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American comic book

February 14, 2023

An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics, which included the debut of the superhero Superman. This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II. After the war, while superheroes were marginalized, the comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror, crime, science fiction and romance became popular. The 1950s saw a gradual decline, due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television[1] and the impact of the Comics Code Authority.[1] The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into the 21st century.

American comics
German refugee child at N.Y. Children's Colony, 1942, reading a Superman comic book.
Earliest publications1842
LanguagesEnglish

Since 1934 and since 1939 two most comic book publishers of DC Comics and Marvel Comics. DC and Marvel comic book publishers, when, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hulk, Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four and many of the company's heroes began appearing in stories together, DC and Marvel characters inhabited a shared continuity that, decades later, was dubbed the "DC Universe" and "Marvel Universe" by fans.

Some fans collect comic books, helping drive up their value. Some have sold for more than US$1 million. Comic shops cater to fans, selling comic books, plastic sleeves ("bags") and cardboard backing ("boards") to protect the comic books.

An American comic book is also known as a floppy comic. It is typically thin and stapled, unlike traditional books.[2] American comic books are one of the three major comic book schools globally, along with Japanese manga and the Franco-Belgian comic books.[citation needed]

Format

The typical size and page count of comics have varied over the decades, generally tending toward smaller formats and fewer pages.

Historically, the size was derived from folding one sheet of Quarter Imperial paper (15 in × 11 in or 380 mm × 280 mm), to print 4 pages which were each 7+1⁄2 by 11 inches (190 mm × 280 mm).[citation needed] This also meant that the page count had to be some multiple of 4.

In recent decades, standard comics have been about 6+5⁄8 by 10+1⁄4 inches (170 mm × 260 mm), and usually 32 pages.

The format of the American comic book has been adapted periodically outside the United States, especially in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Creating comics

While comics can be the work of a single creator, the labor of creating them is frequently divided between a number of specialists. There may be a separate writer and artist, or there may be separate artists for the characters and backgrounds.[3]

Particularly in superhero comic books,[4] the art may be divided between:

  • a writer, who plots the story and writes the dialogue
  • a penciller (usually termed the artist), who, working exclusively in pencils, generally lays out the panel breakdown on the page, and draws the actual artwork in each panel (but layouts may be handled by a separate artist), and who, particularly at Marvel Comics, may also co-plot the storyline
  • an inker, working exclusively in ink, who finishes the artwork ready for the printing press.[5]
  • a colorist, who adds the color to the pages (but this usually involves preparing four individual separations in cyan, magenta, yellow and black for the CMYK printing process, not a literal application of those colors to the inked pages)[6]
  • a letterer, who adds the captions and speech balloons (from the script prepared by the writer).[7]

The process begins with the writer (often in collaboration with one or more others, who may include the editor and/or the penciller) coming up with a story idea or concept, then working it up into a plot and storyline, finalizing it with a script. After the art is prepared, the dialogue and captions are lettered onto the page from the script, and an editor may have the final say (but, once ready for printing, it is difficult and expensive to make any major changes), before the comic is sent to the printer.[8]

The creative team, the writer and artist(s), may work for a comic book publisher who handles the marketing, advertising, and other logistics. A wholesale distributor, such as Diamond Comic Distributors, the largest in the US, distributes the printed product to retailers.

Another aspect of the process involved in successful comics is the interaction between the readers/fans and the creator(s). Fan art and letters to the editor were commonly printed in the back of the book, until, in the early 21st century, various Internet forums started to replace this tradition.

Independent and alternative comics

Main article: Alternative comics

The growth of comic specialty stores helped permit several waves of independently-produced comics, beginning in the mid-1970s. Some early examples of these – generally referred to as "independent" or "alternative" comics – such as Big Apple Comix, continued somewhat in the tradition of the earlier underground comics, while others, such as Star Reach, resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned ventures or by a single artist.

This so-called "small press" scene (a term derived from the limited quantity of comics printed in each press-run) continued to grow and diversify, with a number of small publishers in the 1990s changing the format and distribution of their comic books to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The "minicomics" form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing, arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small presses.

History

Main article: History of American comics

Proto-comic books

 
The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats (1897)

The development of the modern American comic book happened in stages. Publishers had collected comic strips in hardcover book form as early as 1842, with The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, a collection of English-language newspaper inserts originally published in Europe as the 1837 book Histoire de M. Vieux Bois by Rodolphe Töpffer.[9]

The G. W. Dillingham Company published the first known proto-comic-book magazine in the US, The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats, in 1897. A hardcover book, it reprinted material—primarily the October 18, 1896, to January 10, 1897, sequence titled "McFadden's Row of Flats"—from cartoonist Richard F. Outcault's newspaper comic strip Hogan's Alley, starring the Yellow Kid. The 196-page, square-bound, black-and-white publication, which also includes introductory text by E. W. Townsend, measured 5 by 7 inches (130 mm × 180 mm) and sold for 50 cents. The neologism "comic book" appears on the back cover.[9] Despite the publication of a series of related Hearst comics soon afterward,[9] the first monthly proto-comic book, Embee Distributing Company's Comic Monthly, did not appear until 1922. Produced in an 8+1⁄2-by-9-inch (220 mm × 230 mm) format, it reprinted black-and-white newspaper comic strips and lasted a year.[9][10]

The Funnies and Funnies on Parade

 
Comic Monthly #1 (Jan. 1922)

In 1929, Dell Publishing (founded by George T. Delacorte, Jr.) published The Funnies, described by the Library of Congress as "a short-lived newspaper tabloid insert"[11] and not to be confused with Dell's 1936 comic-book series of the same name. Historian Ron Goulart describes the 16-page, four-color periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than a true comic book. But it did offer all original material and was sold on newsstands".[12] The Funnies ran for 36 issues, published Saturdays through October 16, 1930.

