A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other areas of the city. Versions of such restricted areas have been found across the world, each with their own names, classifications, and groupings of people.
181-548: Strontium Dog is a long-running British comics series starring Johnny Alpha, a mutant bounty hunter who lives in Earth's future. The series was created in 1978 by writer John Wagner (under the pseudonym T. B. Grover) and artist Carlos Ezquerra for Starlord , a short-lived weekly science fiction comic. When Starlord was cancelled, the series transferred to the British science fiction weekly 2000 AD . In 1980, Wagner
362-627: A lowbrow reputation for much of their history, but towards the end of the 20th century, they began to find greater acceptance with the public and academics. The English term comics is used as a singular noun when it refers to the medium itself (e.g. " Comics is a visual art form."), but becomes plural when referring to works collectively (e.g. " Comics are popular reading material."). The comics may be further adapted to animations (anime), dramas, TV shows, movies. The European, American, and Japanese comics traditions have followed different paths. Europeans have seen their tradition as beginning with
543-543: A residentially segregated society in which black people and white people inhabit different neighborhoods of significantly different quality. Many of these neighborhoods are located in Northern and Western cities where African Americans moved during the Great Migration (1914–1970), a period when over a million African-Americans moved out of the rural southern United States to escape the widespread racism of
724-498: A child appeared in prog 2183, by Michael Carroll and Nick Brokenshire. Johnny Alpha has also appeared in three Judge Dredd stories, in which he travelled back in time to Dredd's era. The first was '"Top Dogs", written by John Wagner, which appeared in the Judge Dredd Annual 1991 (published in 1990). The second was " Judgement Day ", a 20-episode story written by Garth Ennis , which appeared in both 2000 AD and in
905-560: A combined circulation of over 2 million copies by the 1950s. Their characters, including " Dennis the Menace ", " Desperate Dan " and " The Bash Street Kids " have been read by generations of British children. The comics originally experimented with superheroes and action stories before settling on humorous strips featuring a mix of the Amalgamated Press and US comic book styles. The popularity of superhero comic books declined in
1086-608: A decree ordering the dissolution of all Jüdische Wohnbezirke /ghettos in the East and their transference to Nazi concentration camps or their extermination. The Nazi ghettos were an essentially different institution than the historical ghettos of European society. The historical ghettos were places where Jews lived for many generations and created their own culture – even if they were under social and political conditions of segregation and discrimination. The Nazi ghettos were part of The Final Solution ; they were intended as
1267-479: A defining factor, which can imply the exclusion of even photographic comics. The term manga is used in Japanese to indicate all forms of comics, cartooning, and caricature. The term comics refers to the comics medium when used as an uncountable noun and thus takes the singular: "comics is a medium" rather than "comics are a medium". When comic appears as a countable noun it refers to instances of
1448-497: A dozen stories; they are later compiled in tankōbon -format books. At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, nearly a quarter of all printed material in Japan was comics. Translations became extremely popular in foreign markets—in some cases equaling or surpassing the sales of domestic comics. Comic strips are generally short, multipanel comics that have, since the early 20th century, most commonly appeared in newspapers. In
1629-500: A dramatic decline of manufacturing jobs, which had formerly provided good livings for unionized, working-class blacks and whites. The once thriving northern and western industrial cities survived by a gradual shift to service and financial occupations. Subsidized highways and suburban development in the postwar period had pulled many middle and upper-class families and related businesses to the suburbs . Those who could not afford to move were left with disrupted neighborhoods and economies in
1810-411: A growing urban populace, group conflict and competition over limited jobs and space, the inability for many residents to compete for new technology-based jobs, and tensions between the public and private sectors left to the formation and growth of U.S. ghettos. The cumulative economic and social forces in ghettos give way to social, political and economic isolation and inequality, while indirectly defining
1991-480: A half-brother to Johnny named Nelson Culliver. After the war, Culliver becomes head of the Anti-Mutant Squad at Scotland Yard. In "Traitor to His Kind", Culliver tries to have Alpha murdered, but is exposed and fired. Alpha decides to assassinate him, but relents on meeting his children. During the course of his career as a Strontium Dog, Johnny Alpha becomes a formidable legend and even a hero to some. He
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#17328019136702172-563: A hastily assembled UK junta government; colony worlds were also shown to be under military occupation and severely ill-treating mutants, with the alleged mutant resistance merely using their organisation to extort "liberation" taxes from mutants (an allegory for The Troubles in Northern Ireland, Ennis' home). Ennis would bring back the Gronk in '"Return of the Gronk", turning him into an aggressive berserker: learning that Johnny Alpha
2353-566: A huge increase of mutant births due to exposure to nuclear fallout ( strontium-90 ). The mutants of Strontium Dog differ from the usual depiction of mutants in American comics, such as those published by Marvel , in that they are generally afflicted with obvious physical abnormalities. Only a rare few are born with superhuman powers. These strontium-influenced mutants face a high degree of prejudice from average humans ("norms"). Born in 2150 to Diana Kreelman and her husband Nelson Bunker Kreelman,
2534-552: A husband named Nigel and a daughter named Marci. Ruth and her family remain friendly to Johnny, even helping him blackmail Nelson Kreelman during the Mutant Army uprising of 2167. But during an early comic book adventure, Marci is abducted and almost killed by a criminal looking for revenge on Johnny. After this, Ruth forbids him from coming near her family again, only making contact with him afterward when she deems it absolutely necessary. Nelson Kreelman had an affair, resulting in
2715-551: A large increase in the residential racial segregation and urban decay in the United States. The creation of new highways in some cases divided and isolated black neighborhoods from goods and services, many times within industrial corridors. For example, Birmingham, Alabama 's interstate highway system attempted to maintain the racial boundaries that had been established by the city's 1926 racial zoning law. The construction of interstate highways through black neighborhoods in
2896-603: A larger page size than used in many other cultures. In English-speaking countries, the trade paperback format originating from collected comic books have also been chosen for original material. Otherwise, bound volumes of comics are called graphic novels and are available in various formats. Despite incorporating the term "novel"—a term normally associated with fiction—"graphic novel" also refers to non-fiction and collections of short works. Japanese comics are collected in volumes called tankōbon following magazine serialization. Gag and editorial cartoons usually consist of
3077-459: A minority making up less than a third of the local population. By 2001, two London boroughs— Newham and Brent —had " minority majority " populations, and most parts of the city tend to have a diverse population. Historically, some parts of London have long been noted for the prevalence of a particular ethnic or religious group (such as the Jewish communities of Golders Green and other parts of
3258-492: A mission to 1945 where he attempts to apprehend Adolf Hitler ) or alternate dimension (including one that seems to be Hell ). On several occasions, Johnny Alpha's time travel adventures to periods before the Great Nuclear War have featured him crossing paths with another 2000 AD character Judge Dredd . In the world of Strontium Dog , the Great Nuclear War of 2150 wipes out 70% of Britain's population, leading to
3439-520: A more liberal government. The first Strontium Dog stories in Starlord and 2000 AD were said to be set in the year 2180. During the Strontium Dog series published in 2000 AD , in-story events progressed were indicated as occurring in real time to publication. The story "Max Bubba" was published five years after the first Strontium Dog story and gave the date 2185 for its events. Similarly,
3620-622: A narrator, convey characters' dialogue or thoughts, or indicate place or time. Speech balloons themselves are strongly associated with comics, such that the addition of one to an image is sufficient to turn the image into comics. Sound effects mimic non-vocal sounds textually using onomatopoeia sound-words. Cartooning is most frequently used in making comics, traditionally using ink (especially India ink ) with dip pens or ink brushes; mixed media and digital technology have become common. Cartooning techniques such as motion lines and abstract symbols are often employed. While comics are often
3801-400: A new police force. This changeover was depicted by a panel showing Kreelers, which was then repeated but with a different uniform, showing that the same people and attitudes remained. In the present day, bookending "Portrait", Johnny tracked his father down and activated a time device, causing his father to relive his final moments: begging for his life, forever. In the story "Outlaw", Kreelman
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#17328019136703982-476: A particular ethnicity or race, vulnerability to crime, social problems, governmental reliance and political disempowerment. Sharon Zukin explains that through these reasons, society rationalizes the term "bad neighborhoods." Zukin stresses that these circumstances are largely related to "racial concentration, residential abandonment, and de-constitution and reconstitution of communal institutions." Many scholars diagnose this poorly facilitated and fragmented view of
