It is hard to trace the history of comic books, as many countries seem to have come up with the idea independently of one another. In Britain, they go back to the late 18th century, and in Japan the late 17th. If we’re talking about the worldwide explosion of comic book popularity in the format we know today, however, it can be most easily traced back to 1930s America, especially the beginning of the Superman series in 1938.

Since then, comic books have been both hugely in fashion, and very much out of fashion. The situation today, though, is most interesting: children have largely abandoned comic books for video games and television, with the few big-selling comics of today being largely restricted to the big names – and even they aren’t doing so well, at least in the West. Manga comics in Japan outsell comics in America by over fifty to one, and the influence of manga (and its animated cousin, anime) is pervasive in Japanese society.