A BRIEF HISTORY OF ILLUSTRATED STORIES (COMIC BOOKS) which concentrates, not on my own favorites, but on defining movements that shaped our industry.

2000 B.C. - Tales were told about the legendary Babylonian King Gilgamesh, the world's first superhero stories.

800 B.C. - The Iliad and Odyssey, epic poems ascribed to Homer, were written about the Trojan War and aftermath. If you've seen the movie, you only know about one percent of this heroic "soap opera." This tradition continued with stories of the Greek and Roman gods and heroes, King Arthur and his knights and other European myths (Beowulf, Cuchulain of Ireland, Hereward the Wake, Robin Hood) and the legends of Charlemagne.

425 B.C. to 60 A.D. - The Bible was written, one of history's greatest cosmic adventure stories.

1823 to 1854 - John Fenimore Cooper and John Rollin Ridge defined our modern view of what the American hero is - an outcast and loner who strives to retain his individualism while opening up frontiers for the more communal in society. Cooper's Natty Bumppo and Hawkeye characters are solitary individuals living in harmony with nature. Ridge's California bandit Joaquin Murrieta turned into a Robin Hood-styled hero after the gringos wronged his wife. Both embrace their savage sides, tempered by strong morals. These characters embody, and even created, what manhood means in America. If you have ever wondered what the pulp writers read in their youth, read these writers.

1842 - "The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck" was released, probably the first comic book published in America.

1871 - Thomas Nast, through his political cartoons in "Harper's Weekly," lead to the downfall of the corrupt administration of Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall in New York City. Many immigrants in the city could not read, but Nast's pictures put the point across. Just as an aside, Nast popularized the elephant and donkey to symbolize the Republican and Democratic Parties and created the "modern" image of Santa Claus.

1877 - "Puck" was first published, the "Mad" magazine of its day, with adult humor, illustrations and cartoons.

1883 - Palmer Cox introduced his Brownies in "St. Nicholas Magazine," the first magazine specifically marketed for children that carried cartoons, and the licensed character was born, merchandising goods.

1895 - R.F. Outcault's first Yellow Kid cartoon appeared in the "N.Y. World" newspaper in color. No, the Yellow Kid was not the first comic character in America, but he was the first newspaper superstar.

1902 - R.F. Outcault's Buster Brown became the first nationally syndicated comic strip.

1920 to 1940 - This was the great age of American newspaper comic strips before they began their reduction in size. Some favorites are Mutt and Jeff, Little Nemo, the Katzenjammer Kids, Bringing Up Father, Jiggs and Maggie, Polly and Her Pals, Winnie Winkle, Gasoline Alley, Li'l Abner, Krazy Kat, and Blondie (a single, young flapper in the beginning!). For raw adventure you can't beat Dick Tracy, Terry and the Pirates, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Prince Valiant, Little Orphan Annie (Yes, Annie is great adventure!) and Thimble Theatre with Popeye.

1929 - The first Shadow story, written by George Jenks, was printed in pulp magazine "Fame and Fortune." The "pulps" were untrimmed magazines named for their soft paper flecked with shreds of wood fibre, the cheapest available. Detective, crime, secret agent and G-man, battle, space travel and adventure stories filled these paperbacks. Although the marketing strategy was quantity over quality, the pulps gave birth to some notable, quality icons: The Shadow, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes (1912), H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos (1917), Robert E. Howard's Conan and Kull (1925), Lester Dent's Doc Savage (1933), G. Wayman Jones' The Phantom (1933), and others. The "dime novels" gave a start to many authors who were later recognized as masters: Theodore Sturgeon, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Fritz Leiber, Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury, to name a few.

1938 - Superman appeared in "Action Comics #1," the holy grail of comic book collectors. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, both 17 years old, developed the character. Superman is generally recognized as the first true superhero, due to his costume (Based on getups worn by circus strongmen of the day) and his powers (More than just enhanced human powers). (Popeye actually has him beat by nearly a decade.) Siegel's Superman concept amalgamated three themes popular in the pulps: visitor from another planet, superhuman and dual identity.

1939 to 1945 - World War II. I know, it's a real event, but along with the real life heroes from this "greatest generation," costumed heroes multiplied like crazy in the comics. I could fill a whole website, and many have, with info from this period. Generally, Timely's comics (Much later morphing into Marvel) stressed the art and artists and at DC (Or Detective Comics) the writer received top billing.

1950 - "Crypt of Terror" (Later "Tales of the Crypt"), "Vault of Horror" and several more "new trend" comics were launched by publisher William Gaines, son of comic book pioneer M.C. Gaines. The company, EC (Educational Comics, later Entertainment Comics) revitalized and revolutionized the industry - its cynicism and gore was impossible for the general public to ignore.