4163-566: A pattern of socioeconomic polarization. Ghettos, in short, instill a cultural adaptation to social and class-based inequalities, reducing the ability of future generations to mobilize or migrate . An alternative theory put forward by Thomas Sowell in Black Rednecks and White Liberals asserts that modern urban black ghetto culture is rooted in the white Cracker culture of the North Britons and Scots-Irish who migrated from
4344-539: A pre-history as far back as the Lascaux cave paintings. By the mid-20th century, comics flourished, particularly in the United States , western Europe (especially France and Belgium ), and Japan . The history of European comics is often traced to Rodolphe Töpffer 's cartoon strips of the 1830s, while Wilhelm Busch and his Max and Moritz also had a global impact from 1865 on, and became popular following
4525-734: A prolific body of work. Towards the close of the 20th century, these three traditions converged in a trend towards book-length comics: the comic album in Europe, the tankōbon in Japan, and the graphic novel in the English-speaking countries. Outside of these genealogies, comics theorists and historians have seen precedents for comics in the Lascaux cave paintings in France (some of which appear to be chronological sequences of images), Egyptian hieroglyphs , Trajan's Column in Rome,
4706-573: A result, Jews were placed under strict regulations throughout many European cities. In some cases, the ghetto was a Jewish quarter with a relatively affluent population (for instance the Jewish ghetto in Venice). In other cases, ghettos were places of terrible poverty. During periods of population growth, ghettos (as that of Rome ) had narrow streets and tall, crowded houses. Residents generally were allowed to administer their own justice system based on Jewish traditions and elders. During World War II ,
4887-470: A separation between superior and inferior status of groups. In response to the influx of black people from the South, banks, insurance companies, and businesses began denying or increasing the cost of services, such as banking , insurance , access to jobs, access to health care , or even supermarkets to residents in certain, often racially determined, areas. The most devastating form of redlining , and
5068-536: A similarly confusing history since they are most often not humorous and are periodicals, not regular books. It is common in English to refer to the comics of different cultures by the terms used in their languages, such as manga for Japanese comics, or bandes dessinées for French-language Franco-Belgian comics . Many cultures have taken their word for comics from English, including Russian ( комикс , komiks ) and German ( Comic ). Similarly,
5249-439: A single panel, often incorporating a caption or speech balloon. Definitions of comics which emphasize sequence usually exclude gag, editorial, and other single-panel cartoons; they can be included in definitions that emphasize the combination of word and image. Gag cartoons first began to proliferate in broadsheets published in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the term "cartoon" was first used to describe them in 1843 in
5430-433: A single town called Stixville on the planet Freedonia and are highly hostile to any outsiders. They often appear as antagonist to Alpha but at times have worked alongside him, however they usually double cross and betray him at some point showing only the slightest loyalty to other Stix. There is said to be only one good Stix, Father Phineas who is a Catholic priest, a genuinely good and kind person and thus unmentionable around
5611-596: A son, Kenton Sternhammer, who joined the Search/Destroy Agency. "Portrait of a Mutant", a flashback story in 1981 , filled in the background of the series and Johnny's role in the Mutant Army; it introduced Kreelman and the Kreelers, his quasi-official anti-mutant police. Kreelman drafted laws stating mutants were not allowed to work or own businesses, leading to them being forced from their homes into slums and eventually into being forced into labour camps;
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5792-403: A time bomb to take Moon back to the site of Mardi's bombing and executed him there. In prog 1689, June 2010, Wagner and Ezquerra began a strip called "The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha'", which took place following "The Final Solution". The strip featured reporter Precious Matson trying to discover the true circumstances behind Johnny's death: the story explicitly stated itself to be a retcon and
5973-619: A transitional stage – first confine each city's Jews in one easily accessible and controllable location, then "liquidate" the ghetto and send the Jews to an extermination camp. Most Nazi ghettos were liquidated in 1943; some, such as that of Łódź , persisted until 1944; very few, e.g. the Budapest Ghetto and the Theresienstadt Ghetto , existed until the end of the war in 1945. There are many Roma ghettos in
6154-436: A unified Earth government). This concept was dropped after "Conspiracy", with the later stories directly harkening back to the original run. A subsequent story in 2004, "Traitor To His Kind" (progs 1406–1415), introduced Johnny's half-brother, head of a brutal police unit that dealt with mutant crimes. Hired by pro-mutant First Lord Negus, Johnny was sent to get a kidnapped King Clarkie back from mutant guerillas; loath though he
6335-406: A way that one could read the 6-panel comic, flip the book and keep reading. He made 64 such comics in total. In 2012, a remake of a selection of the comics was made by Marcus Ivarsson in the book 'In Uppåner med Lilla Lisen & Gamle Muppen'. ( ISBN 978-91-7089-524-1 ) Shorter, black-and-white daily strips began to appear early in the 20th century, and became established in newspapers after
6516-426: A young age and adopts the name Johnny Alpha. He then joins the rising resistance group known as the Mutant Army and quickly becomes a valued leader, despite still being a teenager. The Mutant Uprising of 2167 fails to overthrow the government. Despite this, Johnny Alpha blackmails his own father Nelson Kreelman, leading to the man's resignation and the disbanding of the Kreelers (though many members simply transfer into
6697-522: Is white , has been cited as an example of a 'ghetto', but in reality the area is home to a number of different ethnic groups and religious groups . Analysis of data from Census 2001 revealed that only two wards in England and Wales , both in Birmingham , had one dominant non-white ethnic group comprising more than two-thirds of the local population, but there were 20 wards where whites were
6878-546: Is a suburb of a large city . Banlieues are divided into autonomous administrative entities and do not constitute part of the city proper . For instance, 80% of the inhabitants of the Paris area live outside the city of Paris . Like the city centre, suburbs may be rich, middle-class or poor — Versailles , Le Vésinet , Maisons-Laffitte and Neuilly-sur-Seine are affluent banlieues of Paris , while Clichy-sous-Bois , Bondy and Corbeil-Essonnes are less so. However, since
7059-403: Is also guided by a moral conscience. He will not give up pursuing a target if the job becomes difficult, but he might if he learns the target is a victim of greater evil. If he believes the cause is great enough, he may forego payment or decide not to accept it. In "The Doc Quince Case", learning new information convinces him to no longer pursue a man he's been hunting but instead to rescue and help
7240-526: Is dependent upon prejudice and segregationist patterns established in the South prior to World War I, where most African Americans were disenfranchised by the turn of the century and deprived of political power. After the exodus of African Americans to the North during and after World War I, they had to compete with numerous European immigrants; thus, African-Americans were diminished to unskilled jobs. The slow rate of advancement in black communities outlines
7421-613: Is from the Italian Egitto (' Egypt ', from Latin: Aegyptus ), possibly in memory of the exile of the Israelites in Egypt. The character of ghettos has varied through times. The term was used for an area known as the Jewish quarter, which meant the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews in the diaspora . Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were often the outgrowths of segregated ghettos instituted by
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7602-529: Is much closer to modern-day Britain than Judge Dredd 's Brit-Cit by the same writers, but contains areas of nuclear devastation such as the Greater London Crater and Birmingham Gap; areas known to survive include Salisbury (now a major area and political centre), Glasgow, Newcastle, Dover, Christchurch & Bournemouth (now a combined conurbation ), Cardiff, Isles of Scilly , and Winchester . The flying building of Upminster contains both
7783-544: Is responsible for such legendary achievements as destroying the Wolrog homeworld, leading the mutant uprising on Earth, and bringing Adolf Hitler to the future to face trial. He becomes known for generously assisting mutants in trouble, such as when he donates a large sum of money to the Milton Keynes ghetto in "Mutie's Luck". At times, Alpha has encountered another 2000 AD character, Judge Dredd , by journeying into
7964-411: Is the incorporation of verbal content". Aaron Meskin saw McCloud's theories as an artificial attempt to legitimize the place of comics in art history. Cross-cultural study of comics is complicated by the great difference in meaning and scope of the words for "comics" in different languages. The French term for comics, bandes dessinées ("drawn strip") emphasizes the juxtaposition of drawn images as
8145-595: Is usually used to refer to areas in developing countries that suffer from absolute poverty , while the term ghetto is used to refer to areas of developed countries that suffer from relative poverty . The word ghetto comes from the Jewish area of Venice , the Venetian Ghetto in Cannaregio (1516–1797). By 1899, the term had been extended to crowded urban quarters of other minority groups. The etymology of
8326-695: The Judge Dredd Megazine in 1992. The third was "By Private Contract" in issue 2000 of 2000 AD in September 2016, also written by Wagner. He also stars with Judge Dredd in the Big Finish audio book Pre-Emptive Revenge , in their attempt to stop a nuclear dirty bomb from launching while trying to reach safety after a successful co-operative mission. Comics Comics are a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically takes
