Comics & Animation

Comics and animation are two of the most influential storytelling forms of the last century, and both spent much of it being treated as disposable. This category covers the characters who outgrew their origins, the studios that built the industries around them, and the techniques, cel animation, stop motion, digital, that made each era look the way it did. It moves between American, European and Japanese traditions, since all three developed largely in parallel. The explanations note what was technically or commercially new about each landmark, which is usually why it survived.