In 1933, salesperson Maxwell Gaines, sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg, and owner George Janosik of the Waterbury, Connecticut, company Eastern Color Printing—which printed, among other things, Sunday-paper comic-strip sections – produced Funnies on Parade as a way to keep their presses running. Like The Funnies, but only eight pages,[13] this appeared as a newsprint magazine. Rather than using original material, however, it reprinted in color several comic strips licensed from the McNaught Syndicate, the Ledger Syndicate, and the Bell-McClure Syndicate.[14] These included such popular strips as cartoonist Al Smith's Mutt and Jeff, Ham Fisher's Joe Palooka, and Percy Crosby's Skippy. Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on newsstands, but rather sent it out free as a promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products. The company printed 10,000 copies.[13] The promotion proved a success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for Canada Dry soft drinks, Kinney Shoes, Wheatena cereal and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000.[12][15]

Famous Funnies and New Fun

 
Eastern Color Press' Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics (Eastern Color Printing, 1933).

Also in 1933, Gaines and Wildenberg collaborated with Dell to publish the 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, which historians consider the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing".[12] Distribution took place through the Woolworth's department-store chain, though it remains unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to "sticking a ten-cent pricetag [sic] on the comic books".[12]

When Delacorte declined to continue with Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934), a 68-page giant selling for 10¢. Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company, it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression, selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print, although putting Eastern Color more than $4,000 in the red.[12] That quickly changed, with the book turning a $30,000 profit each issue starting with #12.[12] Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch a new mass medium.

When the supply of available existing comic strips began to dwindle, early comic books began to include a small amount of new, original material in comic-strip format. Inevitably, a comic book of all-original material, with no comic-strip reprints, debuted. Fledgling publisher Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications, which would evolve into DC Comics, to release New Fun #1 (Feb. 1935). This came out as a tabloid-sized, 10-by-15-inch (250 mm × 380 mm), 36-page magazine with a card-stock, non-glossy cover. An anthology, it mixed humor features such as the funny animal comic "Pelion and Ossa" and the college-set "Jigger and Ginger" with such dramatic fare as the Western strip "Jack Woods" and the "yellow-peril" adventure "Barry O'Neill", featuring a Fu Manchu-styled villain, Fang Gow. Issue #6 (Oct. 1935) brought the comic-book debut of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the future creators of Superman. The two began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval", doing the first two installments before turning it over to others and, under the pseudonyms "Leger and Reuths", they created the supernatural-crimefighter adventure Doctor Occult.[16]

Superheroes and the Golden Age

Main article: Golden Age of Comic Books
 
Superman made his debut in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). Cover art by Joe Shuster.

In 1938, after Wheeler-Nicholson's partner Harry Donenfeld had ousted him, National Allied editor Vin Sullivan pulled a Siegel/Shuster creation from the slush pile and used it as the cover feature (but only as a backup story)[17] in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The duo's alien hero, Superman, was dressed in a cape and colorful tights. The costume, influenced by Flash Gordon's attire from 1934, evoked circus aerial performers and circus strongmen, and Superman became the archetype of the "superheroes" that would follow.

In early 1939, the success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications (the future DC Comics) to request more superheroes for its titles. In response, Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman, who debuted in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939).[18] The period from the late 1930s through roughly the end of the 1940s is referred to by comic book experts as the Golden Age of comic books. It featured extremely large print-runs, with Action Comics and Captain Marvel selling over half a million copies a month each;[19] comics provided very popular cheap entertainment during World War II especially among soldiers, but with erratic quality in stories, art, and printing. In the early 1940s, over 90 percent of girls and boys from seven to seventeen read comic books.[20]

In 1941, H. G. Peter and William Moulton Marston, created the female superhero character Wonder Woman, who debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) and Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman in 1942.

MLJ's Pep Comics debuted as a superhero, science-fiction and adventure anthology, but after the title introduced the teen-humor feature "Archie" in 1942, the feature's popularity would soon eclipse all other MLJ properties, leading the publisher to rename itself Archie Comics.

Following the end of World War II, the popularity of superheroes greatly diminished,[21] while the comic-book industry itself expanded.[22] A few well-established characters such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman continued to sell, but DC canceled series starring the Flash and Green Lantern and converted All-American Comics and All-Star Comics to Western titles, and Star Spangled Comics to a war title. The publisher also launched such science-fiction titles as Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space. Martin Goodman's Timely Comics, also known as Atlas, canceled its three formerly high-selling superhero titles starring Captain America (created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby), the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner, briefly reviving the characters in 1954 only to cancel them again shortly thereafter to focus on horror, science fiction, teen humor, romance and Western genres. Romance comics became strongly established, with Prize Comics' Young Romance and with Young Love, the latter written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; those two titles' popularity led to an explosion of romance comics from many publishers.

Dell's comic books accounted for a third of all North American sales in the early 1950s. Its 90 titles averaged a circulation of 800,000 copies per title for every issue, with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories peaking at a circulation of three million a month in 1953. Eleven of the top 25 bestselling comic books at the time were Dell titles.[23] Out of 40 publishers active in 1954, Dell, Atlas (i.e. Marvel), DC and Archie were the major players in volume of sales. By this point, former big-time players Fawcett and Fiction house had ceased publishing.[24]

Circulation peaked in 1952 when 3,161 issues of various comics were published with a total circulation of about one billion copies.[note 1] After 1952, the number of individual releases dropped every year for the rest of the decade, with the biggest falls occurring in 1955–56.[25] The rapid decline followed the introduction of the Comics Code Authority in the wake of Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency, which, ignoring the social problems caused by the wars of 1939–45 and 1950–52, sought to blame those problems solely on comics.[26] While there was only a 9% drop in the number of releases between 1952 and 1953, circulation plummeted by an estimated 30–40%.[27] The cause of the decrease is not entirely clear. Television had begun to provide competition with comic books, but there was also a rise in conservative values with the election in 1952 of Dwight Eisenhower. The Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring body founded to curb the juvenile delinquency alleged to be due to the crime and horror comics, has often been targeted as the culprit, but sales had begun to drop the year before it was founded.[28] The major publishers were not seriously harmed by the drop in sales, but smaller publishers were killed off: EC (the prime target of the CCA) stopped publishing crime and horror titles, which was their entire business, and were forced out of the market altogether, turning to magazine publishing instead.[29] By 1960, output had stabilized at about 1,500 releases per year (representing a greater than fifty percent decline since 1952).[25]

