Even if the art form has been around since the 1800s, comics have almost often been unfairly dismissed as juvenile pulp fiction or disposable kids' fiction. This is despite the fact that comics are one of the most accessible forms of storytelling. Comics have changed the world in ways beyond just being the basis of some of history's most successful movies.
All it took to change the course of the comics artform and industry, or even world history, was a single comic, which was often the last thing their respective creators ever expected. Comics may have been a part of people's storytelling experiences and methods since the 1800s but the medium's always open to change and evolution.
10 X-Force #116 (2001) Kicked Off The Comics Code Authority's Slow Death
In the '50s, the comics industry was attacked by puritanical (and thinly-veiled racist) forces, who believed that comics were "corrupting" America's youth. The industry compromised by establishing the Comics Code Authority, which effectively drove the horror-loving EC Comics out of business, and forced the remaining publishers to conform to outdated standards.
The CCA stayed ridiculously powerful from 1954 to 2000, but Marvel Comics defied the Authority in 2001. In April 2001, the CCA rejected Peter Milligan and Michael & Laura Allred's X-Force #116 due to violence and sexuality. Instead of complying, Marvel published the issue anyway. One by one, publishers abandoned the CCA, and it was rendered impotent by 2011.
9 Deathmate's Failure Almost Killed The Comics Industry
Image and Valiant Comics weren't just two of the newest publishers in the '90s, but two of the decade's most important as well. The two companies were independent studios created to directly challenge DC and Marvel's stranglehold of the industry, and a lot was riding on their success or failure. Unfortunately, one of their biggest shared projects failed.
Deathmate, Image and Valiant's crossover, was such a logistical and financial disaster that not only did it ruin both companies' credibility but it almost killed comics altogether. Deathmate's failure to meet deadlines or turn a profit turned customers and investors away from comics, and this trust was only restored after a decades-long uphill fight.
8 Maus Legitimized Graphic Novels With Its 1992 Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in the world, and it's reserved for the highest achievements in literature and journalism. The fact that Art Spiegelman's controversial comic Maus won the Pulitzer in 1992 is a testament to its importance, and this honor is made even more special by the fact that Maus is, so far, the only comic to win the prize.
Strangely enough, Maus' win actually caused a bit of confusion. Because Maus used anthropomorphic animals to retell the horrors of the Holocaust, some argued that it should be classified as fiction, even if Maus is autobiographical. The Pulitzer's awards body circumvented this issue by giving the comic a Special Award in Letters.
7 The Sandman #19 Was The First & Last Comic To Win A World Fantasy Award
Neil Gaiman's The Sandman isn't just his reinvention of the long-forgotten DC Comics character, but his heartfelt ode to literature and storytelling itself. Nowhere was this made clearer than in the comic's nineteenth issue, "A Midsummer's Night Dream," wherein Dream and William Shakespeare strike a friendly deal.
Illustrated by Charles Vess and Steve Oliff, The Sandman #19 won Best Short Story at the 1991 World Fantasy Awards. However, in a controversially spiteful move, the World Fantasy Awards banned comics afterward to keep comics away from "real art." This only entrenched comic readers' and creators' resentment of sci-fi's establishment.
6 The Dark Knight Returns & Watchmen Changed Superheroes Forever
1986 could be summarized as the year that comics "grew up," and this was thanks to the simultaneous releases of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen. Both were distinct masterworks of superhero deconstruction, but the ways they changed comics as an art and business are practically the same.
TDKR and Watchmen proved that comics, especially books about superheroes, were more than just kids' entertainment with a veneer of legitimacy bolstered by classy graphic novel reprints. For better and worse, superheroes could never simply be about good fighting evil again, as for the next decade everyone either reacted to those comics or followed suit.
5
Dazzler #1 Sold So Well It Started The Speculator Boom
The '80s were some of comics' most profitable years, and this was thanks in part to the growing speculator market. Publishers were already moving away from young readers to adults who treated comics more as an investment than populist entertainment. They finalized this shift after Dazzler #1 , by Tom Defalco, John Romita Senior and Junior, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, Bob McCleod, and Glynis Wein became a blockbuster.
In 1981, Marvel tested the collectors' market by selling Dazzler #1 exclusively in comic shops. The experiment was a success, and Dazzler #1 quickly sold upwards of 400,000 copies. From this point onwards, many comics were only sold in comic shops and the speculator market became comics' dominant sales demographic, until the bubble burst in 1996.
4 The Night Gwen Stacy Died Started The Bronze Age Of Comics
After the Comic Code Authority's founding in 1954, comics bent over backward to be "wholesome," and this led to the era colloquially known as The Silver Age of Comics. This period began with DC's Showcase #4, which brought back wartime superheroes like The Flash and recontextualized them in innocent escapist fantasies.
This went on for roughly 20 years but the era it ended in 1973 with the Spider-Man story "The Night Gwen Stacy Died." It delivered what it promised when Spider-Man could save his true love, Gwen, from the Green Goblin. This arc evaded the CCA's wrath and ushered in the Bronze Age, an era defined by darker and more topical superhero fiction.
3 Tetsuwa Atom Created The Manga Artform & Industry
Depending on who's asked, Osamu Tezuka is either the father or god of manga and anime. Either title is appropriate since Tezuka all but created Japan's most famous forms of artistic expression and entertainment by himself. This all started in 1953 with Mighty Atom, which is better known around the world as Astro Boy.
Tezuka's work on Mighty Atom pioneered what would become the modern manga style and business, and this is his true legacy. Mighty Atom didn't just lay the foundations for manga's distinct character design, but its anime also birthed the anime industry. Without Mighty Atom, manga and anime wouldn't exist, and the world would be poorer for it.
2 Captain America Led The War Effort In America & Boosted Morale
Before America entered World War II, the general populace was torn between isolationism and participation. Given their belief in freedom and hatred of Nazism, comic creators Jack Kirby and Joe Simon thought that America should join the fight, and they created Captain America to make this point. Needless to say, their message was heard.
From March 1940 to December 8, 1941, Captain America emboldened American support for the war while infuriating homegrown fascist sympathizers and isolationists. Captain America became an integral part of American propaganda campaigns. A strong case could even be made that, were it not for Captain America, America's war effort would have been a lot less robust.
1 Action Comics #1 Created The Modern Superhero & Comics Industry
Historically speaking, comics have been around as far back as the 1800s, but the comics medium and industry as they're known today only came to be in 1938. In June 1938, Action Comics #1 hit newsstands and introduced the world to Superman: DC Comics' flagship character and the superhero who's also seen as the first of his kind.
Action Comics #1 was the superhero comic that started it all, but not everything it birthed was good. While Superman's legend was guaranteed, DC Comics denied his creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the right to their famous and profitable creation. This would, unfortunately, become an industry norm, establishing a work-for-hire model that means that creator-owned comics and fair compensation for writers and artist are both equally rare.