Comics as a print medium have existed in the United States since the printing of
The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842 in
hardcover, making it the first known American prototype comic book. Proto-comics periodicals began appearing early in the 20th century, with the first comic standard-sized comic being
Funnies on Parade.
Funnies on Parades was the first book that established the size, duration, and format of the modern comic book. Following this was,
Dell Publishing's 36-page
Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics as the first true newsstand American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing". In 1905 G.W. Dillingham Company published 24 select strips by the cartoonist
Gustave Verbeek in an anthology book called 'The Incredible Upside-Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo'. The introduction of
Jerry Siegel and
Joe Shuster's
Superman in 1938 turned comic books into a major industry and ushered in the
Golden Age of Comic Books. The Golden Age originated the
archetype of the
superhero. According to historian
Michael A. Amundson, appealing comic-book characters helped ease young readers' fear of nuclear war and neutralize anxiety about the questions posed by atomic power. Historians generally divide the timeline of the American comic book into eras. The
Golden Age of Comic Books began in 1938, with the debut of Superman in Action Comics #1, published by Detective Comics (predecessor of DC Comics), which is generally considered the beginning of the modern comic book as it is known today. The
Silver Age of Comic Books is generally considered to date from the first successful revival of the then-dormant superhero form, with the debut of the
Flash in
Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956). The Silver Age lasted through the late 1960s or early 1970s, during which time
Marvel Comics revolutionized the medium with such
naturalistic superheroes as
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby's
Fantastic Four and Lee and
Steve Ditko's
Spider-Man. The demarcation between the Silver Age and the following era, the
Bronze Age of Comic Books, is less well-defined, with the Bronze Age running from the very early 1970s through the mid-1980s. The
Modern Age of Comic Books runs from the mid-1980s to the present day. A significant event in the history of the American comic book came with psychiatrist
Fredric Wertham's criticisms of the medium in his book
Seduction of the Innocent (1954), which prompted the American
Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency to investigate comic books. Wertham claimed that comic books were responsible for an increase in juvenile delinquency, as well as potential influence on a child's sexuality and morals. In response to attention from the government and from the media, the US comic book industry set up the Comics Magazine Association of America. The CMAA instilled the
Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the self-censorship Comics Code that year, which required all comic books to go through a process of approval. It was not until the 1970s that comic books could be published without passing through the inspection of the CMAA. The Code was made formally defunct in November 2011.
Underground comic books In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a surge of creativity emerged in what became known as
underground comix. Published and distributed independently of the established comics industry, most of such comics reflected the youth
counterculture and
drug culture of the time. Underground comix "reflected and commented on the social divisions and tensions of American society". Many had an uninhibited, often irreverent style; their frank depictions of nudity, sex, profanity, and politics had no parallel outside their precursors, the pornographic and even more obscure "
Tijuana bibles". Underground comics were almost never sold at newsstands, but rather in such youth-oriented outlets as
head shops and record stores, as well as by
mail order. The underground comics encouraged creators to publish their work independently so that they would have full ownership rights to their characters. while
R. Crumb and the crew of cartoonists who worked on
Zap Comix popularized the form.
Alternative comics The rise of comic book
specialty stores in the late 1970s created and paralleled a dedicated market for "independent" or "
alternative comics" in the US. The first such comics included the anthology series
Star Reach, published by comic book writer
Mike Friedrich from 1974 to 1979, and
Harvey Pekar's
American Splendor, which continued sporadic publication into the 21st century and which
Shari Springer Berman and
Robert Pulcini adapted into a
2003 film. Some independent comics continued in the tradition of underground comics. While their content generally remained less explicit, others resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned companies or by single artists. A few (notably
RAW) represented experimental attempts to bring comics closer to the status of
fine art. During the 1970s the "
small press" culture grew and diversified. By the 1980s, several independent publishers – such as
Pacific,
Eclipse,
First,
Comico, and
Fantagraphics – had started releasing a wide range of styles and formats—from color-superhero,
detective, and science-fiction comic books to black-and-white magazine-format stories of
Latin American magical realism. A number of small publishers in the 1990s, changed the format and distribution of their comics 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 press. Small publishers regularly releasing titles include
Avatar Press,
Hyperwerks, Raytoons, and
Terminal Press, buoyed by such advances in printing technology as digital
print-on-demand.