1952 - Gaines launched "Mad" magazine, the first political and societal humor magazine of its kind. Today's "Mad" tries very hard (My daughter loves it) but for impact on society, for effect on the national consciousness, "Mad" in the '50s, '60s and '70s was unequalled in the history of comic books.

1954 - If you (Yes, you) don't know what the word "McCarthyism" means you need to look into it. Senator Joseph McCarthy's use of indiscriminate, often unfounded accusations, sensationalism and inquisitorial investigative methods was the most interesting and fearsome misuse of government power ever forced on the American people. His witch hunt against Communism was most incredible in retrospect when we can see that many good men would not speak against him for fear of losing their jobs and their lives. Well, comic books had its own backlash from this conform-or-be-cast-out movement. Frederic Wertham's book "Seduction of the Innocent" created a wave of public indignation that lead to a Senate subcommittee on juvenile delinquency investigation. Most comic book publishers came together and set up a Comics Code Authority, which reviewed content and issued a seal of approval for reviewed comics. These activities lead to the death of EC publishing's horror and war line - they had to move "Mad" magazine from comic book format to magazine format. The hearings also cemented the public's perception that comic books were just for children, a ridiculous value judgement that survives to this day. (An interesting aside is that in Japan, where no Comics Code Authority was ever considered, it is common to see businessmen riding to work on the subways reading comic books.)

1961 - Stan Lee, after 22 years with Timely comics, decided to write comics he would also enjoy reading. The result was "Fantastic Four #1." As goofy as that first issue may seem by today's standards, it was a breakthrough. The team had personality and argued with each other. The antagonist, Mole Man, had a sympathetic background and an interesting reason to exist. The Comics Code had obviously beaten writers into submission if these simple writing qualities could make Stan's work stand out. With time and an unbelievable output (aided by the famous "Marvel Method" of writer/artist collaboration) Stan pulled ideas from his youth (Basically everything presented as history here) and created The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Mighty Thor, Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, The X-Men, Iron Man, Captain America (who had existed in WWII), The Avengers, Dare-Devil and many, many more. Artists working with Stan in those early days included heavyweights Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Gene Colan, Bill Everett and John Buscema.

1968 - "Zap #1" comic appeared in the usual distribution outlets for the "underground" comic movement: head shops (A '60s phenomena where adult customers could buy smoking paraphernalia, black light posters, Che Guavara T-shirts, incense and bead curtains. These independent stores had more to do with the increase in comic book shops in the '70s than many in the industry would like to admit!). The undergrounds were hippie versions of the '80s independents. Unconfined by the Comics Code (Or much of anything, really) these comics featured pure propaganda, shock as a comedy device and stream-of-consciousness writing, a wonderful variety of thoughts and ideas, many contradicting the messages of others, even those written by the same creator. "Zap #1," written and drawn entirely by Robert Crumb, is typical of this movement and a pivotal issue. Big name artists of this movement include Crumb (Mr. Natural, Fritz the Cat), Gilbert Shelton (Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers), Rick Griffin, S. Clay Wilson and Spain.

1970 - Roy Thomas wrote tales based on a pulp figure and "Conan the Barbarian" became Marvel's last big, innovative offering for five years, introducing sword and sorcery tales to new comic book readers. Marvel had been using Stan's great characters, building elaborate worlds with a certain amount of continuity (another of Stan's innovations) so this breakthrough was probably unexpected. But young Barry Smith's expressive and evolving illustrations appealed to readers and the Conan paperbacks issued several years earlier with popular Frank Frazetta painted covers had introduced Robert E. Howard's pulp hero to a new generation.

1975 - Marvel published "Giant Size X-Men #1" followed by "The All New, All Different X-Men #94." Using a combination of action and personal drama, writer Chris Claremont (initially with Len Wein) established the formula that would make X-Men an unrelenting fan force through the '80s, '90s and through to today. No one was a comic book fan in the late '80s without reading X-Men - it just wasn't done! Stan Lee's initial, under used concept of a mutant minority either learning how to coexist (Professor Charles Xavier = Martin Luther King) or take over (Magneto = Malcolm X) was taken to dramatic extremes by Claremont and a series of exceptional storyteller/artists. The X-Men concept of the downtrodden minority has been related to blacks, gays and any number of minorities by columnists, but I believe X-Men success can be traced to the simple fact that teenagers, the largest initial market for these comics, often feel like outsiders and could easily relate.

