145-531: Pepe the Frog ( / ˈ p ɛ p eɪ / PEP -ay ) is a comic character and Internet meme created by cartoonist Matt Furie . Designed as a green anthropomorphic frog with a humanoid body, Pepe originated in Furie's 2005 comic Boy's Club . The character became an Internet meme when his popularity steadily grew across websites such as Myspace , Gaia Online , and 4chan in 2008. By 2015, he had become one of
290-401: A Sotheby's auction for $ 3.6m USD. Amongst other icons, it was featured on a Fortune magazine cover dedicated to a special report about cryptocurrency. In 2015, a subset of Pepe memes began to be referred to as 'rare Pepes', with watermarks such as "RARE PEPE DO NOT SAVE", generally meaning that the artist had not previously posted the meme publicly. In April 2015, a collection of rare Pepes
435-561: A United States district court jury found eBay guilty of willful patent infringement and ordered the company to pay $ 35 million in damages after MercExchange accused eBay of infringing on three patents, one of which is used in eBay's "Buy It Now" feature. The decision was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The CAFC affirmed the judgment of willful infringement, and reversed
580-404: A Vickrey auction (sealed-bid) proxy bid system. Buyers and sellers may rate and review each other after each transaction, resulting in a reputation system. The eBay service is accessible via websites and mobile apps . Software developers can create applications that integrate with eBay through the eBay API. Merchants can also earn commissions from affiliate marketing programs by eBay. eBay
725-586: A classified advertising website, in international markets. It launched in the United States in July 2007. In May 2005, eBay acquired Gumtree , a classified advertising website in the United Kingdom. In October 2005, eBay Inc. acquired Skype Technologies for $ 2.6 billion. ProStores was an e-commerce website hosting company owned by eBay. Formerly known as Kurant StoreSense, ProStores
870-513: 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 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
1015-406: A medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically takes 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
1160-427: 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
1305-486: A "resistance symbol". Hong Kong protestors began to use depictions of Pepe the Frog as a symbol of liberty and resistance against the extradition bill and police brutality in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. New images of Pepe the Frog surfaced showing Pepe with an injured eye after a young female first aider had her eye injured by a projectile fired by police; the incident spurred a new protest campaign called "An eye for an eye". A sign with Pepe with an injured eye held by
1450-455: A $ 15,000 out of court settlement in a copyright infringement case against Infowars and Alex Jones concerning unlicensed use of the image of Pepe the Frog on far-right themed posters. Furie stated that he would continue to "enforce his copyrights aggressively to make sure nobody else is profiting off associating Pepe the Frog with hateful imagery." "Kek", from " kekeke "/" ㅋㅋㅋ ", a Korean onomatopoeia of laughter used similarly to " LOL ",
1595-567: A $ 514 million cash investment in Flipkart. Flipkart launched a program to allow its sellers to sell to customers globally in partnership with eBay. eBay reported a gain of $ 167 million on the sale of its India operations. In May 2018, eBay sold its stake in Flipkart to Walmart and relaunched its operations in India. In August 2017, eBay shut Half.com . In October 2017, eBay released image retrieval capability allowing users to find listings on
SECTION 10
#17327932488961740-550: A 30% minority ownership interest in Skype, after failing to integrate Skype into the company's online marketplace. Microsoft acquired the entire company for $ 8.5 billion in May 2011. In June 2011, eBay acquired GSI Commerce for $ 2.4 billion. In June 2013, it was renamed eBay Enterprise . In May 2012, RentPath , then known as Primedia, acquired Rent.com from eBay for approximately $ 415 million. In September 2012, eBay introduced
1885-499: A Pepe representation of himself, associated with a video called "You Can't Stump the Trump (Volume 4)". Later in the election, Roger Stone and Donald Trump Jr. posted a parody movie poster of The Expendables on Twitter and Instagram titled "The Deplorables", a play on Hillary Clinton 's controversial phrase " basket of deplorables ", which included Pepe's face among those of members of the Trump family and other figures popular among
2030-400: A business account due to the high web traffic of his website. The monthly price increase from $ 30 to $ 250 prompted Omidyar to start charging eBay users. The website made $ 1,000 in its first month, which was more than it cost to run, and $ 2,500 in its second month. Chris Agarpao was eBay's first employee; he processed mailed check payments. Jeffrey Skoll was hired as the first president of
2175-452: A buyer who spent $ 537,084 on a rare Pepe filed a lawsuit claiming fraudulent misrepresentation, alleging that only one copy was to be sold whereas 46 copies were subsequently given away, devaluing his investment. Two components, created simultaneously, both support each other to enable interaction and asset exchange among both contributors and market participants: Crypto artists used these resources to publish their work as digital tokens with
