The Most Important Comic Books Of All Time ( Part Two )

Art Spiegelman's graphic novel telling the story of his parents life in Nazi occupied Europe is to date the only comic to win a Pulitzer prize, a moving and yet touching masterpiece, Maus certainly helped to establish comic books as a serious storytelling medium.

With the re-introduction of a new more modern looking Flash, Showcase # 4 (1956 ) is often credited with heralding in the Silver Age of Comic Books, an era when the superhero was king and some of the most famous characters in comic books were created.

The longest continuously published comic in the USA, the first edition's cover featuring a Fu Man Chu type character but by number #27 the most famous character in comic books would make his debut, Batman. Detective Comics # 27 ( May 1939 ) is one of the most important and valuable comics in the world with more than one copy having been sold for over $1 million. Originally published by National Allied Publications the company changed its name to DC reflecting the popularity of this comic.

Published by Eastern Color in July 1934 Famous Funnies was the first true comic book to be sold on news stands, it proved to be a massive success in depression hit America selling over 90% of its 200,000 print run inspiring many imitators and inventing a new mass media genre.

Created by William Moulton Marston the man who invented the Polygraph ( lie detector ) Wonder Woman, the most famous female superhero of them all and feminist icon, made her debut in a back up story in this issue from December 1941.

Its hard to believe today that in 1975 the X-Men possibly the most well known and beloved superhero group were well down in the popularity stakes among superhero comics. The X-Men had been on a hiatus for 5 years as only reprints of their early stories were being printed. Giant Size X-Men # 1 was designed to relaunch the comic and featured new characters who would become familiar to most people having seen their blockbuster movies. The new team included Wolverine making his first appearance as an X-Man and star Marvel characters Storm, Nightcrawler and Colossus.

Not the first Manga comic to appear but certainly the most influential, set during a fictional World War 3 and telling the tale of a child psychic, Akira created an interest in Japanese Manga and Anime and helped pave the way for Pokémon and many others.

The first issue of an incredibly long running series starring Marvels famous web slinger. Although not as valuable as Spider-mans first appearance and origin in Amazing Fantasy # 15, in this comic we begin to see the Spider-man we know and love begin to develop, the teenage superhero with the hangups and problems of any normal teenager. Unique for its time in its portrayal of Peter Parker as just a normal kid who happens to have super powers, Spider-man struck a chord with kids everywhere and his popularity shows no signs of waning.

Released in 1983 by First Comics this book led the way in proving that the smaller independent comic publishers could take DC and Marvel on. Edgier and sexier than much that had come before, American Flagg! opened the doors for more well known works such as Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Millers The Dark Knight Returns.

An astounding comic book series that ran for 300 issues. Self published by Canadian artist / writer Dave Sim, Cerebus an (anthropomorphic Aardvark) is very difficult to describe, suffice to say the comics include sword and sorcery, parody and satire, and some issues include references to real people alive and dead, including the author himself. Cerebus paved the way forward for artists/ writers in the comic book genre to self publish, its influence cannot be understated and it is quite unique.