The European, American, and Japanese comics traditions have followed different paths. Europeans have seen their tradition as beginning with the Swiss Rodolphe Töpffer from as early as 1827 and Americans have seen the origin of theirs in Richard F. Outcault's 1890s newspaper strip The Yellow Kid, though many Americans have come to recognize Töpffer's precedence. Japan had a long prehistory of satirical cartoons and comics leading up to the World War II era. The ukiyo-e artist Hokusai popularized the Japanese term for comics and cartooning, manga, in the early 19th century. In the post-war era modern Japanese comics began to flourish when Osamu Tezuka produced a prolific body of work. Towards the close of the 20th century, these three traditions converged in a trend towards book-length comics: the comics album in Europe, the tankōbon[a] in Japan, and the graphic novel in the English-speaking countries. COUNT 4
QSN1 Who is best known for being the first comics creator in Europe? ANS1 Rodolphe Töpffer QSN2 Who is considered to be the first comic creator in America? ANS2 Richard F. Outcault QSN3 When did Outcault's The Yellow Kid appear in newspapers? ANS3 1890s QSN4 What style of comics did Japan have a long history with prior to World War II? ANS4 satirical