In 1933, salesperson Maxwell Gaines and sales manager Harry 
I. Wildenberg of Eastern Color Printing collaborated with Dell
to publish the 36-page one-shot Famous Funnies: A Carnival of
Comics, considered by historians to be the first true American 
comic book. It was a reprinting of earlier newspaper comic strips,  
thus came the term comic book. These publications established  
the story telling and format that is still used today.

Maxwell Gaines