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The Fanboy Nation
The Evolution Of Comics In The Last Century
I was standing outside my tower, sucking on a cigarette and reading Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. It's a comic book, or more specifically a graphic novel, collecting the four issue run from the late 80's that looked at the bleak future of Gotham City. In the story Batman comes out of retirement after 0 years. Now a 50 something year old man battling with alcoholism, Batman faces a city that has outlawed costumed vigilantes and has been transformed into a desolate pit of crime and deviance.
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A fellow student walked out the door and I grunted an acknowledgement of his presence. A few minutes passed, and as Batman tried to rally together a hopeless gang called the "mutants" this guy snickers at me and says, "comic books are for eight year olds." I looked him in the eye, fighting the urge to strangle him, and asked him what the last book he read was. "Reading? Man, who the hell reads books in their spare time?" I took a final drag on my cigarette, flicked it at his $10 shoes, gave him the finger and stormed inside.
It infuriates me when people think of comics as "kid's stuff", ignorant to the fact that comic books have become much more than Archie having to choose between Betty and Veronica. I've read and collected comic books for years, and have a very unhealthy affection for them. In school I've had to read "classics" like Of Mice and Men, A Tale Of Two Cities, and The Odyssey. It's taken me ages to read books like that and usually I just haven't enjoyed them. Comics are entirely different, though. I read Paul Dini and Alex Ross's 500+ page epic, Earth X, in one sitting. It amazed me, the details of this story. The way it reflected American culture, and attacked sensitive issues, all the while containing a totally enjoyable superhero yarn. It boggles my mind that people refuse to believe in comics as literature. So, this paper is going to have a dual-purpose; I'll research and detail the evolution of comic books into literature, and ask the question, just for the sake of proving it, "are comics just for kids?"
I started my research in my dorm room, going through my boxes of comics and selecting tales that I thought were noteworthy. I read through them over the course of a few hours, and then headed to the library to see what I could dig up on comic books. Digging through the second floor stacks on literature, I came a cross a musty section that housed books on comics. In a book that resembled the monolith from 001 A Space Odyssey I found data critical to my quest. To my surprise social commentary had been tried in comic books as far back as the early 100's. In 110 George Herriman began featuring his creation, Krazy Kat in The New York American. Herriman often used his comic as a social critique by locating Krazy Kats identity almost exclusively in an overtly ideological naïve nature. During his adventures, numerous characters joined Krazy Kat. Herriman used these companions to expose the false consciousness of his fellow Americans through ignorance of their habits, often "pointing out the pretensions and mis-recognitions necessary for the maintenance of everyday life"(Sabin, 5). More than any other aspect of his character, this naïve nature fixes Krazy as an individual. Like the background scenes of "Coconino County" where he lives, Krazys gender and race shifted, at random sometimes, but more often according to his social situation. Herriman penned his opinions about the socially constructed nature of categories like race and gender, as well as categories such as class, age, ethnicity, and occupation, into such a deep allegory, however, that few readers noticed them. Herriman caught heat for his comic, though, when his flagship character began dating the transgender rodent, Ignatz Mouse. Despite constant battles with publishers, though, Herriman's creation went the distance and remained a successful strip for nearly thirty years. (Sabin, -6)
It surprises me that issues like those that Herriman dealt with would be raised as far back as 110. Back then America was a much more conservative country, and to think that someone would have the gall to discuss transgender relations or age, race, class, or occupation strains is really quite amazing. I think Herriman was way ahead of his time. He belonged in the 60's with Robert Crumb and his classic feline STD cocktail, Fritz The Cat.
I read about Krazy Kat standing in the book stacks, and decided to grab some more books and go sit down. I picked up a couple of volumes of the International Journal Of Comic Art, A book on comic book culture, a book (mentioned above) on the history of comics through 1 and a coffee table book on Underground comics. Satisfied and weighed down by 40 lbs of books I proceeded to a secluded table.
