Comics denotes a
hybridHybridity refers in its most basic sense to mixture. The term originates from biology and was subsequently employed in linguistics and in racial theory in the nineteenth century. Its contemporary uses are scattered across numerous academic disciplines and is salient in popular culture...
mediumMass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
having verbal side of its
vocabularyComics vocabulary consists of many different techniques and images which a comic book artist employs in order to convey a narrative within the medium of comics....
tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey
narrativeA narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
or
informationInformation in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking
synergySynergy may be defined as two or more things functioning together to produce a result not independently obtainable.The term synergy comes from the Greek word from , , meaning "working together".-Definitions and usages:...
by using both visual (non-verbal) and verbal side in
interactionInteraction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another. The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as opposed to a one-way causal effect...
. Although some comics are picture-only, pantomime strips, such as
The Little KingThe Little King was a comic strip created by Otto Soglow, famously telling its stories in a style using images and very few words, as in pantomime.-Publication history:...
, the verbal side usually expand upon the pictures, but sometimes act in
counterpointIn music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
.
The term derives from the mostly humorous early work in the medium, and came to apply to that form of the medium including those far from comic.