1956 in comics

Events and publications

Year overall

• Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent and the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings continue to negatively affect the comics marketplace. Ace Comics, Avon Comics, EC Comics, Key Publications, Mainline Publications, Nedor Comics, and Quality Comics all cease publishing, though EC continues to publish Mad magazine. The Canadian publisher Superior Publishers Limited also goes defunct.
• In Belgium, The Calculus Affair, by Hergé and The Yellow "M" by Edgar P. Jacobs, previously published as serials, are released as comics albums.
• The album Lucky Luke contre Phil Defer by Morris is first released.
• In France the Spirou et Fantasio album Le dictateur et le champignon by Franquin first appears in album form.

  January

• January 21: The first issue of the British comics magazine The Beezer comes out. It will be syndicated until 21 August 1993.

  February

• Romano Scarpa, already appreciated as cartoonist, begins his career as Disney writer with Shellfish Motives.
• February 2:
• * In Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge story The Second-Richest Duck Flintheart Glomgold makes his debut.
• * In Spirou the Lucky Luke story Rails on the prairie by René Goscinny and Morris is concluded. This marks the first time Luke sings his signature song: I'm a poor lonesome cowboy.
• February 18: The first issue of the British comics magazine Express Weekly comes out and will run until 1960.
• The final issue of the Belgian children's magazine Bimbo is published.

  April

• April 14: The final episode of Gene Deitch's Terr'ble Thompson is published.
• Cancellation of Apache Kid, with issue #19, Atlas.
• In Italy, the Donald Duck story Paperino Don Chisciotte, by Guido Martina and Pier Lorenzo de Vita, a parody of Don Quixote set in modern California, with Donald Duck in the title role and Goofy as Sancho Panza is published. After Mickey Mouse’s Hell, it’s the second retelling by Martina of a literary masterpiece with the Disney characters.

  May

• World of fantasy, a bi-monthly publication debuts for Atlas Comics. Among the artists on the book are Werner Roth and Dick Ayers.

  July

• In Detective Comics #233 Batwoman makes her debut.

  September

• September 10: David Wright and Peter Meriton's Carol Day makes its debut.
• September 20: Maurice Tillieux' Gil Jourdan makes its debut.
• Bill Ritchie's Baby Crockett makes its debut.
• September 21: The Nero story De IJzeren Kolonel by Marc Sleen is first published in the newspapers. Halfway the story the major antagonist of the series, Ricardo, makes his debut.

  October

• October 24: The first episode of Jules Feiffer's Sick, Sick, Sick is published in The Village Voice.
• Showcase #4 — First appearance of a revamped Flash ushers in the Silver Age of Comic Books.

  November

• November 1: The final issue of the Belgian comics magazine Risque-Tout is published.
• November 18: Frank Giacoia's Johnny Reb and Billy Yank makes its debut. It will run until 24 May 1959.

  December

• Mad becomes a two-montly black-and-white magazine with Al Feldstein and William M. Gaines as new chief editors and publishers. On its cover the magazine's enduring mascot Alfred E. Neuman makes his debut, designed by Norman Mingo.
• Quality Comics ceases operations; many of the company's characters and title trademarks sold to National Periodical Publications, which chooses to keep only four series running: Blackhawk, G.I. Combat, Heart Throbs, and Robin Hood Tales.
• Cancellation of the American comics magazine Panic.
• The final issue of the Belgian comics magazine Heroïc Albums is published.
• In Uncle Scrooge, Back To Long Ago!, by Carl Barks, 16th-century ancestors of Scrooge McDuck and Donald Duck are introduced. In the following years, this narrative device will be widely imitated by other Disney authors.

  Specific date unknown

• Oğuz Aral creates the Hayk Mammer comics series.
• Haaken Christensen discontinues Brumle.

  Deaths

January

• January 11: Charles Genty, French illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 69.
• January 13: Lyonel Feininger, German-American painter and comics artist, died, aged 84.
• January 22: Ward Greene, American comics writer, dies at age 63 from a pulmonary edema.

  March

• March 2: Walter Quermann, American comics artist, dies from a heart attack at age 58.
• March 25: Giovanni Scolari, Italian comics artist, dies at age 73.

  April

• April: Fernand Dineur, Belgian comics artist, dies at age 51.

  May

• May 20: Max Beerbohm, British essayist, cartoonist and caricaturist, dies at age 83.

  July

• July 21: Louis Raemaekers, Dutch cartoonist, comics artist and caricaturist, dies at age 86.

  August

• August 12: Doc Winner, American comics artist, passes away from cancer at age 71.
• August 23: Jos Speybrouck, Belgian graphic artist, illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 65.
• August 24: A.D. Condo, American comics artist, passes away at age 84.

  September

• September 6: Alex Raymond, American comics artist, dies at age 46 in a car crash.
• September 19: Cecil Surry, American animator and comics artist, dies at age 49.

  October

• October 6: Erwin Barta, Hungarian painter, illustrator and graphic artist, dies at age 78.

  December

• December 31: Norm Rice, Australian comics artist, dies in a car accident.

  Specific date unknown

• Gus Mager, American comics artist, dies at age 77 or 78.
• Zuni Maud, Polish journalist, cartoonist, puppeteer and comics artist, dies at age 64 or 65.
• Ralph Mayo, American comics artist and art director for AC Comics, dies at an unknown age.
• Austin Bowen Payne, British comics artist, dies at age 79 or 80.

  Initial appearances by character name

• Capitan Trueno, created by Victor Mora and Miguel Ambrosio Zaragoza
• Ricardo, in The Adventures of Nero: De IJzeren Kolonel, created by Marc Steen - Standaard Uitgeverij
• Jolyon Wagg, in The Calculus Affair, created by Hergè - Casterman
• Gideon McDuck, in Topolino #132-133, created by Romano Scarpa - Disney
• Timmy the timid ghost, in Timmy the Timid Ghost #3, created by Al Fago - Charlton
• Fireman Farrell, in Showcase #1, created by Arnold Drake and John Prentice - DC Comics
• Mr. Muscles, in Mr. Muscles #22, created by Jerry Siegel - Charlton
• Nature Boy, in Nature Boy #3, created by Jerry Siegel and John Buscema - Charlton
• Zaza the mystic, in Zaza the mystic#10, created by Joe Gill, Rocke Mastroserio, and Charles Nicholas - Charlton
• Chief Parker, in Adventure Comics #225, created by Alvin Schwartz and Curt Swan - DC Comics
• Batwoman in Detective Comics #233, created by Edmond Hamilton and Sheldon Moldoff - DC Comics
• Flintheart Glomgold, in Uncle Scrooge #15, created by Carl Barks - Disney
• Little Helper, in Uncle Scrooge #15, created by Carl Barks- Disney
• Flash in Showcase #4, created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino - DC Comics
• Iris West Allen in Showcase #4, created by Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert - DC Comics
• Topo in Adventure Comics #229, created by Ramona Fradon - DC comics
• Yellow Claw in Yellow Claw #1, created by Al Feldstein and Joe Maneely - Marvel
• Jimmy Woo in Yellow Claw #1, created by Al Feldstein and Joe Maneely - Marvel
• Lew Moxon - in Detective Comics #235, created by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff - DC Comics
• Malcolm McDuck and Pintail Duck, in Uncle Scrooge #16, created by Carl Barks - Disney
• Turtle in Showcase #4, created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino - DC Comics