Every year on September 25th, National Comic Book Day honors the art, artists and the stories of comic books. Fans, collectors, readers and artists come together to celebrate the day with events across the country.

The earliest comic strips, (which later gave birth to comic books), dialogue displayed in bubbles or balloons above characters’ heads. The art form weaves intricate designs. For example, text, dialogue, personalities, color and imagery developed part of a storyline. Over time, these storylines distinguish eras, artists, genres and themes.

People who collect comic books are known as pannapictagraphist.

The term “comic book” comes from the first book sold as a book reprinted of humorous comic strips. Despite their name, comic books are not all humorous in tone and feature stories in all genres.

Despite their name, comic books are not all humorous in tone and feature stories in all genres. In 1837 there came a small, seemingly inconsequential shift in the way stories were told. One Obadiah Oldbuck was drawn into existence as a series of sequential pictures with text captions. It was originally created with the purpose of being a diversion for the creator and his friends, but all too unexpected it became incredibly popular in both the US and France. This is often considered the first comic, and Rodolphe Töpffer is often considered the father of the genre.

One of the earliest known comics printed was The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck. The 1842 hardcover comic book became the first known American comic book.

In 1896, a comic-book magazine was published in the United States featuring The Yellow Kid in a sequence titled “McFadden’s Row of Flats.” The 196-page book featured black and white print and measured 5×7 inches. It sold for 50 cents.

In 1933, a comic book, Famous Funnies, appeared in the United States. Many believe the work to be the first real comic book. The reprinting of earlier newspaper comic strips established many of the story-telling devices used in comics.

The 1940’s comic book superhero called Red Bee fought the Nazis using trained bees. His favorite bee was named Michael and lived in Red Bee’s belt buckle. He first appeared in Hit Comics #1, published in July 1940 by Quality Comics. Later on, DC Comics acquired the character in 1956.

Deadpool #27 set the Guinness World Record for the most number of characters in a comic book cover (232, of which 224 deemed famous enough by Guinness World Records). There are however at least a few other covers with more characters, like the Crisis on Infinite Earths’ one.

Black Panther (T’Challa) was the first black modern superhero created in mainstream comics, making his debut in 1966 when the Fantastic Four went on a mission to Wakanda. T’Challa was the first biological son of T’Chaka, King of the African Nation of Wakanda and also ended up King himself. The inspirations for the character were the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party. T’Challa is one of the eight smartest people in the Marvel Universe.

The world’s largest publicly available comic book collection belongs to the Library of Congress. They currently hold over 100,000 individual issues. Among those are some very rare comics; includes color microfiche of selected early comic book titles like Superman, More Fun, Action Comics and special reprints.

Michael Jackson looked into—and almost succeeded—in buying Marvel Comics in the late ’90s because he wanted to play Spider-Man and Professor Xavier in the first X-Men movie. In the late ’90s, the King of Pop, who was a huge comic book fan, met with Stan Lee and Peter Paul of Stan Lee Media to see if he could purchase Marvel Comics, with a view to playing the web-slinger on the big screen.

When Patrick Stewart first saw an X-Men comic he asked, “What am I doing on the front of a comic book?” – Source

The famous rock opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark was lifted from a 1954 Scrooge McDuck comic book. – Source

The Disney character who has appeared in the most films is Donald Duck. He is also the fifth most published comic book character, behind Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and Wolverine. – Source

The Comic book code of 1954 specified that females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities. – Source

In the late 1940’s, comic books were seen as a direct cause of juvenile crime. Children were forced to burn their comics in schoolyards and a Senate hearing was held which led to the Comics Code Authority and later the Canadian ban of all comic books. – Source

“Howard The Duck,” one of the most critically panned comic book adaptations of all time, cost more to make than “Return of The Jedi”. – Source

One of the most popular comic book characters of Marvel, Iron Man, was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee for whom the character was a way to explore Cold War themes and American technology’s contribution in the fight against communism. Iron Man first appeared in an issue of May 1963 titled Tales of Suspense #39. When Lee created the character, it was a dare he gave to himself. He wanted to create a “quintessential capitalist” that went against the spirit of Marvel’s readers. He created a character people would dislike and then made them like him. In his words, the plan was,

#39. When Lee created the character, it was a dare he gave to himself. He wanted to create a “quintessential capitalist” that went against the spirit of Marvel’s readers. He created a character people would dislike and then made them like him. In his words, the plan was, Clark Kent, aka “Superman,” is a reporter who works for The Daily Planet, a fictional broadsheet newspaper that appeared in DC Comics. First owned by the bald villain Lex Luthor, the ownership of the newspaper was then transferred to the editor-in-chief, Perry White after Luthor sold it to him for one dollar thanks to a bold endeavor by Lois Lane. Then, the ownership fell into the hands of Bruce Wayne and in Batman: Hush, it was named as a subsidiary of Wayne Entertainment, a part of Wayne Enterprises. Wayne continues to own The Daily Planet. We all know who Bruce Wayne also is—Batman.

a fictional broadsheet newspaper that appeared in DC Comics. First owned by the bald villain Lex Luthor, the ownership of the newspaper was then transferred to the editor-in-chief, Perry White after Luthor sold it to him for one dollar thanks to a bold endeavor by Lois Lane. Then, the ownership fell into the hands of Bruce Wayne and in it was named as a subsidiary of Wayne Entertainment, a part of Wayne Enterprises. Wayne continues to own The We all know who Bruce Wayne also is—Batman. Marvel’s Origin series was colored direct from the pencils. Penciler Andy Kubert is right-handed, but colorist Richard Isanove is a lefty. Isanove had to scan and flip the pages to color them left-handed. Even though he was using a stylus, he had to match the “brushstroke” of the art. He effectively colored the book backward!

series was colored direct from the pencils. Penciler Andy Kubert is right-handed, but colorist Richard Isanove is a lefty. Isanove had to scan and flip the pages to color them left-handed. Even though he was using a stylus, he had to match the “brushstroke” of the art. He effectively colored the book backward! Did you ever wonder if DC actually stands for anything? It actually stands for Detective Comics, so when you say “DC Comics,” you’re really saying Detective Comics Comics.

Although superheroes may have led to the creation of comic books, a superhero comic isn’t actually the highest-selling comic book of all time. Micky Maus, a German series featuring Disney characters, still stands at #1 as of June 2018, with over 1 billion copies sold. British series The Beano comes in second with over 1 billion. Superheroes enter the list at #4 with Superman at 600 million and #5 with Batman at 600 million.

As of May 2018, computer engineer Bob Bretall has the world’s largest comic book collection. His house holds more than 100,000 issues, and one of Bretall’s strolls to his comic book shop led to a purchase of 480 new comics at one time. Bretall’s buying stretches back to 1970 so maybe you can beat him in a few decades if you start now.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Days of the Year

PFProductions

Kickass Facts

Un-Believable Facts

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