Article written by Ashleigh Lowry.
Welcome to the first edition of Paint the Town’s new monthly series A Short History Of. Once a month I, Ashleigh, will be opening the history books dedicated to literature and giving you guys a condensed version of some of the major genres and their histories up until today. For the first edition of this series, we are doing a genre near and dear to my heart: Comics! So, strap in, because this is about to be a history lesson so fast the Flash & Superman will be envious.
1929: The first ‘comic’ was created
This is the year comics first start appearing in newspapers, magazines and supplements. These little comic strips served primarily as a source of entertainment as they really had only superficial storylines. There were hundreds of characters that, beyond this decade, didn’t survive in popularity. However, there are some names that are still remembered today. You might know them as Tintin, Popeye and Tarzan.
1930s: Say hello to the Man of Steel and the Man of Bats
The 30s are remembered as the Golden Age of Comics, as this is the era where we see the comic format we use come in the form of Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics in 1933.
However, the biggest events to shape the comic world came later in the decade, where we saw the creation of Superman in June 1938 and Batman in 1939. Superman quickly became a family favourite when a radio show started featuring his adventures, allowing all the family to follow along the caped crusader. Then came Batman, an instant classic and another win for National Allied (which today is known to comic lovers as DC comics). These two heroes opened the gates to others, and brought about the ‘Golden Age of Comics’.
1940s: Soldiers and Comic Books
As the war hit, so did the demand for paper. Books, newspapers and comic books were all used to make everything from explosives and flares to supplies boxes required paper. This destruction of so many of the early ‘Golden Age of Comics’ era issues has led to such a limited amount being found today. However, there was a positive side to the relationship of comics and WW2: the need for reading materials on the front lines gave the industry a short-term boom as 30% of the reading material sent were comics.
The 40s also brought the first case of copyright infringement to the world of comics. Fawcett Publications created a character called Captain Marvel, which became one of the most popular superheros of all time, quickly outselling Superman. DC was not happy and sued, ultimately winning the battle (in 1953), buying Fawcett Publications and rebranding the popular superhero to SHAZAM! where Timely (now called Marvel), funny enough, took the copyright to the name Captain Marvel.
At the same time, Timely was busy with their own triumphs. Captain America arrived on the scene during the war and received moderate popularity; however, this began to fade after the war ended, with Marvel pulling the plug in 1949.
1950s: Rebel Creating Comics!
After the war, apart from Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, superhero comic sales dropped dramatically. However, in their place came the genre comics. Western, romance, crime, horror and science fiction all began to drastically increase in popularity. The rise of two of these (crime and horror) brought psychiatrist Fredric Wertham to crusade against comics, saying that they contributed to the rising statistics in juvenile delinquency. His evidence was basically “X is a bad influence on Y, which is why Z happens”. He appeared in a senate during a hearing on the topic and along with his book Seduction of the Innocent, caused a massive hit to the comic industry and the creation of the self-censoring body called the Comics Code Authority. The new rules set by the CCA pretty much eliminated all crime, horror and dark fantasy, which lead the bankruptcy or closing of many of the comic companies of the time.
Some worried that this would be the end of comics, but in 1969 Julie Schwartz sparked the ‘Sliver Age of Comics’ with Showcase #4. Under her, National Allied revitalised their characters for the new audiences, with shiny new origins and identities which sparked the everlasting popularity of now famous characters Flash, Green Lantern and the Atom.
1960s: The Start Over
The Silver Age of Comics had come about, and it was not slowing down. The first comic convention had started to pop up around the world, and were quickly gaining popularity. These early conventions were dedicated to the buying and selling of comics, and not the full celebration of pop culture they are today.
For the actual books themselves, Timely, which had been Atlas at the time, had now changed its name to Marvel, and arrived with full force. X-men, Antman, Wasp Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Hulk and Spider-Man all had their first comic published in this decade. The 60s brought the rise of Marvel as it started releasing hit after hit with their new heroes and bringing back some old favourites such as Caption America. However, it was still had a restrictive distribution of only eight titles a month, all thanks to National Allied now renamed as National Periodical Publications (nicknamed DC). However, with their increasingly popular characters, they were quickly competing to take the top stop.
1970s: Rocky Roads Ahead
Bad times ahead for both DC and Marvel in this decade. DC was dealing with an implosion and cancellations as Marvel took the top spot, but Marvel had its own issues as the quality of comics began to drop drastically. There was still some trouble with trying to properly gauge how companies were selling. Troubles in distributing, and the CCA when trying to bring light to some issues like drugs and alcohol gave the comic industry a small – but not problematic – kickback to sales.
The roster of heroes and other famous names that arrived in the 70s is not short by any count, with Wolverine, Power Girl, Luke Cage and Conan the Barbarian being among them. Thanks to Wolverine’s origins and struggles, we also got to see the first anti-hero that would go on to inspire many more to come.
1980s: CREATIVE BOOM!
The 80s saw a creative boom in the comic industry, with new publishing companies popping up left and right. From late 85 to early 87 there was an absolute boom in indie comics, where they covered everything and every genre. Watchmen & Daredevil made their first appearances as new grittier heroes that were praised as masterpieces.
We also got to see one of the most company defining comics come in: Crisis on Infinite Earths was released and was the basis of everything DC did in its collective universe for the next three decades.
1990s: Dark Moments
The 90s saw some really dark stories come out of the framework. Death of Superman & Batman’s paralysation in 1993 were two major points in the lore of DC. The comics of the time became dark, grittier and full of anti-heroes doing the wrong things for the right reasons.
In 1994 came the direct market crash which caused a lot of indie comic publishers and comic book stores to go bankrupt. As artificial support (encouraged by the publishers) and supply and demand began, people tried to use comics to get-rich-quick, only to realise that wasn’t going to happen. This backfired on the publishers and tanked profit margins.
2000s–Today: What We Have Now
Today in the comic industry, there are still your heavy-hitters (Marvel and DC, take a bow) but there is a rise again of indie comics being published and distributed thanks to the internet and artist alleys. There has also been a rise in children’s forced comics where not-child-friendly heroes are given a makeover and attitude change so kids can read and enjoy the same heroes their parents do.
By 2011, the CCA was now obsolete, with no one in the comic publishing business even using it anymore.
And, done! That was a very brief view of the history of comics and everything that has happened since the 1920s. There were tons of highs, lows and questionable decisions that I wasn’t able to cover, but it was a lot of fun going down the various rabbit holes of these times and discovering all about a genre that is very near and dear to my heart. I hope I encouraged many of you to take a look yourself.
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