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• The Marvel Comics Glossary

The Marvel Comics Glossary

Is your brain stuffed with more Marvel knowledge than you can handle yet? No?! Great, because we're not done! Time to bone up on your Marvel terminology with our official glossary!

Artist: Often credited to the penciler, or artist who draws a story in pencil. The artist is responsible for the initial and most recognizable aspects of a comic's look. Can also refer to a painter.

Avengers Assemble: The rallying cry of the Super Hero team The Avengers.

Colorist: The colorist adds color art to the penciled and inked art. This is often done digitally using a computer.

Comics: The general catch-all for all kinds of published Marvel Comics, including Digital Comics, Motion Comics and Comic Books.

Comic Book: Printed comic books; the single issues most often recognized as comics.

Creator: The artists and writers responsible for producing a comic.

Digital Comics: Digital versions of comic books, available through Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited or as downloads through the Marvel Comics app on iTunes, Sony's PlayStation Portable and more.

Editor: The editor is the central figure in creating a comic. Working with the writer, artist, inker, colorist and letterer, the editor steers the creation of a comic from beginning planning stages through sending the issue off to be printed.

Inker: The inker adds depth, weight and shading to a penciler's initial linework. Much more than mere tracing, the inker's work enhances the initial art.

Letterer: The letterer adds the dialogue created by the writer to the comic page.

Motion Comics: While remaining true to the heritage of panel-by-panel graphic storytelling, Marvel Motion Comics incorporate groundbreaking graphics and sensational soundscapes to bring life to Marvel Comics like never before.

Mutants: Different from other super-powered individuals, mutants are born with an X-gene which grants them special abilities. These abilities usually manifest themselves during adolescence and times of great stress.

Series: Every comic issue is part of a series. A series can be limited and run for a designated number of issues, like SIEGE which included four issues, or may be long-running such as AMAZING SPIDER-MAN which has over 600 issues and counting.

Stoyline: Comics often feature serialized stories that take place over several issues whether within a single series or across several series. The connected story is called a storyline or storyarc.

Trade Paperback: A softcover collection reprinting several comic books; sometimes also referred to as a graphic novel.

Writer: Tasked with creating the plot and/or dialogue of an issue, the writer creates a script for the artist to follow.