Comics History: how we got here and where we're going
Comics as we know them today have a far longer history than most people are aware. There's far more than I've included here. There are more jumping off points for the advent of comics than there are definitions, and likewise, no one agrees on what the first comic was because “no matter how far back you go, though, there’s always going to be something comicslike – if a bit less so with every step” (Wolk 29). That being said, for the purposes of understanding American comics, we’ll start with the late 1800’s and early American newspaper comics.
The vital aspect of their place in comics history is down to how the public viewed them. Today, comics are overwhelmingly viewed in a negative or dismissive way, despite the popularity of superhero movies. On the other hand, at the turn of the century, comics were loved by everyone. Reading the Sunday comics was practically a family ritual. People tended to faithfully follow their favorite strips the same we follow our favorite TV shows. Because of their popularity, comic strips became a surefire way to drive up readership, and therefore profits. This made comic strips one of newspaper publishers’ greatest tools. Though the newspaper industry was a cut-throat business, the competition was never as vicious as it was between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Heart's New York Journal. Caught in their cross hairs was Richard Outcault and his character the Yellow Kid. This small boy with big ears in his big yellow nightshirt and odd way of speaking debuted in Pulitzer's World in 1895 in Down Hogan's Alley. The cartoon was so popular that Hearst hired Outcault away at a much higher salary. Hearst's Journal ran The Yellow Kid in 1896, the strip that is now generally pointed to as the birth of the modern comic strip. Pulitzer still had the rights to Hogan's Alley so both papers ran versions of the strip and the comptetion of the strip, combined with the sensational journalism of the day gave rise to the term "yellow journalism." (Reitberger and Fuchs 12)
Because of the popularity of comic strips, and their disposable nature, syndicates emerged to distribute comic strips to newspapers and to reprint them in collections known as comic books. These collections of reprints sold well for years. It would not be until 1937 that the first issue of original stories would emerge surrounding a single theme from a company called National Allied Publications.
Collections of reprints were only one part of the rise of comic books. Another part was the rising popularity of pulp magazines, simply called "pulps" after the type of paper they were printed on. These cheap magazines featured stories on specific genres and facilitated the rise of the science fiction genre, made famous by Amazing Stories #1. Pulps were basically illustrated stories, like picture books, but they found their fan base with the teenage boys of America. It was these boys who created the precursor to the comic book culture by writing in to their favorite magazines and even forming clubs. Their popularity sprouted the first "fandoms." They eventually started publishing their own magazines, called fanzines. One such fanzine was made by Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman.
Collections of reprints were only one part of the rise of comic books. Another part was the rising popularity of pulp magazines, simply called "pulps" after the type of paper they were printed on. These cheap magazines featured stories on specific genres and facilitated the rise of the science fiction genre, made famous by Amazing Stories #1. Pulps were basically illustrated stories, like picture books, but they found their fan base with the teenage boys of America. It was these boys who created the precursor to the comic book culture by writing in to their favorite magazines and even forming clubs. Their popularity sprouted the first "fandoms." They eventually started publishing their own magazines, called fanzines. One such fanzine was made by Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman.
Action Comics #1, 1938
With the first appearance of Superman in Action Comics #1 in 1938, published by National Allied Comics (later to become DC Comics), comic books took off, especially superheroes. After that, comic books were produced assembly line style with groups of content creators making books without consulting each other. Doug Wolk says it best: "The cartoonists of the '30s and '40s and early '50s were, for the most part, desperate, underpaid kids and sleazy entrepreneurs. Sometimes they managed to make crudely powerful imagination-bombs anyway, and a small handful of them were way ahead of their time. Most of the rest were simply of their time; they knew they could fob off any old thing on the children who were their audience -- and did" (5).
After World War II, soldiers who had found comic books an innocent diversion during the war returned home wanting more mature content. At the same time, the original intended audience had grown up significantly and this resulted in a shift towards crime and horror, most of which went for the shock and gross-out effect. One of the most successful companies in this regard was EC Comics. Unfortunately, this shift collided with public uproar about the delinquency of adolescents.
