A Spiderman figurine sits atop a facsimile copy of the May 1939 Detective Comics anthology series in Phoenix, Thursday May 14, 2026. This issue made history for including the debut of the Batman superhero in a story called “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate”. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Vincent Zurzolo, co-partner of Metropolis Collectibles, holds three examples of the company’s vast collection of comic books in their offices in New York, Thursday, July 10, 2003. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
Famous comic book superhero figurines stand next to facsimile copies of comic book issues in Phoenix, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Pick one up. Be seduced by its glossy cover. Gaze upon the impossibly muscular body clad in a skin-tight suit. Our hero or heroine will surely be soaring, shouting, blasting a villain into next week.
They are ridiculous. They are addictively great. Comic books, of the superhero variety, are 100% American.
