What year was the first modern comic book printed?

The first modern book of the kind was released in the mid-twentieth century. Although they became popular only in 1938, even nowadays many people are still in love with comics. There is also another type of popular comics (not American one!). Probably you have already guessed that we will tell you about Japanese manga. The first Japanese comic book appeared in the 18^th century, so it is even older than American one!