1997 in comics
Events
- Publisher Blatant Comics founded by Chris Crosby and Bobby Crosby.
- WildStorm established the Cliffhanger imprint.
March
- March 22: The final episode of Steve Dowling's Garth is published.
- The final episode of Daniel Clowes' Ghost World is prepublished in Eightball. In the same issue Clowes publishes his essay Modern Cartoonist.
April
- April 1: Tony Barbieri and Bill Wray's Monroe makes its debut in the 356th issue of Mad. It will run until 2010, albeit with a different artist from 2006 on: Tom Fowler.
- Comic strip Cigarman begins publication in Smoke Magazine
- Marvel cancels The Punisher with issue #18
May
- May 24: The British girls' magazine Mandy and Judy, who merged in 1991, now merge with Bunty. It will run in this form until 2001.
July
- July 7: Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman's Zits makes its debut.
- July 31: The Belgian city Middelkerke starts an annual project where statues of famous Belgian comics characters are placed at the dijk during the summer. The first one to be honoured this way is Jommeke.
- Marvel Comics' Flashback month: all issues were released with the number −1.
October
- October 11–12: During the Stripdagen in Haarlem, the Netherlands, Peter Pontiac receives the Stripschapprijs. Sunnya van der Vegt en René van Royen receive the P. Hans Frankfurtherprijs for their book Asterix en de waarheid, about the historicity in Astérix.
November
- Mayo Kaan takes out newspaper ads claiming to be the original model for Superman, although his allegations were later proven false.
December
- The final issue of the Belgian comics magazine À Suivre is published.
- Marvel returns the Avengers and Fantastic Four to their main continuity in Heroes Reborn: The Return #1–4
Specific date unknown
- The final album of the Belgian comics series Bessy, originally created by Willy Vandersteen, is published.
- The final episode of the Belgian comics series Tif et Tondu is published, ending it just a year before its 60th birthday.
Deaths
January
- January 5: André Franquin, Belgian comics artist, dies at age 73.
- January 5: Frans Piët, Dutch comics artist, dies at age 91.
- January 25: Dan Barry, American cartoonist and comics artist, dies at age 73.
February
- February 3: Geoffrey Foladori, Uruguayan comics artist, dies at age 88.
- February 7: Nina Albright, American comics artist, dies at age 89.
- February 13: Hans Schlensker, dies at age 82.
- February 15: Jack Sparling, Canadian-American comics artist, dies at age 81.
- February 23: Larry Antonette, aka Dean Carr, American comics artist, dies at age 87.
- Specific date unknown: Arthur Horner, Australian-British cartoonist, dies at age 80.
March
- March 10: Stan Drake, American comics artist, dies at age 75.
April
- April 11: Helge Kühn-Nielsen, Danish comics artist, teacher, painter and illustrator, dies at age 76.
- April 16: Roland Topor, French novelist, illustrator, cartoonist, comics artist, film script writer, TV script writer, animator and playwright, dies at the age of 59.
- April 27: Víctor Arriazu, Spanish comics artist, dies at age 61 or 62.
May
- May 1: Sirius, Belgian comics artist, dies at the age of 86.
- May 4: Lou Stathis, American comics editor of DC's Vertigo line, dies of complications related to a brain tumor at age 44.
- May 31: Ruth Atkinson, Canadian-American comics artist, dies at age 78.
June
- June 6: Manny Stallman, American comics artist, dies at age 70.
- June 12: Rémy Bourles, French comics artist, passes away at age 91.
- June 15: Kim Casali, New Zealand cartoonist and comics artist, dies of bone and liver cancer at the age of 55.
July
- July 8: Clay Geerdes, American writer and photojournalist who extensively covered the underground comix movement, dies of liver cancer at age 63.
August
- August 19: James Ringrose, Dutch comics artist, dies at age 83.
September
- September 4: Nasjah Djamin, Indonesian illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 72.
- September 25: Josep Toutain, Spanish comics artist and publisher, dies from lung cancer at age 64-65.
October
- October 8: Zhang Chongren, Chinese artist and sculptor, passes away at age 91.
