While American monthly comic books are very different from British weekly comics, they share something of a common ancestry, and the American variety influences a new breed of British writers and artists today.
In 1876 a magazine called Puck containing cartoons and humorous stories appeared in the United States. It was soon joined by a second weekly called Judge and between these two the basis of the comic strip was established in the US but not with any regular characters. This was to change in 1897 with the appearance of the first true comic book: reprints of The Yellow Kid strips that had been appearing in a New York Sunday newspaper since 1895, now printed together on thick paper or light card and bound together between new covers. The American comic book had arrived but the format that came to dominate and later influence comics world-wide was some years off.
Like the great musicals and comedies that dominated American cinema during the Depression years that began in 1929, the first comic book titles were dedicated to raising spirits and dispelling gloom with a laugh. They took their lead from the comic sections of the Sunday newspapers known variously as the 'funny papers' or 'funny pages'. One title, The Funnies, published in the year of the Great crash of 1929 was significant for being the first to be actually sold - for 10 cents - on the news-stands rather than simply being given away free. And when, with issue #5, it became a monthly rather than a weekly, the American comic book as we know it today was born.
