, a
comic-strip format, generally consists of
gag comic strips within four
panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom. (They also sometimes run right-to-left horizontally or use a hybrid 2x2 style, depending on the layout requirements of the publication in which they appear.) Though the word
yonkoma comes from the
Japanese, the style also exists outside Japan in other
Asian countries as well as in the
English-speaking market.