2320-425: A character. He posted his comic in a series of blog posts on Myspace in 2005. In the comic, Pepe is seen urinating with his pants pulled down to his ankles and the catchphrase "feels good man" was his rationale. Furie took those posts down when the printed edition was published in 2006. Pepe was used in blog posts on Myspace in 2005 and became an in-joke on Gaia Online . In 2008, the page containing Pepe and
2465-560: 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
2610-578: A controlling stake in G-Market , a South Korean online retailer, for $ 413 million. In May 2009, eBay launched the Selling Manager Applications program (SM Apps). The program allows approved developers to integrate their applications directly into the eBay.com interface. In November 2009, eBay sold a 70% stake in Skype to a consortium led by Silver Lake Partners and Marc Andreessen at a $ 2.75 billion valuation, while retaining
2755-479: 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
2900-497: 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
3045-445: A false shipping damage claim with the shipping company, friendly fraud (receiving merchandise and claiming otherwise), returning items other than received, removing parts from an item and returning it for a refund, sending a forged payment-service e-mail that states that he or she has made a payment to the seller's account as proof of payment, making a low bid then using pseudo-accounts to make high nonpaying bids in an attempt at gaining
SECTION 20
#17327932488963190-558: A fixed circulation and then issued the art to collectors who then sold, traded, or stored their collections. Collectors use the 'Rare Pepe Blockchain Trading' channel on the Telegram instant messaging platform to discuss with other collectors. A 2020 documentary, Feels Good Man , relates the story of Pepe's origins and co-option by the alt-right, and Furie's attempts to regain control over his creation. Comics Comics are
3335-433: A frog (named "Gabby") as its logo. The site is popular with the alt-right. In 2018, Furie succeeded in having images of Pepe removed from The Daily Stormer website. In January 2019, the video game Jesus Strikes Back: Judgment Day was released, which allows players to play as Pepe the Frog, among other figures, and murder various target groups including feminists, minorities, and liberals. In June 2019, Furie received
3480-490: A hate-related context. Since then, Furie has expressed his dismay at Pepe being used as a hate symbol and has sued organizations for doing so. In 2019, Pepe was used by protesters in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests . Despite being used in a political context, Pepe the Frog's use in Hong Kong is not perceived as being connected with alt-right ideology. Furie has welcomed the use of Pepe by Hong Kong protesters. Pepe remains
3625-667: A hate-related context. Writing in Time on October 13, 2016, Furie said that "I understand that it's out of my control, but in the end, Pepe is whatever you say he is, and I, the creator, say that Pepe is love ." The next day, the ADL announced that it had partnered with Furie to launch the #SavePepe (or "Save Pepe") campaign, an attempt to associate the symbol with positivity. As part of that campaign, Furie collected hundreds of "positive or peaceful" versions of Pepe to store in an online "Peace Pepe Database of Love". On October 17, 2016, Furie published
3770-603: 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
3915-481: A low second chance offer price, damaging a non-refundable item to get a refund by claiming that the seller sent the item already damaged (in cases of buyer's remorse ), and a package redirection scam , in which the return package is filled with garbage and sent to the wrong address. In 2004, Tiffany & Co. filed a lawsuit against eBay claiming that over 70% of the Tiffany silver jewelry offered for sale on eBay
4060-723: A majority stake in Internet Auction Co. Ltd, operator of the largest internet auction website in South Korea. In February 2002, eBay acquired iBazar, a French online auction site founded in 1998, for approximately $ 112 million in stock. eBay entered the Chinese market in 2002 and shut down its Chinese site in 2007 due to competition from local rival Taobao . In February 2002, eBay exited Japan due to competition from Yahoo! Japan and began operations in Taiwan with
4205-622: 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
4350-508: A new logo using a thinner variation of the Univers typeface. It replaced the thicker Univers logo. In October 2012, eBay launched an international shipping partnership with Pitney Bowes whereby a seller of an item to be shipped internationally can send the item to a Pitney Bowes facility in their home country, which then forwards it to the international buyer, taking care of all international shipping requirements. The company also launched
4495-667: A partnership with FedEx to offer discounted shipping options to sellers. In November 2012, eBay was charged in the High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation , accused by the United States Department of Justice of entering into non-solicitation agreements with other technology companies involving highly skilled employees. The litigation was settled in May 2014, with eBay required to end anti-competitive practices. On September 30, 2014, eBay announced it would spin off PayPal into
Pepe the Frog - Misplaced Pages Continue
4640-455: A partnership with Square for seller financing loans of up to $ 100,000. In September 2018, in response to the YouTube headquarters shooting , eBay announced plans to install a security fence around the perimeter of its San Jose headquarters to protect employees. In March 2019, the company paid its first dividend following investor pressure to improve shareholder return. On July 31, 2019,
