American comic book

An American comic book is a thin periodical, typically 32-pages, containing

American comics
comics content. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first
gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics, which included the Earliest c. 1842
debut of the superhero Superman. This was followed by a superhero boom that publications
lasted until the end of World War II. After the war, while superheroes were Languages American English
marginalized, the comic book industry rapidly expanded, and genres such as horror,
crime, 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
remain the dominant character archetype in the 21st century
.

Since the later 20th century, comic books have gained note as collectable items. Comic shops cater to fans, and particularly valuable
issues have fetched in excess of a million dollars. Systems of grading comic books have emerged with plastic sleeves ("bags") and
cardboard backing ("boards") available to maintain the condition of comic books.

Contents
Format
Making comics
Independent and alternative comics
History
Proto-comic books and the Platinum Age
The Funnies and Funnies on Parade
Famous Funnies and New Fun
Superheroes and the Golden Age
The Comics Code
Silver Age of Comic Books
Underground comix
Bronze Age of Comic Books
The Modern Age
See also
References
Notes
Works cited
Further reading
External links

Format
The typical size and page count of comics has varied over the decades, generally trending toward smaller formats and fewer pages. In
recent decades, standard comics have been about 6.625 inches (16.83 cm) 10.25 inches (26.0 cm), and usually 32 pages long.

Making comics
While comics can be the work of a single creator, the labour of making them is frequently divided between a number of specialists.
[2]
There may be a separate writer andartist, or there may be separate artists for the characters and backgrounds.

Particularly in superhero comic books,[3] the art may be divided between:

a penciller, who lays out the artwork in pencil.[4]

an inker, who finishes the artwork in ink.[5]
a colorist.[6]
[7]
a letterer, who adds the captions and speech balloons.
The process begins with the creator coming up with an idea or concept, then working it into a plot and story, and finalizing the
preliminary writing with a script. After the art production, letters are placed on the page and an editor may have the final say before
the comic is sent to the printer.[8]

The creative team, the writers and artists, may work with a comic book publisher for help with marketing, advertising, and other
logistics. A distributor likeDiamond Comic Distributors, the largest in the U.S., helps to distribute the finished product to retailers.

Another part 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 the early 21st century, when various Internet forms started to
replace them.

Independent and alternative comics

Comic specialty stores did help encourage several waves of independently-produced comics, beginning in the mid-1970s. Some of
the early example of these - generally referred to as "independent" or "alternative" comics - such as Big Apple Comix, continued
somewhat in the tradition ofunderground comics, while others, such asStar Reach, resembled the output of mainstream publishers in
format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned ventures or by a single artist.

The "small press" scene continued to grow and diversify, with a number of small publishers in the 1990s changing the format and
distribution of their 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

Proto-comic books and the Platinum Age

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 1833 bookHistoire de M. Vieux Bois by Rodolphe Tpffer.[9]

The G. W. Dillingham Company published the first known proto-comic-book magazine in the
U.S., 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 The Yellow Kid in
McFadden's Flats (1897)
includes introductory text by E. W. Townsend, measured 57 inches 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'sComic Monthly, did not appear until 1922. Produced in an 8-by-9-inch format, it reprinted black-and-white
newspaper comic strips and lasted a year.[9][10]
The Funnies and Funnies on Parade
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,
Comic Monthly #1 (Jan.
among other things, Sunday-paper comic-strip sections produced Funnies on Parade as a 1922)
way to keep their presses running. LikeThe 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 and the McClure Syndicate. 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]

Famous Funnies and New Fun

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]

Eastern Color Press'
Famous Funnies: A Carnival
of Comics (Eastern Color
Printing, 1933).
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-inch by 15-inch, 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 ofSuperman. 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 adventureDoctor Occult.[14]
Superheroes and the Golden Age
In 1938, after Wheeler-Nicholson's partner Harry Donenfeld had ousted him, National Allied
editor Vin Sullivan pulled a Siegel/Shuster creation from theslush pile and used it as the cover
feature (but only as a backup story)[15] in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The duo's alien hero,
Superman, 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 inAction 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 (1939).[16]
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;[17] Superman made his debut
comics provided very popular cheap entertainment during World War II especially among in Action Comics #1 (June
soldiers, but with erratic quality in stories, art, and printing. In the early 1940s over 90 percent 1938); cover art by Joe
[18] Shuster.
of girls and boys from seven to seventeen read comic books.

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 itselfArchie Comics.

Following the end of World War II, the popularity of superheroes greatly diminished,[19] while the comic-book industry itself
expanded.[20] A few well-established characters such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman continued to sell, but DC cancelled
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.
Timely Comics cancelled its Captain America, Human Torch and Sub-Mariner series, briefly reviving the characters in 1954 only to
cancel them shortly thereafter and to focus on horror, science fiction, teen humor, romance and Western, genres. Romance comics
became established with Prize Comics' Young Romance and Young Love, produced by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; those titles'
popularity lead to an explosion of romance comics form 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 each issue, with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories peaking with a circulation of three million in 1953. Eleven of the top 25
best-selling comic books at the time were Dell titles.[21] Out of 40 publishers active in 1954, Dell, Atlas (Marvel), DC and Archie
[22]
were the major players sales-wise. By this time, former big-time players Fawcett and Fiction house had ceased publishing.

