Moore (and it was also filmed by Zack Snyder) – “Watchmen”. The quality of this comic is evidenced by this fact: "Watchmen" was included in the list of "100 Best Novels of All Time" (the only comic to receive such an honor). The universe of this novel features courageous superheroes (Night Owl, Doctor Manhattan, Silk Specter and others), and the action takes place in an alternative noir reality. By the way, one of the characters, the Comedian, is played in the blockbuster by Jeffrey Dean Morgan (he is also the new charismatic antagonist in the series “The Walking Dead”).

In our 21st century, even the lazy person already knows what a comic book is. Heroes in colorful tights, saving the universe from various misfortunes three times a day, have long been on everyone’s lips. At first glance it seems that beautiful picture lies either a complete lack of plot, or extremely formulaic variations from 80s action films. In reality this is, of course, not the case.

Comics, in the form in which we know them, have existed for almost a hundred years. If we take into account the rich experience of Japanese and many other artists, this period can increase several times. But, of course, most lovers of this type of art appreciate first of all modern works. And there is a reason for this: over the course of its almost hundred-year history, comics have grown from a small section in daily news releases into an entire industry that includes many publishers, authors, artists, published series, film adaptations, related products and... we can go on and on. For those whose heads are spinning from such diversity, first of all I would like to advise you to familiarize yourself with the primary sources - many issues and publications in themselves have become not only classics of the genre, but also a valuable cultural heritage recognized throughout the world.

Big world of comics

In Russia Big world comics are just beginning their march and, thanks to a couple of publishers, everyone who wants to get acquainted with the stories has the opportunity to do so. But, unfortunately, this process is not fast - not many books have been published in our country yet. But it’s okay, the Internet comes to the rescue here - given the scale of the product, there are specialized sites where you can buy both new issues and old collector’s editions. The cost of the latter, by the way, can sometimes even reach several million dollars! But, however, first things first.

All comics that are available for purchase are published on English language. Don't let this discourage those who are not confident in their knowledge of English - with some exceptions, the difficulty in understanding is not high, and besides, this is an excellent opportunity to practice the language.