Although comic books are generally looked at as a bit of a niche market, there are sometimes exceptions to this rule, and certain heroes rise far above the stereotypical group of college nerds sharing comic books in the basement. We take a look at the most iconic famous comic book heroes (and villains) below.

Superman – commonly regarded as the first comic book superhero, this man has more super powers than you can shake a stick at. He has appeared consistently for eighty years, and has been redefined several times since his inception. But always, he fights for truth, justice and the American Way. Without Superman, would tights on superheroes be quite so fashionable?

The only caped crusader who comes close to holding a torch to Superman's popularity is Batman. His reasons for fighting crime are a little more revenge-driven, but even so. From camp ‘POW!' crusader to the (very) Dark Knight, his incarnations are many, and there's a Batman for everyone.

Good old Wolverine – easily the most popular mutant from the X-Men comics. Quite frankly, who wouldn't want foot-long knives capable of extending from between their knuckles on demand? But what we are all attracted to is Wolverine's constant fight with his own conscience and his own dark past.

Spiderman is another mutant we love to engage with. Capable of pulling down more than flies, his trademark sense of humour has him using some genuinely funny one-liners during his fights. It's more than just bravado though – he's very good at getting his adversaries make mistakes. Loveable purely because of his geeky alter-ego Peter Parker, he's developed an enormous fanbase and been the subject of several films and computer games.

There are just so many classic comic book crossovers it's surprising there haven't been more attempts to add these twists to a storyline. Here are even more memorable crossover examples.

Archie Comics featured a cover story that drew together Sonic The Hedgehog, Tails, Knuckles and various other characters from the comic series. They were launched into the action with the likes of the Maxx, Shadowhawk, Savage Dragon, all combating a mysterious, unnamed enemy (who might well have been Doctor Robotnik). Amongst the madcap adventures, Sonic finds himself launched into the Image Universe where he confronts Spawn.

What about the comic strip series with the tag-line ‘Assemble and Roll Out'? The New Avengers team linked with the Autobots to take on the evil Transformers and Megatron. Cue an explosion-laden extravaganza, with a guest appearance from a gargantuan Iron Man transformer.

Storylines have featured the X-Men hooking up with the Star Trek crew from the original 1960s television series – Kirk, Spock, Bones et al – and also the flight officers from The Next Generation. There is an added spark of chemistry in the latter, as Picard and Storm are drawn towards one another.

How about this for a zany crossover? Spider Man meets Saturday Night Live? It sounds mad which is exactly why it happened! In this adventure, Spider-Man has to give some help to the cast member of the hit US television show, whose guest compere happens to be Stan Lee.

Comic book super-heroes lead blisteringly exciting lives. But they're often lonely, aren't they?! What better way to juice up the action than introduce another super-hero from a completely separate franchise? Over the years there have been many memorable examples of the comic book crossover.

Once upon a time posters of the unfeasibly curvaceous Lara Croft were a staple presence on the bedroom walls of teenage boys across the country. It was only a matter of time before someone thought of taking the 3D star of the Tomb Raider games and launching them headlong into comic adventures. Top Cow comics published a crossover appearance with Witchblade, where Lara's feisty skills were amply matched with the hard-boiled, tough-talking New York detective Sara Pezzini.

Archie Comics presented an episode entitled Archie meets The Punisher, pitching Riverdale's favourite teenager with Marvel Universe's ultra-violent vigilante. The Punisher gets commissioned by the government to catch a notorious drug dealer named ‘Red'. The twist is that this guy is identical to Archie. As The Punisher's search for the culprit leads him to Riverdale, he goes undercover at the high school as a gym teacher. Naturally the result of this particular crossover is several cases of mistaken identity. Members of Archie's gang think Red is Archie. The madcap situation is compounded by even more guest appearances – Josie and the Pussycats and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Newspaper comics . . . don't you just love them? For the majority of society, they become a window of escapism – on the train, in the canteen at work, or even at home with your breakfast. You can put anything into a newspaper comic – people have no trouble automatically suspending their disbelief for the sake of a three-panel joke. You don't have to think about long running audiences (although these invariably do develop if you're good enough). All you're worried about is getting a laugh from someone who has picked up the newspaper on the train.

That's not to say that newspaper comics aren't good – many are excellent and some are a great way of holding up a mirror to life. Long-running political satire magazine Private Eye has used cartoons to do exactly this for many years, whether it's antisocial people and ‘Broken Britain' (Yobs & Yobettes), or middle-class suburbia (It's Grim Up North London). They're always hilarious and often thought-provoking topical satire.

That's not to say that all newspaper comics have to be so. Nemi – published in the Metro every weekday – has achieved an audience by portraying the life of gothic outsider young woman Nemi, as well as her bubbly friend Cyan. Because of her extreme lifestyle (staying up until the early hours listening to heavy rock music and stuffing her face with chocolate) people are attracted to her as they wish that they could be the same. She appeals to a rebellious part of people, proving once again that good well-written characters are all you need to make people laugh.

Wolverine has always been a part of a close-knit team, a dynasty of do-gooder mutants, that is when he dons his X-Men gloves; but on his own… the line between light and dark blurs. Now Wolverine, Canada's favourite son, has reached a milestone in the comic world as the 300th issue is pressed.

