cartoons through the years

the printing press

Mar 17, 1440

Before the invention of the printing press — sometime between 1440 and 1450 — most European texts were printed using xylography, a form of woodblock printing similar to the Chinese method used to print "The Diamond Sutra" in 868.

The first book printed

Jan 1, 1455

1455: The Gutenberg Bible was the first major book printed in Europe with movable metal type by Johannes Gutenberg.

first camera invented

Mar 17, 1816

The first partially successful photograph of a camera image was made in approximately 1816 by Nicéphore Niépce, using a very small camera of his own making and a piece of paper coated with silver chloride, which darkened where it was exposed to light.

The zopetrobe

Mar 17, 1833

The basic drum-like form of the zoetrope was created in 1833 or 1834 by British mathematician William George Horner, who was aware of the recently invented and closely related phenakistoscope disc. Horner's revolving drum had viewing slits between the pictures.

The first comic book

Mar 17, 1837

Today the earliest known comic book is called The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck. Originally published in several languages in Europe in 1837, among them an English version designed for Britain in 1941.

The first cartoon

Mar 17, 1908

Fantasmagorie is an 1908 French animated film by Émile Cohl. It is one of the earliest examples of traditional (hand-drawn) animation, and considered by film historians to be the first animated cartoon. The film largely consists of a stick figure moving about and encountering all manner of morphing objects, such as a wine bottle that transforms into a flower. There were also sections of live action where the animator's hands would enter the scene. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swh448fLd1g )

Felix the Cat

Mar 17, 1919

Messmer directed and animated more than 175 Felix cartoons in the years 1919 through 1929. Felix was the first character to be widely merchandised. The last Felix the Cat cartoon, The Last Life (1928), was due to the advent of the talkies and the success of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse.

First television

Sep 7, 1927

Video as we now know it first took root in the mind of Philo T. Farnsworth when he was fourteen years old, and he was the first to successfully demonstrate the principle, in his lab in San Francisco on September 7, 1927. If you need to fix a date on which television was invented, that's the date.

Snow white

Jan 13, 1938

In 1937, Disney created the first sound and color animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The name "animated cartoon" is generally not used when referring to full-length animated productions, since the term more or less implies a "short."

Marvel

Mar 17, 1939

Marvel Worldwide Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American publisher of comic books and related media.