8507-614: The New York World and later the New York American , particularly Outcault's The Yellow Kid , led to the development of newspaper comic strips. Early Sunday strips were full-page and often in colour. Between 1896 and 1901 cartoonists experimented with sequentiality, movement, and speech balloons. An example is Gustave Verbeek , who wrote his comic series "The UpsideDowns of Old Man Muffaroo and Little Lady Lovekins" between 1903 and 1905. These comics were made in such
8688-705: The European Union . The Czech government estimates that there are approximately 830 Roma ghettos in the Czech Republic . During the period 2010–2021, the word ghetto was used officially by the Danish government to describe certain officially designated vulnerable social housing areas in the country. The designation was applied to areas based on the residents' income levels, employment status, education levels, criminal convictions and proportion of non-Western immigrants and their descendants. The term
8869-531: The Final Solution of Nazi Germany . The term ghetto acquired deep cultural meaning in the United States , especially in the context of segregation and civil rights . It has been widely used in the country since the 20th century to refer to poor neighborhoods of largely minority populations. It is also used in some European countries, such as Romania and Slovakia , to refer to poor neighborhoods largely inhabited by Romani people . The term slum
9050-772: The London Borough of Barnet , and the West Indian community of Notting Hill ), but in each case these populations have been part of a broader multicultural population. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the East End of London was also noted for its Jewish population, but now has a significant British Bangladeshi populace. In Northern Ireland , towns and cities have long been segregated along ethnic, religious and political lines . The two main communities of Northern Ireland are: Ghettos emerged in Belfast during
9231-466: The Nazis established new ghettos in numerous cities of Eastern Europe as a form of concentration camp to confine Jews and Romani into limited areas. The Nazis most often referred to these areas in documents and signage at their entrances as "Jewish quarter." These Nazi camps sometimes coincided with traditional Jewish ghettos and Jewish quarters, but not always. On June 21, 1943, Heinrich Himmler issued
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#17328019136709412-474: The Red Summer because of the widespread racial outbreaks and white attacks on mainly African Americans. Two main factors ensured further separation between races and classes, and ultimately the development of contemporary ghettos: the relocation of industrial enterprises, and the movement of middle to upper class residents into suburban neighborhoods. Between 1967 and 1987, economic restructuring resulted in
9593-418: The intergenerational diffusion of status within families and neighborhoods, for instance, prove the rise in socioeconomic polarization between classes to be the creator of American ghetto; not racism . Furthermore, the culture of poverty theory, first developed by Oscar Lewis , states that a prolonged history of poverty can itself become a cultural obstacle to socioeconomic success, and in turn can continue
9774-551: The riots that accompanied the Irish War of Independence . For safety, people fled to areas where their community was the majority. Many more ghettos emerged after the 1969 riots and beginning of the " Troubles ." In August 1969 the British Army was deployed to restore order and separate the two sides. The government built barriers called " peace lines ." Many of the ghettos came under the control of paramilitaries such as
9955-643: The suburbs after World War II. These ethnic ghetto areas included the Lower East Side in Manhattan, New York , which later became notable as predominantly Jewish , and later still as Chinese and Latino. East Harlem was once predominantly Italian and in the 1950s became home to a large Puerto Rican community. Little Italys across the country were predominantly Italian ghettos. Many Polish immigrants settled in areas of other nationals, such as Pilsen of Chicago and Polish Hill of Pittsburgh . Since
10136-573: The "true" story of what happened, and diverged from "The Final Solution" when Precious revealed to Middenface McNulty that Johnny's body had been brought back by Feral (the original strip showed it destroyed and the remains left behind). Mutants remain on Earth, the S/D Agency still exists and has a new Doghouse satellite, and the UK government is said to be "apologists and mutie-lovers", ignoring Strontium Dogs . Middenface and Precious went searching for
10317-600: The "urban crisis" during the 1970s and 1980s, the transition stressed regional divisions according to differences in income and racial lines—white "donuts" around black holes. Hardly coincidental, the steady separation occurred during the period of civil rights laws, urban riots and Black Power . In addition, the International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences stresses the various challenges developed by this "urban crisis", including: [P]oorly underserviced infrastructures, inadequate housing to accommodate
10498-462: The (republican) Provisional Irish Republican Army and the (loyalist terrorist organisation ) Ulster Defence Association . One of the most notable ghettos was Free Derry . The development of ghettos in the United States is closely associated with different waves of immigration and internal urban migration. The Irish and German immigrants of the mid-19th century were the first ethnic groups to form ethnic enclaves in United States cities. This
10679-510: The 11th-century Norman Bayeux Tapestry , the 1370 bois Protat woodcut, the 15th-century Ars moriendi and block books , Michelangelo's The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, and William Hogarth 's 18th-century sequential engravings, amongst others. Illustrated humour periodicals were popular in 19th-century Britain, the earliest of which was the short-lived The Glasgow Looking Glass in 1825. The most popular
10860-412: The 12th century. Japanese comics are generally held separate from the evolution of Euro-American comics, and Western comic art probably originated in 17th-century Italy. Modern Japanese comic strips emerged in the early 20th century, and the output of comic magazines and books rapidly expanded in the post-World War II era (1945)– with the popularity of cartoonists such as Osamu Tezuka . Comics has had
11041-607: The 1930s, at first reprinting newspaper comic strips; by the end of the decade, original content began to dominate. The success in 1938 of Action Comics and its lead hero Superman marked the beginning of the Golden Age of Comic Books , in which the superhero genre was prominent. In the UK and the Commonwealth , the DC Thomson -created Dandy (1937) and Beano (1938) became successful humor-based titles, with
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#173280191367011222-589: The 1970s, banlieues increasingly means, in French of France , low-income housing projects ( HLMs ) in which mainly foreign immigrants and French of foreign descent reside, often in perceived poverty traps . The existence of ethnic enclaves in the United Kingdom is controversial . Southall Broadway , a predominantly Asian area in Greater London , where less than 12 percent of the population
11403-481: The 1980s, mainstream sensibilities were reasserted and serialization became less common as the number of comics magazines decreased and many comics began to be published directly as albums. Smaller publishers such as L'Association that published longer works in non-traditional formats by auteur -istic creators also became common. Since the 1990s, mergers resulted in fewer large publishers, while smaller publishers proliferated. Sales overall continued to grow despite
11584-497: The 1990s, written by Garth Ennis and Peter Hogan . It was criticised by Ennis in the book Thrill Power Overload as being anticlimactic and that the lead, Feral, "was nowhere near as interesting as Johnny". The series was scrapped when David Bishop became 2000 AD' s editor . The first story, '"Monster" starring Feral, revealed the Search Destroy Agency no longer existed and mutants had been driven off Earth by
11765-472: The 1990s. Formal theories of manga have focused on developing a "manga expression theory", with emphasis on spatial relationships in the structure of images on the page, distinguishing the medium from film or literature, in which the flow of time is the basic organizing element. Comics studies courses have proliferated at Japanese universities, and Japan Society for Studies in Cartoon and Comics ( ja )
11946-686: The British humour magazine Punch . Webcomics are comics that are available on the internet, first being published the 1980s. They are able to potentially reach large audiences, and new readers can often access archives of previous installments. Webcomics can make use of an infinite canvas , meaning they are not constrained by the size or dimensions of a printed comics page. Some consider storyboards and wordless novels to be comics. Film studios, especially in animation, often use sequences of images as guides for film sequences. These storyboards are not intended as an end product and are rarely seen by
12127-721: The Chinese term manhua and the Korean manhwa derive from the Chinese characters with which the Japanese term manga is written. Academic journals Archives Databases Ghetto The term was originally used for the Venetian Ghetto in Venice, Italy , as early as 1516, to describe the part of the city where Jewish people were restricted to live and thus segregated from other people. However, other early societies may have formed their own versions of
12308-439: The Great Nuclear War of 2150. Due to nuclear fallout of strontium-90 , humanity has an increased number of mutant births, most of whom have physical abnormalities but some of whom possess superhuman abilities. John Kreelman is born with white blank eyes and a mutant "alpha radiation" power that grants him greater perception, allowing telepathy and the ability to see through many surfaces. Facing discrimination, John Kreelman adopts
