KC Hill
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AhmedFirst Comic Book
July 7th 2007 10:41
Today marks the day where the first comic book to be published.
The Wasp by Robert Rusticoat was published on 7 July 1802, which means that comic publishing has existed for more than 200 years now.
What does the Kids Encyclopedia Australia has to say?
The comic book is a book containing stories told through a combination of sequential images and text. From the late 1800s to the 1930s Big-Little books[?] were collections of short illustrated stories of a comical nature, printed in a small format with many pages and often a hard cover. Little Nemo came from this pre-'comic book era', as the supreme example of the art reaching its craft. The 'big-little' format eventually gave way to the first modern comic books. Funnies on Parade was published by Max Gaines in 1933. He printed a 8 page comic section that could be folded down from the large broadsheet to a smaller 9 inch by 12 inch format containing reprints of daily newspaper comic strips.
Seeing the popularity of the new format in February 1935 National Periodicals published a title, New Fun Comics, devoid of reprints and containing original characters and stories.
The new medium with no boundaries or rules for the style and storylines saw constant experimentations with genres. In 1938 Maxwell Gaines published a feature created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for a new title. The character Superman was an immediate smash hit and led to numerous imitative efforts. The superhero enjoyed great popularity outselling news stand magazines such as Time and Newsweek.
This success soon led to a full of similar characters like Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman and many others. In addition, new genres like teen humour like Archie Comics also began to gain popularity. This period is often referred to by comic fans as The Golden Age of Comic Books.
As World War II wound down the popularity of the superhero began to wane in favor of numerous other genres. Funny animal comics such as those published featuring Walt Disney's characters, science-fiction, romance and humor comics all found a comfortable niche. New genres including horror and true crime flourished due in no small part to stylized artwork and literate sensibilities developing as the medium developed. The most noteworthy publisher of crime and horror comics was EC Comics, which produced a number of high-quality suspense stories (and a great number of comics containing surprisingly graphic violence and explicit details).
In the 1950s comic books were singled out as a cause of juvenile delinquency. They were said to be the root cause of everything from the drop in grades, crime, drug use, and the general degradation of society. The psychiatrist Frederic Wertham's influential book, Seduction of the Innocent, with its obsession with sadistic and homoerotic undertones in superhero comics was a notable influence in raising anxieties about comics. The resulting hysteria caused many schools and parent groups to hold public book burnings, and banning comics in many cities. The backlash sent comics into a tailspin from which it has yet to recover. All publishers sharply curtailed their output and many publishers left the business of comics altogether. A draconianly restrictive set of rules for what would be acceptable in stories was drafted called the Comics Code. With the number of genres available thus restricted the remaining comic publishers began experimenting with the superhero once more. In 1956 with the publication of Showcase #4 featuring The Flash a second wave of superhero popularity began. Comic book historians consider the premiere of the new Flash to be the beginning of the Silver Age of comic books.
In 1961 writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Marvel Comics and it was a tremendous popular success. Marvel characters were superheros but with human failings, fears and inner demons. Dynamic artwork by Kirby and Steve Ditko were complemented by Lee's youthful, catchy dialogue. The new style of comic stories found an audience in both the kids who loved the colorful superheros and the older college students who were entertained by the deeper themes they perceived in the stories. During the 60s there was also a splurge of what has been called underground comics, oft times self-published and reflecting the youth counter-culture flavoured with a gleefully uninhibited nature typified by the work of the eccentrically irreverent Robert Crumb.
In the 70s there came the development of a non-returnable direct distribution system and a number of comic speciality stores sprung up around North America. Though these developments allowed for a number of more distinct stories and voices to emerge in the medium it also marginalized comics in the public eye. Comic stories tended towards the labrynthine requiring readers to purchase several issues in order to see a complete story. Though a speculator boom in the early 1990s drove sales, purchasers picking up what they hoped would be collectible books that they could profitably sell later, comic sales have steadily declined over the years. Today, far fewer comics are being sold in North America than at any time in their publishing history.
However, the medium is enjoying a moderate comeback with the broad success of feature films such as Spider-Man and X-Men, a concerted promotional effort by the publishing companies with such events like Free Comic Book Day which was first held on May 5, 2002, to take advantage of Spider-Man's anticipated enormous popularity and a general push at Marvel Comics for a better standard of artistic excellence to reignite reader interest.
Outside of North America comic books enjoy various degrees of success in sales. Comic books remain extremely popular in Asia and Europe. Japanese comic books have been translated and brought over to North America where they comprise another genre collectively called manga.
Some comic books have gained massive recognition and garnered their creators impressive awards, such as Art Spiegelman's "Maus", which won the Pulitzer Prize and Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" an issue of which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story.
Some examples of famous comics are: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Batman, Lone Wolf and Cub[?], Tintin, The Phantom, Superman, Beano, the Dandy, and Viz.
For the original article please click here.
The Wasp by Robert Rusticoat was published on 7 July 1802, which means that comic publishing has existed for more than 200 years now.
What does the Kids Encyclopedia Australia has to say?
The comic book is a book containing stories told through a combination of sequential images and text. From the late 1800s to the 1930s Big-Little books[?] were collections of short illustrated stories of a comical nature, printed in a small format with many pages and often a hard cover. Little Nemo came from this pre-'comic book era', as the supreme example of the art reaching its craft. The 'big-little' format eventually gave way to the first modern comic books. Funnies on Parade was published by Max Gaines in 1933. He printed a 8 page comic section that could be folded down from the large broadsheet to a smaller 9 inch by 12 inch format containing reprints of daily newspaper comic strips.
Seeing the popularity of the new format in February 1935 National Periodicals published a title, New Fun Comics, devoid of reprints and containing original characters and stories.