Circulation peaked out in 1952, when 3161 issues of various comics were published with total circulation at about one billion.[note 1]
After 1952, the number of individual releases dropped every year for the rest of the decade, with the biggest losses coming in 1955
56.[23] These rapid losses followed the introduction of the Comics Code Authority in the wake of Senate hearings on juvenile
delinquency.[24] While there was only a 9% drop in the number of releases between 1952 and 1953, circulation plummeted by an
estimated 3040%.[25] The cause of the decrease is not entirely certain. Television had come to provide competition with comic
books, or the rise of conservative values that came with the election of Dwight Eisenhower. The Comics Code Authority, a self-
censoring body founded to curb juvenile delinquency believed to be influenced by crime and horror comics, has been targeted as the
culprit, though sales had begun to drop the year before it was founded.[26] The major publishers were largely unaffected by the drop,
but smaller publishers like EC (the prime target of the CCA) stopped publishing crime and horror titles, and had to focus on other
areas.[27] By the 1960s, output stabilized at about 1500 releases per year
.[23]

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, while adventure, superheroes and comic strip reprints were in decline,[27]
with Famous Funnies seeing its last issue in 1955.[28]
The Comics Code
In the late 1940s and early 1950s horror and true-crime comics flourished, many containing graphic violence and gore. EC Comics
was a particularly successful publisher of these genres, and was singled out by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham in his book Seduction of
the Innocent in 1954. The book was concerned with what he perceived assadistic and homosexual undertones in horror comics and in
superhero comics respectively, and it raised public anxiety about comics. Soon moral crusaders blamed comic books as a cause of
poor grades, juvenile delinquency, and drug use.[note 2] This led the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency to take an
interest in comic books (AprilJune, 1954). Schools and parent groups held public comic-book burnings, and some cities banned
comic books.

In the wake of these events, many comics publishers, most notably National and Archie, founded the Comics Code Authorityin 1954
and drafted the Comics Code, intended as "the most stringent code in existence for any communications media".[29] 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 satiric Mad a comic book that changed to magazine format in order to
circumvent the Code.[30]

Silver Age of Comic Books

DC started a revival in superhero comics in 1956 with the October 1956 revival of The Flash
in Showcase #4. Many comics historians peg this as the beginning of the Silver Age of
American comic books, although Marvel had started reviving some of its old superheroes as
early as 1954.[19] 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 title, though one that 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.[31]

In 1961, writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for
Marvel Comics. With an innovation that changed the comic-book industry, The Fantastic

Showcase #4 (October Four #1 initiated a naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner
1956), the launch of comics' demons - heroes who squabbled and worried about the likes of rent money. In contrast to the
Silver Age. Cover art by super-heroic do-gooder archetypes of established superheroes at the time, this ushered in a
Carmine Infantino and Joe revolution. With dynamic artwork by Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, and others
Kubert. complementing Lee's colorful, catchy prose, the new style became very popular among
college students who could identify with the angsty and irreverent nature of characters like
Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. This was a time of massive social upheaval that
birthed a new generation of hipper and more countercultural young people who found a voice in these books. Because Marvel's books
were distributed by its rival, National Periodicals, between 1957 and 1968, Marvel was initially restricted to publishing eight titles a
month.[32][33]

While the creators of comics were given credit in the early days of comic books, this all but vanished during the 1940s and 1950s.
Comic books were produced by comic bookcompanies rather than 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 collectable artists like
Carl Barks were not known by their creators' namesDisney comics like Barks' were signed "Walt Disney." In the 1960s, DC, and
[34]
then Marvel, began to include writer and artist credits on the comics that they published.

Other notable companies included theAmerican Comics Group(ACG), Charlton, Dell, Gold Key, Harvey Comics, and Tower.

Underground comix
Sex, drugs and rock 'n roll were featured as the anti-authoritarian underground comix saw
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.[35] 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.[36]

Legal issues and paper shortages led to a decline in underground comix output from its 1972
peak. The death knell was sounded in 1974, when the passage of anti-paraphernalia laws led
to the closing of most head shops, which throttled underground comix' distribution. Its
[37]
readership also dried up as the hippie movement itself petered out around the mid-1970s.
The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov.
1961). Cover art by Jack
Bronze Age of Comic Books Kirby.
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 begins with a period of concentrated changes to comic books circa 1970. Unlike the Golden/Silver
Age transition, the Silver/Bronze transition involved many continually published books, making the transition less sharp.

The Modern Age

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 inbook retail and the collections ofpublic libraries.