The dominant comic book genres of the post-CCA 1950s were funny animals, humor, romance, television properties, and Westerns. Detective, fantasy, teen and war comics were also popular, but adventure, superheroes, and comicstrip reprints were in decline,[29] with Famous Funnies seeing its last issue in 1955.[30]

The Comics Code

Main article: Comics Code Authority

In the late 1940s and early 1950s horror and true-crime comics flourished, many containing graphic violence and gore. Due to such content, moral crusaders became concerned with the impact of comics on the youth, and were blaming comic books for everything from poor grades to juvenile delinquency to drug abuse.[note 2] This perceived indecency resulted in the collection and public burning of comic books in Spencer, West Virginia and Binghamton, New York in 1948, which received national attention and triggered other public burnings by schools and parent groups across the country.[31] Some cities passed laws banning comic books entirely. In 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published his book Seduction of the Innocent, where he discussed what he perceived as sadistic and homosexual undertones in horror comics and superhero comics respectively, and singled out EC Comics due to its success as a publisher of these genres. In response to growing public anxiety, the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency held hearings on comic book indecency from April to June 1954.

In the wake of these troubles, a group of comics publishers, led by National and Archie, founded the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the Comics Code, intended as "the most stringent code in existence for any communications media".[32] A Comic Code Seal of Approval soon appeared on virtually every comic book carried on newsstands. EC, after experimenting with less controversial comic books, dropped its comics line to focus on the satirical Mad—a former comic book which was now converted to a magazine format in order to circumvent the Code.[33]

Silver Age of Comic Books

Main article: Silver Age of Comic Books
 
Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956), the launch of comics' Silver Age. Cover art by Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert.

DC started a revival in superhero comics in 1956 with the October 1956 revival of its former golden age top-seller The Flash in Showcase #4. Many comics historians peg this as the beginning of the Silver Age of American comic books, although Marvel (at this point still known variously as both Timely and Atlas) had started reviving some of its old superheroes as early as 1954.[21] The new Flash is taken symbolically as the beginning of a new era, although his success was not immediate. It took two years for the Flash to receive his own title, and Showcase itself was only a bimonthly book, though one which was to introduce a large number of enduring characters. By 1959, the slowly building superhero revival had become clear to DC's competitors. Archie jumped on board that year, and Charlton joined the bandwagon in 1960.[34]

In 1961, at the demand of publisher Martin Goodman (who was reacting to a surge in sales of National's newest superhero title The Justice League of America), writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Atlas, which now re-named itself Marvel Comics. With an innovation that changed the comic-book industry, Fantastic Four #1 initiated a naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner demons - heroes who squabbled and worried about the likes of paying the rent. In contrast to the super-heroic do-gooder archetypes of established superheroes at the time, this ushered in a revolution. With dynamic artwork by Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, and others, complementing Lee's colorful, catchy prose, the new style became very popular among teenagers and college students who could identify with the angsty and irreverent nature of characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men and Fantastic Four. This was a time of social upheaval, giving birth to a new generation of hip and more counter-cultural youngsters, who found a voice in these books. Because Marvel's books were distributed by its rival, National, from 1957 until 1968 Marvel were restricted to publishing only eight titles a month.[35][36] This was a cloud with a silver lining, and proved the making of Marvel, allowing the company to concentrate its brightest and best talent on a small number of titles, at a time when its rivals were spreading their creative talents very thin across a huge number of monthly titles. The quality of Marvel's product soared in consequence, and sales soared with it.

 
The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). Cover art by Jack Kirby.

While the creators of comics were given credit in the early days of comic books, this practice had all but vanished during the 1940s and 1950s. Comic books were produced by comic book companies rather than by individual creators (EC being a notable exception, a company that not only credited its creative teams but also featured creators' biographies). Even comic books by revered and collectible artists like Carl Barks were not known by their creator's name—Disney comics by Barks were signed "Walt Disney". In the 1960s, DC, and then Marvel, began to include writer and artist credits on the comics that they published.[37]

Other notable companies publishing comics during the Silver Age included the American Comics Group (ACG), Charlton, Dell, Gold Key, Harvey Comics, and Tower.

Underground comix

Main article: Underground comix

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were featured, as the anti-authoritarian underground comix made waves in 1968, following the publication of Robert Crumb's irregularly published Zap Comix. Frank Stack had published The Adventures of Jesus as far back as 1962, and there had been a trickle of such publications until Crumb's success.[38] What had started as a self-publishing scene soon grew into a minor industry, with Print Mint, Kitchen Sink, Last Gasp and Apex Novelties among the more well-known publishers. These comix were often extremely graphic, and largely distributed in head shops that flourished in the countercultural era.[39]

Legal issues and paper shortages led to a decline in underground comix output from its 1972 peak. In 1974 the passage of anti-paraphernalia laws in the US led to the closing of most head shops, which throttled underground comix distribution. Its readership also dried up as the hippie movement itself petered out in the mid-1970s.[40]

Bronze Age of Comic Books

Main article: Bronze Age of Comic Books

Wizard originally used the phrase "Bronze Age", in 1995, to denote the Modern Horror age. But as of 2009 historians and fans use "Bronze Age" to describe the period of American mainstream comics history that began with the period of concentrated changes to comic books in 1970. Unlike the Golden/Silver Age transition, the Silver/Bronze transition involves many continuing books, making the transition less sharp.

The Modern Age

Main article: Modern Age of Comic Books

The development of the "direct market" distribution system in the 1970s coincided with the appearance of comic-book specialty stores across North America. These specialty stores were a haven for more distinct voices and stories, but they also marginalized comics in the public eye. Serialized comic stories became longer and more complex, requiring readers to buy more issues to finish a story.

In the mid-to-late 1980s, two series published by DC Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, had a profound impact upon the American comic-book industry. Their popularity, along with mainstream media attention and critical acclaim, combined with changing social tastes, led to a considerably darker tone in comic books during the 1990s nicknamed by fans as the "grim-and-gritty" era.

