History of American comics
Comic-strip characters became national celebrities, and were subject to cross-media adaptation, while newspapers competed for the most popular artists.Although the Bronze Age was dominated by the superhero genres, underground comics appeared for the first time, which addressed new aesthetic themes and followed a new distribution model.[6] This division is standard but not all the critics apply it, since some of them propose their own periods,[6][7] and the dates selected may vary depending on the authors.In 1992, a group of Marvel artists (including Jim Lee) defected to form the creator-owned Image Comics; the site marks this as the beginning of the Modern Age, which continues to the present.[15] Comics creator Tom Pinchuk proposed the name Diamond Age (2000–present) for the period starting with the appearance of Marvel's Ultimate line.[19] Töpffer comics were reprinted regularly until the late 1870s,[20] which gave American artists the idea to produce similar works.The arrival of new printing techniques, along with other technologies, allowed easy and cheap reproduction of images for the American comic to take off.Some media moguls like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer engaged in a fierce competition, publishing cartoons in their newspapers in an attempt to attract readers.[24] The period of the late 19th century (the so-called "Platinum Age") was characterized by a gradual introduction of the key elements of the American mass comics.In 1894, Joseph Pulitzer published in the New York World the first color strip, designed by Walt McDougall, showing that the technique already enabled this kind of publications.In this series of full-page large drawings teeming with humorous details, he staged street urchins, one of whom was wearing a blue nightgown (which turned yellow in 1895).The underground comix movement began at the end of the Silver Age in response to the restrictions of the Code, and was part of the broader counterculture of the 1960s.However, a return of darker plot elements and storylines more related to relevant social issues, such as racism, began to flourish during the period, prefiguring the later Modern Age of Comic Books.
American comicsmass print mediasensationalist journalismnewspaper comicsart mediumAmerican cultureHarvey ComicsAlex SchomburgRodolphe TöpfferThe Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuckcomic stripsdaily newspapersspeech balloonscomic bookSupermanGolden Age of Comic BooksWorld War IIsuperheroestalking animalsComics Code AuthorityhorrorSilver Age of Comic BooksBronze Age of Comic Booksunderground comicsModern Agecomics historiansGolden AgeAction ComicsNational Allied PublicationsDC ComicsThe FlashSilver AgeBronze AgeRichard A. LupoffComic Artletter from a readerJustice League of AmericaMichael UslanOlympicShirrel RhoadesSteve GeppiOverstreet Comic Book Price GuideDiamond Comic Distributorsdirect marketVictorianatomicchromeatomic-bombhorror storiesSecret WarsJim LeeImage ComicsDark Age of Comic BooksPop cultureAvengers DisassembledInfinite CrisisUltimate FalloutMiles MoralesComics creatorUltimateArthur Burdett FrostHistoire de Mr. Vieux BoisnewspaperBrother Jonathan ExtraWilliam Randolph HearstJoseph PulitzerNew York WorldfunnieseditorialsThe San Francisco ExaminerJames Swinnertonhumanized animalsLittle Bears and TykesWalt McDougallRichard F. OutcaultHogan's AlleyTruth Magazinethe Yellow Kidspeech balloonNew York JournalGeorges B. LuksRichard OutcaultYellow KidGustave VerbeekAmerican comic bookscomic bookssuperheroarchetypeBatmanCaptain MarvelCaptain AmericaWonder WomanShowcaseComics Codeunderground comixcounterculture of the 1960sModern Age of Comic BooksBatman: The Dark Knight ReturnsWatchmenComic Book Superheroes UnmaskedHistory of comicsList of years in comicsTable of years in comicsAges of ManWaugh, CoultondemographicsComic VineDon Markstein's ToonopediaGrand Comics DatabaseLe DevoirLibrary of CongressIola, WisconsinKrause PublicationsEdison, New JerseyCrown Publishing GroupCoogan, PeterComicsGlossary of comics terminologyAshcan comicLimited seriesOne-shotOngoing seriesMinicomicTrade paperbackComic stripComic strip formats