Whether you’re new to comic books or a seasoned fan, there may be some terms you’re unfamiliar with. So, here’s a glossary of comic book words to help you understand all the terms that other fans and industry professionals use.
| Annual: Oversized special |
| Anthology: A book containing multiple short stories from various writers and artists |
| Back-issue: An old single issue of a comic |
| Big Two: Marvel and DC comics |
| Caption: A box of words, usually some type of narration or character thoughts to give some kind of context |
| Cartoonist: A writer and artist who writes and draws a comic or at least does most of the work |
| Collected Edition: A collection of issues to create a story |
| Colorist: The artist who adds color to the comic |
| Comic Grade: The quality of the comic (see my comic book grading guide for more info) |
| Comixology: An online site/app to buy and read comics |
| Continuity: A connected narrative in comic universes |
| Crossover: When two or more stories come together to make another story |
| Diamond: Shortened name of Diamond Comics Distributor |
| Digest: Small-sized collected editions |
| Digital comics: Comics published digitally online |
| Event: A large plot that tends to affect the whole comic universe |
| Floppy: A term used for single issues |
| Fumetti: Italian comics |
| Graphic Novel: Book format of a comic |
| Gutter: The white space between panels |
| Indie: Independent publisher |
| Inker: The artist who goes over the pencil drawings in ink |
| Letterer: This person adds in the dialogue and all the speech bubbles |
| Limited Series/ Mini-series: A series with only a certain amount of issues |
| Line: A group of publications |
| Manga: Japanese comics |
| Manhua: Chinese comics |
| Manhwa: Korean comics |
| New 52: DC comics 2011 reboot |
| Off-Panel: Something that happened in between panels, not seen by the reader |
| Omnibus: Hardcover large collections of many issues |
| One-Shot: A single issue story |
| Panel: A single box in the comic |
| Penciler: The artist who draws the comic in pencil |
| Pre-Crisis/Post-Crisis: Refers to comics before or after Crisis on Infinite Earth comic, which affected the continuity of the DC universe and characters |
| Pre-Flashpoint: Comics before the Flashpoint storyline, a storyline which affected the continuity of the DC universe and characters |
| Retcon (Retroactive Continuity): A character’s past or an event is changed retroactively |
| Run: Consecutive issues written by the same writer and/or artist |
| Speech Balloon/Bubble: A balloon of bubble with dialogue in it |
| Splash page: A whole page panel |
| Tebeos: Spanish comics |
| Tier: A row of panels |
| Trade: A collection of multiple comic book issues for a series into a book |
| Two Page Spread: An art piece covers two whole pages as one piece of art |
| Variant Cover: An alternative drawing or variation of a drawing for the cover of a comic |
| Webcomic: A comic made to read on the internet |
| Zero Issue: A prelude to a series before the first issue |
Check out my video game terms post and anime/manga glossary as well.
If you don’t see certain comic book words you know on the list, let me know and I’ll add them to the glossary. Don’t forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe for more content.