anthology:a collection of related comics. For example, it could be an anthology of all comics by one person, with the same subject or from the same publisher. Or, it could just be a collection of comics by people who know each other.

blue pencil: a pencil with blue lead--used to draw first drafts of comics because it disappears once it is painted over. Originally, blue pencil lines would disappear in photocopiers, printers and scanners, but since technology has gotten so darn good, blue pencil lines now show up.

breakdown artist: the person in a comic studio whose job is to lay out each frame by planning out the text and images. More recently, this job has been done mainly by the script writers or pencillers.

caption: a brief explanation or title added on to an illustration.

character: is a person (or personality) in a story.

colorist: the person whose job is to add color to the line art of a comic. In the past, this was done with color-separations, then airbrush and watercolor, and now most colorists color digitally using Adobe Photoshop. Colorists can work freelance, full time for a studio or for a color studio that is hired by comic studios.

comic book: a book of comics (usually either one long story or many multi-page stories within one book)

comic con: shorthand for "comic convention," which is an industry and fan gathering of people in the comic world. Comic cons are known to have people dressed up in crazy costumes and famous comic artists who usually do signings and lectures.

comic strip: a comic that is in strip form, meaning a line of panels next to each other. Usually comic strips have their own short story using recurring characters.

comix: coined in the 1970s by underground comic artists as a way to separate themselves from the mainstream comics of the past and present. They claimed to create "comix" (as opposed to "comics") that were more real, emotional and artistic.

dialogue: the back and forth conversation between characters in a story.

editor: in a comic studio, this is the person whose job is to assemble and manage the entire team of people working on one project.

formatting: the way in which something is arranged or organized

Golden Age: describes an era of American comic books. It refers to comics created roughly between 1938 and 1952, beginning with the first appearance of "Superman" and ending with Will Eisner's "The Spirit." These comics were mostly superhero, crime and horror stories, but also included comics such as "Archie" and Disney's "Tarzan."

graphic novel: a type of long-form comic book. It is usually one complete comic story in a full size book. Collections of stories can also be in graphic novel form.

Harvey Award: an award given for excellence in comics, sort of like the Academy Awards of the comic world.

inker: A person in the comic industry who is given the rough drawings from the penciller and then uses black ink to create a final drawing, which is then handed off to the colorist. This job is less glamorous than a penciller and often goes unrecognized or mocked as being a "tracer." However, an inker makes many creative decisions for the final look of a drawing.

letterer: A person whose job is to add the words, sound effects and other written aspects of a comic, either by hand or using a program like Adobe Photoshop. This person uses the personalities of letterforms and layout to set the tone of speech for the characters in the comic.

pacing: the rate at which a story happens or develops

penciller: the person in a comic studio whose job is to draw out the first pencil draft of a comic, using the script from the script writer or editor.

sequential art: a modern term for "comics" that was created when the art form evolved into more than just humorous stories. Will Eisner defines this term as "...the arrangement of pictures or images and words to narrate a story or dramatize an idea."

scripter: a person in a comic studio whose job is to write the story of a comic. Independent studios and self-publishing comic artists often do this themselves.

Silver Age: describes an era of American comic books created roughly between 1954 and the early 1970s. Because of the 1954 Comics Code that cracked down on violence in comics, writers were forced to focus more on complex characters and storytelling (such as Science Fiction and Surrealism), instead of battles and superheroes. Some famous comics from this time include the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and Spiderman.

single issue: comics that are serialized (the story is split up into multiple issues released over time) come in single issues. Eventually, publishers will usually collect all the single issues of one story into an anthology and re-release them as a full book. However, single issues are considered more valuable, as they are the original printing of a story and each issue has its own cover art that is lost in the anthology release.

syndicate: a company that acts like an agent for a comic artist who wants to have her work syndicated. They edit, package, promote, print and sell comics by creating contracts between the artist and newspapers, magazines and other print outlets.

syndication: comics created and printed on a regular basis, usually daily or weekly, with the artist under contract to create his or her comic for a certain amount of time. Examples of this are comic strips printed daily in newspapers.

visual style: the specific way the visuals of a comic look, including type of line, colors, repeated imagery, visual references, etc.

word bubble or balloon: a shape used to denote speech, usually placed above a character to show who is speaking, with the words placed inside the bubble. Similar to a "thought bubble," which denotes a character's thoughts.