A brief history of comics

Quite different than photography or movies, there cannot be a clear 'father' of modern comics distinguished. Generally, scholars situate the starting point of the history of comics at the end of the 19th century. At this time many elements such as technical, sociological and commercial developments, to name just a few converged and made the enormously rapid development of comics possible, especially in the United States. Comics became an important commercial instrument for newspapers, and later on, syndicates, editors and others ... There were big differences between American and European comics however. In Europe, and especially Belgium and France, comics were until the sixties of last century aimed at children and youngsters. As a consequence, comics were considered as a part of popular culture and didn't get a lot of attention of scholars. But times have changed and there's a fascinating history to discover now. This article makes a swift synthesis of this history and points out some of the most influential Western authors.