Comic Book History, Fascinating!
By Dave Gieber, Fri Dec 9th

The origins of the comic book are somewhat controversial andperhaps the jury is still out on comic book history. So lets goback to the cartoonish broadsheets of the Middle Ages, whichwere parchment products, created by anonymous woodcutters. Thesecould have been the very beginnings of the comic book.

As mass circulation of these broadsheets became possible, theysoon developed a market, particularly at public executions,popular events for centuries (ugh), which drew thousands ofhappy spectators. Many of these spectators would invest in anartist's rendering of a hanging or burning, and thus making avery lucky day for the broadsheet seller.

The broadsheet evolved into higher-level content as humor wasintroduced. Eventually, all types of broadsheets emerged, whichwere eventually bound in collections, the prototype of themodern magazine and thus the comic book. Magazines formattedlike the popular Punch, an elegant British creation, became theprimary focus of documentary accounts of news and events,fiction and humor.

One can see in Punch, the sophisticated evolution of a comicbook style, particularly in respect of the evolution of comicsin Great Britain. Still and all, from an historical standpoint,the comic strip, and later the comic book, stood in the alley,waiting to be born. And then some say Great Britain's AllySloper's "Half Alley" was the first comic book. This was a blackand white tabloid that had panels of cartoons mixed with asliver of news; circa 1884.

Now while all this was going on in Great Britain, this inchingtowards the comic book, the United States had its own brand ofevolution. Instead of magazines, US newspapers took the lead increating the comic book industry.

Newspapers, with their first steps, took

their single image gagsand evolved them into multi-paneled comic strips. It was duringthis period that William Randolph Hearst scored a knockout withthe Yellow Kid, which was actually printed in yellow ink.

So where did the actual comic book begin? Some say it was withreprints of Carl Schultz' Foxy Grandpa, from 1901 to 1905.Although others say it was Great Britain's Ally Sloper's HalfAlley. In 1902, Hearst published the Katzenjammer Kids and HappyHooligan in books with cardboard covers.

For a time, the Yellow Kid himself was a top contender. But itdepends how rigid you are in your description of a comic book.These examples, for sure, were predecessors to the modern comicbook, which exploded in the 1930's.

The Whitman Publishing Company, in 1934, became one of thepre-launchers for the modern comic book. They published fortyissues of Famous Comics, which was a black and white hardcoverreprint. The first regularly published comic book in the morerecognizable modern format though, was Famous Funnies. Itfeatured such memorable characters as Joe Palooka, Buck Rogersand Mutt and Jeff.

Superheroes as we know them today took a strong foothold in the1930's. In 1938, Max C. Gaines, who was one of the comicindustry giants, brought "Superman" to Dell Comics publisher,Harry Donenfield.

Donenfield scored the comic coup of the century when hepublished a story written by two teenagers, Jerry Siegel and JoeShuster- and so "Superman of Metropolis" (the title of theirshort story they wrote in their own fanzine) was born. Supermanwas to set a standard for comic book heroes that persist to thisday.

About the author:Dave Gieber is the owner and editor of a website built aroundone of his childhood passions. Learn the basic essentials tocomic book collecting success with this free 5-day course:www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com/5-day-course.html