The growing popularity of antiheroes such as Wolverine and the Punisher exemplified this change, as did the darker tone of some independent publishers such as First Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and (founded in the 1990s) Image Comics. This tendency towards darkness and nihilism was manifested in DC's production of heavily promoted comic book stories such as "A Death in the Family" in the Batman series (in which The Joker brutally murdered Batman's sidekick Robin), while at Marvel the continuing popularity of the various X-Men books led to storylines involving the genocide of superpowered "mutants" in allegorical stories about religious and ethnic persecution.

In addition, published formats like the graphic novel and the related trade paperback enabled the comic book to gain some respectability as literature. As a result, these formats are now common in book retail and the collections of US public libraries.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Duncan & Smith 2009, p. 40.
  2. ^ Lyga & Lyga 2004, p. 164.
  3. ^ O'Nale 2010, p. 384.
  4. ^ Tondro 2011, p. 51.
  5. ^ Markstein 2010; Lyga & Lyga 2004, p. 161; Lee 1978, p. 145.
  6. ^ Duncan & Smith 2009, p. 315.
  7. ^ Lyga & Lyga 2004, p. 163.
  8. ^ "Overview Of The Comic Creation Process". MakingComics.com. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  9. ^ a b c d Coville, Jamie. . TheComicBooks.com, n.d. Archived from the original on April 15, 2003.
  10. ^ Comic Monthly at the Grand Comics Database
  11. ^ US Library of Congress, "American Treasures of the Library of Congress" exhibition
  12. ^ a b c d e f Goulart, Ron (2004). Comic Book Encyclopedia. New York: Harper Entertainment. ISBN 978-0060538163.
  13. ^ a b Brown, Mitchell (2000). . Archived from the original on February 24, 2003. Retrieved February 24, 2003.
  14. ^ "Funnies on Parade," Grand Comics Database. Accessed October 29, 2018.
  15. ^ Davin, Eric Leif (2005). Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965. Lexington Books. p. 169. ISBN 978-0739112663.
  16. ^ Kaplan, Arie (2008). From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books. Jewish Publication Society. p. 6. ISBN 9780827608436.
  17. ^ Daniels, Les. DC Comics: 60 Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes (Little Brown, 1995).
  18. ^ Daniels, Les. Batman: The Complete History. Chronicle Books, 1999. ISBN 978-0-8118-4232-7, p. 18
  19. ^ Daniels[page needed]
  20. ^ Laurence Maslon; Michael Kantor. Superheroes!:Capes cowls and the creation of comic book culture. p. 49.
  21. ^ a b Gabilliet, page 51
  22. ^ Goulart, Ron (1991). Over 50 Years of American Comic Books. Publications International. p. 161. Source notes overall sales of 275 million comics in 1945, 300 million in 1947, and 340 million in 1949.
  23. ^ Gabilliet, page 40
  24. ^ Gabilliet, page 44
  25. ^ a b Gabilliet, page 46
  26. ^ Gabilliet, page 48–49
  27. ^ Gabilliet, page 47–48
  28. ^ Gabilliet, page 47
  29. ^ a b Gabilliet, page 49
  30. ^ Gabilliet, page 50
  31. ^ Sergi, Joe (June 8, 2012). "1948: The Year Comics Met Their Match". Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  32. ^ Daniels, Les (1971). Comix: A history of comic books in America. Bonanza Books. p. 84.
  33. ^ Ron Goulart. 1991. Over 50 Years of American Comic Books. Publications International. p.217
  34. ^ Gabilliet, page 52
  35. ^ "Origins of the Distribution System," Mile High Comics. Retrieved November 23, 2016
  36. ^ Cronin, Brian (August 4, 2005), "Origins of the Distribution System," Comic Book Resources. Retrieved November 23, 2016
  37. ^ Gabilliet, page 67
  38. ^ Gabilliet, page 65
  39. ^ Gabilliet, page 66
  40. ^ Gabilliet, page 82

Notes

  1. ^ Actual estimates vary between 840 million and 1.3 billion[1]
  2. ^ An example of the sensationalist coverage of comics in the mass media is Confidential File: Horror Comic Books!, broadcast on October 9, 1955, on Los Angeles television station KTTV.

Works cited

Further reading

External links

  •   Media related to Comics of the United States at Wikimedia Commons
  • . Archived from the original on November 9, 2004. Retrieved November 13, 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  • Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Dell Comics
  • Quattro, Ken (2004). . Comicartville.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011.
  • The Comics Buyer's Guide's "Comic Book Sales Charts and Sales Analysis Pages"
  • The pictures that horrified America CNN
  • (American comic book history only; Internet archive)
  • Williams, Jeff (1994). . Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture. 2 (6): 129–146. Archived from the original on September 4, 2010. Retrieved February 7, 2013.

