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ComicBooks.com presents

A Living Museum of the Comic

A living museum of where the comic came from — its Western and Eastern roots, the women who drew the early funnies, the Europeans who invented its grammar, and the golden age of the American color cartoon. Every artifact is public domain, restored by us, and free to explore.

Nine centuries of the comic, in order
12th c.
The Eastern Line: The Roots of Manga
The Eastern Roots · 12th c. – 1930 The Eastern Line: The Roots of Manga From the Chōjū-giga scroll and the comic brush of Edo to Hokusai's sketchbooks and the birth of modern manga. 5 galleries · 43 artifacts Enter the exhibition →
1700s
Cartoons & Caricature
Print Satire · 1700s – 1920s Cartoons & Caricature Political cartoons, caricatures, and satirical prints — the print satire the comic strip was born from. 3019 cartoons Enter the exhibition →
1730s
Before the Comic Book
The Western Roots · 1730s – 1971 Before the Comic Book From the Yellow Kid and Winsor McCay's Little Nemo to the dawn of the Golden Age — how an American art form was born. 8 galleries · 105 artifacts Enter the exhibition →
1830
European Proto-Comics
The European Roots · 1830 – 1905 European Proto-Comics Grandville, Daumier, Doré and Caran d'Ache — how 19th-century Europe drew the grammar of comics before America did. 2 galleries · 52 artifacts Enter the exhibition →
1830s
Penny Dreadfuls
The Penny Serials · 1830s – 1900s Penny Dreadfuls The cheap, blood-soaked serial fiction the comic book descends from — Victorian Britain's pulp before the pulps. 1119 issues Enter the exhibition →
1851
The Carpet-Bag
Yankee Humor · 1851 – 1853 The Carpet-Bag Boston's comic weekly — burlesque, tall tales, and the first sketch Mark Twain ever published. 36 covers Enter the exhibition →
1853
The New York Clipper
The Show World · 1853 – 1924 The New York Clipper America's theatrical and sporting weekly — the stage, the ring, the circus, and early baseball, in the paper that fathered Variety and Billboard. 51 issues Enter the exhibition →
1859
Vanity Fair: New York's Civil-War Comic Weekly
The Union's Comic Weekly · 1859 – 1863 Vanity Fair: New York's Civil-War Comic Weekly Not London's portrait weekly — the American Vanity Fair, Artemus Ward's Civil-War humor paper, a caricature on its cover every week. 24 covers Enter the exhibition →
1860s
Harper's Weekly: Thomas Nast
The Birth of the Cartoon · 1860s – 1880s Harper's Weekly: Thomas Nast Where Thomas Nast invented the political cartoon — the elephant, the donkey, and the fall of Boss Tweed. 236 cartoons Enter the exhibition →
1865
Frank Leslie's Chimney Corner
The Story Paper · 1865 Frank Leslie's Chimney Corner The illustrated family story paper — weekly serialized fiction under the woodcut, a generation before the comic book. 27 issues Enter the exhibition →
1868
Vanity Fair: Men of the Day
Men of the Day · 1868 – 1914 Vanity Fair: Men of the Day London's full-color caricature portraits — the famous chromolithographs signed Spy and Ape. 646 caricatures Enter the exhibition →
1871
Puck: America's Comic Weekly
America in Color · 1871 – 1918 Puck: America's Comic Weekly The full-color chromolithograph cartoons that ran American politics for fifty years — Keppler, Opper, Gillam and the great Puck centerfold. 140 plates · 149 full issues Enter the exhibition →
1876
The Wasp
The Western Sting · 1876 – 1928 The Wasp San Francisco's satirical sting in color — presented honestly, period bias and all. 8 plates Enter the exhibition →
1878
Boys' Story Papers
The Boys' Weeklies · 1878 – 1905 Boys' Story Papers Adventure, school, and empire a penny a week — the illustrated boys' weeklies that ran beside the penny dreadful. 44 issues Enter the exhibition →
1881
Judge: The Rival in Color
The Rival in Color · 1881 – 1947 Judge: The Rival in Color Puck's Republican answer — the same lush centerfold, aimed the other way. Gillam, Grant Hamilton, and Zim. 46 plates · 2730 full issues Enter the exhibition →
1883
Life: The Gibson Era
The Gibson Era · 1883 – 1936 Life: The Gibson Era The original Life — the humor weekly, not the photo magazine — and Charles Dana Gibson's pen. 186 drawings · 2666 full issues Enter the exhibition →
1890s
Comic Strips
The Sunday Pages · 1890s – 1930s Comic Strips The newspaper Sunday pages where the comic book was born — the funnies that taught the medium to speak. 17302 strips Enter the exhibition →
1900
Women Who Drew the Funnies
The Women · 1900 – 1930 Women Who Drew the Funnies Rose O'Neill's Kewpies, Nell Brinkley's ink-and-flourish girls, Grace Drayton's children — the women who broke into a man's page. 9 artifacts Enter the exhibition →
1900s
Pulp Fiction
The Lurid Age · 1900s – 1950s Pulp Fiction The lurid cover-art age that gave us science fiction, horror, and hardboiled crime — the newsstand next to the comic rack. 6951 covers Enter the exhibition →
1919
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang
The Joke Book That Built a Comics Empire · 1919 – 1924 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang The racy pocket humor digest a WWI veteran built into Fawcett Publications — the magazine that named Whiz Comics and gave Captain Marvel his Billy. 25 full issues Enter the exhibition →
1938 — the comic book takes over. Keep reading in the Reading Room →

Also on ComicBooks.com: read complete public-domain comics free in the Reading Room — including full Hokusai Manga volumes.