The comic - a success story

Although at the time, comics were still considered the work of the devil in Germany, the first German edition of Mickey Mouse was published on August 29, 1951. Now worth thousands of euros to collectors, not even half of the original 300,000 copies were sold; the ones that went unsold were given away for free to schools or ended up in the trash. By now, Mickey Mouse is seen as a literary classic.

Many experts see German illustrator Wilhelm Busch as the forefather of comics. The German artist inspired the early comic artists of New York, and later on even Walt Disney. The protagonists he created from the 1860s onwards included animal torturers, drunk priests, hypocritical nuns and two poorly behaving kids named Max and Moritz.

An exhibition running through September 18, 2016 at the Frankfurt Art Museum, Kunsthalle Schirn, presents six predominantly US pioneers of comics, among them Cliff Sterrett (pictured: "Polly and Her Pals.") The exhibition presents the artists as "another avantgarde" creating their own art form, while anticipating later developments such as Surrealism and Expressionism.

Comics largely owe their early success to newspapers, as decreasing paper costs and more efficient printing machines made them more accessible to a greater public in the early 20th century. Comics came to play an important role in the resulting competition between different newspapers. Sometimes, the success of a particular paper depended to a large extent on the popularity of its comics.

In 1933,– at the tender age of 14, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman whom they baptized "Kal-El,"– which means "God is in everything" in Hebrew. But it took them five years to find a publishing house for their hero - DC Comics, which published the first edition of the series "Action Comics" in 1938. Later, at an auction in the US, a first edition was sold for 3.2 million dollars.

Superman didn't stay alone for long. Pretty soon, Batman, Captain America, Wonderwoman, The Flash and countless other superheroes and super villains were fighting each other. Among those making cameo appearances was Adolf Hitler; during World War II, Superman & Co served as a way to raise the morale of American soldiers.

After the end of the war, many superheroes disappeared from the scene. Only a few permanent heroes were left to confront the aliens and criminal geniuses such as The Joker. Later, various film adaptations triggered a renewed boom for Superman & co, among them recent movies like "Deadpool," a comic figure from Marvel's "House of M".

An irritable animated duck made his debut in a 1934 animation film, nine years before he made his way into the "Walt Disney Comics." Donald Duck owes a lot of his popularity to artist Carl Barks. Over the next 20 years, Barks wrote and illustrated almost every month for Disney while creating numerous members of Donald Duck's family, including Scrooge McDuck in 1947 and Gladstone Gander in 1948.

Europe has produced quite a few remarkable comics in its own right. The Adventures of Asterix by French artist René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo (pictured) are among the most famous. Created in 1959, the two Gauls Asterix and Obelix play the main roles in a total of 36 original editions. Contemporary editions published today are no longer the work of their original creators.

Another world famous comic figure is Tim (Tintin), who travels around the world accompanied by his little white dog. Tintin was invented in 1929 by Belgian artist Hergé. Today, the 24 editions can be found in every bookstore. The series has even survived various accusations, including one of racism. In 2007, a Congolese student sued to stop the distribution of Tim comics in the Congo (pictured).

Another comic star from Belgium is cowboy Lucky Luke. The guy who pulls his revolver faster than his shadow was invented by artist "Morris" to be published for the first time in the magazine "Spirou" in 1946. The first Lucky Luke album was published in 1949. Apart from the Cowboy albums, Morris also wrote 17 screenplays on Lucky Luke, among them an unforgettable movie starring Terence Hill.

At times, comics had to overcome difficult challenges, as they were seen as dumb or even as putting young people at risk. In 1977, author Will Eisner (pictured) created the term "graphic novel" which was aimed at underlining the literary character of his comics. This was a clever move, as from then on, even more conservative readers got to discover their interest in comics.

The major difference between comics and graphic novels is the fact that the latter cover an entire story and are published as books. With "Maus," Art Spiegelmann made his entrance onto bestseller lists in 1986, and was even awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 - a revolution for the world of comics. In "Maus," the American artist tells the story of his father - a Holocaust survivor.

In contrast to the traditional comic strongholds France and the US, there wasn't much interest in comics in Germany for a long time. By today, some German comic artists have established themselves internationally, among them Reinhard Kleist. And there is a lot of young talent as well; in 2016, Nils Oskamp published "Drei Steine" ('Three Stars') highlighting the issue of right-wing violence.

Mangas have long been an integral part of leisure culture in their country of origin, Japan. In Europe however, they were largely rejected until the 1990s - on account of having a reputation for featuring violent or sexist content. Thanks to TV series like "Sailor Moon" they became more acceptable. In the late 1990s, "Pokemon" triggered a manga boom in Germany, which continues today.