Before I got into the maturing process of comic book tales, I wanted to make myself comfortable with the evolution of the industry. Sabin's book was a great resource. The industry after Krazy Kat came along was booming, and more creators began emerging from the woodwork. The attitude taken by many artists was "The World Is Our Oyster"(Sabin, 7), and their success mirrored that statement. In January of 1 "Tarzan Of The Apes", a pulp favorite began enjoying huge success as a daily newspaper strip. The positive reaction made way for an even bigger hit, "Plainclothes Tracy"(later became "Dick Tracy"), created by Chester Gould. "Tracy" was the crime-noir tale of a yellow trench coat-clad cop with a very diverse rogues gallery. Tracy's rogue's gallery was the subject of controversy for the first two years of it's publication, as the villains were based on actual mobsters, criminals, and crooked cops. Despite the setbacks, Gould's comic stayed put, and is published to this day in The Chicago Tribune.(Sabin, 7)
1 rolled around and the Ledger Syndicate chose to collect and publish a small amount of Sunday comics on Seven by Nine inch plates, an idea hit upon by two printer employees. The idea was met with praise, and set the wheels ago in the minds of Sales Manager Harry L. Wildenberg and salesman Max C. Gaines of the Eastern Color Printing Company (Goldweber, 88). The two businessmen theorized that if these plates could work, then two of these plates could fit on a tabloid page and produce a 7 ½ by 10-inch book when folded. With the idea in hand, on February 7th, 1, pages of newspaper reprints including "Mutt and Jeff", "Joe Palooka", and "The Reg'lar Fellas", were gathered and Funnies On Parade was created, the very first page publication that resembled today's comic books. Looking to test their product, 10,000 copies were produced and given out as premiums by Proctor & Gamble. Funnies On Parade was an instant success, and sold out within two weeks (Sabin, 1).
This is obviously where the idea was given birth, transferring newspaper reprints into collections. Herrimann's Krazy Kat obviously gave everyone else the go-ahead to give their ideas a go. I would guess that the mindset was "well, if this guy made it with stories as inane as "Krazy Kat " then maybe we can make it too!" Another thing I was thinking of had to do with Tarzan. My thinking is this if Tarzan was created today, if he was redone, I think we'd find his relationships with primates a little different. Realistically, if monkeys raised a boy, he would have a natural urge, at some point, to experiment sexually with his hairy brothers and sisters. When did the rest of the creators make the leap into mature subject matter?
The next two years saw comic books skyrocket to new heights of success, and in 15 they took an interesting turn. In February of '5, Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, an ex-cavalry officer and pulp writer published the tabloid-sized anthology title New Fun Comics #1 through National Allied Publications (later named DC comics)(Wright, 5). It was the first comic to contain new material, rather than reprints of Sunday cartoons. Much of it was written by Wheeler-Nicholson himself. Considering that the other early titles were successes because of recognizable characters, this was quite a risk. New Fun Comics #6 contained the first work of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the later creations of Superman, in comics. After the sixth issue, the title became More Fun, and after the eighth issue converted to 8"X11", standard size for modern comics. With this size change, it became the first comic book of "standard-size" to publish new material and continued on until 14. Wheeler-Nicholson had redefined the comic field forever.
In 17, though, Wheeler-Nicholson, after having financial trouble launching his third title, was forced to take on one of his printers, to whom he owed money. Harry Donnefield was the man's name and with Wheeler-Nicholson he helped found Detective Comics and their first new title, the company's third, was Detective Comics #1, launched in March of 17. The new title concentrated solely on crime and suspense stories, instead of the usual varied themes, and is the title that would later launch Batman and Superman. The initials of the company eventually became the new name. The DC imprint continues to this day and has the longest uninterrupted run of any imprint. Despite the company's success, Wheeler-Nicholson was still having financial difficulty, and late in the year, sold his remaining interest to Harry Donenfield. (Wright, 14)
With the success of DC, even after the untimely demise of its president, new creators were jumping on board left and right. One young man, named Joe Siegel, presented DC with a new idea; a costumed crime fighter, on a quest to uphold "Truth, Justice and the American Way." (Wright, 15) The idea was turned down without much thought, and dismissed. Siegel worked on his idea, against the odds, and returned to DC two months later. This time his proposal was much more detailed, and he presented the heads of the company with Superman, who was "more powerful than a locomotive, could leap tall buildings in a single bound, and soar higher than the eagles." (Goulart, 86) Though still skeptical, DC accepted Siegel's proposal and took him on board. Superman made his first appearance in Action Comics #1, and was an overnight success. Legions of fans flocked to the newsstands to see what all the fuss was about, and within two weeks the title had sold over 175,000 copies. (Sabin, 86) Superman remains DC's flagship character, and still enjoys the same (if not more) success that he did in his debut.
So now we have Superman, ever the Boy Scout, and a true symbol of American Freedom and prosperity. He was clean-cut, fair, polite, a "Dapper-Dan" stereotype. But Superman was hardly the type of hero to give the industry a more mature, dark side. He did make comics more popular, but reinforced the fact that comics were simple, safe and basically just for kids. I took the obvious next step, Superman's mirror image, and the yin to his yang, Batman. Batman was set in a darker, more depraved world. Criminals of a strange and sadistic nature overran his city of Gotham. Put simply, Batman was a more mature and grim character. I think this is where comics began to mature a little, and became just a smidge less kid friendly.