1977 - "Heavy Metal" magazine was introduced to the American public by the publishers of "National Lampoon" magazine, raising the bar for story, art and even printing quality. Heavy Metal magazine reprinted material from Europe's "Metal Hurlant" magazine and introduced apocalyptic space opera to an American audience the same year the first Star Wars movie was a surprise hit. "Heavy Metal" was very different. It featured several single stories per issue. A couple of these stories might have continued into the next issue, but there was no emphasis on reoccurring characters. There was, however, an emphasis of the kind of stream-of-consciousness writing that can only come from letting artists be writers. Sometimes stories were structured and coherent, sometimes they weren't, but the artwork was always full of those "wow" moments comic readers live for. And the printing was always, always perfect. In my lifetime I have never bought a comic for years and not seen a missed registration, misfolded page or faded color plate - except for the first years of "Heavy Metal." It was, of course, too good to last. By the mid-'80s the publishers were fooling around with paper quality and today every single story seems based on sex and violence, probably in an effort to boost, or hang on to, sales.

1984 - Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird spent $700 and borrowed $500 from Kevin's uncle to release the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic and ushered in a new era of independent comic book production, predating the same movement in other arts (including today's independent movie movement) by about 15 years. The independents, flourishing in the late '80s, were (and are) basically a more mainstream version of the underground movement, artists and writers who want to publish in a world dominated by the big two companies, DC and Marvel. Eastman and Laird landed a distributor, role playing game producer and RPG miniature manufacturer on the basis of their comic and concept alone. Three cartoon series, three movies and multiple action figure releases later, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is one of the most recognizable comic book names in America.

1985 - "Crisis on Infinite Earths" by Marv Wolfman and George Perez dramatically altered DC's universe and forever changed the way comic fans looked at miniseries. The 12 issues included virtually every character in the humongous DC universe, doomed some of DC's most popular characters and effectively "rebooted" the DC universe. One of the reasons I liked Marvel comics in my youth was that it seemed like anything could happen. The DC line, by contrast, was very static. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc., would always have the same friends, same jobs and same problems. It always sounded way too much like my parents and friend's parents! Whether you like the directions taken after "Crisis," you have to admit DC was an old property in desperate need of a major upgrade. (One example of a successful series reboot from "Crisis" was George Perez' Wonder Woman in 1987 - well written, respectful of a character that had been around since 1942 and accessible to those elusive female comic readers.)

1993 - Encouraged by the movement toward adult marketed comic books, DC comics introduced their Vertigo line. Some books were continued from the DC line, like "Sandman" (Neil Gaiman), "Animal Man" (Jamie Delano), "Doom Patrol" (Grant Morrison), "Hellblazer" (Garth Ennis and some excellent writers over the years, the longest running Vertigo title) and "Swamp Thing" (Nancy Collins, continuing the success of the revamp by Alan Moore). Others were begun, some with an initial miniseries, like "Black Orchid" (Dick Foreman, miniseries by Neil Gaiman), "Books of Magic" (John Ney Rieber, miniseries by Neil Gaiman), "The Invisibles" (Grant Morrison) and "Kid Eternity" (Ann Nocenti, miniseries by Grant Morrison), There were also some excellent miniseries in those first years - which ones? Well, all of them. The first years of Vertigo were quite literate, beautifully constructed stories for adults who like to read. Like "Heavy Metal" before them, the publishers eventually figured out that sex and violence were easier and sold more than thoughtful writing. Vertigo today still has some of the highest quality writers in the business, and it's important to support a venture like Vertigo for the future of our hobby, but if you're interested in back issues try the first years, up through about 1995. For some reason, anything edited by Karen Berger was just killer reading.

Now - What's next? Graphic novels are now selling better than ever before and have whole sections in major book stores. Sales of individual comic book titles are way, way down from their peak 50 years ago (The actual date eludes me, but you would be surprised by the actual sales figures - where are all of these readers today?). Will this lead to the end of monthly "pamphlet" comics? Or will the major publishers figure out some way to offer us more bang for our bucks? A $3.00 comic book is hardly an impulse buy within the reach of the average kid. Other magazines are much better values than comic books - why is this? In the past comic book artists made below average wages - are creative people overpaid or are the big comic companies top heavy with administration costs? Why isn't there a $3.00 Superman reprint monthly magazine at Barnes and Nobels with 60 or 70 pages? "The New Yorker" magazine contains dozens of creative people, including artists, averages over 100 pages and comes out every WEEK for less than one dollar an issue. What are readers getting out of Manga (Japanese import comics) that they aren't getting out of American comic books? When will I stop asking questions?

I hope you gained some perspective out of this brief history. The one thing that matters most to publishing companies is their own survival and that means sales. So buy comics you respect. Give (age appropriate) comics away to friends and the neighborhood kids often, ones you enjoy, not those you are trying to get rid of. Keep giving away quality to anyone who expresses an interest. The kid down the street that reads his first Spider-Man today could be the one who will keep the books you enjoy from disappearing.