February 14, 2023
american, comic, book, thin, periodical, originating, united, states, average, pages, containing, comics, while, form, originated, 1933, first, gained, popularity, after, 1938, publication, action, comics, which, included, debut, superhero, superman, this, fol. An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States on average 32 pages containing comics While the form originated in 1933 American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics which included the debut of the superhero Superman This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II After the war while superheroes were marginalized the comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror crime science fiction and romance became popular The 1950s saw a gradual decline due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television 1 and the impact of the Comics Code Authority 1 The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into the 21st century American comicsGerman refugee child at N Y Children s Colony 1942 reading a Superman comic book Earliest publications1842LanguagesEnglishSince 1934 and since 1939 two most comic book publishers of DC Comics and Marvel Comics DC and Marvel comic book publishers when Superman Batman Wonder Woman Hulk Spider Man X Men Fantastic Four and many of the company s heroes began appearing in stories together DC and Marvel characters inhabited a shared continuity that decades later was dubbed the DC Universe and Marvel Universe by fans Some fans collect comic books helping drive up their value Some have sold for more than US 1 million Comic shops cater to fans selling comic books plastic sleeves bags and cardboard backing boards to protect the comic books An American comic book is also known as a floppy comic It is typically thin and stapled unlike traditional books 2 American comic books are one of the three major comic book schools globally along with Japanese manga and the Franco Belgian comic books citation needed Contents 1 Format 2 Creating comics 3 Independent and alternative comics 4 History 4 1 Proto comic books 4 2 The Funnies and Funnies on Parade 4 3 Famous Funnies and New Fun 4 4 Superheroes and the Golden Age 4 5 The Comics Code 4 6 Silver Age of Comic Books 4 7 Underground comix 4 8 Bronze Age of Comic Books 4 9 The Modern Age 5 See also 6 References 6 1 Notes 6 2 Works cited 7 Further reading 8 External linksFormat EditThe typical size and page count of comics have varied over the decades generally tending toward smaller formats and fewer pages Historically the size was derived from folding one sheet of Quarter Imperial paper 15 in 11 in or 380 mm 280 mm to print 4 pages which were each 7 1 2 by 11 inches 190 mm 280 mm citation needed This also meant that the page count had to be some multiple of 4 In recent decades standard comics have been about 6 5 8 by 10 1 4 inches 170 mm 260 mm and usually 32 pages The format of the American comic book has been adapted periodically outside the United States especially in Canada and the United Kingdom Creating comics EditWhile comics can be the work of a single creator the labor of creating them is frequently divided between a number of specialists There may be a separate writer and artist or there may be separate artists for the characters and backgrounds 3 Particularly in superhero comic books 4 the art may be divided between a writer who plots the story and writes the dialogue a penciller usually termed the artist who working exclusively in pencils generally lays out the panel breakdown on the page and draws the actual artwork in each panel but layouts may be handled by a separate artist and who particularly at Marvel Comics may also co plot the storyline an inker working exclusively in ink who finishes the artwork ready for the printing press 5 a colorist who adds the color to the pages but this usually involves preparing four individual separations in cyan magenta yellow and black for the CMYK printing process not a literal application of those colors to the inked pages 6 a letterer who adds the captions and speech balloons from the script prepared by the writer 7 The process begins with the writer often in collaboration with one or more others who may include the editor and or the penciller coming up with a story idea or concept then working it up into a plot and storyline finalizing it with a script After the art is prepared the dialogue and captions are lettered onto the page from the script and an editor may have the final say but once ready for printing it is difficult and expensive to make any major changes before the comic is sent to the printer 8 The creative team the writer and artist s may work for a comic book publisher who handles the marketing advertising and other logistics A wholesale distributor such as Diamond Comic Distributors the largest in the US distributes the printed product to retailers Another aspect of the process involved in successful comics is the interaction between the readers fans and the creator s Fan art and letters to the editor were commonly printed in the back of the book until in the early 21st century various Internet forums started to replace this tradition Independent and alternative comics EditMain article Alternative comics The growth of comic specialty stores helped permit several waves of independently produced comics beginning in the mid 1970s Some early examples of these generally referred to as independent or alternative comics such as Big Apple Comix continued somewhat in the tradition of the earlier underground comics while others such as Star Reach resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist owned ventures or by a single artist This so called small press scene a term derived from the limited quantity of comics printed in each press run continued to grow and diversify with a number of small publishers in the 1990s changing the format and distribution of their comic books to more closely resemble non comics publishing The minicomics form an extremely informal version of self publishing arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small presses History EditMain article History of American comics Proto comic books Edit The Yellow Kid in McFadden s Flats 1897 The development of the modern American comic book happened in stages Publishers had collected comic strips in hardcover book form as early as 1842 with The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck a collection of English language newspaper inserts originally published in Europe as the 1837 book Histoire de M Vieux Bois by Rodolphe Topffer 9 The G W Dillingham Company published the first known proto comic book magazine in the US The Yellow Kid in McFadden s Flats in 1897 A hardcover book it reprinted material primarily the October 18 1896 to January 10 1897 sequence titled McFadden s Row of Flats from cartoonist Richard F Outcault s newspaper comic strip Hogan s Alley starring the Yellow Kid The 196 page square bound black and white publication which also includes introductory text by E W Townsend measured 5 by 7 inches 130 mm 180 mm and sold for 50 cents The neologism comic book appears on the back cover 9 Despite the publication of a series of related Hearst comics soon afterward 9 the first monthly proto comic book Embee Distributing Company s Comic Monthly did not appear until 1922 Produced in an 8 1 2 by 9 inch 220 mm 230 mm format it reprinted black and white newspaper comic strips and lasted a year 9 10 The Funnies and Funnies on Parade Edit Comic Monthly 1 Jan 1922 In 1929 Dell Publishing founded by George T Delacorte Jr published The Funnies described by the Library of Congress as a short lived newspaper tabloid insert 11 and not to be confused with Dell s 1936 comic book series of the same name Historian Ron Goulart describes the 16 page four color periodical as