Monsieur Pencil

Often hailed as the very first comic book, Rodolphe Töpffer's Monsieur Pencil launched in 1840, establishing the sequential picture-story format that would define the medium. This single-issue work, written and illustrated entirely by Töpffer, follows the misadventures of its hapless titular character through a series of satirical, hand-drawn panels. As a pioneering achievement from the Swiss artist and educator, it remains a cornerstone of comics history, demonstrating the narrative power of combining text and image long before the modern industry took shape.