Possible explanation for why there is no term for a comic book writer / artist

The US comic industry is structured differently than the Japanese manga industry. There really isn't a US historical precedent for an auteur in comics, like say Osamu Tezuka in Japan. Though, the US industry does have a tradition of writer / artists for comic strips and perhaps explains why the term cartoonist can imply writing and drawing (and artistic ownership).

Since in the US, the writing and drawing duties are usually separated so I guess that explains why there isn't a single term for a single person that does both (and has artistic ownership like an auteur).

So, when someone does both, wikipedia just says comic book writer / artist.

I like the idea of "comic book auteur" because it does imply writing, drawing and creative ownership, but it's also more of a subjective recognition than a job title...

Hideo Kojima (小島 秀夫 Kojima Hideo, born August 24, 1963) is a Japanese video game designer, screenwriter, director, and game producer. Regarded as an auteur of video games

au·teur
ōˈtər/
noun
noun: auteur; plural noun: auteurs

a filmmaker whose personal influence and artistic control over a movie are so great that the filmmaker is regarded as the author of the movie.

an artist (such as a musician or writer) whose style and practice are distinctive

A film director who influences their films so much that they rank as their author.

Auteur theory, theory of filmmaking in which the director is viewed as the major creative force in a motion picture. Arising in France in the late 1940s, the auteur theory—as it was dubbed by the American film critic Andrew Sarris—was an outgrowth of the cinematic theories of André Bazin and Alexandre Astruc. A foundation stone of the French cinematic movement known as the nouvelle vague, or New Wave, the theory of director-as-author was principally advanced in Bazin’s periodical Cahiers du cinéma (founded in 1951). Two of its theoreticians—François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard—later became major directors of the French New Wave.

The auteur theory, which was derived largely from Astruc’s elucidation of the concept of caméra-stylo(“camera-pen”), holds that the director, who oversees all audio and visual elements of the motion picture, is more to be considered the “author” of the movie than is the writer of the screenplay. In other words, such fundamental visual elements as camera placement, blocking, lighting, and scene length, rather than plot line, convey the message of the film. Supporters of the auteur theory further contend that the most cinematically successful films will bear the unmistakable personal stamp of the director. - Encyclopedia Britannica