Comics Glossary

Comics and comic fans have been around for so long that sometimes it’s hard to get into the community if you don’t know the lingo. Comics corner has your back with this handy dandy little guide to some of comic’s biggest tropes, terms, and weird little eccentricities that have developed over the years. Each of these could be an article in and of themselves so I’m going to try and distill them down to their basic meanings. Some may be obvious but I’ll also provide some examples to help you through the basics.

Crossover Events/Event Comics - Made more popular in recent years, event comics are often company wide crossovers that involve a huge threat that needs every hero to join in to stop. Usually it involves a miniseries as well as spreading to particular issues of each character or teams involved. Most usually end up changing the status quo of the company, for a time. Also, many of these just like to use the words Infinity, Crisis, or War in there titles. Don't ask me, I didn't write them.

Examples: Infinity Gauntlet, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Secret Wars, Countdown

Team Ups - Much smaller than a crossover event, team ups usually are either single issue or series where a characters or teams joins up with someone they usually never meet. Almost always they end up fighting one and other before they join forces to beat the villain/threat of the day. Don’t ask me how that trope got started, but it seems every team up the heroes have to throw down.

Examples: Spider-Man/Deadpool, World’s Finest, Super Sons, Deadpool Team Up

Continuity – The current past and present of a universe’s heroes or story-lines. I say current because that can, and does change all the time. And I mean all the time! See the terms below.

Retcons - Retroactive continuity, or retcons if you’re nasty, are some of the most divisive parts of being a comic fan. Simplest explanation is that a particular event happens, and then further down the line said event is somehow changed, either saying details were left out, new things were added, or the event is explained away as never happening.

Examples: Jean Grey’s First Resurrection, Infinite Crisis

Reboots - A reboot is usually a company wide event that changes and restarts key properties, usually creating new origins. Usually a reboot happens after an event series and is meant to clean up conflicting continuity or to help new readers with a jumping on point. For better or worse depending upon who you talk to.

Examples: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Flashpoint/New 52

Issue 0 - I made mention of this before but comics don’t always start at issue one. Issue 0s act like a backstory, prelude, or in some cases an origin for a new series or character. Sometimes these may also l be labeled as ½ issues. Some are also provided on free comic book day as well!

Examples: Blackest Night Issue #0, Avengers vs X-Men Issue #0

Woman in the Fridge/ Fridging - Women in comics have it bad. Founded and popularized by Gail Simone, before she became an accomplished and acclaimed comic book author herself, the woman in the fridge is a trope in comics is where female characters often die or have tragic events happen to them just for the sake of either tragedy itself, or to influence their male counterparts to avenge them.

Examples: Too many to list here. Check out Gail Simone’s original essay and site here.

(The Origin of the term. Apropos, no?)

Holographic/Cover Variants - Popularized in the 90’s during the comic boom when people thought comics would be worth loads in the future, very similar to the Beanie Baby craze, variants are just specialized covered. These covers are done for certain gimmicks or tie ins, released in limited quantities only to certain stores, or given out at events. The issues all have the same content, just the cover is different. Usually, just go with the one you like best.

Examples: X-Men #1 Volume 2

Trade Paperback (TPB) - The trade paperback is great for new readers and those who want to catch up on current stories. These large books often collect 5-10 issues of a comic usually collecting a complete story-line or event.

Examples: The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes

Graphic Novel- While a graphic novel can be a a TPB, or a collected edition, most original graphic novels are a full length book, sometimes dealing with a lot more adult subject matter but always contain original stories that are not collected in actual issues elsewhere.

Examples: Persepolis, Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Batman: The Killing Joke

Mini Series - A limited series, usually around 3-9 issues that tells a complete story for a character. Sometimes these can be an origin, a comic focusing on one member of a larger team, or a jumping point to launch a new comic.

Examples: Deadpool (1994 Mini Series) , Batgirl Year One

Maxi Series - Similar to a mini series and much less used but a Maxi Series usually spans 12 issues or more of a single story with a planned end.

Examples: All Star Superman, Batman: The Long Halloween

Multiverse - Usually with large publishers, there isn’t just one universe. Marvel and DC both have untold numbers of alternate realities, depending upon a companies current policy. With DC there was a point when all alternate realities were destroyed after the first Crisis event. Usually, the main Marvel universe is designated 616, whereas the current main universe for DC Is Prime Earth.

Examples: Marvel Multiverse, DC Multiverse

Annuals - A giant sized issue of a comic series released once a year. Can continue a comic’s current story-line, tie into a long running event, have multiple small stories told, or be an original one shot.

Examples: Really, there are just TOO many to list here as each long running series has their own annual.

What Ifs/Elseworlds - Comics that explore alternate versions of canon events that show consequences if things happened differently . What If’s are usually Marvel's stories dealing with this trope while DC has its Elseworlds inprint.

Examples: Earth X, Superman Red Sun, Kingdom Come