4785-467: A permanent injunction against eBay auctions of LVMH perfumes, whether counterfeit or not. eBay banned such items from its site. Also that month, a court in Troyes, France awarded eBay to pay luxury goods maker Hermès €20,000 due to the sale of two counterfeit bags on eBay in 2006. The court also ordered eBay to post the ruling on the home page of eBay's French website for three months. Items stolen from
4930-788: 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,
5075-410: A recognizable and familiar sight on social media platforms such as 4chan, Twitch , Reddit , and Discord , where images are modified into custom Pepe-based emoji. "My Pepe philosophy is simple: 'Feels good man.' It is based on the meaning of the word Pepe: 'To go Pepe'. I find complete joy in physically, emotionally, and spiritually serving Pepe and his friends through comics. Each comic is sacred, and
5220-506: A satirical take of Pepe's appropriation by the alt-right movement on The Nib . This was his first comic for the character since he ended Boy's Club in 2012. In January 2017, in a response to "pundits" calling on Theresa May to disrupt Trump's relationship with Russia, the Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom tweeted an image of Pepe. White supremacist Richard B. Spencer , during a street interview after Trump's inauguration,
5365-514: A separate publicly traded company, a demand made nine months prior by activist hedge fund magnate Carl Icahn . The spinoff was completed on July 18, 2015. eBay's then chief executive, John Donahoe, stepped down from that role. In January 2015, eBay acquired Vivanuncios, a classified advertising website in Mexico. In June 2015, eBay sold its stake in Craigslist back to the company, ending
5510-511: A similarity between Kek and Pepe. The phrase is widely used and 4chan users see Kek as the " 'god' of memes". The phrase then became associated with the Egyptian deity of the same name . "Esoteric Kekism" references the " Esoteric Hitlerism " of writer Savitri Devi . Esoteric Kekism, also called "the Cult of Kek", is a parody religion worshipping Pepe the Frog, which sprang from the similarity of
5655-536: 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,
5800-439: 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
5945-419: A variation of " lol ". During the 2016 United States presidential election , Kek became associated with alt-right politics. Kek is associated with the occurrence of repeating digits, known as "dubs", "trips", "quads", among other terms, in the sequential codes assigned to posts made on 4chan, as if he had the ability to influence reality through Internet memes. Online message boards such as 4chan first noted
Pepe the Frog - Misplaced Pages Continue
6090-406: 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
6235-446: A young nurse with one eye covered gained international media attention. Furie responded in an email with a protester, stating "This is great news! Pepe for the people!". In the Hong Kong context, Pepe the Frog is not perceived as being connected with far-right ideology. Hong Kongers were also generally unaware that Pepe the Frog had been appropriated by the alt-right and white supremacists in the United States. A rare Pepe or RarePepe
6380-426: Is a chance for a new beginning ... I got some plans for Pepe that I can't really discuss, but he's going to rise from the ashes like a phoenix ... in a puff of marijuana smoke." Soon thereafter, Furie announced his intention to "resurrect" Pepe, launching a crowdfunding campaign for a new comic book featuring Pepe. In a July 2017 interview with The Outline , Furie spoke about the comic in which he "killed" Pepe
6525-471: Is a variation on the "Pepe the Frog" internet meme . The related Rare Pepe crypto project, created by various artists worldwide between 2016 and 2018, was based on the aforementioned meme and traded as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) recorded on the CounterParty platform. A total of 1,774 official cards were released for the project across 36 series. On October 26, 2021, a rare Pepe, PEPENOPOULOS , sold at
6670-479: Is some disagreement around the specifics of Groyper: it has been described as a depiction of the Pepe character, a different character from Pepe but of the same species, or a toad . The Groyper meme is the namesake for Groypers , a loose group of white nationalist activists and followers of Nick Fuentes . In August 2019, it was reported that various demonstrators at the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests were using Pepe as
6815-625: Is the Korean equivalent of the English " haha ". Since this is often used in StarCraft matches, Blizzard , Starcraft ' s developers, decided to reference it in World of Warcraft (2004): when a player of the Horde faction types " lol " using the /say messaging command, members of the opposing faction see it as "kek". A common misconception is that "kek" originated as a variation of "lel", itself
6960-411: 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
7105-614: 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
7250-481: The 2021 storming of the Capitol . Kekistan is a fictional country created by 4chan users that has become a political meme and online movement. The name is derived from "kek" and the suffix " -stan ", a common Central Asian country suffix. Since late 2016, the satirical ethnicity of Kekistani has been used by U.S.-based alt-right protesters opposed to what they view as political correctness. These "Kekistanis" decry