After World War II, soldiers who had found comic books an innocent diversion during the war returned home wanting more mature content. At the same time, the original intended audience had grown up significantly and this resulted in a shift towards crime and horror, most of which went for the shock and gross-out effect. One of the most successful companies in this regard was EC Comics. Unfortunately, this shift collided with public uproar about the delinquency of adolescents.
These "mature" themes were not unique to comics in the '50s but the comic book industry was the new kid on the entertainment block and the easiest for kids to access, so it became the scapegoat. One of the most famous attacks on comic books is Frederic Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, which was strategically released just days before Senate hearings were to begin, ensuring that pressure from religious and parents' groups was at an all-time high. In order to escape federal regulation, the comic book community imposed self-censorship in the form of the Comics Code Authority. Even though self-imposed, the Code was the end for several publishers, including the beloved crime comic publisher, EC Comics. Due to their role in creating the Code, DC Comics was one of the few publishers able to weather the storm relatively unscathed. Under the Code, comic books became incredibly bland due to the restrictions placed on them (including the requirement that "good" must always triumph over "evil). The image to the left appeared on every mainstream comic produced under the Code.
Justin Green's, "Binky Brown," 1972
People love breaking rules. With rules as firm as the Code, people were bound to start pushing back. Beginning in the pages of Help! Magazine, and spurred on by the circulation of LSD, a counterculture began to devlop in the '60s known as the underground comix movement (Callahan). These comix were "mostly black-and-white, artist driven comics that mainly showed off their countercultural credentials by being as transgressive as possible" (Wolk, 39). Meaning the stretched the limits of what comics were and what they could be both in style and story. This period saw an entire generation of young artists using "the pages of the underground newspapers as an inkblot for [their] subconscious, a canvas on which to scrawl every suppressed, repressed, and depressed image and idea. For an entire generation of whacked-out, hideously conflicted teenagers, the moment of reckoning was at hand" (Callahan, 6). As strange as it seems, it was this "whacked-out, hideously conflicted" generation of artists that gave us the first memoirs. Just Green's 1972 Binky Brown Meets the Blessed Virgin Mary was the first storytelling masterpiece of the movement, an autobiographical piece that chronicled his struggles with puberty, religion and mental illness. It was Binky Brown that inspired Art Spiegelman to write Maus, a memoir about his parents' Haolocaust experience.
Meanwhile, still under the thumb of the Code, mainstream comics saw the birth of a new publisher: Marvel Comics.
Meanwhile, still under the thumb of the Code, mainstream comics saw the birth of a new publisher: Marvel Comics.
"Batman: Arkham Asylum," 1989
To be perfectly frank, the history of comics in the '70s, '80s and '90s is less about the comics themselves and more about the economic developments surrounding them. Due to these developments, the influence of the Code diminished (though unfortunately its ultimate demise didn't occur until 2011) and the medium was able to begin flourishing again. In his book Reading Comics, Doug Wolk does a much better job explaining this than I ever could.
There was one major development that came out of the '70s, the "graphic novel." The term was popularized by Will Eisner with his book A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories. The term "graphic novel" tends to be used incorrectly almost as often as it is used correctly. It doesn't mean anything non-superhero, or fancy, or long. If the artist felt like it, it could be about superheroes. A graphic novel is just that. A novel length comic book. A comic book that wouldn't make sense broken up into the monthly sized serials that hit stands in comic book stores. Think about it like this. What's your favorite novel? Would it make sense if you broke that apart into 15 or 18 page increments? Probably not. Graphic novels tend to be pigeon holed in a single genre even though there are just as many genres of graphic novels as there are prose novels.