Graphic novels published this instructional graphic novel in 2018 to teach youth to stop spreading infectious diseases. In 1964, Richard Kyle coined the term "
graphic novel". Precursors of the form existed by the 1920s, which saw a revival of the
medieval woodcut tradition by Belgian
Frans Masereel, American
Lynd Ward and others, including Stan Lee. In 1947,
Fawcett Publications published "Comics Novel No. 1", as the first in an intended series of these "comics novels". The story in the first issue was "Anarcho, Dictator of Death", a five chapter spy genre tale written by
Otto Binder and drawn by Al Carreno. It is readable online in the
Digital Comic Museum. The magazine never reached a second issue. In 1950,
St. John Publications produced the
digest-sized, adult-oriented "picture novel"
It Rhymes with Lust, a 128-page digest by
pseudonymous writer "Drake Waller" (
Arnold Drake and
Leslie Waller), penciler
Matt Baker and inker
Ray Osrin, touted as "an original full-length novel" on its cover. "It Rhymes with Lust" is also available to read online in the Digital Comic Museum. In 1971, writer-artist
Gil Kane and collaborators applied a paperback format to their "comics novel"
Blackmark.
Will Eisner popularized the term "graphic novel" when he used it on the cover of the paperback edition of his work
A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories in 1978 and, subsequently, the usage of the term began to increase. Initially, the term "graphic novel" applied only to original, previously unpublished material. However, over the past few years, the term has also been used to describe any collected issue (e.g., trade paperback, hardcover, etc.) of material previously published as single issues.
Digital comics Market size In 2017, the comic book market size for North America was just over $1 billion with digital sales being flat, book stores having a 1% decline, and comic book stores having a 10% decline over 2016. The global comic book market size increased by 12% in 2020 to reach USD 8.49 billion. In 2021, the annual valuation of the market amounted to USD 9.21 billion.
Comic book collecting The 1970s saw the advent of specialty
comic book stores. Initially, comic books were marketed by publishers to children because comic books were perceived as children's entertainment. However, with increasing recognition of comics as an art form and the growing pop culture presence of
comic book conventions, they are now embraced by many adults. The most valuable American comics have combined rarity and quality with the first appearances of popular and enduring characters. Four comic books have sold for over US$1 million , including two examples of
Action Comics #1, the first appearance of
Superman, both sold privately through online dealer ComicConnect.com in 2010, and
Detective Comics #27, the first appearance of
Batman, via public auction. Updating the above price obtained for
Action Comics #1, the first appearance of
Superman, the highest sale on record for this book is $3.2 million, for a 9.0 copy. Misprints, promotional comic-dealer incentive printings, and issues with low distribution tend to possess scarcity value in the comic book market. The rarest modern comic books include the
original press run of
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #5, which DC executive
Paul Levitz recalled and pulped due to the appearance of a vintage
Victorian era advertisement for "Marvel
Douche", which the publisher considered offensive; only 100 copies exist, most of which have been
CGC graded. (See
Recalled comics for more pulped, recalled, and erroneous comics.) In 2000, a company named
Comics Guaranty (CGC) began to "slab" comics, encasing them in thick plastic and giving them a numeric grade. Since then, other grading companies have arisen, creating valuation standards that online price guides such as GoCollect and GPAnalysis have used to report on real-time market values. Collectors also seek out the original artwork pages from comic books. These are perhaps the rarest of all comic book collector's items, as there is only one unique page of artwork for each page that was printed and published. These pages were created by a writer, who developed the story; a pencil artist, who laid out the sequential panels on the page; an ink artist, who went over the pencil with pen and black ink; a letterer, who hand-lettered each word in the dialogue and narration of the story; and finally a colorist, who added color as the last step before the finished pages went to the printer. When the original pages of artwork are returned by the printer, they are typically given back to the artists, who sometimes sell them at comic book conventions or in galleries and art shows related to comic book art. The original pages of DC and Marvel, with the first appearances well-known characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hulk and Spider-Man, are considered priceless.