12489-476: The Japanese term for comics and cartooning, manga , in the early 19th century. In the 1930s Harry "A" Chesler started a comics studio, which eventually at its height employed 40 artists working for 50 different publishers who helped make the comics medium flourish in "the Golden Age of Comics" after World War II. In the post-war era modern Japanese comics began to flourish when Osamu Tezuka produced
12670-476: The Mutant Army in a second major uprising to prevent genocide. The Prime Minister and King agreed to draft into law a better deal for mutants, and - after hearing Alpha was Kreelman's son from Ruth - blackmailed Kreelman into resigning. The mutant leaders were pardoned on condition they go into exile in space, leading to the creation of the Search/Destroy agency; the Kreelers were disbanded and replaced with
12851-550: The S/D Agency. Due to their "S/D" badges and the origins of their mutations, these bounty hunters are nicknamed "strontium dogs" by Earth people. This also leads the S/D orbital base to be nicknamed the Doghouse. On Earth, new laws protect mutants from being hunted and targeted for extermination. However, they still face great prejudice from society and are segregating into ghettos , such as a large mutant settlement at Milton Keynes. In
13032-507: The South; to seek out employment opportunities in industrial cities; and to pursue what was widely perceived to be a better quality of life in the North and West, such as New York City , Detroit , Cleveland , Chicago , Pittsburgh , Los Angeles , Oakland , Portland , and Seattle . African Americans found they had to struggle with white ethnic groups in Northern and Midwestern cities; many of them more recent European immigrants. Often they were restricted to areas of older and poor housing in
13213-663: The Swiss Rodolphe Töpffer from as early as 1827 and Americans have seen the origin of theirs in Richard ;F. Outcault 's 1890s newspaper strip The Yellow Kid , though many Americans have come to recognize Töpffer's precedence. Wilhelm Busch directly influenced Rudolph Dirks and his Katzenjammer Kids . Japan has a long history of satirical cartoons and comics leading up to the World War ;II era. The ukiyo-e artist Hokusai popularized
13394-896: The US, daily strips have normally occupied a single tier, while Sunday strips have been given multiple tiers. Since the early 20th century, daily newspaper comic strips have typically been printed in black-and-white and Sunday comics have usually been printed in colour and have often occupied a full newspaper page. Specialized comics periodicals formats vary greatly in different cultures. Comic books , primarily an American format, are thin periodicals usually published in colour. European and Japanese comics are frequently serialized in magazines—monthly or weekly in Europe, and usually black-and-white and weekly in Japan. Japanese comics magazine typically run to hundreds of pages. Book-length comics take different forms in different cultures. European comic albums are most commonly colour volumes printed at A4-size ,
13575-504: The United States as the "age of extremes." This term argues that inequalities of wealth and power reinforce spatial separation; for example, the growth of gated communities can be interconnected with the continued "ghettoization" of the poor. Another characteristic to African-American or Black ghettos and spatial separation is the dependence on the state, and lack of communal autonomy ; Sharon Zukin refers to Brownsville, Brooklyn , as an example. This relationship between racial ghettos and
13756-486: The ability of black people to move from inner cities to the suburbs, even when they were economically able to afford it. In contrast to this, the same period in history marked a massive suburban expansion available primarily to whites of both wealthy and working-class backgrounds, facilitated through highway construction and the availability of federally subsidized home mortgages ( VA , FHA , Home Owners' Loan Corporation ). These made it easier for families to buy new houses in
13937-524: The agency as they needed mutants to "clean their dirty laundry for them". Durham Red was given her own solo series, written by Alan Grant, Peter Hogan and later Dan Abnett . This series continued after Strontium Dogs was cancelled. In the Prog 2000 holiday special, published at the end of 1999 , Johnny Alpha was revived by his original creators, Wagner and Ezquerra. The new stories were set before Johnny's death. The first story, "The Kreeler Conspiracy",
14118-418: The appointed areas starting age 1, lowering social welfare for residents, incentives for reducing unemployment, demolition and rebuilding of certain tenements, rights for landlords to refuse housing to convicts, etc. The policies have been criticized for undercutting 'equality before law' and for portraying immigrants, especially Muslim immigrants, in a bad light. The term "ghetto" was controversial during
14299-468: The artwork in ink; a colourist ; and a letterer , who adds the captions and speech balloons. The English-language term comics derives from the humorous (or " comic ") work which predominated in early American newspaper comic strips, but usage of the term has become standard for non-humorous works as well. The alternate spelling comix – coined by the underground comix movement – is sometimes used to address such ambiguities. The term "comic book" has
14480-408: The back of bigotry, creating the anti-mutant police force known as the Kreelers. Despised, abused and hidden away by his father, Johnny escapes at a young age and joins the Mutant Army, changing his name from Kreelman to Alpha and deciding to keep his father's identity secret. Johnny becomes one of the Mutant Army's key leaders, playing a major part in the mutant uprising of 2167 when he is only 17. By
14661-666: The biggest." The medium of time travel allowed him to make further appearances. In the 1991 Judge Dredd Annual John Wagner wrote and Colin MacNeil drew "Top Dogs", in which Johnny and Wulf travel back in time to Mega-City One in pursuit of a criminal, whilst encountering and only narrowly escaping Judge Dredd . Johnny and Dredd renewed acquaintances in 1992 in the Judge Dredd story " Judgement Day ", written by Garth Ennis and drawn mainly by Ezquerra. The supporting cast would gain their own spin-off strip Strontium Dogs in
14842-588: The black middle class. Two dominant theories arise pertaining to the production and development of U.S. ghettos: race-based and class-based; as well as an alternative theory put forward by Thomas Sowell . First are the race-based theorists, who argue the importance of race in ghettos. Their analysis consists of the dominant racial group in the U.S. ( White Anglo-Saxon Protestants ) and their use of certain racist tactics in order to maintain their hegemony over black people and lengthen their spatial separation. Race-based theorists offset other arguments that focus on
15023-558: The body and took it to the Stone Wizards, where McNulty offered to die so Johnny would live – the story ended with Johnny returning to life. The story continued in three further installments from 2011 to 2014. Alpha discovered a conspiracy to secretly sterilise all mutants in New Britain. This revelation led to a new civil war, with Alpha leading the mutant faction. After the conclusion of "The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha",
15204-422: The boy Johnny Kreelman has mutant eyes that can increase his perception by channeling "alpha radiation", allowing telepathy and telekinesis, as well as the ability to see through most surfaces. A bigoted politician, Nelson gains popularity by drafting anti-mutant laws and creating the anti-mutant police force known as the Kreelers. Despised, abused, and hidden away by his father, Johnny Kreelman escapes his parents at
15385-491: The brain's comprehension of comics is similar to comprehending other domains, such as language and music. Historical narratives of manga tend to focus either on its recent, post-WWII history, or on attempts to demonstrate deep roots in the past, such as to the Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga picture scroll of the 12th and 13th centuries, or the early 19th-century Hokusai Manga . The first historical overview of Japanese comics
15566-425: The cities of Earth, mutants have limited working opportunities and cannot own their own businesses. Several mutants succumb to societal pressures and poverty, while others join the S/D Agency as new bounty hunters. By 2180, Johnny Alpha is one of the most famous strontium dog bounty hunters. Earth is rarely seen in the strip. When it is, the focus is often New Britain – Great Britain after a devastating nuclear war. It
15747-508: The city led to significant population loss in those neighborhoods and is associated with an increase in neighborhood racial segregation. Residential segregation was further perpetuated because whites were willing to pay more than black people to live in predominantly white areas. Some social scientists suggest that the historical processes of suburbanization and decentralization are instances of white privilege that have contributed to contemporary patterns of environmental racism . Following
15928-417: The constitution of community-established public housing, anti-poverty organizations, and social service facilities—all, in their own way, depend on state resources. However, certain dependence contradicts society's desires to be autonomous actors in the market. Moreover, Zukin implies, "the less 'autonomous' the community—in its dependence on public schools, public housing and various subsidy programs—the greater
16109-579: The death of artist Carlos Ezquerra in October 2018, the editor of 2000AD , Matt Smith, has said he is yet to decide whether the series should continue without Ezquerra. However he has said that spin off series set around popular supporting characters are in development. A story starring the Stix Clan was later published in the May 2019 Villains Takeover Special . In 2020 a one-episode story about Johnny Alpha as
16290-409: The decision to kill him and refused to draw it, so Johnny's final adventures were illustrated by Simon Harrison and Colin MacNeil . John Wagner later admitted in Judge Dredd Megazine ' s Thrill Power Overload feature on the history of the comic that "killing off Johnny Alpha was a mistake [that] I'm doing my best to rectify." He later described it as "one of the big regrets of my career, probably