more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than a true comic book But it did offer all original material and was sold on newsstands 12 The Funnies ran for 36 issues published Saturdays through October 16 1930 In 1933 salesperson Maxwell Gaines sales manager Harry I Wildenberg and owner George Janosik of the Waterbury Connecticut company Eastern Color Printing which printed among other things Sunday paper comic strip sections produced Funnies on Parade as a way to keep their presses running Like The Funnies but only eight pages 13 this appeared as a newsprint magazine Rather than using original material however it reprinted in color several comic strips licensed from the McNaught Syndicate the Ledger Syndicate and the Bell McClure Syndicate 14 These included such popular strips as cartoonist Al Smith s Mutt and Jeff Ham Fisher s Joe Palooka and Percy Crosby s Skippy Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on newsstands but rather sent it out free as a promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter amp Gamble soap and toiletries products The company printed 10 000 copies 13 The promotion proved a success and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for Canada Dry soft drinks Kinney Shoes Wheatena cereal and others with print runs of from 100 000 to 250 000 12 15 Famous Funnies and New Fun Edit Eastern Color Press Famous Funnies A Carnival of Comics Eastern Color Printing 1933 Also in 1933 Gaines and Wildenberg collaborated with Dell to publish the 36 page Famous Funnies A Carnival of Comics which historians consider the first true American comic book Goulart for example calls it the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing 12 Distribution took place through the Woolworth s department store chain though it remains unclear whether it was sold or given away the cover displays no price but Goulart refers either metaphorically or literally to sticking a ten cent pricetag sic on the comic books 12 When Delacorte declined to continue with Famous Funnies A Carnival of Comics Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies 1 cover dated July 1934 a 68 page giant selling for 10 Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company it proved a hit with readers during the cash strapped Great Depression selling 90 percent of its 200 000 print although putting Eastern Color more than 4 000 in the red 12 That quickly changed with the book turning a 30 000 profit each issue starting with 12 12 Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues inspire imitators and largely launch a new mass medium When the supply of available existing comic strips began to dwindle early comic books began to include a small amount of new original material in comic strip format Inevitably a comic book of all original material with no comic strip reprints debuted Fledgling publisher Malcolm Wheeler Nicholson founded National Allied Publications which would evolve into DC Comics to release New Fun 1 Feb 1935 This came out as a tabloid sized 10 by 15 inch 250 mm 380 mm 36 page magazine with a card stock non glossy cover An anthology it mixed humor features such as the funny animal comic Pelion and Ossa and the college set Jigger and Ginger with such dramatic fare as the Western strip Jack Woods and the yellow peril adventure Barry O Neill featuring a Fu Manchu styled villain Fang Gow Issue 6 Oct 1935 brought the comic book debut of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster the future creators of Superman The two began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler Henri Duval doing the first two installments before turning it over to others and under the pseudonyms Leger and Reuths they created the supernatural crimefighter adventure Doctor Occult 16 Superheroes and the Golden Age Edit Main article Golden Age of Comic Books Superman made his debut in Action Comics 1 June 1938 Cover art by Joe Shuster In 1938 after Wheeler Nicholson s partner Harry Donenfeld had ousted him National Allied editor Vin Sullivan pulled a Siegel Shuster creation from the slush pile and used it as the cover feature but only as a backup story 17 in Action Comics 1 June 1938 The duo s alien hero Superman was dressed in a cape and colorful tights The costume influenced by Flash Gordon s attire from 1934 evoked circus aerial performers and circus strongmen and Superman became the archetype of the superheroes that would follow In early 1939 the success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications the future DC Comics to request more superheroes for its titles In response Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman who debuted in Detective Comics 27 May 1939 18 The period from the late 1930s through roughly the end of the 1940s is referred to by comic book experts as the Golden Age of comic books It featured extremely large print runs with Action Comics and Captain Marvel selling over half a million copies a month each 19 comics provided very popular cheap entertainment during World War II especially among soldiers but with erratic quality in stories art and printing In the early 1940s over 90 percent of girls and boys from seven to seventeen read comic books 20 In 1941 H G Peter and William Moulton Marston created the female superhero character Wonder Woman who debuted in All Star Comics 8 December 1941 and Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman in 1942 MLJ s Pep Comics debuted as a superhero science fiction and adventure anthology but after the title introduced the teen humor feature Archie in 1942 the feature s popularity would soon eclipse all other MLJ properties leading the publisher to rename itself Archie Comics Following the end of World War II the popularity of superheroes greatly diminished 21 while the comic book industry itself expanded 22 A few well established characters such as Superman Batman and Wonder Woman continued to sell but DC canceled series starring the Flash and Green Lantern and converted All American Comics and All Star Comics to Western titles and Star Spangled Comics to a war title The publisher also launched such science fiction titles as Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space Martin Goodman s Timely Comics also known as Atlas canceled its three formerly high selling superhero titles starring Captain America created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby the Human Torch and the Sub Mariner briefly reviving the characters in 1954 only to cancel them again shortly thereafter to focus on horror science fiction teen humor romance and Western genres Romance comics became strongly established with Prize Comics Young Romance and with Young Love the latter written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby those two titles popularity led to an explosion of romance comics from many publishers Dell s comic books accounted for a third of all North American sales in the early 1950s Its 90 titles averaged a circulation of 800 000 copies per title for every issue with Walt Disney s Comics and Stories peaking at a circulation of three million a month in 1953 Eleven of the top 25 bestselling comic books at the time were Dell titles 23 Out of 40 publishers active in 1954 Dell Atlas i e Marvel DC and Archie were the major players in volume of sales By this point former big time players Fawcett and Fiction house had ceased publishing 24 Circulation peaked in 1952 when 3 161 issues of various comics were published with a total circulation of about one billion copies note 1 After 1952 the number of individual releases dropped every year for the rest of the decade with the biggest falls occurring in 1955 56 25 The rapid decline followed the introduction of the Comics Code Authority in the wake of Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency which ignoring the social problems caused by the wars of 1939 45 and 1950 52 sought