Nostalgic Showcase Presents is joining in on the 250th birthday celebration of the United States of America with our own yearlong landmark celebrations of our favorite toys, movies, characters, and franchises! Check back every two months for a special themed article, and attend our in-person events throughout the year.
For longtime readers of this series, you may already know this fact: I love comics! For as long as I can remember, comic books have been a part of my life, from reading my dad’s collection of antique comics on my backyard childhood playset as a young kid, to now, as an adult, researching, contributing, and collecting small print independently published zines and comics. When I started researching the anniversary topics for this year, animation was a given- and is our next topic coming up in June- but sequential arts, from long form graphic novels to one-panel newspaper comic strips, was next on my list. There’s a lot of ground to cover in this article- from our favorite comic book characters introductions, the publications of the most impactful graphic novels, and the comic strips that continue to entertain to this day- all celebrating landmark anniversaries!
Let’s start with the big two publishers- Marvel and DC. 85 years ago, Marvel premiered Captain America in Captain America #1– featuring a fantastic cover of the titular character punching Hitler, published a year before the USA’s involvement in the intensifying WWII. The American super soldier was created by comic book legends Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Four astronauts-turned-superheroes, the Fantastic Four, premiered 65 years ago in Fantastic Four #1, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, inspired by DC Comic’s own team of superheroes, the Justice League. A flagship antagonist for the Fantastic Four premiered five years later with the Silver Surfer, in Fantastic Four #48. In 1966, black superheroes were a rarity, but that would change with Marvel’s Fantastic Four #52, premiering Black Panther. Always reflecting the world and culture in their comics, the Black Panther comics would be no different, advocating for racial equality and social reform in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. In 1991, the fan-favorite, snarky, third-wall-breaking, antihero Deadpool premiered in The New Mutants #98, created by Rob Liefeld and Fabien Nicieza. Fans of Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, and its sequel, Across the Spiderverse, will be excited to dive into fifteen years of published comic book content about the main lead, Miles Morales. The alternative, Afro-Latino version of the original Spiderman, premiered in 2011 in Ultimate Fallout #4, redesigned and rewritten by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli. DC Comics big stars also celebrate honorary anniversaries this year, with Aquaman and Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman both premiering 85 years ago, in More Fun Comics #73 and All Star Comics #8, respectively. Aquaman was created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris, Green Arrow was created by Weisinger and George Papp, and Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston, all original characters created for the publisher. Traveling at the speed of light, The Flash sprinted into comics 75 years ago in The Flash #1, created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert.
Comic strips may have been slowly phasing out of fashion, but there are a couple notable mentions for landmark anniversaries this year. Police detective Dick Tracy, created by Chester Gould, premiered in 1931 in the Detroit Mirror, a now-defunct newspaper published in Detroit, MI. Not too long after its debut, Dick Tracy would be syndicated across the nation under the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate, adapted into numerous radio series, theatrical serials, paperback books, and five feature length films. On March 12, 1951, the tyke-sized terror of American suburbia, Hank Ketcham’s Dennis the Menace premiered in 19 newspapers, distributed by the now-defunct Publishers-Hall Syndicate. Inspired by Ketcham’s own rebellious son, Dennis the Menace is about a young boy, who tries his best to help others out with a soft-hearted personality, but things just cannot seem to go right, and trouble soon follows. Mr. Wilson, Dennis’ well-meaning neighbor next door, somehow gets the brunt of the unintended chaos, and comedy ensues. With a simple, but relatable premise, Dennis the Menace has been adapted in numerous mediums- long form comic books, animated shows, a successful live action show, a live action movie and even a video game, over the past 75 years.
This year also celebrates the 85th premiere of Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, and Betty Cooper, of Archie Comics fame, in Pep Comics #22! Inspired by the popular Andy Hardy films, publisher John Goldwater intended to appeal to a teenage demographic with the short story, and Archie, Jughead, and Betty became instant hits. More characters would join the cast of relatable midcentury teens and their lives, further developing the fictional town of Riverdale, and with each iteration, following contemporary trends and fads along the way. Multiple adaptions of the comics have released since 1941, with an iconic animated series originating one of the catchiest bubblegum pop songs and the number 1 hit of 1969… but you can read more about the animated versions of Archie and his friends in our article about Filmation here.
Where’s the comics for the kids? Jeff Smith’s fantasy indie classic Bone premiered 35 years ago! An Ohio local, Smith studied animation at the Ohio State University, and went on to form his own independent publishing company with his wife. In 1991, the first issue of Bone released, a new genre-defying dark fantasy/comedy comic unlike anything ever released in the medium before, featuring characters he started drawing when he was a kid. Smith would publish 55 issues of the Bone series between 1991 and 2004, entertaining Millennial and older Gen Z audiences alike, a timeless story with an appealing cast of characters. If Bone is a little too mature for your young reader, Big Nate might be more up your alley. Published in 1991, as well, Lincoln Peirce’s comedic comic-strip-turned-graphic-novel is about Nate Wright, a C-grade student but unusually talented young boy who loves to prank his friends and get up to other mischief while in school. Big Nate has been adapted into various books, in computer video game Poptropica, a musical, and an animated series on Paramount+.
Mainstream comics are great, but what if I want a comic with a bit more of an edge? Anyone who picked up a copy of MAD magazine and read it will remember- and scoff at- the antics of a certain duo of monochromatic spies. 2026 marks the 65th anniversary of the first premiere of Antonio Prohías’ Spy vs. Spy in MAD #60. Originally a spoof on Cold War political ideologies, the pair have been duking it out for decades, slapstick gag after slapstick gag, a much needed break from the rest of MAD’s word-heavy high brow comedy. For readers wanting to read gritty graphic novels with a more serious tone, DC Comic’s Watchmen, created by Alan Moore, published its first issue 40 years ago, in 1986. Watchmen‘s contents ushered in the Modern Age of Comics, with a darker tone and complex and mature overarching storyline, something that was rare to see (and market) in mainstream comics. Set in an alternative timeline, where superheroes emerged during the 1940s, impacting America’s history so that we won the Vietnam War, setting in motion WWIII with the Soviet Union in 1985, unless the superheroes can come out of hiding and solve the murder of one of their own kind. 1986 also marks the publishing of what I would consider one of the most important graphic novels for adults of all time- Art Spiegelman’s MAUS 1: My Father Bleeds History. Split into two parts, MAUS II: And Here My Troubles Began published five years later, MAUS is the retelling of Spiegelman’s parent’s survival through the Holocaust and Auschwitz, through the anthropomorphic lens of cats and mice. Controversial and wildly challenged (and even banned outright in some countries), Spiegelman’s delicate delivery of one of the most horrific events in human history through sketchy pen lines and excerpts from conversations with his father earned the author a Pulitzer Prize- the first, and only, graphic novel to earn the award to this day.
Enjoy this article? Check out my upcoming event later this month, and check out our Celebrate Comic Books Day events on May 2!
Come back in June for a showcase of our favorite animated films and shorts that celebrate anniversaries this year!