With the Code gone, the mainstream comics industry (by this time most publishers were sustained by their superhero titles) was inundated by artists from across the pond. This influx in the late '80s, dubbed "the British Invasion," most notably refers to Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Grant Morrison who were all eventually signed to DC Comics. Along with their accents, they brought a darker style (writing and art) to mainstream comics that can still be seen today.
In 1992, Maus became the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. This lead to it being taught in grade schools across the country, marking the turn towards comics as something more "legitimate."
There was one major development that came out of the '70s, the "graphic novel." The term was popularized by Will Eisner with his book A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories. The term "graphic novel" tends to be used incorrectly almost as often as it is used correctly. It doesn't mean anything non-superhero, or fancy, or long. If the artist felt like it, it could be about superheroes. A graphic novel is just that. A novel length comic book. A comic book that wouldn't make sense broken up into the monthly sized serials that hit stands in comic book stores. Think about it like this. What's your favorite novel? Would it make sense if you broke that apart into 15 or 18 page increments? Probably not. Graphic novels tend to be pigeon holed in a single genre even though there are just as many genres of graphic novels as there are prose novels.
With the Code gone, the mainstream comics industry (by this time most publishers were sustained by their superhero titles) was inundated by artists from across the pond. This influx in the late '80s, dubbed "the British Invasion," most notably refers to Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Grant Morrison who were all eventually signed to DC Comics. Along with their accents, they brought a darker style (writing and art) to mainstream comics that can still be seen today.
In 1992, Maus became the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. This lead to it being taught in grade schools across the country, marking the turn towards comics as something more "legitimate."
Jeph Jacques' "Questionable Content"
Comics are currently in a state of flux. We know they've grown up. There are comics for every audience, whether we're talking age, gender, sexuality, or genre. But there are a couple areas of uncertainty. The first is their status as legitimate art or literature. There are two great places to see this: in libraries and academia. Libraries don't know what to do with comics. They never really have. But now they can't just ignore comics like they used to. The problem is, libraries don't know how to classify comics. This leads to a couple of problems. Most commonly, all comics, regardless of genre or form (comic book or graphic novel, etc.), are placed in the same section and sorted by author (which breaks up series) or by series (which makes it hard to find authors). However, sometimes superhero comics and manga will get shelved in kids/teens while everything else (deemed more highbrow) gets stuck in one "nonfiction" section for adults. In academia it is another story. Comics are entering classrooms at every level. Maus is now a common fixture in middle schools, as well as others like Persepolis. Comics are even being seriously taught at the college level. As of this April, there is a dissertation on comics in comic form (This Dissertation Will Be Comic). There are entire university libraries for comics, like the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at the Ohio State University and the Michigan State University Comic Art Collection. More and more, comics are being considered part of our cultural heritage instead of a form of mass market entertainment that we should be ashamed of.
The biggest area of uncertainty is the future. Is the future of comics print or digital? Does it have to be either/or? It's no secret that sales of monthly issues is down. But trade paperbacks (collections of individual issues) and graphic novels are still popular. And webcomics (comics created independently and published on the web) are increasingly popular. Webcomics can be, and often are, collected into volumes and printed like trade paperbacks. On the other hand there are digital born comics which are created digitally solely for digital devices. For instance, Chris Ware's Touch Sensitive was created exclusively for the iPad as interaction is required to fully experience the story. Meanwhile, all the big companies have digital apps now that you can read comics on.
The biggest area of uncertainty is the future. Is the future of comics print or digital? Does it have to be either/or? It's no secret that sales of monthly issues is down. But trade paperbacks (collections of individual issues) and graphic novels are still popular. And webcomics (comics created independently and published on the web) are increasingly popular. Webcomics can be, and often are, collected into volumes and printed like trade paperbacks. On the other hand there are digital born comics which are created digitally solely for digital devices. For instance, Chris Ware's Touch Sensitive was created exclusively for the iPad as interaction is required to fully experience the story. Meanwhile, all the big companies have digital apps now that you can read comics on.