16471-433: The definition and/or terminology in 2013, 2018 and 2021. In 2018, the Danish government at the time, led by Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen , announced its intention to "end the existence of parallel societies and ghettos by 2030." A number of measures was introduced to solve the issue of integration , including policies like 25 hours of obligatory daycare or corresponding parent supervision per week for children in
16652-768: The definition of comics, a medium that has taken various, equally valid forms over its history. Morgan sees comics as a subset of " les littératures dessinées " (or "drawn literatures"). French theory has come to give special attention to the page, in distinction from American theories such as McCloud's which focus on panel-to-panel transitions. In the mid-2000s, Neil Cohn began analyzing how comics are understood using tools from cognitive science, extending beyond theory by using actual psychological and neuroscience experiments. This work has argued that sequential images and page layouts both use separate rule-bound "grammars" to be understood that extend beyond panel-to-panel transitions and categorical distinctions of types of layouts, and that
16833-427: The demographics of American ghettos is the prevalence of poverty. Poverty constitutes the separation of ghettos from other, suburbanized or private neighborhoods. The high percentage of poverty partly justifies the difficulty of emigration , which tends to reproduce constraining social opportunities and inequalities in society. The term ghettos has been commonly used for some time, but ghettos were around long before
17014-464: The designated stratum of African-Americans in the labor force was placed even below the working class; low-skill urban jobs were now given to incoming immigrants from Mexico or the Caribbean . Additionally, Zukin notes, "Not only have social services been drastically reduced, punitive and other social controls over the poor have been increased," such as law enforcement and imprisonment. Described as
17195-457: The emergence of anti-discrimination policies in housing and labor sparked by the civil rights movement , members of the black middle class moved out of the ghetto. The Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968. This was the first federal law that outlawed discrimination in the sale and rental of housing on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion and later sex, familial status, and disability. The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
17376-673: The enemy, the Gronk killed the captives – including, at his friend's request, Alpha himself, who couldn't live on in such excruciating pain. From 2000 AD # 897, Peter Hogan became the regular writer on the strip and in prog 898 he resurrected the Search Destroy Agency: an agent named Bullmoose revealed that the Galactic Crime Commission had cut ties with Earth (who had pressed for the Agency to be closed and mutants purged), moved to Ganymede, and recreated
17557-544: The establishment of the Comics Code Authority self-censoring body. The Code has been blamed for stunting the growth of American comics and maintaining its low status in American society for much of the remainder of the century. Superheroes re-established themselves as the most prominent comic book genre by the early 1960s. Underground comix challenged the Code and readers with adult, countercultural content in
17738-420: The events in "Max Bubba." Likewise, the story " Judgement Day " gives the date 2178 even though it is set after the events in "Max Bubba." Strontium Dog stories focus on John Alpha, whose mutated eyes allow him to see through walls and read minds. Born in 2150, he is the son of Diana Kreelman and her husband Nelson Bunker Kreelman. Nelson is a bigoted politician who drafts the anti-mutant laws and gains power on
17919-527: The first modern Japanese comic strip. By the 1930s, comic strips were serialized in large-circulation monthly girls' and boys' magazine and collected into hardback volumes. The modern era of comics in Japan began after World War II, propelled by the success of the serialized comics of the prolific Osamu Tezuka and the comic strip Sazae-san . Genres and audiences diversified over the following decades. Stories are usually first serialized in magazines which are often hundreds of pages thick and may contain over
18100-427: The form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons , captions , and onomatopoeia can indicate dialogue, narration, sound effects, or other information. There is no consensus among theorists and historians on a definition of comics ; some emphasize the combination of images and text, some sequentiality or other image relations, and others historical aspects such as mass reproduction or
18281-424: The galaxy "safe for decent people". A blunt and straightforward brawler, Wulf was far less prone to doubt and introspection and tried to bring his friend back in line when he had doubts. Ever since Starlord #5, Wulf wore the fur pelt of a Gronk that he'd befriended - the alien's custom was for people dear to them to wear their skin, so part of them would live on. Wulf acted a lot like a stereotypical Viking and it
18462-635: The generally lawless border regions of Britain to the American South, where they formed a redneck culture common to both black and white people in the antebellum South . Characteristics of this culture included lively music and dance, violence, unbridled emotions, flamboyant imagery, illegitimacy, religious oratory marked by strident rhetoric, and a lack of emphasis on education and intellectual interests. Because redneck culture proved counterproductive, "that culture long ago died out...among both white and black Southerners, while still surviving today in
18643-626: The immediate area, and "time bombs" which can transport somebody minutes or hours forwards or backwards in time (by which time the planet has moved in its orbit, causing the victim to reappear in empty space). Johnny Alpha has white, incandescent eyes and multiple mutant abilities. Most frequently, high-level alpha radiation emitted from his eyes allows Johnny to see through walls and other solid objects, or to read people's minds. He has also used his piercing stare to inflict severe headaches on his opponents, or to "suggest" illusions into their perceptions. Alpha has used this to save his life several times - in
18824-616: The incumbent monarch killed; the first Strontium Dogs story had it that after the destruction of the New Church by the Strontium Dogs, a hastily assembled junta government exiled all mutants from Britain. Crossroads , in 2000 AD prog 898, revealed that Earth was in a severe political mess, with twenty six "minor wars", and the rest of the galaxy was cutting ties. The later strip The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha ignored all of this, instead having post-Church New Britain ruled by
19005-451: The inequity between their organizations and the state, and the less willing residents are to organize." This should not, however, undermine local development corporations or social service agencies helping these neighborhoods. The lack of autonomy and growing dependence on the state, especially in a neoliberal economy, remains a key indicator to the production as well as the prevalence of African-American or Black ghettos, particularly due to
19186-484: The influence of the economy on segregation. More contemporary research of race-based theorists is to frame a range of methods conducted by white Americans to "preserve race-based residential inequities" as a function of the dominantly white, state-run government. Involving uneven development, mortgage and business discrimination and disinvestment—U.S. ghettos then, as suggested by race-based theorists, are conserved by distinctly racial reasoning. The more dominant view, on
19367-543: The inner cities. African Americans were disproportionately affected and became either unemployed or underemployed, with little wage and reduced benefits. A concentration of African Americans predominated in some inner city neighborhoods. It is also significant to compare the demographic patterns between black people and European immigrants, according to the labor market . European immigrants and African Americans were both subject to an ethnic division of labor. Because of discrimination, African Americans were often restricted to
19548-532: The lack of opportunities to compete in the global market. The concept of the ghetto and underclass has faced criticism both theoretically and empirically. Research has shown significant differences in resources for neighborhoods with similar populations both across cities and over time. This includes differences in the resources of neighborhoods with predominantly low income or racial minority populations. The cause of these differences in resources across similar neighborhoods has more to do with dynamics outside of
19729-437: The late 1960s and early 1970s. The underground gave birth to the alternative comics movement in the 1980s and its mature, often experimental content in non-superhero genres. Comics in the US has had a lowbrow reputation stemming from its roots in mass culture ; cultural elites sometimes saw popular culture as threatening culture and society. In the latter half of the 20th century, popular culture won greater acceptance, and
19910-577: The late 19th century. New publications in both the Western and Japanese styles became popular, and at the end of the 1890s, American-style newspaper comics supplements began to appear in Japan, as well as some American comic strips. 1900 saw the debut of the Jiji Manga in the Jiji Shinpō newspaper—the first use of the word "manga" in its modern sense, and where, in 1902, Rakuten Kitazawa began
20091-562: The late 20th century, Brighton Beach in Brooklyn has become the home of predominately Jewish Russian and Ukrainian immigrants, who left after the Soviet Union lifted some migration restrictions and later after its fall. A commonly used definition of a ghetto is a community distinguished by a homogeneous race or ethnicity . Additionally, a key feature that developed throughout the post-industrial era and continues to symbolize
20272-515: The later half of the twentieth century, "eventually expressing this distance by literally moving away." This is followed by the exodus of black working-class families. As a result, the ghetto becomes primarily occupied by what sociologists and journalists of the 1980s and 1990s frequently title the " underclass ." William Julius Wilson suggests this exodus worsened the isolation of the black underclass — not only were they socially and physically distanced from whites, they also became isolated from