See also
Cartoon
Comic book archive
Comic book therapy
Comics studies
Comics vocabulary
Comparison of image viewers
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

References
1. Randy Duncan and Matthew J. Smith. 2009. The Power of Comics. Continuum. p. 40.
2. O'Nale 2010, p. 384.
3. Tondro 2011, p. 51.
4. Lyga & Lyga 2004, p. 161.
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"(http://www.makingcomics.com/2014/01/16/overview-comic-creation-pro
cess/). MakingComics.com. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
9. Coville, Jamie. "The History of Comic Books: Introduction and "The Platinum Age 18971938 " " (https://web.archive.
org/web/20030415153354/http://www.collectortimes.com/~comichistory/Platinum.html). TheComicBooks.com, n.d.
Archived from the original (http://www.thecomicbooks.com/old/Platinum.html) on April 15, 2003.
10. Comic Monthly (http://www.comics.org/series/35704/)at the Grand Comics Database
11. U.S. Library of Congress,"American Treasures of the Library of Congress" (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri0
46.html) exhibition
12. Goulart, Ron (2004). Comic Book Encyclopedia. New York: Harper Entertainment. ISBN 978-0060538163.
13. Brown, Mitchell."The 100 Greatest Comic Books of the 20th Century:Funnies on Parade" (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20030224164555/http://www.geocities.com/mbrown123/greatest_comics/funniesonparade.html) . Archived from
the original (http://www.geocities.com/mbrown123/greatest_comics/funniesonparade.html)on 2003-02-24. Retrieved
2003-02-24.
14. Kaplan, Arie (2008). From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books
. Jewish Publication Society. p. 6 (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=8aH3H7DC6BQC&pg=P A6&dq=%22Leger+and+Reuths%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Z9GxUsXfLI
m0sQSQpoHYCA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Leger%20and%20Reuths%22&f=false) .
ISBN 9780827608436.
15. Daniels, Les. DC Comics: 60 Years of the World's FavoriteComic Book Heroes (Little Brown, 1995).
16. Daniels, Les. Batman: The Complete History. Chronicle Books, 1999.ISBN 978-0-8118-4232-7, p. 18
17. Daniels
18. Glen Weldon; Michael Kantor. Superheroes!:Capes cowls and the creation of comic book culture
. p. 49.
19. Gabilliet, page 51
20. 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.
21. Gabilliet, page 40
22. Gabilliet, page 44
23. Gabilliet, page 46
24. Gabilliet, page 4849
25. Gabilliet, page 4748
26. Gabilliet, page 47
27. Gabilliet, page 49
28. Gabilliet, page 50
29. Daniels, Les (1971). Comix: A history of comic books in America. Bonanza Books. p. 84.
30. Ron Goulart. 1991. Over 50 Years of American Comic Books. Publications International. p.217
31. Gabilliet, page 52
32. "Origins of the Distribution System(http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg115.html)," Mile High Comics.
Retrieved November 23, 2016
33. Cronin, Brian (August 4, 2005), O
" rigins of the Distribution System(http://www.cbr.com/comic-book-urban-legends-re
vealed-10/)," Comic Book Resources. Retrieved November 23, 2016
34. Gabilliet, page 67
35. Gabilliet, page 65
36. Gabilliet, page 66
37. Gabilliet, page 82

Notes
[1]
1. Actual estimates vary between 840 million and 1.3 billion
2. An example of the sensational coverage of comics in the mass media is
Confidential File: Horror Comic Books!(http
s://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI8IJA8kdkI), broadcast October 9, 1955 on Los Angeles television stationKTTV.

Works cited
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 2013-02-05. Retrieved 2013-02-05.

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. Encyclopedia of Comic Books and Graphic Novels: [T
wo
Volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 378387. ISBN 978-0-313-35747-3.

Goulart, Ron (1991). Over 50 Years of American Comic Books. Publications International.ISBN 0-88176-396-9.

Duncan, Randy; Smith, Matthew J. (2009).The Power of Comics. Continuum. ISBN 9780826429360.

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 & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-53077-8.

Further reading
All in Color for a Dime by Dick Lupoff & Don Thompson ISBN 0-87341-498-5
The Comic Book Makersby Joe Simon with Jim Simon ISBN 1-887591-35-4
DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroesby Les Daniels ISBN 0-8212-2076-4
The Great Comic Book Heroesby Jules Feiffer ISBN 1-56097-501-6
Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comicsby Les Daniels ISBN 0-8109-3821-9
Masters of Imagination: The Comic Book Artists Hall of Fameby Mike Benton ISBN 0-87833-859-4
The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guideby Robert OverstreetEdition #35ISBN 0-375-72107-X
The Steranko History of Comics, Vol. 1 & 2, by James SterankoVol. 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
Media related to Comics of the United Statesat Wikimedia Commons
CBW Comic History: The Early Years...1896 to 1937, Part II
The Greatest Comics:New Fun #1 at the Wayback Machine (archived November 9, 2004)
Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Dell Comics
Quattro, Ken (2004). "The New Ages: Rethinking Comic Book History" . Comicartville.com. Archived fromthe original
on June 28, 2011.
The Comics Buyer's Guide's "Comic Book Sales Charts and Sales Analysis Pages"
The pictures that horrified AmericaCNN
A History of the Comic Book(American comic book history only)
Williams, Jeff (1994). "Comics: A Tool of Subversion?". Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture. 2 (6): 129
146.

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