7395-516: The British Museum in 2013 were auctioned on eBay in 2016. The museum reported that several items of jewelry made of gold, semi-precious stones, and glass, dating from between 1,500 BC and the 19th century AD, were among those missing. One piece of ancient Roman jewelry made from onyx – valued between £25,000 and £50,000, or US$ 32,000 and US$ 63,000 – was listed on eBay with a minimum price of £40 (US$ 50) in 2016. There were no bids made for
SECTION 50
#17327932488967540-714: The Smith & Wollensky restaurant in New York City, with all of the proceeds going to the Glide Foundation . Auctions were held annually in 21 years between 2000 and 2022, with no auctions in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . In total, auctions on eBay for lunch with Buffett raised $ 53.2 million for the Glide Foundation, with winning bids ranging from $ 2 million to as high as $ 19 million for
7685-478: 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 the success in the 1930s of strips and books such as The Adventures of Tintin . American comics emerged as
7830-486: The board of directors of Craigslist. Craigslist countersued in May 2008 alleging that eBay used its board seat to gain insider information about Craigslist that was used to compete against the company. In September 2010, Delaware Judge William B. Chandler III ruled that the actions of Craigslist were unlawful and that the actions were taken by Craigslist founders Jim Buckmaster and Craig Newmark had "breached their fiduciary duty of loyalty", and restored eBay's stake in
7975-510: 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
8120-655: 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
8265-481: 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
8410-510: The 1986 Italo disco record " Shadilay " as a national anthem . The record gained attention from the group in September 2016 because of the name of the group (P.E.P.E.) and art on the record depicting a frog holding a magic wand. A variation of Pepe known as "Groyper" or "Easter Toad" was used as early as 2015, and became popular in 2017. Groyper is depicted as a rotund green, frog-like creature with its chin resting on interlocked fingers. There
8555-472: 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 )
8700-627: The Alt-Right was ready to coast." In an interview with Esquire , Furie said of Pepe's usage as a hate symbol, "It sucks, but I can't control it more than anyone can control frogs on the Internet". Fantagraphics Books , Furie's publisher, issued a statement condemning the "illegal and repulsive appropriations of the character". The Anti-Defamation League , an American organization opposed to antisemitism , included Pepe in its hate symbol database but wrote that most instances of Pepe were not used in
8845-686: 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
SECTION 60
#17327932488968990-523: The CEO of the company. In June 2020, Fred D. Anderson and Thomas J. Tierney resigned from the board of directors of the company; both had been directors since 2003. In July 2020, eBay sold its classifieds business to Adevinta for $ 2.5 billion in cash and 540 million shares of Adevinta. To gain regulatory approval, Gumtree was further divested. eBay sold its shares in Adevinta in 2023, when that company
9135-706: 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 EBay eBay Inc. ( / ˈ iː b eɪ / EE -bay , often stylized as ebay or Ebay ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California , that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. Sales occur either via online auctions or "buy it now" instant sales, and
9280-463: The Clinton campaign's decision to describe Pepe as an alt-right symbol, "If it weren't for Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016 trying to [...] name Pepe as a signifier of the Alt-Right, that kind of recognition probably wouldn't have taken hold [...] In doing so, they showed how much of a newbie they were at what it essentially meant to be online, which in turn created a wave of media attention on which
9425-505: The Frog. He said, "This comic was just kind of my own kind of art therapy and dealing with the fact that Trump got elected and the new twist on Pepe that ensued. I decided to lay him to rest. But really it was just a joke, and a way for me to deal with the weirdness that was happening." In June 2017, a proposed app and Flappy Bird clone called "Pepe Scream" was rejected from the Apple App Store due to its depiction of Pepe
9570-549: The Frog. The app's developer, under the name "MrSnrhms", posted a screenshot of his rejection letter on r/The Donald . The app is available on the Google Play Store . A children's book appropriating the Pepe character, The Adventures of Pepe and Pede , advanced "racist, Islamophobic and hate-filled themes", according to a federal lawsuit Furie filed. The suit was settled out of court in August 2017, with terms including
9715-476: 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
9860-663: 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
10005-896: 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 ,
10150-470: The acquisition of NeoCom Technology for $ 9.5 million. In June 2006, eBay turned over its operations in Taiwan to a joint venture partner. eBay acquired PayPal on October 3, 2002 for $ 1.4 billion. It phased out its Billpoint payment service in January 2003. On May 28, 2003, in the case of eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. , which had implications for the treatment of business method patents ,
10295-420: The alt-right in a speech. During the speech, a 4chan user who was liveblogging the event on the site audibly shouted "Pepe!" at the request of another user. In September 2016, an article published on Hillary Clinton's campaign website described Pepe as "a symbol associated with white supremacy" and denounced Trump's campaign for its supposed promotion of the meme. In 2020, social scientist Joan Donovan said of