. Inspired by Da Vinci's drawings of flying machines, Kane tried a number of names before settling on Batman. Bird-Man, Eagle-Man and Hawk-Man were all names that Kane had tossed aside. (Wright, 140) Da Vinci, once again, inspired the name, this time with his quote "remember that your bird should have no other model than the bat." Batman was an independent masked vigilante who, after a mugger killed his parents, turned to crime fighting to exact vengeance on all those who broke the law. He was a loner and Kane exploited this by having Batman work under the cover of darkness and outside the law. (Sabin, 0) His costume was designed to be so awesome that it would throw fear and respect into all villains that crossed the batman's path.
Batman had no superpowers, and fans were mainly turned on by the exciting, dangerous stories, which most collectors agree, were better than Superman's. (Richards, interview) Kane also had a new and different art style that combined cinematic angles and use of light and darkness to create a unique fantasy world. The twisted, dark villains in Batman's quest for vengeance were unlike anything seen previously. Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics #7. and the following spring he debuted in his own title, Batman #1. This book featured the first appearances of The Joker, and Catwoman, maniacal villains that relied more on psychological terror to intrigue fans.
Psychological terror! How's that for mature reading? The fact that the majority of DC readers preferred Batman to Superman is a clue to me that people were definitely ready for the more mature subject matter. But with my knowledge that Marvel comics played a pretty decent role in the maturing of the comic book industry I decided to move into a new direction.
By the early 60's, DC superheroes were waning, almost wiped off the map entirely, not helped by prices from 1 to 15 cents from most publishers. Marvel was still doing well, however, and the fledgling company had captured the majority of the market. Marvel had marked its territory as the leader in the comic book industry, with intriguing storylines and characters that were deep. Spider-Man, for example was a teenager with problems like acne, girls, school bullies, etc. and when he gained amazing powers did his troubles fade away? Oh no! They just got worse. How was a mild-mannered teenager to handle a dual identity on top of everything else? Readers ate the stuff up.
Marvel's "new formula"(Sabin, 55), as some authors have called it, has been included in almost all the comic history books I've picked up. Apparently it was new to comics to have readers connecting with characters like Peter Parker the bookworm, the dysfunctional family ties of the Fantastic Four, and the inner turmoil of the incredible hulk. This is something, in all my years of collecting, that I haven't heard about, but while DC ushered in the modern day superhero it was Marvel who took the truly revolutionary leap, making the characters more than just four colour muscle bound clowns.
The 60's came and went, and Marvel upped the ante several times. 167 saw the first death of a core character as Spider-Man's girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, was murdered by an arch nemesis. Readers were shocked, as they had come to love Gwen since her introduction 4 years prior. Harry Osborn, the son of Marvel villain The Green Goblin, started abusing LSD behind the backs of his friends. Iron Man, a founding member of The Avengers, was revealed to be struggling with Alcoholism. These all had noticeable effects on not only the stories, but the readers as well. Parents wrote in like mad, disgusted that Marvel was printing material about alcohol, drugs and death. Marvel stood their ground though, and advised parents to check out the comics before their kids read them. (Sabin, 148)
This is interesting, because rarely will a media company back down from the threat of public outcry. Marvel didn't give in though, in this situation, and continued to occasionally print stories that were controversial in a medium that was still considered by the masses as "kid's stuff." Comic books were maturing in the sense that a few characters were going through abstract experiences, or some stories were being told on a more intellectual level. There wasn't anything up yet that would totally change the way comic book tales were weaved.
It was during the mid-80's that DC changed the comic book medium as a whole, and made its triumphant return to the forefront of corporate comic success. DC signed on a young unknown Englishman, named Frank Miller to pen a Batman tale. Instead of the "blah" that the 80's was pumping out, DC got an absolute goldmine.(Kidd, 01) Batman The Dark Knight Returns took place in the future and dealt with an elderly Bruce Wayne coming out of superhero retirement and putting on the mantle of the Bat one last time.
