A
comic book or
comicbook, also called
comic magazine or simply
comic, is a publication, first popularized in the
United States, of
comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed
panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by brief descriptive prose and written narrative, usually dialog contained in
word balloons emblematic of the comics art form. The first comic book appeared in the United States in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper
comic strips which had established many of the story-telling devices used in comics. The term
comic book arose because the first comic book reprinted humor comic strips. Despite their name, comic books are not necessarily humorous in tone—modern comic books tell stories in many genres.