10440-411: The alt-right. Also during the election, various news organizations reported associations of the character with white nationalism and the alt-right . In May 2016, Olivia Nuzzi of The Daily Beast wrote that there was "an actual campaign to reclaim Pepe from normies" and that "turning Pepe into a white nationalist icon" was an explicit goal of some on the alt-right. In August 2016, Clinton denounced
10585-468: 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
10730-491: 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
10875-399: The catchphrase was scanned and uploaded to 4chan's /b/ board, which has been described as the meme's "permanent home". The meme took off among 4chan users, who adapted Pepe's face and catchphrase to fit different scenarios and emotions, such as melancholy, anger, and surprise. "Feels bad, man", a sad variant of the frog's "feels good, man" catchphrase, also became associated with Pepe. Color
11020-422: The combination of images and text, some sequentiality or other image relations, and others historical aspects such as mass reproduction or 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
11165-631: The company acquired a 5.59% stake in Paytm Mall. In September 2019, facing pressure from activist shareholder Elliott Investment Management , Devin Wenig resigned as CEO. Scott Schenkel , senior vice president and chief financial officer since 2015, was appointed as the interim CEO. In November 2019, eBay agreed to sell StubHub to Viagogo for $ 4.05 billion in cash; the sale was completed in February 2020. In April 2020, Jamie Iannone became
11310-434: The company acquired the myFitment group of companies, specializing in online sales of automotive and powersports parts and accessories. In October 2022, the company acquired TCGPlayer , a marketplace for collectible card games, for up to $ 295 million. In July 2023, the company acquired Certiligo, a provider of artificial intelligence -powered digital IDs and authentication for apparel and fashion goods. In January 2024,
11455-417: The company announced plans to lay off 9% of its workforce after hiring outpaced growth projections. Using MissionFish as an arbiter, eBay allows sellers to donate a portion of their auction proceeds to a charity of the seller's choice and charges discounted fees for charity auctions. High-profile charity auctions facilitated via eBay include the "Power Lunch" with investor Warren Buffett for 8 people at
11600-483: The company charges commissions to sellers upon sales. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in September 1995. It has 132 million yearly active buyers worldwide and handled $ 73 billion in transactions in 2023, 48% of which was in the United States. In 2023, the company had a take rate (revenue as a percentage of volume) of 13.81%. eBay is used by individuals, companies, as well as governments to purchase and sell almost any legal, non-controversial item. eBay's auctions use
11745-491: The company in early 1996. In November 1996, the company launched online auctions for airline seats, hotel rooms, cruise berths and other travel-related products in partnership with Electronic Travel Auctions. By that time, the company had hosted more than 200,000 auctions since its founding 14 months earlier. The company changed the name of its service from AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997, after Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. The echobay.com domain name
11890-412: The company to 28.4% from a diluted level of 24.85%. However, the judge dismissed eBay's objection to a staggered board provision, citing that Craigslist has the right to protect its own trade secrets. In May 2008, eBay announced the opening of a building on the company's North Campus in San Jose, California , the first ground-up structure in the city to be built to LEED Gold standards. The building,
12035-421: The compassion of my readers transcends any differences, the pain, and fear of 'feeling good'." –Matt Furie, 2015 interview with The Daily Dot Pepe the Frog was created by American artist and cartoonist Matt Furie in 2005. Its usage as an Internet meme came from his comic Boy's Club #1. The progenitor of Boy's Club was a zine Furie made on Microsoft Paint called Playtime , which included Pepe as
12180-546: The country's leading online auction platform (EachNet) and reaching an 85% market share. Within four years, the development of Alibaba's Taobao resulted in eBay's market share in China decreasing to 7.7%. In August 2004, eBay acquired 25% of the classified advertising website Craigslist for $ 32 million. Former disgruntled Craigslist executive Phillip Knowlton was the seller. In December 2004, eBay acquired Rent.com for $ 415 million. In March 2005, eBay launched Kijiji ,
12325-532: The couple's home in Natick, Massachusetts . The conspirators pleaded guilty and most were sentenced to prison terms. Wenig, the company's CEO at the time of the harassment campaign, who was frequently targeted by the newsletter and was described as having paranoia over the criticism, was not charged, instead leaving the company in September 2019 with a $ 57 million severance package . Steve Wymer, chief communication officer, who had ties with local politicians,
12470-768: 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
12615-400: 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 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