to blame those problems solely on comics 26 While there was only a 9 drop in the number of releases between 1952 and 1953 circulation plummeted by an estimated 30 40 27 The cause of the decrease is not entirely clear Television had begun to provide competition with comic books but there was also a rise in conservative values with the election in 1952 of Dwight Eisenhower The Comics Code Authority a self censoring body founded to curb the juvenile delinquency alleged to be due to the crime and horror comics has often been targeted as the culprit but sales had begun to drop the year before it was founded 28 The major publishers were not seriously harmed by the drop in sales but smaller publishers were killed off EC the prime target of the CCA stopped publishing crime and horror titles which was their entire business and were forced out of the market altogether turning to magazine publishing instead 29 By 1960 output had stabilized at about 1 500 releases per year representing a greater than fifty percent decline since 1952 25 The dominant comic book genres of the post CCA 1950s were funny animals humor romance television properties and Westerns Detective fantasy teen and war comics were also popular but adventure superheroes and comicstrip reprints were in decline 29 with Famous Funnies seeing its last issue in 1955 30 The Comics Code Edit Main article Comics Code Authority In the late 1940s and early 1950s horror and true crime comics flourished many containing graphic violence and gore Due to such content moral crusaders became concerned with the impact of comics on the youth and were blaming comic books for everything from poor grades to juvenile delinquency to drug abuse note 2 This perceived indecency resulted in the collection and public burning of comic books in Spencer West Virginia and Binghamton New York in 1948 which received national attention and triggered other public burnings by schools and parent groups across the country 31 Some cities passed laws banning comic books entirely In 1954 psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published his book Seduction of the Innocent where he discussed what he perceived as sadistic and homosexual undertones in horror comics and superhero comics respectively and singled out EC Comics due to its success as a publisher of these genres In response to growing public anxiety the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency held hearings on comic book indecency from April to June 1954 In the wake of these troubles a group of comics publishers led by National and Archie founded the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the Comics Code intended as the most stringent code in existence for any communications media 32 A Comic Code Seal of Approval soon appeared on virtually every comic book carried on newsstands EC after experimenting with less controversial comic books dropped its comics line to focus on the satirical Mad a former comic book which was now converted to a magazine format in order to circumvent the Code 33 Silver Age of Comic Books Edit Main article Silver Age of Comic Books Showcase 4 Oct 1956 the launch of comics Silver Age Cover art by Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert DC started a revival in superhero comics in 1956 with the October 1956 revival of its former golden age top seller The Flash in Showcase 4 Many comics historians peg this as the beginning of the Silver Age of American comic books although Marvel at this point still known variously as both Timely and Atlas had started reviving some of its old superheroes as early as 1954 21 The new Flash is taken symbolically as the beginning of a new era although his success was not immediate It took two years for the Flash to receive his own title and Showcase itself was only a bimonthly book though one which was to introduce a large number of enduring characters By 1959 the slowly building superhero revival had become clear to DC s competitors Archie jumped on board that year and Charlton joined the bandwagon in 1960 34 In 1961 at the demand of publisher Martin Goodman who was reacting to a surge in sales of National s newest superhero title The Justice League of America writer editor Stan Lee and artist co plotter Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Atlas which now re named itself Marvel Comics With an innovation that changed the comic book industry Fantastic Four 1 initiated a naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings fears and inner demons heroes who squabbled and worried about the likes of paying the rent In contrast to the super heroic do gooder archetypes of established superheroes at the time this ushered in a revolution With dynamic artwork by Kirby Steve Ditko Don Heck and others complementing Lee s colorful catchy prose the new style became very popular among teenagers and college students who could identify with the angsty and irreverent nature of characters like Spider Man Hulk X Men and Fantastic Four This was a time of social upheaval giving birth to a new generation of hip and more counter cultural youngsters who found a voice in these books Because Marvel s books were distributed by its rival National from 1957 until 1968 Marvel were restricted to publishing only eight titles a month 35 36 This was a cloud with a silver lining and proved the making of Marvel allowing the company to concentrate its brightest and best talent on a small number of titles at a time when its rivals were spreading their creative talents very thin across a huge number of monthly titles The quality of Marvel s product soared in consequence and sales soared with it The Fantastic Four 1 Nov 1961 Cover art by Jack Kirby While the creators of comics were given credit in the early days of comic books this practice had all but vanished during the 1940s and 1950s Comic books were produced by comic book companies rather than by individual creators EC being a notable exception a company that not only credited its creative teams but also featured creators biographies Even comic books by revered and collectible artists like Carl Barks were not known by their creator s name Disney comics by Barks were signed Walt Disney In the 1960s DC and then Marvel began to include writer and artist credits on the comics that they published 37 Other notable companies publishing comics during the Silver Age included the American Comics Group ACG Charlton Dell Gold Key Harvey Comics and Tower Underground comix Edit Main article Underground comix Sex drugs and rock n roll were featured as the anti authoritarian underground comix made waves in 1968 following the publication of Robert Crumb s irregularly published Zap Comix Frank Stack had published The Adventures of Jesus as far back as 1962 and there had been a trickle of such publications until Crumb s success 38 What had started as a self publishing scene soon grew into a minor industry with Print Mint Kitchen Sink Last Gasp and Apex Novelties among the more well known publishers These comix were often extremely graphic and largely distributed in head shops that flourished in the countercultural era 39 Legal issues and paper shortages led to a decline in underground comix output from its 1972 peak In 1974 the passage of anti paraphernalia laws in the US led to the closing of most head shops which throttled underground comix distribution Its readership also dried up as the hippie movement itself petered out in the mid 1970s 40 Bronze Age of Comic Books Edit Main article Bronze Age of Comic Books Wizard originally used the phrase Bronze Age in 1995 to denote the Modern Horror age But as of 2009 update historians and fans use Bronze Age to describe the period of American mainstream comics history that began with the period of concentrated changes to comic books in 1970 Unlike the Golden Silver Age transition the Silver Bronze transition