The new medium with no boundaries or rules for the style and storylines saw constant experimentations with genres. In 1938 Maxwell Gaines published a feature created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for a new title. The character Superman was an immediate smash hit and led to numerous imitative efforts. The superhero enjoyed great popularity outselling news stand magazines such as Time and Newsweek.
This success soon led to a full of similar characters like Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman and many others. In addition, new genres like teen humour like Archie Comics also began to gain popularity. This period is often referred to by comic fans as The Golden Age of Comic Books.
As World War II wound down the popularity of the superhero began to wane in favor of numerous other genres. Funny animal comics such as those published featuring Walt Disney's characters, science-fiction, romance and humor comics all found a comfortable niche. New genres including horror and true crime flourished due in no small part to stylized artwork and literate sensibilities developing as the medium developed. The most noteworthy publisher of crime and horror comics was EC Comics, which produced a number of high-quality suspense stories (and a great number of comics containing surprisingly graphic violence and explicit details).
In the 1950s comic books were singled out as a cause of juvenile delinquency. They were said to be the root cause of everything from the drop in grades, crime, drug use, and the general degradation of society. The psychiatrist Frederic Wertham's influential book, Seduction of the Innocent, with its obsession with sadistic and homoerotic undertones in superhero comics was a notable influence in raising anxieties about comics. The resulting hysteria caused many schools and parent groups to hold public book burnings, and banning comics in many cities. The backlash sent comics into a tailspin from which it has yet to recover. All publishers sharply curtailed their output and many publishers left the business of comics altogether. A draconianly restrictive set of rules for what would be acceptable in stories was drafted called the Comics Code. With the number of genres available thus restricted the remaining comic publishers began experimenting with the superhero once more. In 1956 with the publication of Showcase #4 featuring The Flash a second wave of superhero popularity began. Comic book historians consider the premiere of the new Flash to be the beginning of the Silver Age of comic books.
In 1961 writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Marvel Comics and it was a tremendous popular success. Marvel characters were superheros but with human failings, fears and inner demons. Dynamic artwork by Kirby and Steve Ditko were complemented by Lee's youthful, catchy dialogue. The new style of comic stories found an audience in both the kids who loved the colorful superheros and the older college students who were entertained by the deeper themes they perceived in the stories. During the 60s there was also a splurge of what has been called underground comics, oft times self-published and reflecting the youth counter-culture flavoured with a gleefully uninhibited nature typified by the work of the eccentrically irreverent Robert Crumb.
In the 70s there came the development of a non-returnable direct distribution system and a number of comic speciality stores sprung up around North America. Though these developments allowed for a number of more distinct stories and voices to emerge in the medium it also marginalized comics in the public eye. Comic stories tended towards the labrynthine requiring readers to purchase several issues in order to see a complete story. Though a speculator boom in the early 1990s drove sales, purchasers picking up what they hoped would be collectible books that they could profitably sell later, comic sales have steadily declined over the years. Today, far fewer comics are being sold in North America than at any time in their publishing history.
However, the medium is enjoying a moderate comeback with the broad success of feature films such as Spider-Man and X-Men, a concerted promotional effort by the publishing companies with such events like Free Comic Book Day which was first held on May 5, 2002, to take advantage of Spider-Man's anticipated enormous popularity and a general push at Marvel Comics for a better standard of artistic excellence to reignite reader interest.
Outside of North America comic books enjoy various degrees of success in sales. Comic books remain extremely popular in Asia and Europe. Japanese comic books have been translated and brought over to North America where they comprise another genre collectively called manga.
Some comic books have gained massive recognition and garnered their creators impressive awards, such as Art Spiegelman's "Maus", which won the Pulitzer Prize and Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" an issue of which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story.
Some examples of famous comics are: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Batman, Lone Wolf and Cub[?], Tintin, The Phantom, Superman, Beano, the Dandy, and Viz.
For the original article please click here.
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Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
Health Focus
MS Paint Art
It used to be that in every Sunday newspaper there was the comics section which I and many others loved until adulthood. After that the interest for me 'died'. I remember one particular brother who had a collection of comic books which he guarded carefully and was active in comic book swapping amongst kids.
I think the modern day equivalent would be cartoon characters on TV and computer games.
I grew out of comics but it seems to me the general level of intelligence in the community is falling as many never grow out of their childhood obsessions. But that is just my opinion.
Comics were great for kids and perhaps the 'Harry Potter' books and movies could be said to have replaced them.
Personally, as much as I admire his creators success I find I quickly tire of watching 'juvenile movies' but it is great to see so many kids reading and that is an accomplishment, the same used to be said of comics.
And all this flowing from just a brief history of comics which actually failed to bring forth the same level of excitement and entertainment that the comics actually did.
They were fun. I feel sure any negative connotations were lost on the average kid, they certainly were on me.
katyzzz
Comment by Jessicca
Learning Something Everyday
Malaysia Found
True enough that many people have lived out of comics and the novels are back along with the ever winning movies.
However, one still enjoys comics when it comes to reading stories without too much of straining your brain picturing how the writer is discribing to the reader.
(Although it is good to practise visualisation)
I still enjoy my Manga whenever I don't feel right reading lines and lines of words of a story. Some simple ones like Inuuyasha and the more mind trobling ones like Conan detective can keep my mind off work most of the time, especially when I am off from work late.
Comics are something that I believe started from the beginning of time when cave men recorded their events on walls of caves. It tells a lot about what has happened.
A picture still says a thousand words and I hope that the comic fashion will not wear out, since it doesn't promote radiation and CO2 like the TVs.
Thank you so much for stopping by, and may your week ahead be a blessed and fruitful one.
Jessicca