12760-423: The editors and publishers of EcommerceBytes, a newsletter that eBay executives viewed as critical of the company. In addition to sending harassing messages and doxing , the defendants "ordered anonymous and disturbing deliveries to the victims’ home, including a preserved fetal pig, a bloody pig Halloween mask, a funeral wreath, a book on surviving the loss of a spouse, and pornography". The defendants also vandalized
12905-600: 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
13050-473: The final auction in 2022. In May 2024, a charity auction for lunch with Marc Benioff , CEO of Salesforce , raised $ 200,000 plus an additional donation of $ 1.5 million for the Glide Foundation. Also benefitting charity, a letter sent to Mark P. Mays, CEO of Clear Channel Communications by Senator Harry Reid and forty other Democratic senators, complaining about comments made by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh , sold for $ 2,100,100, with all of
13195-527: 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
13340-430: The first the company had built in its 13-year existence, uses an array of 3,248 solar panels, spanning 60,000 square feet (5,600 m ), and providing 650 kilo watts of power, 15–18% of the company's total energy requirements, reducing carbon dioxide usage by 37 million pounds over 30 years. The building also has energy-efficient lighting and water system and most waste is recycled. In April 2009, eBay agreed to acquire
13485-774: The initial public offering, which was priced at $ 18 per share and closed for trading on its first day at $ 53 per share, both Omidyar and Skoll became billionaires. In the risk factors section of the annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 1998, Omidyar noted eBay's dependence on the continued strength of the Beanie Babies market. In June 2000, eBay acquired Half.com for $ 312 million in stock. In 2000, eBay partnered with Escrow.com to handle escrow for purchases and sales of motor vehicles, later expanded to other transaction types. By year-end, it had 22.5 million registered users and 79.4 million auctions per quarter. In January 2001, eBay acquired
13630-437: 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
13775-577: 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
13920-412: 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 a pre-history as far back as the Lascaux cave paintings. By the mid-20th century, comics flourished, particularly in
14065-462: 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
14210-465: The litigation. In August 2015, eBay sold a portion of its stake in Snapdeal . In September 2015, Propay and Skrill were eliminated as payment methods on the eBay website, citing low usage. Flipkart and eBay entered into a strategic partnership in July 2017 under which eBay acquired a 5.44% stake in Flipkart in exchange for the contribution of its India business unit valued at $ 211 million and
14355-603: The lower court and granted a permanent injunction . eBay appealed the permanent injunction to the Supreme Court of the United States , which on May 15, 2006 found an injunction is not required nor automatic in this or any patent case where guilt has been established. The case was sent back to the Virginia district court for consideration of the injunction and a trial on another MercExchange patent. In 2003, eBay sought to develop its e-commerce business in China , acquiring
14500-516: 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
14645-527: The meme appeared on Chinese social media, such as Baidu Tieba , as early as 2014. There, it has been known as shangxin qingwa (傷心青蛙), or "sad frog". In 2014, images of Pepe were shared on social media by celebrities such as Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj . As Pepe became more widespread, 4chan users began referring to particularly creative and unique variants of the meme as "rare Pepes". These images, sometimes as physical paintings, were sold on eBay and posted on Craigslist . 4chan users referred to those who used
14790-429: The meme outside the website as "normies" (or "normalfags"). Users from 4chan, Reddit, and elsewhere attempted to prevent mainstream usage of the meme by "making Pepe as shocking as possible". In 2015, Pepe was #6 on Daily News and Analysis ' s list of the most important memes and the most retweeted meme on Twitter . The Daily Intelligencer called it Tumblr's "Biggest Meme of 2015". According to Inverse , it
14935-457: 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
15080-537: The most popular memes used on 4chan and Tumblr . Different types of Pepe memes include "Sad Frog", "Smug Frog", "Angry Pepe", "Feels Frog", and "You will never..." Frog. Since 2014, " § Rare Pepes " have been posted on the "meme market" as if they were trading cards . Originally an apolitical character, Pepe was appropriated from 2015 to 2016 onward as a symbol of the alt-right movement. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) included Pepe in its hate symbol database in 2016, but said most instances of Pepe were not used in
15225-461: The platform would end February 1, 2015. In February 2006, Intuit launched a web-based version of ItsDeductible, a donation tracking service, using data from eBay to help users assign a market value to the items they donate. In April 2006, eBay launched eBay Express, a site that was designed to work like a standard Internet shopping site, with fixed prices and no bidding involved. The website had 10 million items listed upon its launch. The site
15370-440: 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
15515-524: 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
15660-562: 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
