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America marks National Comic Book Day, should Britain celebrate, too?

By John Freeman on September 25, 2023

America celebrates National Comic Book Day today, Monday 25th September, an annual event honouring the art, artists, and stories of comic books. Fans, collectors, readers, and artists come together to celebrate the day with events across the country. Perhaps, as a nation with an even older tradition of comic creation, we should adopt the day too?

Although it’s long been argued Glasgow had comics sooner, one of the earliest known comics printed was The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck. The 1842 hardcover comic book became the first known American comic book. (You can read it in its entirety here on the web site of Dartmouth College Library).

The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck (1842) — The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, published in 1842

In 1896, Richard Felton drew a comic book magazine published in the United States featuring The Yellow Kid, in a sequence titled “McFadden’s Row of Flats.” The 196-page book featured black and white print and measured 5×7 inches and sold for 50 cents.

Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, published by Eastern Color Printing Co. in Connecticut, paved the way for Famous Funnies, regarded as the first US “comic book”, was published in the United States in 1933. The reprinting of earlier newspaper comic strips established many of the story-telling devices used in comics.

Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics (1933)

Printed in 1933, reportedly with a print run of just 35,000 copies, “Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics" was filled with reprints of newspaper comic strips. It was the first precursor to "Famous Funnies," which is considered to be the first regularly published American comic book — Printed in 1933, reportedly with a print run of just 35,000 copies, “Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics” was filled with reprints of newspaper comic strips. It was the first precursor to “Famous Funnies,” which is considered to be the first regularly published American comic book

This dynamic art form continues to inspire artists and storytellers today and comic fans will be marking National Comic Book Day in many ways, and perhaps Brtiish fans shlould adpot the Day too?

Share your collections and artwork on social media to spread the love, attend a convention (you can definitely do that in Britain, too, with plenty coming up, including the Lakes International Comic Art Festival this weekend, and Thought Bubble in November!), visiting a comic shop, studying the art of comics – and, perhaps, creating your own.

• National Comic Book Day web site

• Educators can visit the National Day Calendar classroom for projects designed to include the days in your classroom

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.