Comic Book History
"Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful then a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's SUPERMAN!!" is what people would hear before every episode of the Superman cartoon in the 60's. Since the beginning of the 20th century, comics have been part of our culture. Over the years they have changed and have continued to show the world what one can do with just a little imagination. Some people trace comics back to prehistoric paintings found in caves; others trace them back to Egyptian hieroglyphics. The truth is that no one really knows; however, we do know that our modern conception of comics is about as old as the motion picture. The first true comic was created in 1896 when Richard Fenton Outcalt drew The Yellow Kid. He is also the man responsible for creating the "balloon," a circle around a characters mouth with words in it that represented what the character was saying. During comics first decade they were normally of humoristic nature, which is where their name originated. Other comics that came out are ones still heard about today such as Little Nemo in Slumberland, Mutt vs. Jeff, Krazy Kat, as well as Popeye which eventual
The 1970's saw the beginning of the "Bronze Age", which was dominated by the underground circuit. In 1974 some French cartoonists got together and created a comic no one had thought about doing. By 1977 it had entered the states and it was known as Heavy Metal, which depicted a world full of fantasy, science fiction, drugs, sex, and "rock n' roll." Once the 90's came, the "Modern Age" was getting ready to start. In 1990 Marvel introduced new titles as well as new artists Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, Chris Claremount, and Jim Lee. In 1992 DC decided to kill off their greatest hero ever when Superman was defeated and killed by a villain known as Doomsday. During the seven issues that followed, four characters showed up saying they were the reincarnation of Superman. After the seventh issue, the real Superman returned. That same year Marvel introduced the first homosexual character in comic history in Alpha Flight # 106. While this was happening, those same new artists that Marvel had hired two years earlier had left due to creative differences and started their own company, now known as Image Comics. The first comic they published was called Youngblood, by Rob Liefeld. Their second book would be the best selling comic ever by an independent label and it was known as Todd McFarlane's Spawn. Today it has sold over 2 million copies and "spawned" a cartoon on HBO, and a movie. Today there have been a few changes in the comic industry. Image comics is now owned by DC comics, Marvel Comics has filed for chapter nine bankruptcy, and those underground comics like Ninja Turtles are coming back to comics again. What does the future hold for this industry? No one really knows. However, we do know that it is a booming business just waiting for new artists with incredible imaginations to take part in it. As long as
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Approximate Word count = 1226
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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