- October 16: Dick Cavalli, American comics artist and cartoonist, dies at the age of 74.
- October 18: Milt Neil, American animator and comics artist, passes away at age 83.
- October 22: Per Lygum, Danish animator and comics artist, dies at age 64.
November
- November 13: Samm Schwartz, American comics artist stories for Archie Comics, passes away at age 75.
- November: Evelyn Flinders, British comics artist, passes away at age 97.
December
- December 3: Benito Jacovitti, Italian comics artist, dies at the age of 74.
- December 8: Walter Molino, Italian illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 82.
- December 11: Heinz Schubel, German illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 91.
- December 13: Samm Schwartz, American comics artist, dies at age 77.
Specific date unknown
- Carol Carlson, American comics artist, dies at age 84 or 85.
- Dennis Ellefson, American comics artist, dies at age 59 or 60.
- Kerstin Frykstrand, Swedish illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 95 or 96.
- Frank Little, American animator and comics artist, dies at age 90.
- Armand Panis, aka Sinap, Belgian comics artist, caricaturist and cartoonist, dies at age 89 or 90.
- Roex, aka Roger Exelmans, Belgian comics artist, dies at age 60.
- Bernard Segal, aka "Seeg", American painter and comics artist, dies at age 78 or 79.
- George Smits, aka 'Toet', Belgian painter, experimental musician and comics artist, dies at age 52 or 53.
- Tony Velasquez, Filipino comics artist, dies at age 86.
- Roland Venet, aka Rol, French comics artist, dies at age 77 or 78.
Conventions
- January 23–26: Angoulême International Comics Festival
- February 2: Alternative Press Expo
- March: Big Apple Comic Con
- March 15–16: UKCAC — guests include Joe Kubert and Dan Clowes; presentation of the inaugural National Comics Awards by Paul Gambaccini and Jonathan Ross
- March 15–16: MegaCon : guests include J. Michael Straczynski and Peter David
- March 21–23: Motor City Comic Con I
- April: Northampton Comic Convention
- April 18–20: Pittsburgh Comicon — guests include David Prowse and Carmen Electra
- April 25–27: WonderCon
- Summer: "EuroCAPTION" — guests include France's David B, Spain's Max, and the Netherlands' Maaike Hartjes
- Summer: Canadian National Comic Book Exposition — c. 3,800 attendees; guests include Marc Silvestri, Dwayne Turner, Carlos Pacheco, Dale Keown, David Wohl, and Rich Buckler
- June 12–15: Heroes Convention
- June 26–29: Dragon Con — 18,000 attendees
- July 4–6: Chicago Comicon — c. 5,000 attendees; convention sold to Wizard Entertainment
- July 17–20: Comic-Con International — 40,000 attendees; special guests include Brent Anderson, Dick Ayers, Steve Bissette, Terry Brooks, Kurt Busiek, Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Steven Hughes, Peter Kuper, David Lapham, Carol Lay, Joseph Michael Linsner, Ralph McQuarrie, Linda Medley, Michael Moorcock, George Pérez, Brian Pulido, Alex Ross, R.A. Salvatore, Kevin Smith, George Tuska, Jhonen Vasquez, Paul Verhoeven, Mark Waid, and Al Williamson
- September 19–21: Small Press Expo * 1997: September 19–21 — Quality Hotel, Silver Spring, Maryland
- October–November: FIBDA — eighth annual edition; special guests include Jean-Claude Mézières Pierre Christin, François Schuiten, Benoît Peeters, Enki Bilal, André Juillard, Ted Benoît, Jean Van Hamme, Theo van den Boogaard, Kevin O'Neill, and Miguelanxo Prado
- October 11–12: Motor City Comic Con II
- November 29–30: Mid-Ohio Con — guests include John Byrne, Roger Stern, Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, Sergio Aragonés, Mark Evanier, Mart Nodell, Tony Isabella, Joseph Michael Linsner, Sheldon Moldoff, Terry Moore, Steve Lieber, Jim Ottaviani, Paul Smith, Alvin Schwartz, Murphy Anderson, and Bernie Wrightson
First issues by title
;Desert Punk
;Peach Girl