That wasn't targeted just at comments on this post at all, but rather at all of the discussions about OTW, AO3, Fanlore, and sequential art terminology. :)
One meaning of 'comics' is superhero comics as opposed to other sequential art. Another meaning is all cartooning or all cartooning that's in a strip or book format. The word is used a number of different ways in English. It's simply not true that it always means superhero comics unless you're only talking to certain groups of fans. (In my experience, often English-speaking manga fans or indie/high brow US comics fans who use 'graphic novel', though from what you say, the comics=superheroes thing is used elsewhere too.) English terminology like 'cartoon' and 'comic' just aren't used consistently the same way by everyone.
Getting away from English, there are lots of tradition or region-specific terms for certain types of comics. I'm not trying to deny that. But it's also true that 'comics' is used in a lot of different languages for various different meanings. Filipino comics are 'komiks', for example. 'Komikku' is a loan word in Japanese, used by Japanese people, about Japanese comics. It's not the primary word I'd use in conversation to tell a friend I like to read manga; it's still a word of Japanese that's in active use.
I am not arguing that this makes 'comics' a good category on Fanlore or that anime fandom should adopt the word 'comics'. I am saying that actual usage is way more complicated than comics=superheroes.
no subject
One meaning of 'comics' is superhero comics as opposed to other sequential art. Another meaning is all cartooning or all cartooning that's in a strip or book format. The word is used a number of different ways in English. It's simply not true that it always means superhero comics unless you're only talking to certain groups of fans. (In my experience, often English-speaking manga fans or indie/high brow US comics fans who use 'graphic novel', though from what you say, the comics=superheroes thing is used elsewhere too.) English terminology like 'cartoon' and 'comic' just aren't used consistently the same way by everyone.
Getting away from English, there are lots of tradition or region-specific terms for certain types of comics. I'm not trying to deny that. But it's also true that 'comics' is used in a lot of different languages for various different meanings. Filipino comics are 'komiks', for example. 'Komikku' is a loan word in Japanese, used by Japanese people, about Japanese comics. It's not the primary word I'd use in conversation to tell a friend I like to read manga; it's still a word of Japanese that's in active use.
I am not arguing that this makes 'comics' a good category on Fanlore or that anime fandom should adopt the word 'comics'. I am saying that actual usage is way more complicated than comics=superheroes.