NATIONAL COMIC BOOK DAY

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

First popularized in the United States, comic books are also called comic magazines. Generally, comic books produce drawn sequential and opposing panels representing individual scenes. Each scene often includes descriptive prose and written narratives. When placed together, the panels form a complete story or a portion of a serial.

The earliest comic strips (which later gave birth to comic books) displayed dialogue in bubbles or balloons above characters’ heads. As an art form, the designs can be quite intricate. For example, text, dialogue, personalities, color, and imagery enhance part of a storyline. Over time, these storylines also distinguished 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.

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, Richard Felton drew a comic-book magazine 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.

HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL COMIC BOOK DAY

This dynamic art form continues to inspire artists and storytellers today. There are also so many ways to celebrate the day:

Try sharing your collections and artwork to spread the love.
Attend a convention.
Visit a comic book store.
Study the art of comic books.
Explore the styles and artistry.
Create your own comic book.
Read about the history and how the medium changed and evolved.

Maybe you’ll discover a great find. Learn about the careers of Steve Ditko, John Buscema, Curt Swan, or Carmine Infantino. Tell us who your favorite comic book artist or storyteller is.

Pick up a comic book to read and use #NationalComicBookDay to post on social media.