History of race in American comic books Many early iterations of black characters in comics "became variations on the 'single stereotypical image of Sambo'." Sambo was closely related to the coon stereotype but had some subtle differences. They are both a derogatory way of portraying black characters. "The name itself, an abbreviation of raccoon, is dehumanizing. As with Sambo, the coon was portrayed as a lazy, easily frightened, chronically idle, inarticulate, buffoon." This portrayal "was of course another attempt to solidify the intellectual inferiority of the black race through popular culture." Not only were they using comic books as a means of recruiting all Americans, they were also using it as propaganda to "[construct] a justification for race-based hatred of America's foreign enemies." The Writers' War Board created comics books that were meant to "[promote] domestic racial harmony". However, "these pro-tolerance narratives struggled to overcome the popular and widely understood negative tropes used for decades in American mass culture...". However, they were not accomplishing this agenda within all of their comics. In
Captain Marvel Adventures, a character named Steamboat was an amalgamation of some of the worst stereotypes of the time. The Writers' War Board did not ask for any change with this character. "Eliminating Steamboat required the determined efforts of a black youth group based in New York City." Originally their request was refused by individuals working on the comic stating, "
Captain Marvel Adventures included many kinds of caricatures 'for the sake of humor'." The black youth group responded with "this is not the Negro race, but your one-and-a-half millions readers will think it so." Afterwards, Steamboat disappeared from the comics all together. There was a comic created about the 99th Squadron, also known as the
Tuskegee Airmen, an all-black air force unit. Instead of making the comic about their story, the comic was about Hop Harrigan. A white pilot who captures a Nazi, shows him videos of the 99th Squadron defeating his men and then reveals to the Nazi that his men were defeated by African Americans which infuriated him as he sees them as a less superior race and cannot believe they bested his men."The Tuskegee Airmen, and images of black aviators appear in just three of the fifty three panels... the pilots of the 99th Squadron have no dialogue and interact with neither Hop Harrigan nor his Nazi captive." During this time, they also used black characters in comic books as a means to invalidate the militant black groups that were fighting for equality within the U.S. "Spider-Man 'made it clear that militant black power was not the remedy for racial injustice'." "The Falcon openly criticized black behavior stating' maybe it's important us to cool things down-so we can protect the rights we been fightin' for'." This portrayal and character development of black characters can be partially blamed on the fact that, during this time, "there had rarely been a black artist or writer allowed in a major comics company." Asian characters faced some of the same treatment in comics as black characters did. They were dehumanized and the narrative being pushed was that they were "incompetent and subhuman." "A 1944 issue of the
United States Marines included a narrative entitled
The Smell of the Monkeymen. The story depicts Japanese soldiers as simian brutes whose sickening body odor betrays their concealed locations." Chinese characters received the same treatment. "By the time the United States entered WWII, negative perceptions of Chinese were an established part of mass culture...." However, concerned that the Japanese could use America's anti-Chinese material as propaganda they began "to present a more positive image of America's Chinese allies..." Just as they tried to show better representation for Black people in comics they did the same for Asian people. However, "Japanese and Filipino characters were visually indistinguishable. Both groups have grotesque buckteeth, tattered clothing, and bright yellow skin." "Publishers depicted America's Asian allies through derogatory images and language honed over the preceding decades." Asian characters were previously portrayed as, "ghastly yellow demons". During WWII, "[every] major superhero worth his spandex devoted himself to the eradication of Asian invaders." There was "a constant relay race in which one Asian culture merely handed off the baton of hatred to another with no perceptible changes in the manner in which the characters would be portrayed." "The only specific depiction of a Hispanic superhero did not end well. In 1975, Marvel gave us Hector Ayala (a.k.a. The White Tiger)." "Although he fought for several years alongside the likes of much more popular heroes such as Spider-Man and Daredevil, he only lasted six years before sales of comics featuring him got so bad that Marvel had him retire. The most famous Hispanic character is Bane, a villain from Batman." The Native American representation in comic books "can be summed up in the noble savage stereotype" " a recurring theme...urged American indians to abandon their traditional hostility towards the United States. They were the ones painted as intolerant and disrespectful of the dominant concerns of white America". ==East Asian comics==