involves many continuing books making the transition less sharp The Modern Age Edit Main article Modern Age of Comic Books The development of the direct market distribution system in the 1970s coincided with the appearance of comic book specialty stores across North America These specialty stores were a haven for more distinct voices and stories but they also marginalized comics in the public eye Serialized comic stories became longer and more complex requiring readers to buy more issues to finish a story In the mid to late 1980s two series published by DC Comics Batman The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen had a profound impact upon the American comic book industry Their popularity along with mainstream media attention and critical acclaim combined with changing social tastes led to a considerably darker tone in comic books during the 1990s nicknamed by fans as the grim and gritty era The growing popularity of antiheroes such as Wolverine and the Punisher exemplified this change as did the darker tone of some independent publishers such as First Comics Dark Horse Comics and founded in the 1990s Image Comics This tendency towards darkness and nihilism was manifested in DC s production of heavily promoted comic book stories such as A Death in the Family in the Batman series in which The Joker brutally murdered Batman s sidekick Robin while at Marvel the continuing popularity of the various X Men books led to storylines involving the genocide of superpowered mutants in allegorical stories about religious and ethnic persecution In addition published formats like the graphic novel and the related trade paperback enabled the comic book to gain some respectability as literature As a result these formats are now common in book retail and the collections of US public libraries See also Edit United States portal Comics portalCartoon Comic book archive Comic book therapy Comics studies Comics vocabulary Creator ownership Digital comics History of American comics List of comic book publishing companies List of films based on English language comics List of years in comics Sexism in American comics Tijuana bible Advertising in comic booksReferences Edit a b Duncan amp Smith 2009 p 40 Lyga amp Lyga 2004 p 164 O Nale 2010 p 384 Tondro 2011 p 51 Markstein 2010 Lyga amp Lyga 2004 p 161 Lee 1978 p 145 Duncan amp Smith 2009 p 315 Lyga amp Lyga 2004 p 163 Overview Of The Comic Creation Process MakingComics com Retrieved October 4 2015 a b c d Coville Jamie The History of Comic Books Introduction and The Platinum Age 1897 1938 TheComicBooks com n d Archived from the original on April 15 2003 Comic Monthly at the Grand Comics Database US Library of Congress American Treasures of the Library of Congress exhibition a b c d e f Goulart Ron 2004 Comic Book Encyclopedia New York Harper Entertainment ISBN 978 0060538163 a b Brown Mitchell 2000 The 100 Greatest Comic Books of the 20th Century Funnies on Parade Archived from the original on February 24 2003 Retrieved February 24 2003 Funnies on Parade Grand Comics Database Accessed October 29 2018 Davin Eric Leif 2005 Partners in Wonder Women and the Birth of Science Fiction 1926 1965 Lexington Books p 169 ISBN 978 0739112663 Kaplan Arie 2008 From Krakow to Krypton Jews and Comic Books Jewish Publication Society p 6 ISBN 9780827608436 Daniels Les DC Comics 60 Years of the World s Favorite Comic Book Heroes Little Brown 1995 Daniels Les Batman The Complete History Chronicle Books 1999 ISBN 978 0 8118 4232 7 p 18 Daniels page needed Laurence Maslon Michael Kantor Superheroes Capes cowls and the creation of comic book culture p 49 a b Gabilliet page 51 Goulart Ron 1991 Over 50 Years of American Comic Books Publications International p 161 Source notes overall sales of 275 million comics in 1945 300 million in 1947 and 340 million in 1949 Gabilliet page 40 Gabilliet page 44 a b Gabilliet page 46 Gabilliet page 48 49 Gabilliet page 47 48 Gabilliet page 47 a b Gabilliet page 49 Gabilliet page 50 Sergi Joe June 8 2012 1948 The Year Comics Met Their Match Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Retrieved July 26 2020 Daniels Les 1971 Comix A history of comic books in America Bonanza Books p 84 Ron Goulart 1991 Over 50 Years of American Comic Books Publications International p 217 Gabilliet page 52 Origins of the Distribution System Mile High Comics Retrieved November 23 2016 Cronin Brian August 4 2005 Origins of the Distribution System Comic Book Resources Retrieved November 23 2016 Gabilliet page 67 Gabilliet page 65 Gabilliet page 66 Gabilliet page 82 Notes Edit Actual estimates vary between 840 million and 1 3 billion 1 An example of the sensationalist coverage of comics in the mass media is Confidential File Horror Comic Books broadcast on October 9 1955 on Los Angeles television station KTTV Works cited Edit Markstein Don 2010 Glossary of Specialized Cartoon related Words and Phrases Used in Don Markstein s Toonopedia Don Markstein s Toonopedia Archived from the original on October 16 2009 Retrieved February 5 2013 Duncan Randy Smith Matthew J 2009 The Power of Comics Continuum International Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 8264 2936 0 Gabilliet Jean Paul Beaty Bart Nguyen Nick 2010 Of Comics and Men A Cultural History of American Comic Books University Press of Mississippi ISBN 978 1 60473 267 2 O Nale Robert 2010 Manga In Booker M Keith ed Encyclopedia of Comic Books and Graphic Novels Two Volumes ABC CLIO pp 378 387 ISBN 978 0 313 35747 3 Goulart Ron 1991 Over 50 Years of American Comic Books Publications International ISBN 0 88176 396 9 Tondro Jason 2011 Superheroes of the Round Table Comics Connections to Medieval and Renaissance Literature McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 8876 6 Lyga Allyson A W Lyga Barry 2004 Graphic Novels in Your Media Center A Definitive Guide Libraries Unlimited ISBN 978 1 59158 142 0 Lee Stan 1978 How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 0 671 53077 8 Further reading EditAll in Color for a Dime by Dick Lupoff amp Don Thompson ISBN 0 87341 498 5 The Comic Book Makers by Joe Simon with Jim Simon ISBN 1 887591 35 4 DC Comics Sixty Years of the World s Favorite Comic Book Heroes by Les Daniels ISBN 0 8212 2076 4 The Great Comic Book Heroes by Jules Feiffer ISBN 1 56097 501 6 Marvel Five Fabulous Decades of the World s Greatest Comics by Les Daniels ISBN 0 8109 3821 9 Masters of Imagination The Comic Book Artists Hall of Fame by Mike Benton ISBN 0 87833 859 4 The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide by Robert Overstreet Edition 35 ISBN 0 375 72107 X The Steranko History of Comics Vol 1 amp 2 by James Steranko Vol 1 ISBN 0 517 50188 0 Garrett Greg Holy Superheroes Exploring the Sacred in Comics Graphic Novels and Film Louisville Kentucky Westminster John Knox Press 2008 External links Edit Media related to Comics of the United States at Wikimedia Commons CBW Comic History The Early Years 1896 to 1937 Part II The Greatest Comics New Fun 1 Archived from the original on November 9 2004 Retrieved November 13 2006 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Don Markstein s Toonopedia Dell Comics Quattro Ken 2004 The New Ages Rethinking Comic Book History Comicartville com Archived from the original on June 28 2011 The Comics Buyer s Guide s Comic Book Sales Charts and Sales Analysis Pages The pictures that horrified America CNN A History of the Comic Book American comic book history only Internet archive Williams Jeff 1994 Comics A Tool of Subversion Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture 2 6 129 146 Archived from the original on September 4 2010 Retrieved February 7 2013 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title American comic book amp oldid 1135451522, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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