20453-477: The least secure division of the labor market. David Ward refers to this stagnant position in African-American or Black ghettos as the 'elevator' model, which implies that each group of immigrants or migrants takes turns in the processes of social mobility and suburbanization; and several groups did not start on the ground floor. The inability of black people to move from the ground floor, as Ward suggests,
20634-462: The lines between high and low culture began to blur. Comics nevertheless continued to be stigmatized, as the medium was seen as entertainment for children and illiterates. The graphic novel —book-length comics—began to gain attention after Will Eisner popularized the term with his book A Contract with God (1978). The term became widely known with the public after the commercial success of Maus , Watchmen , and The Dark Knight Returns in
20815-437: The local police force). Members of the Mutant Army are pardoned for their actions only on condition that they leave Earth forever. An orbital space-station is built and becomes the headquarters of the new Search/Destroy Agency, an organization that accepts contracts to hunt down criminals and threats deemed too dangerous for conventional law enforcement and "norms." The former Mutant Army members become galactic bounty hunters for
20996-451: The main Judge Dredd stories progress in parallel to the real time publication dates. Exceptions to this are some stories appearing in annual issues and summer specials that indicate they are revisiting earlier points of Johnny Alpha's life. Despite this, there have been some dating discrepancies in the Strontium Dog series. The stories "The No-Go Job" and "The Final Solution" present a date of 2180 but are said to take place two years after
21177-516: The medium, such as individual comic strips or comic books: "Tom's comics are in the basement." Panels are individual images containing a segment of action, often surrounded by a border. Prime moments in a narrative are broken down into panels via a process called encapsulation. The reader puts the pieces together via the process of closure by using background knowledge and an understanding of panel relations to combine panels mentally into events. The size, shape, and arrangement of panels each affect
21358-457: The mid-1980s. In the 21st century graphic novels became established in mainstream bookstores and libraries and webcomics became common. The francophone Swiss Rodolphe Töpffer produced comic strips beginning in 1827, and published theories behind the form. Wilhelm Busch first published his Max and Moritz in 1865. Cartoons appeared widely in newspapers and magazines from the 19th century. The success of Zig et Puce in 1925 popularized
21539-486: The most common use of the term, refers to mortgage discrimination . Data on house prices and attitudes toward integration suggest that in the mid-twentieth century, segregation was a product of collective actions taken by non-black people to exclude black people from outside neighborhoods. The "Racial" Provisions of the FHA Underwriting Manual of 1936 included the following guidelines which exacerbated
21720-481: The mutants' situation, but much of this goes unnoticed by the public. Many other figures in the government prefer to regress toward greater oppression or even attempted extermination of the mutant population. Ireland is known to still exist, though little has been shown; the United States of America and Canada were both visited in The Mork Whisperer (2009); and the leader of a West African Mutant Republic
21901-586: The name "Johnny Alpha" and becomes a bounty hunter for the Search/Destroy Agency. Due to the origin of their mutation and their S/D badges, mutant bounty hunters are nicknamed "strontium dogs." A formidable bounty hunter, Johnny Alpha uses not only his mutant abilities in combat but also an array of high-tech gadgets and weapons. Strontium Dog stories are often known for a bleak, minimalistic edge at times reminiscent of spaghetti westerns . Several stories veer into satire and overtly bizarre science fantasy. Johnny Alpha's adventures sometimes involve time travel (such as
22082-536: The new cities where they settled. The social disruption and economic competition following World War I, as veterans returned to the US, resulted in an outbreak of racial violence of whites against blacks in many of these Northern cities, such as Chicago, Omaha; Washington, DC, and others. Southern industrial cities were also affected. Such racist attacks were extremely violent, in some cases they included burning or bombing homes of African Americans; many innocent blacks were killed. African-American leaders described 1919 as
22263-499: The only "'authentic' black culture and even glamorize it" while they "denounce any criticism of the ghetto lifestyle or any attempt to change it." Sowell asserts that white liberal Americans have perpetuated this "counterproductive and self-destructive lifestyle" among black Americans living in urban ghettos through "the welfare state, and look-the-other-way policing, and smiling at 'gangsta rap'." Contemporary African-American or Black ghettos are characterized by an overrepresentation of
22444-471: The only option for many mutants was to join the nationwide guerilla Mutant Army. An attack was launched on Upminster in 2167 as part of a general uprising, but the Army's leaders were forced to surrender in the face of mass mutant executions. Kreelman used this as an opportunity to push forward the extermination of all mutants; Johnny Alpha and the other leaders escaped (thanks to Johnny's sister and mother) and led
22625-440: The other hand, is represented by class-based theorists. Such theories confirm class to be more important than race in the structuring of U.S. ghettos. Although racial concentration is a key signifier for ghettos, class-based theorists emphasize the role and impact of broader societal structures in the creation of African-American or Black ghettos. Dynamics of low-wage service and unemployment triggered from deindustrialization , and
22806-542: The parliament and the monarchy. In the sequel series Strontium Dogs , it was stated that Britain had a large empire of outer-space colonies. The mutants of New Britain live in ghettos, isolated from the human population and living in poverty. Stories like Traitor To His Kind reveal some figures in the government, such as the First Lord of the Military (himself having a mutant daughter), make attempts to slowly improve
22987-421: The past via time travel, but it is ambiguous whether Johnny Alpha's future world is the fate of Dredd's timeline or one of several possibilities. Like all Search/Destroy agents, Alpha is armed with highly advanced technology. His usual equipment includes a variable-cartridge blaster, electrified brass knuckles , a short-range teleporter , a "time drogue " that can briefly "rewind" the last few minutes of time in
23168-404: The period of its usage, inhabitants feeling stigmatized by the wording and researchers pointing out that the areas in question were typically inhabited by 20-40 different ethnic minorities, hence being diametrically opposed to the ethnic homogeneity of the original ghettos, so that multi-ethnic residential areas would be a more appropriate term. In June 2019 a new social democratic government
23349-433: The person. In "The Slavers of Drule", Johnny tracks down a group of slavers simply because he believes it is the right thing to do. Despite his morality, Johnny is not above vengeance for himself or those he considers family. A device he used on his own father caused Nelson Kreelman to be locked in a time-loop where he continuously relived his final moments, begging for his life. Johnny has a "norm" sister called Ruth, who has
23530-401: The poorest and worst of the urban black ghettos", which Sowell described as being characterized by "brawling, braggadocio, self-indulgence, [and] disregard of the future", and where "belligerence is considered being manly and crudity is considered cool, while being civilized is regarded as 'acting white'." Sowell blames liberal Americans who since the 1960s have embraced black ghetto culture as
23711-413: The pre-Wulf days of Johnny's life would introduce Precious Matson, a reporter from the mutant colony of Freedonia. A competent and dogged reporter, she became friends with Johnny and helped him against the terrorist leader Blood Moon. In "Life and Death", she began investigating the true events of Johnny's death and, with McNulty's aid, was able to resurrect him. In 2018 "The Son" revealed that Wulf had had
23892-440: The primacy of sequences of images. Towards the close of the 20th century, different cultures' discoveries of each other's comics traditions, the rediscovery of forgotten early comics forms, and the rise of new forms made defining comics a more complicated task. European comics studies began with Töpffer's theories of his own work in the 1840s, which emphasized panel transitions and the visual–verbal combination. No further progress
24073-524: The primary outlet for comics in the mid-20th century. As in the US, at the time comics were seen as infantile and a threat to culture and literacy; commentators stated that "none bear up to the slightest serious analysis", and that comics were "the sabotage of all art and all literature". In the 1960s, the term bandes dessinées ("drawn strips") came into wide use in French to denote the medium. Cartoonists began creating comics for mature audiences, and
24254-562: The problems of defining literature and film, no consensus has been reached on a definition of the comics medium, and attempted definitions and descriptions have fallen prey to numerous exceptions. Theorists such as Töpffer, R. C. Harvey , Will Eisner , David Carrier, Alain Rey, and Lawrence Grove emphasize the combination of text and images, though there are prominent examples of pantomime comics throughout its history. Other critics, such as Thierry Groensteen and Scott McCloud, have emphasized
24435-403: The public. Wordless novels are books which use sequences of captionless images to deliver a narrative. "Comics ... are sometimes four-legged and sometimes two-legged and sometimes fly and sometimes don't ... to employ a metaphor as mixed as the medium itself, defining comics entails cutting a Gordian-knotted enigma wrapped in a mystery ..." R. C. Harvey , 2001 Similar to
