Page "Comic book" Paragraph 20

The rise of comic book specialty stores in the late 1970s created / paralleled a dedicated market for " independent " or " alternative comics " in the U. S. The first such comics included the anthology series Star Reach, published by comic book writer Mike Friedrich from 1974 to 1979, and Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, which continued sporadic publication into the 21st century and which Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini adapted into a 2003 film.

Some independent comics continued in the tradition of underground comics, though their content was generally less explicit, and others resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned companies or by single artists.

A few ( notably RAW ) were experimental attempts to bring comics closer to the status of fine art.