Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!

It’s the arrival of a new age of comic book awareness! And after 63 years, it’s about time.

In 1938, the Golden Age of comics was inaugurated with the release of Action Comics #1, the seminal book that introduced Superman and the notion of the superhero comic book to the world. In an era that pre-dated the advent of television, comics provided readers with a colorful and engaging form of escapism, using a combination of vibrant art and fantastic stories to bring the adventures of larger-than-life heroes and dastardly villains to life. Marked by the trademark use of word balloons (often filled with colorful word-sounds like “Pow!”, “Blam!” and “Kaboom!”), comics were a unique and distinctive art form that captured the wide-eyed imaginations of children everywhere.

During this time period legendary creators like Jerry Siegel, Bob Kane and Stan Lee took the fledging industry in their hands and gave it a firm foundation on which everything since has been built. These people were the pioneers and visionaries responsible for creating the Supermans, Batmans and Spidermans who have graced so many pages over the years, characters who have leaped out of the panels and into our cultural heritage.

Times have changed, and comics have changed along with them. In 1961 a copy of The Fantastic Four could be had for a dime; today, the latest issue of FF will run you $2.25. And inflation is only the beginning. The books themselves have evolved both in terms of presentation and content. Also, comic book art has become a thriving job field and an exciting new playground for up-and-coming artists and designers worldwide. Comic book writers are gradually receiving the recognition and legitimacy they deserve as excellent storytellers. The comic book medium has also taken great strides in the social realm, gaining credibility as a vessel for the communication and exploration of important social issues. In recent years many weighty topics, including AIDS and racism have found expression through its pages. In fact, comics have so effectively closed the gap between popular entertainment and literature that many critically acclaimed stories, such as Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns have found their way onto college literature syllabuses.

Through it all, the every-increasing fan base has remained fervently loyal. The comic book industry has grown into a lucrative business and an entertainment heavyweight with close ties to Hollywood. And perhaps more importantly it has become an integral part of Americana. As the writer Harlan Ellison once said, “Comics are one of only five art forms native to the United States” (the others being jazz, the banjo, the musical comedy and the mystery novel).

But in the most fundamental ways nothing has changed at all. Since the beginning comics have had the potential as an educational tool along with their extraordinary entertainment value. It’s a duality that remains today. And comic book creators have always been among the most innovative and original minds in the world; their unwavering commitment to artistic excellence will always be a bedrock principle of the industry.

But if there’s one thing the comic book community has never completely been able to shake it’s the stigma associated with age. Since comics were originally geared towards children (even today many within the industry still colloquially refer to them as “funnybooks”), a great majority of people have come to associate comic books exclusively with kids—and the claim “Only kids read comics!” has become the standard (and inaccurate) battle cry for the legions of adults with “more serious” things on their minds.