The First Modern Comic Book

Comic books have grown into a very popular hobby and industry.  The money comic book companies have made and the interest in superheroes is ever increasing.  Modern movies with awesome computer graphics and special effects have made it possible to see our favorite heroes come to life.  There is a certain feeling one gets seeing Christopher Reeve stretch out his arm in motion and the big red "S" flay across the screen, or the excitement when we see Spider-Man swing through the steel hallways of New York City!  Superheroes have become a big part of life and entertainment and have always provided us with an escape at times when it was needed most.  So how did it all begin?  What was the first modern comic book and when was it printed?

The first modern comic book was an experiment, as most things are in the beginning, and was called "Funnies On Parade".  It was produced in 1933 by Eastern Color Press and was created when the company decided to find a way to make better use of their presses.  They came up with the idea of creating a 9 x 12 inch, 8 page book by folding the pages in half.  It essentially produced what we call today the comic book.  It was literally a book of comics and featured reprints of the comic strips that appeared in the newspapers. They gave it away for FREE.  It became so popular that they began charging $0.10 the following year and the modern comic book industry began.  In fact, just 5 years later, the comic book industries most popular and well-known superhero would be born when Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created an alien from outserspace that would be Earth's mightiest champion.  He would appear in Action Comics #1 and was called...Superman!