15805-534: The proceeds going to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, benefiting the education of children of men and women who have died serving in the armed forces. The winning bid was matched by Limbaugh. In 2022, more than $ 163 million was raised for charities via the platform. In June 2020, five employees were terminated and were subject to charges of cyberstalking after they were accused of targeting Ina and David Steiner,
15950-403: 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
16095-529: The purpose of cataloging and exchanging these images, thereby creating the first crypto art market in 2016. On January 13, 2018, a live auction of rare Pepes took place in New York City, including one based on Homer Simpson which sold for $ 38,500, watched by representatives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , Museum of Modern Art , and Sotheby's Institute of Art in the audience. The buyer sold it three years later for $ 312,000. In March 2022,
16240-625: 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
16385-816: The seller), receiving payment and not shipping merchandise, shipping items other than those described, giving a deliberately misleading description or photo, knowingly and deliberately shipping faulty merchandise, denying warranty exchange after pre-agreeing to return merchandise authorization of defective on arrival merchandise, knowingly fencing (selling stolen goods), misrepresenting the cost of shipping, using bulk shipping prices to knowingly mask much higher costing, individual return shipping, and using pseudo-accounts to make high nonpaying bids on similar items that competitors are selling. eBay has been criticized for not doing enough to combat shill bidding. There are techniques such as auction sniping , which let buyers avoid shill bidders. Fraud committed by buyers includes filing
16530-469: The site that match an item depicted in a photo, using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. On January 31, 2018, eBay announced that it would replace PayPal as its primary payments provider with Netherlands-based start-up Adyen , resulting in lower costs and more control of merchants. In May 2018, eBay acquired the Japanese e-commerce platform Qoo10 for $ 573 million. In July 2018, eBay announced support for Apple Pay as well as
16675-457: The slang term for laughter, "kek", and the name of the ancient Egyptian frog god of darkness, Kek . This deity, in turn, was associated with Pepe the Frog on internet forums. The Internet meme has its origin on the internet message forum 4chan and other chans, and the board /pol/ in particular. Kek references are closely associated with Trump and the alt-right, and the Kek-Flag was spotted at
16820-562: 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
16965-496: 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
17110-640: The supposed "oppression" of their people and troll counterprotesters by waving the "national flag of Kekistan" (modeled after the Nazi war flag , with the red replaced by green, the Iron Cross replaced by the logo for 4chan , and the swastika replaced by a rubric for KEK). This flag was prominently displayed at the 2017 Berkeley protest for free speech in mid-April, and the Unite the Right rally in August 2017, and
17255-399: 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,
17400-451: The time, the company had 30 employees, 500,000 users, and revenues of $ 4.7 million in the United States. In July 1998, eBay acquired Jump, the developer and operator of Up4Sale , an advertising-supported auction website which at the time had 27,000 separate auctions and 50,000 registered members. In September 1998, during the dot-com bubble , eBay became a public company via an initial public offering led by CFO Gary F. Bengier . Upon
17545-428: 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
17690-448: The treasure. The police are investigating this case. The company said that it is supports local police in investigations and removes listings containing stolen property. In 2021, the estate of Dr. Seuss requested from eBay, and the company complied, to ban the sale of six Dr. Seuss books due to concerns that some images contained therein were racially insensitive. This led to backlash from followers of right-wing politics and ignited
17835-600: 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
17980-534: 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
18125-539: 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
18270-463: The website were Beanie Babies , the most difficult toys to find in retail stores, accounting for 10% of all listings in 1997. Ty , the manufacturer, had set up a website whereby people could trade used Beanie Babies. However, it was overwhelmed with unsortable listings. With a user-friendly interface, eBay became popular with collectors. Meg Whitman was appointed president and CEO in March 1998. At
18415-508: The withdrawal of the book from publication and the profits being donated to the nonprofit Council on American-Islamic Relations . Initially self-published, the book was subsequently published by Post Hill Press . The book's author, a vice-principal with the Denton Independent School District , was reassigned after the publicity. Until September 2018, Social media service Gab used a Pepe-like illustration of
18560-424: 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
18705-451: 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
18850-437: 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
18995-418: 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