24616-551: The rest of the Clan. The revival would introduce Negus, the First Lord of the Military, a stern-faced and middle-aged politician who would both hire Johnny and act as his Upminster contact. Negus was pushing for increased mutant rights, having a mutant daughter that he kept at home (something Johnny remarked as being a brave act for a man in Negus' position), though he still wanted to keep mutant and norm bloodlines separate. Flashbacks to
24797-544: The rigidity of the labor market, competition and conflict, adding another dimension to the prevalence of poverty and social instability in African-American or Black ghettos. In the years following World War II, many white Americans began to move away from inner cities to newer suburban communities, a process known as white flight . White flight occurred, in part, as a response to black people moving into white urban neighborhoods. Discriminatory practices, especially those intended to "preserve" emerging white suburbs, restricted
24978-525: The same structure; words resembling ghetto in meaning appear in Hebrew , Yiddish , Italian , Germanic , Polish (since Poland's Warsaw had/has a sizable of Jewish minorities fleeing pogroms.), Corsican, Old French , and Latin . During the Holocaust , more than 1,000 Nazi ghettos were established to hold the Jewish populations of Europe , with the goal of exploiting and killing European Jews as part of
25159-625: The satirical and taboo-breaking Hara-Kiri defied censorship laws in the countercultural spirit that led to the May 1968 events . Frustration with censorship and editorial interference led to a group of Pilote cartoonists to found the adults-only L'Écho des savanes in 1972. Adult-oriented and experimental comics flourished in the 1970s, such as in the experimental science fiction of Mœbius and others in Métal hurlant , even mainstream publishers took to publishing prestige-format adult comics . From
25340-545: The scenes and Johnny Alpha was branded a traitor by mutants for working against his kind. The 2009 story Blood Moon retconned in a fanatical mutant rebel leader, William Blood Moon, who was responsible for civilian massacres and suicide bombings. Johnny had been seconded to him during the war, and swore vengeance for Moon having his friend Mardi killed as a suicide bomber; years later, before meeting Wulf, he and other former rebel leaders would hunt down Blood Moon to kill him for his continuing terrorist atrocities. Johnny would use
25521-433: The segregation issue: Recommended restrictions should include provision for: prohibition of the occupancy of properties except by the race for which they are intended ... Schools should be appropriate to the needs of the new community and they should not be attended in large numbers by inharmonious racial groups. This meant that ethnic minorities could secure mortgage loans only in certain areas, and it resulted in
25702-452: The series returned to its bounty-hunter premise. In "The Son" (2018) a new character, Wulf Sternhammer's son Kenton, joined Johnny Alpha as a rookie Search/Destroy agent. This was the last Strontium Dog story to be illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra, who died later that year, and the last in the series to be written by John Wagner (as of July 2022). Other writers and artists have produced one-episode stories since, but no multi-part stories. Since
25883-483: The state is demonstrated through various push and pull features, implemented through government subsidized investments, which certainly assisted the movement of white Americans into the suburbs after World War II . Since the 1960s, after the de-constitution of the inner cities, African-American or Black ghettos have attempted to reorganize or reconstitute; in effect, they are increasingly regarded as public- and state-dependent communities. Brownsville, for instance, initiated
26064-503: The stories "Judgement Day" and "Rage", Alpha made Sabbat the Necromagus and Max Bubba respectively believe that there were people behind them, distracting each long enough for Alpha to strike them. Johnny's original partner is Wulf Sternhammer , who is not a mutant but a normal human from Scandinavia ; he became a Strontium Dog out of a sense of camaraderie with Johnny, and, despite the indignities, he viewed it as good work as it kept
26245-562: The study of comics. David Carrier's The Aesthetics of Comics (2000) was the first full-length treatment of comics from a philosophical perspective. Prominent American attempts at definitions of comics include Eisner's, McCloud's, and Harvey's. Eisner described what he called " sequential art " as "the arrangement of pictures or images and words to narrate a story or dramatize an idea"; Scott McCloud defined comics as "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in
26426-415: The suburbs, but not to rent apartments in cities. The United States began restructuring its economy after World War II, fueled by new globalizing processes, and demonstrated through technological advances and improvements in efficiency. The structural shift of 1973, during the post-Fordist era, became a large component to the racial ghetto and its relationship with the labor market. Sharon Zukin declares
26607-496: The success in 1907 of Bud Fisher 's Mutt and Jeff . In Britain, the Amalgamated Press established a popular style of a sequence of images with text beneath them, including Illustrated Chips and Comic Cuts . Humour strips predominated at first, and in the 1920s and 1930s strips with continuing stories in genres such as adventure and drama also became popular. Thin periodicals called comic books appeared in
26788-413: The success in the 1930s of strips and books such as The Adventures of Tintin . American comics emerged as a mass medium in the early 20th century with the advent of newspaper comic strips; magazine-style comic books followed in the 1930s, the superhero genre became prominent after Superman appeared in 1938. Histories of Japanese comics and cartooning ( manga ) propose origins as early as
26969-494: The surrounding authorities. A Yiddish term for a Jewish quarter or neighborhood is Di yidishe gas ( Yiddish : די ייִדישע גאַס ), or 'The Jewish street'. Many European and Middle Eastern cities once had a historical Jewish quarter. Jewish ghettos in Christian Europe existed because of majority discrimination against Jews on the basis of religion, language and dated views on race: They were considered outsiders. As
27150-399: The term "Ninth Art" was coined, as comics began to attract public and academic attention as an artform. A group including René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo founded the magazine Pilote in 1959 to give artists greater freedom over their work. Goscinny and Uderzo's The Adventures of Asterix appeared in it and went on to become the best-selling French-language comics series. From 1960,
27331-406: The term was coined. Urban areas in the U.S. can often be classified as "black" or "white", with the inhabitants primarily belonging to a homogenous racial grouping. This classification can be traced back as early as the year 1880 as African Americans were living in their own neighborhoods. Sixty years after the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, most of the United States remains
27512-600: The time he joins the Search/Destroy agency, Johnny Alpha is a highly skilled and dangerous fighter, adept at combining his mutant powers with hand-to-hand combat and weaponry. A sarcastic, cynical man, he none the less believes that innocent life must be protected or avenged, even if the odds are against you. Deeply loyal to friends, he can also be short on patience and quick to anger if plans go wrong or situations continue to worsen, but often this motivates him to improvise new solutions rather than simply stew in anger. A dogged bounty hunter determined to earn reward for his work, Johnny
27693-428: The timing and pacing of the narrative. The contents of a panel may be asynchronous, with events depicted in the same image not necessarily occurring at the same time. Text is frequently incorporated into comics via speech balloons , captions, and sound effects. Speech balloons indicate dialogue (or thought, in the case of thought balloons ), with tails pointing at their respective speakers. Captions can give voice to
27874-600: The trend towards a shrinking print market. Japanese comics and cartooning ( manga ), have a history that has been seen as far back as the anthropomorphic characters in the 12th-to-13th-century Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga , 17th-century toba-e and kibyōshi picture books, and woodblock prints such as ukiyo-e which were popular between the 17th and 20th centuries. The kibyōshi contained examples of sequential images, movement lines, and sound effects. Illustrated magazines for Western expatriates introduced Western-style satirical cartoons to Japan in
28055-405: The truth behind Johnny's death and the whereabouts of his body. In the process, they found out that Feral had taken the body on a quest for the Stone Wizards, immensely powerful entities that could bring Johnny back to life – but, as the cost would be his own life, he backed out and buried him instead. (Feral would end up executed during the story for unrelated crimes.) Precious and Middenface located
28236-576: The use of recurring characters. Cartooning and other forms of illustration are the most common means of image-making in comics. Photo comics is a form that uses photographic images. Common forms include comic strips , editorial and gag cartoons , and comic books . Since the late 20th century, bound volumes such as graphic novels , comic albums , and tankōbon have become increasingly common, along with webcomics as well as scientific/medical comics. The history of comics has followed different paths in different cultures. Scholars have posited
28417-534: The use of speech balloons in European comics, after which Franco-Belgian comics began to dominate. The Adventures of Tintin , with its signature clear line style, was first serialized in newspaper comics supplements beginning in 1929, and became an icon of Franco-Belgian comics. Following the success of Le Journal de Mickey (est. 1934), dedicated comics magazines like Spirou (est. 1938) and Tintin (1946–1993), and full-colour comic albums became
28598-539: The viewer", a strictly formal definition which detached comics from its historical and cultural trappings. R. C. Harvey defined comics as "pictorial narratives or expositions in which words (often lettered into the picture area within speech balloons) usually contribute to the meaning of the pictures and vice versa". Each definition has had its detractors. Harvey saw McCloud's definition as excluding single-panel cartoons, and objected to McCloud's de-emphasizing verbal elements, insisting "the essential characteristic of comics