"The Dark Knight Returns was about a Bruce Wayne who couldnt cope. Too young to cope with middle age and retirement, he became Batman again. Then, finding himself too old to cope as Batman - the young Batman - Bruce Wayne was forced to find a third way. Leave both Bruce Wayne and Batman behind, go underground, and become something...else." (Kidd 0)
This Batman was a tougher, less merciful vigilante than any variation, ever, on The Dark Knight. Miller also portrayed some classic DC characters in a different light, as Superman was no longer the Boy Scout he had once been, but was being pushed around by the corrupted American government. The Green Arrow, another character from the early days of DC, had lost an arm (yet still managed to handle a bow masterfully) and to top it off, a teenage girl had replaced Robin, The Boy Wonder, Batman's sidekick. In the span of four months this title generated more sales for DC than any project beforehand. (Kidd, 0)
Also in 186, DC created a comic book limited series called Watchmen. This 1 issue series dealt with a society on the brink of economical breakdown, where real people did have superpowers. The Watchmen were a group of vigilantes that were forced to stop their actions by the government after a police strike. Years later the come out of retirement to help prevent the breakdown of a collapsing society and to solve the murder mystery of one of their former teammates. The book took some serious risks as it dealt with such issues as rape, politics and foreign policies; issues that were very sensitive at the time, especially in a comic book. (Vachss, 1)
I read Watchmen. It was amazing. If there's a Citizen Kane of comic books, it's definitely Watchmen. It. Is. Huge. It's huge in scope, cast, drama, scale and action. The story jumps all over the timeline of these characters. Their past, their present and their futures are all told throughout this book, which on the surface is a murder mystery, but in reality is a totally revolutionary work of art. This book, in my opinion, should be taught in classrooms around the world. The way Moore weaves the histories of some of these characters, along with the horror of the cold war and the nuclear arms race, is incredible. Everything is set in the parallel world of Earths past. America won Vietnam and never reconciled their differences with the Soviet Union. Superheroes saved lives, and then were subsequently outlawed when they became too unpredictable, too dangerous. Now, everything is at stake as the world races towards nuclear Armageddon, and one lone vigilante superhero tries to solve one last case, one that will have far reaching consequences if he does. I feel slightly ashamed writing this, but Watchmen goes beyond what even The Dark Knight Returns accomplished.
With the release of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns comics were unquestionably able to dance in the realm of literature and were obviously maturing, as the aforementioned books were targeted towards a group of readers older than 17(Vachss 8).
Other publishers soon caught wind of DC's success and took chances of their own. Marvel comics hired a fledgling artist named Todd McFarlane to take over writing and art duties on their number one seller, "Amazing Spider-Man." McFarlane had a very dark, brooding style to his art, which spilled over into his stories. Spider Man became more of a grim vigilante than a wisecracking web-slinger. Sales skyrocketed as word of McFarlane's talent spread and soon Marvel was ready to turn over a brand new Spider Man book to McFarlane, over which he was allowed full creative control. McFarlane stayed with Marvel for years working primarily on Spider Man, but also giving his touch to characters like The Incredible Hulk and The Punisher. After his stay at Marvel, Todd joined a group of rogue creators, artists, editors and writers to form an independent comic book publishing house called Image. (Goulart, 167)
It's odd to hear Image called an independent company, as they've grown into something huge, and are the third ranking comic book company (sales wise) behind Marvel and DC. As for McFarlane, I never cared for his work after he left Marvel, but I must give credit where credit is due; he kept the mature and intelligent side of comics alive into the 0's.
Marvel was publishing a good number of books every month that were grim, gritty and intelligent. DC had taken what Miller and Moore did for them and ran with it, keeping their stories as realistic as possible, and always intelligent. Then, in 1, a new publisher sprung up, and did something that no mainstream publisher had done to date; they only published comics for readers over 17. Their name was Vertigo and their goal was to shock, offend and educate as many people as possible.
While many writers that worked for Vertigo created some amazing stuff, the most important of all was Neil Gaiman. Gaiman was a scholar to the end. His creation was entitled Sandman and was the most intelligent, graceful and literary work in comic books since Watchmen.
"Neil Gaiman's Sandman series contains some of the most horrifying scenes ever depicted in comic books. Tortures, rapes, mutilation, maiming, hopeless people are poisoned, lacerated, incinerated, even shredded. The ultimate effect of the books, though, is that of kindness, acceptance, consolation, mercy and redemption. Sandman deals with the relationships of stories and dreams. They can be compared to works like The Tempest and A Midsummer Nights Dream. Also, Gaiman includes homage and passages to and from Shakespeare, like issues 1-1 which parallel Love Labour's Lost" (Goldweber, 78)
Upon reading Goldweber's review of Sandman I realized that my question had been answered, my point had been proven, my quest was over. If comic books can be compared, no, become literature, as Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller and Alan Moore did, then they must have evolved into a more mature art form, and there's no way that comic books are purely "kids stuff" anymore. Sure, anyone could draw the latter conclusion from the 17+ requirements on some comics, but you could argue that the age restriction isn't just to protect kids from seeing violence and sex, its to mark a comic book as higher-level reading.
And that's what comic books have become higher level reading. Sure you can still pick up an issue of Lady Death if you simply want a half-nude, top-heavy woman hacking people to pieces with a sword, or you can still pick up Thundercats if you simply want to relive some of the 80's through some weird nostalgic perversion, but if you want to stimulate your mind there's nothing better to take in than any number of comics from any number of publishers. The characters have come a long way and so has the industry. What were once 4 panel cartoon strips in the Sunday newspapers are now full color page glossy, expansive, engaging, and sometimes classic pieces of literature. And that's why I can stand up loud and proud and say "I'm a comic book geek and I'm damn proud!."
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