Offenbar wird es nie zu 100% zu klären sein, wie es zu dem Format kam. Ich halte die Version des amerikanischen "Comic-Papstes" Bob Beerbohm für recht plausibel. Er schreibt:
"The idea for creating an actual comic book as we know it today, however, did not occur to Wildenberg until later in 1933, when he said he was idly folding a newspaper in halves, then in quarters. As he looked at the twice-folded paper, it occurred to him that it was a convenient book size (actually it was late stage “Dime Novel” size, which companies like Street & Smith were pumping out).
The format had its heyday from the 1880s through the 1910s, having been invented by the firm of Beadle and Adam in 1860 in more of a digest format. According to a 1942 article by Max Gaines (née Ginzberg), another contributing factor in the development of the format was an inspection of a promotional folder published by the Ledger Syndicate, in which four-color Sunday comic pages were printed in 7"x9"."
aus:THE ORIGIN OF THE COMIC BOOK
Portions excerpted from Comics Archeology 101 © 1995-2012 Robert L. Beerbohm
(
http://www.ebay.com/gds/ORIGIN-OF-TH...5276763/g.html)