It all started in the 80's after a great outcry from fans besotted with the Wolverine character in the X-Men comics, who wanted him to have a more prominent role in the storyline. Marvel listened to this demand, and created a solo title for the man with the razors jutting from his knuckles, and the rest as they say is history.

It was an instant success, and ushered in a new age of sophisticated content over the Marvel output. There was a more mature tone within the publication, which allowed for a b-line onto more refined comic book development. Wolverine was a watershed moment.

The tone of Wolverine has shifted time and again over the years, as new writers bring nuance to the table. The comic has oscillated from a vigilante title to a book about a superhero. Wolverine has always possessed a dark side, a sinister shade in his nature, which has meant he is perfect for this kind of double life, on the boundary of good and evil.

The audience has grown younger and younger with the blockbuster movies, yet the writers have always stayed one step ahead evolving the character just enough to keep him interesting, while staying true to the original vision. Recently, Jason Aaron has been at the vanguard of a great revival in Wolverine story, and has positioned it firmly back in the spotlight. His input has been nothing short of miraculous.

Stan Lee, the man behind Spiderman, has just completed the final production of his latest work about an Indian Superhero in Mumbai. The comic book legend has featured in innumerable movies, predominantly playing himself, such is his notoriety around the world.

Mr. Lee is famous for his work on the comic strip above anything else, and for being the creative stimulus behind such titles as Thor, X-Men and Fantastic Four. This latest release marks a huge change in direction from his usual output, and goes against the grain of the archetypal superhero adding a mix science, mythology and spirituality.

Chakra – The Invincible, centres around a precocious teen living in Mumbai. The plot follows Chakra and the alter ego of Raju Rai, a man with unparalleled intellect who intends to harness the power of science and unleash the potential of the human body and mind. He creates a technologically-enhanced body suit that has the ability to unlock the mythical power of the chakra and open up a whole new world of superpowers to the wearer.

Liquid Comics have been heavily involved in the project, which is due to be released in April 2012 online. However, this is not the first Indian comic title to hit the market, as Graphic India have published works such as Shekhar Kapur's Devi and Ramayan 3392 AD to great acclaim. Of course India is a massive market and there has been huge competition between by the big names in the manufacture and production of comics to tap into the burgeoning interest there.

Everyone who loves art classes has, at some point in time, thought about making their own comic characters or stories. Making a comic book is actually not as hard to do as you may think.

First, pick a concept for your story or design. When writing, begin working on the plotline of a short story and decide in what direction you want the story to go. For example, should it be an adventure, action, sad or a happy story? Once this has been decided, then you can start writing. As you do this, make sure you draw thumbnails – they don’t have to be perfect for now.

When you are done with that, define the characters. Describe them in drawing in such a way that anyone can recognise them at a glance, so your style is memorable. Make sure you do a lot of practice. This is the only way you are going to come up with identical images. Make sure you do the artwork of the thumbnails on a sheet of paper, so that if you don’t like a particular one, you can cut it out instead of starting all over again.

Note the ink colors you use. It is wise to have a color chart for every object or character in your comic creation. This way, all the artwork will be uniform. In addition to the ink colors, choose a suiting font for the wording. Remember, not to make it too wordy by adding speech or description to every panel. You don’t need to describe too much because the reader can already see it in the pictures.

Lastly, make your comic simple and easy to read. Sometimes it is not about how well the pictures are drawn, but how well arranged they are.

Both comic books and graphic novels tell the story with the help of pictures, but there are countless differences between the two. For starters, it is easy to notice that a comic book is much thinner than a graphic novel, and the outer cover of a comic book is also made with lower quality paper, when compared with the graphic novel.

A comic book is a serial with unceasing narrative which generally continues with a story that was left in the last edition. However, in a graphic novel the story is often complete, beginning and finishing in the same book. To confuse matters, there are many comic stories that have been republished as single books which gives the impression of a graphic novel. On top of this, many comic stores offering graphic novels, which makes it tricky to tell the difference between the two.

However, one thing is certain: graphic novels are always available in greater stock. Graphic novels can also be found at various bookshops. However, comic books are normally only offered at comic book stores. There are very few comic books that are distributed through booksellers. Graphic novels are given a standard book number. On the other hand, a comic book is given a standard serial number.

Maus created by Art Spiegelman was serialised during the eighties in the art-comics collection Raw and is considered as one of the most popular graphic novels. This novel, which has been subtitled as ‘A Look Inside a Modern Classic’, is a story about Jews and Nazis, where the Nazis are represented as cats and the Jews are represented as mice.

This incredible art-comic presents striking visuals and tells how the father of the author, Vladek Spiegelman, survived the Holocaust. Maus is not only a representation of history but it portrays the exploration of the history of Spiegelman with his past and his parents. This book has given a great exposure to the life of Spiegelman and it is likely to capture your heart and mind.

Through Maus has been one of the most famous comics, the two latest books released by the Abrams Comic Art have also made an impact on the charts. Comics for the People is known for collecting comic adverts and stories on government issues from the past, such as recruiting soldiers, preparing kids for a visit to the doctor and teaching people military actions.

These collections have proven to be extremely popular amongst people of all different walk of life. The comic novels, which are easy to read and are extremely interesting and funny, contain subjects concerning the administration of the country and are mostly aimed at a general audience for light-hearted entertainment.