Read the passage and full each gap with one suitable word.

The technique of telling a story through a sequence of pictures, though associate with modern cartoons, was (1) _____ fact in use about 500 years ago. Some wonderful examples of these early cartoons can now be seen at an exhibition in London, all of which were produced for wealthy clients.

(2) _____ makes this art form so interesting is that it flourished in one small part of Europe – Flanders, which today is a region in northern Belgium. Many of the tiny pictures were a little larger than postage stamps. They (3) _____ painted by hand in books about the size of a modern paperback. The artists, whose skills were rewarded by high salaries, worked slowly, and the buyers sometimes (4) _____ to waited years for the work to be completed. In the (5) _____ of one four-volume example, the buyer waited for (6) _____ than a decade. While the majority (7) _____ these cartoons depict religious stories, other subjects are illustrated, (8) _____. Episodes from history were popular, and (9) _____ were fairy tales. And yet the artists had visual style that seems oddly modern. They made full use of perspectives and techniques familiar to us today from films, such as following a long shot (10) _____ a dramatic close-up.

The technique of telling a story through a sequence of pictures, though associate with modern cartoons, was (1) ___ fact in use about 500 years ago.