Comic books are books with comics, with pictures that make a story.
Comics were started in the 1800s, a century which saw the development of modern colour printing and many other inventions. Wood engraving was a cheaper type of illustration which was widely used in the 19th century. These things are important because they created an understanding that illustrations are sometimes just as important as words.
The first comic strip appeared in France in 1889, and in the U.S.A. in 1897.
Some later examples from the U.S.A. are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men. Some comic companies are DC Comics and Marvel Comics.
Since the middle 20th century many comic books are about superheroes, but many others are about other things. DC and Marvel comic books introduced Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Justice League, Teen Titans, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. Very often, characters in books, video games, movies and television appear in comics, and sometimes comic book characters are used in movies, TV shows or video games.
There are three different kinds of comic books: single issues that are usually 32 pages long are called comic books. These are printed and bound like a magazine, with the pages folded and stapled together through the centerfold. Several comics may be put together in a trade paperback. These have spines like a book and are glued together. A bigger comic book that is bound like a trade paperback but is all new, instead of collecting older comics, is called a graphic novel.
In English speaking countries, you read the speech bubbles left to right. Then you read the row below it left to right. This is different from Japanese comics, called manga. Some famous comics are:
Superman
Batman
Spider-Man
Wonder Woman
Hulk
Captain America
Fantastic Four
X-Men
The Flash
Iron Man
Spawn
The Beano
The Adventures of Tintin
Sailor Moon
Naruto
Death Note
Dragon Ball Z
Big two comic book publishers
DC Comics (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Shazam and other DC characters) Marvel Comics (Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and other Marvel characters)