19140-504: Was acquired by private equity firms . In September 2020, Pierre Omidyar resigned from the board of directors, after resigning as chairman in 2015. In November 2021, eBay sold its South Korean business to Emart for $ 3 billion. In May 2022, eBay acquired a stake in Funko and became the preferred secondary marketplace for Funko. In June 2022, the company acquired KnownOrigin, a marketplace for non-fungible tokens . In August 2022,
19285-562: Was acquired by eBay Inc. by the end of 2005 changing the name to ProStores by eBay. ProStores' feature set included simple wizard-driven website, e-commerce capabilities, site design tools and e-business management. Smaller merchants could also manage the entire process of posting and selling products on eBay using the ProStores interface. It also offered inventory management, supplier communication and integration with Quickbooks and Dreamweaver . eBay announced on July 1, 2014 that support for
19430-500: Was already registered by Echo Bay Mines , a gold mining company, so Omidyar shortened it to eBay.com. In 1997, the company received $ 6.7 million in venture capital funding from Benchmark . The frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancée trade Pez candy dispensers was fabricated in 1997 by public relations manager Mary Lou Song to give the media a human-interest story and to generate publicity with toy collectors. The most purchased and sold items on
19575-411: Was also added; originally a black-and-white line drawing, Pepe became green with brown lips, sometimes in a blue shirt. "Feels Guy", or " Wojak ", originally an unrelated character typically used to express melancholy, was eventually often paired with Pepe in user-made comics or images. The "sad frog" variation entered usage on Tumblr by 2012. That same year, the "Smug Pepe" variant emerged. Versions of
19720-472: Was carried by supporters of Donald Trump during the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol . Self-identified Kekistanis have created a fictional history around the meme, including the invasion and overthrow of other fictional countries such as "Normistan" and "Cuckistan". Kekistanis have also adopted Internet personality Gordon Hurd (in his "Big Man Tyrone" persona) as their president and
19865-521: 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
20010-704: Was fake and that eBay profited from the sales of counterfeit Tiffany items that infringed on its trademark. On July 14, 2008, a Federal District Court judge ruled that eBay does not have a legal responsibility to monitor users selling counterfeit items. In 2010, the Second Circuit affirmed this decision in Tiffany (NJ) Inc. v. eBay Inc. In June 2008, a court in Paris awarded damages of €40 million to LVMH over eBay auctions of counterfeit bags, perfumes, and other items sold by non-authorized retailers and entered
20155-487: Was fired "for cause" for alleged involvement but was not charged and was hired by the local chapter of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America . Fraud committed by sellers includes selling counterfeit merchandise / bootleg recordings , shill bidding (undisclosed vendor bidding that is used to artificially inflate the price of a certain item by either the seller under an alternate account or another person in collusion with
20300-591: Was founded as AuctionWeb in California on September 3, 1995, by French-born Iranian-American computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as a hobby to make some extra money. One of the first items sold on AuctionWeb was a broken laser pointer for $ 14.83. Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the laser pointer was broken; the buyer explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers." In February 1996, Omidyar's internet service provider informed him that he would need to upgrade to
20445-497: Was listed on eBay where it reached a price of $ 99,166 before being removed from the site. In September 2016, the very first rare Pepes were mined in block 428919 on Bitcoin , pre-dating popular Ethereum -based NFTs . A Telegram chat group dedicated to discussing the Counterparty NFT was created shortly after. By 2017, a community had grown around the digital collectables , spurring developers to build platforms for
20590-570: 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
20735-441: Was one of the most-reblogged memes on Tumblr in 2015. As early as 2015, a number of Pepe variants were created by Internet trolls to associate the character with the alt-right movement. Some of the variants produced by this had Nazi Germany , Ku Klux Klan , or white power skinhead themes. During the 2016 United States presidential election , the meme was connected to Donald Trump's campaign . In October 2015, Trump retweeted
20880-473: Was preparing to explain the meaning of a Pepe pin on his jacket when he was punched in the face, with the resulting video itself becoming the source of many memes. On May 6, 2017, on Free Comic Book Day , it was announced that Furie had killed Pepe off in response to the character's continued use as a hate symbol. However, in an interview with Carol Off on her show As It Happens Furie said that despite news of Pepe's death, he will eventually return: "The end
21025-601: Was shut down in October 2008. In January 2007, eBay acquired StubHub , an online marketplace for ticket resale , for $ 310 million. In January 2008, Meg Whitman resigned as president and CEO of eBay to enter politics, and was replaced with John Donahoe . Whitman remained on the board of directors and continued to advise Donahoe through 2008. In April 2008, eBay sued Craigslist, claiming that in January 2008, Craigslist took actions that "unfairly diluted eBay's economic interest by more than 10%", making eBay lose its seat on
#895104