Five Images of Sequential Art Throughout History and Mediums

I have always found the prevalence of sequential art peppered throughout human history to be squarely at odds with a contemporary "understanding" that the sequential art medium is to be relegated to the "lower" art forms of social convention. The following images are connected by a common theme: they all tell a story in a visually dynamic construct using sequential images to impart information to the viewer/reader.

This Roman frieze depicts the celebratory triumph of Octavian Augustus - becoming the first emperor of the new Roman Empire.

Egyptian hieroglyphics are among the oldest forms of sequential art known to man, utilizing complex symbolic imagery to tell stories and relay messages. The fundamental element of ancient Egyptian is a pictoral language system - the pictures literally make the words.

This is a modern comic book layout. The illustrations were done by Jim Lee, the man who reinvented the aesthetics of the X-Men and breathed new life into the comic industry in the early nineties, after long stagnation throughout the eighties. The visual composition is far more complex both in dynamic use of distance and image size, as well as the overlapping of images and panels to create and interesting and visually appealing story.

Hieroglyphics are old, but these paintings on cave walls in Spain are by far the oldest evidence of sequential art as a means of imparting messages and celebrating triumphs. These image series are part of a larger construct that commemorates a great hunt, thousands of years before the first comic book was put into print.

This is a Thor comic (circa mid-1960's) drawn by Jack Kirby. Kirby was one of the original innovators in the development of mainstream comic art. He utilized a wider array of emotion and stylistic design in constructing the comics, reinventing the concept of super hero aesthetics in the process.

Andrew Jackson's struggle with the emerging central bank of the United States in the 1830s is depicted in this very old political cartoon. Like the Hieroglyphics, frieze, comics, and cave paintings above, this cartoon tells a story in a single shot, imparting an opinion/message and recounting a contemporary issue all at once. Political cartoons have developed much in the last 180 plus years since this old classic, but the fundamental tenants of the sequential art medium, which help define this image, have remained relatively constant.