28779-518: The word is uncertain, as there is no agreement among etymologists about the origins of the Venetian language term as it pertains to a neighborhood. One theory of the word can be traced to a special use of the Venetian ghèto , meaning ' foundry ' (there was one near the site of that city's ghetto when it was founded in 1516). According to various other theories it comes from: Another possibility
28960-424: The work of a single creator, the labour of making them is frequently divided between a number of specialists. There may be separate writers and artists , and artists may specialize in parts of the artwork such as characters or backgrounds, as is common in Japan. Particularly in American superhero comic books, the art may be divided between a penciller , who lays out the artwork in pencil; an inker , who finishes
29141-451: The years following World War II, while comic book sales continued to increase as other genres proliferated, such as romance , westerns , crime , horror , and humour. Following a sales peak in the early 1950s, the content of comic books (particularly crime and horror) was subjected to scrutiny from parent groups and government agencies, which culminated in Senate hearings that led to
29322-437: Was Punch , which popularized the term cartoon for its humorous caricatures. On occasion the cartoons in these magazines appeared in sequences; the character Ally Sloper featured in the earliest serialized comic strip when the character began to feature in its own weekly magazine in 1884. American comics developed out of such magazines as Puck , Judge , and Life . The success of illustrated humour supplements in
29503-418: Was Seiki Hosokibara's Nihon Manga-Shi in 1924. Early post-war Japanese criticism was mostly of a left-wing political nature until the 1986 publication of Tomofusa Kure's Modern Manga: The Complete Picture , which de-emphasized politics in favour of formal aspects, such as structure and a "grammar" of comics. The field of manga studies increased rapidly, with numerous books on the subject appearing in
29684-410: Was a young, savage mutant. He initially despised the Strontium Dogs, who he saw as abandoning the mutants on Earth, but was inspired by the actions of Johnny Alpha. Feral witnessed Alpha's sacrifice in "The Final Solution", and in the original "Strontium Dogs" strips of the 1990s, he became first a rebel outlaw in the colony worlds and then a renowned SD Agent. In "The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha", this
29865-531: Was also essentially harmless and well-meaning. Two allies who gained their own solo spin-off series were Middenface McNulty , a Scottish mutant raised in a ghetto/concentration camp called 'Shytehill' - presumably a reference to the Sighthill area of Glasgow - and whose head is covered with lumps; and Durham Red , a female agent whose mutation resembles vampirism and who is thus feared and despised by other mutants. Feral, introduced in "The Final Solution",
30046-405: Was based on a treatment Wagner had written for an aborted Strontium Dog TV pilot, and featured Johnny working solo, but Wulf returned in subsequent stories. Wagner introduced the concept that all previous stories were 'folklore' and the current series was the truth, giving him free rein to alter a number of details (such as giving Johnny an AI computer assistant and Kreelman having been President of
30227-465: Was charged with administering and enforcing the law. Since housing discrimination became illegal, new housing opportunities were made available to the black community and many left the ghetto. Urban sociologists frequently title this historical event as "black middle class exodus", or black flight . Elijah Anderson describes a process by which members of the black middle class begin to distance themselves socially and culturally from ghetto residents during
30408-490: Was controversial during its period of use and was finally removed in 2021. In 2010, the Danish Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing introduced an official listing of vulnerable social housing districts where the inhabitants fulfilled certain criteria. The list has informally and at times formally been called Ghettolisten (the 'List of Ghettos'). Since 2010, the list has been updated annually, with changes in
30589-435: Was dead caused a heart attack which awakened his aggressive side of this one. The Gronk and Feral were teamed up, and went out for revenge against the necromancers who had killed Alpha in "The Darkest Star'". In the process, Feral found out he was the son of the lead necromancer and both he and the Gronk discovered that the necromancers drew their power from torturing the people they had killed – including Johnny Alpha. To destroy
30770-521: Was established in 2001 to promote comics scholarship. The publication of Frederik L. Schodt 's Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics in 1983 led to the spread of use of the word manga outside Japan to mean "Japanese comics" or "Japanese-style comics". Coulton Waugh attempted the first comprehensive history of American comics with The Comics (1947). Will Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art (1985) and Scott McCloud 's Understanding Comics (1993) were early attempts in English to formalize
30951-596: Was eventually retconned that he was a Viking, accidentally brought into the 22nd century when Johnny was pursuing a criminal gang through time. Early strips included the Gronk, the brother of the Gronk that Wulf had met earlier. It was a timid, metal-eating alien from the planet Blas, in the Gallego system (a tribute to the fantasy artist Blas Gallego ). The Gronk provided medical back-up and constantly worried about its "poor heartses", and in "Outlaw" showed it could survive multiple heart attacks. A gag showed that "the Gronk"
31132-527: Was followed by large numbers of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, including many Italians and Poles and Russians between 1880 and 1920. Jewish immigrants were part of the earliest German wave, as well as comprising numerous immigrants from Eastern Europe, the Russian Empire at the time. Most remained in their established immigrant communities, but by the second or third generation, many families were able to relocate to newer housing built in
31313-475: Was formed in Denmark, with Kaare Dybvad becoming housing minister. He stated that the new government would stop using the word "ghetto" for vulnerable housing areas, as it was both imprecise and derogatory. In a 2021 reform, the name was finally removed in legal texts by Parliament. Instead, a new category called "parallel societies" was instituted. In France , a banlieue ( French: [bɑ̃ljø] )
31494-506: Was ignored and he became a SD Agent soon after "The Final Solution" – due to his abrasive personality, he soon left and became an outlaw who tried to resurrect Alpha, only to give up. In this second timeline, he was executed for murder on an alien world. In both the original series and the revival Alpha frequently encountered or worked alongside members of a mutant family known as the Stix Clan. All members male and female are identical in appearance, personality and dress sense. They all hail from
31675-466: Was joined by co-writer Alan Grant , although scripts were normally credited to Grant alone. Grant wrote the series by himself from 1988 to 1990. Wagner revived the series after a ten-year hiatus in 2000. After Ezquerra's death in October 2018, the series was put in indefinite hiatus with no current plans for its continuation (other than some single-episode stories in special issues aimed at younger readers). The series takes place in an imagined future after
31856-433: Was killed off at the hands of Max Bubba and his gang. This led to the epic "Rage", in which Johnny remorselessly hunted down his partner's killers. After that Johnny either worked solo, or with Durham Red or Scottish mutant Middenface McNulty . Johnny was killed off in 1990 , sacrificing himself to save mutants from extermination at the hands of Kreelman's illegitimate son, Lord Sagan. Artist Carlos Ezquerra disagreed with
32037-401: Was later freed, and, in disguise, had himself appointed head of the Search/Destroy agency. He used his position to frame Johnny and other Mutant Army veterans for murder. Johnny was soon made aware of the truth and had no qualms about dragging his own father before the deceived mutants who gunned him down on the spot. In the 1986 story "Max Bubba", a lengthy story explaining Wulf's origins, Wulf
32218-570: Was made until the 1970s. Pierre Fresnault-Deruelle then took a semiotics approach to the study of comics, analyzing text–image relations, page-level image relations, and image discontinuities, or what Scott McCloud later dubbed "closure". In 1987, Henri Vanlier introduced the term multicadre , or "multiframe", to refer to the comics page as a semantic unit. By the 1990s, theorists such as Benoît Peeters and Thierry Groensteen turned attention to artists' poïetic creative choices. Thierry Smolderen and Harry Morgan have held relativistic views of
32399-591: Was shown in The Final Solution . Antarctica was the setting of part of Outlaw , shown to have been turned into a tropical area with marshes and rainforests by the Rad Wars. The centre was Antarctic City (also the name of a megacity in Judge Dredd ), with military and police matters handled by the Antarctic Militia . In The Final Solution , the government is usurped by the New Church and
32580-524: Was the name for most of its species, causing problems when mail arrives for "the Gronk". In the Strontium Dogs spinoff, the Gronk transformed into a gun-toting highly aggressive soldier. King Clarkie the Second, a thinly veiled parody of Prince Charles was the monarch for much of the strip, being deposed late in the series for his pro-mutant views. While presented as a buffoon in several strips, he
32761-518: Was to do so, he knew elements within the government were trying to use this as an excuse to viciously crack down on mutants. Johnny and Wulf rescue the King, as well as uncovering a conspiracy in the Home Office to allow the kidnapping and subsequently fake the King's murder so as to provide a reason for mutant brutalisation. While this led to an improvement in the lives of mutants, all of it was behind
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