For centuries, Comic books have been telling stories in a visually appealing way that, most agree, is incomparable with any other story telling art style. The art of creating Comic books has a long history with their source and origin dating back to 18th century Japan.
These Comics weren’t in book form back then but would often have some narrative flow to them. The first ‘Comic books’ as we know them today would collectively appear during the 1930s in the USA and UK. The first modern comic book was published in 1933. Given the tittle ‘Famous Funnies’, it would later become one of the foundation pieces of this popular genre.
Today Famous Funnies is Known as one of the very first comic books
Famous Funnies
Today, Japan still holds the record as one of the biggest Manga/Comic book distributors in the entire world. Back in 1995, The largest comic book publisher with the name of Viz Media Japan published an estimated whopping $6-7 billion US dollars in sales, which would have equaled15 issues for every individual during that time.
Fast forward to an incredibly busy 2016, Canada and the USA valued their precious runner up comic book industry at $1.09 Billion. Jump to 2021 and the US sales of print manga titles have increased by 3.6 million units in the first quarter, which is incredible considering the devastation covid restrictions had on the 2020 quarters last year keeping fans from visiting stores in person.
Marvel Comics
Viz Media has held the record for one of the biggest Japanese comic distributors.
The largest Comic book in the United States is the giant, Marvel Comics. They publish over 40.20 % of the retail market, with DC Comics in second at 29.29%. This isn’t surprising as Marvel and DC comics have created the most iconic characters and comics which have passed thru generations and will continue to do so in the years to come.
Characters like Superman, Spiderman, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, and Black Widow had infiltrated readers’ minds worldwide dating back to the early 1930’s. Specifically, Marvel comics was first known as Timely Comics back in 1939. It had grown under the thumb of Martin Goodman, an American publisher.
By 1951 it was known as Atlas Comics, but one decade later, in 1961, the Marvel Era would officially begin with the first appearance of The Fantastic Four. Just as notably, DC Comics would be established in 1934. From the mind of Malcolm Wheeler- Nicholson, who is also a publisher, DC Comics is considered one of the oldest and largest American Comic books still published today with the characters based in its popular DC Universe.
The secrets out! Yes, DC Comics is older than Marvel Comics! Yet these two companies would begin a rivalry that lasts decades and now, almost a century. DCEU and MCU have gone on to expand even to cinematic crossovers beyond what fans could have ever imagined.
Who knew these two powerhouses would grow to become even more popular and become household names in the cinematic industry? A large part of the comic book success could be due to TV and Movie adaptations that skyrocketed the popularity of the comic books that they were based on.
Biggest movies of our generation!
Comic book movies have become one of the biggest movies of our generation!
Comic books have changed significantly for the good during the last century, and their rise to power is in the worldwide spotlight as it has taken our generation by storm. The question of whether producers, directors, actors and script writers have done these Comic legends justice remains heavily in question as summer blockbuster releases keep pumping out yearly.
As recent on-screen comic book films have had major success, true Comic books critics don’t always voice universal acceptance of the adaptations even if the numbers show the people loved it. Will there always be a divide between the love and hate of the DCEU and MCU cinematic crossover?
Does the divide remain biased with those who only love DC or MCU? Or has the cinematic crossover blurred the lines and brought together the once divided Comic book fans who can now enjoy it all? I’m sure as long as they keep making billions they will take the love and the heat that comes from such controversy!
