Comic books have been a major part of the American cultural landscape since the birth of the medium in the first part of the 20th Century. It is considered by many to be an original American art form that has its' origins from the newspaper comic strips. The earliest versions of what we now call comic books, or "comicbooks," depending on who you ask, were simply reprinted comic strips. Nearly every major comic strip character had their adventures published in comic book form, including THE YELLOW KID, THE KATZENJAMMER KIDS, and KRAZY KAT.
The 1930s' brought us the comic book super-hero in 1938, with the publication of a Superman story in ACTION COMICS #1 (1938). With its publication, the Golden Age of comics began. Other costumed characters, such as The Phantom and Zorro, and other "supermen," like Doc Savage, predated The Man of Steel, but Jerry Siegel and Jerome Shuster melded those existing ideas into a creation that as a whole was like nothing else before.
Superman gave way to a host of similar heroes that displayed abilities far beyond those of their fellow men and women. Batman, Captain Marvel, Captain America, and many, many more classic super-heroes were the dominant force in the young comic book industry through the time of the second World War. Towards the end of the 1940s' the popularity of the super-hero comic characters began to wane, and the industry publications focused on crime, humor, horror, westerns, and romance stories.
The mid-to-late 1950s' saw a resurgence of super-hero comics characters. The first appearance of the scarlet speedster known as The Flash in 1956 spawned a new Silver Age of comic books, where superheroes once again ruled the medium. This Flash was an updated version of a character that shared the same name and came from the Golden Age of comics. The new Flash was followed by a new Green Lantern and the Justice League of America, a team featuring many popular heroes, such as Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman, that was also a reworking of a Golden-Age concept, The Justice Society of America.
As the Silver-Age continued, Marvel Comics, formerly known as Atlas Comics, itself formerly Timely Comics, brought about the Marvel Age of comics with innovative new characters such as Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and the team that kicked it all off, The Fantastic Four. Captain America returned from a hiatus in publishing in Marvels' THE AVENGERS #4 (1964). With a new approach to writing superheroes with realistic personality traits and foibles, Stan Lee and fellow creators, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, forever changed the way comic book super-heroes would be presented.
As the Silver-Age drew to a close, comics entered an age of fantasy, a new era of horror comics, and relevant stories that focused on social issues such as the population problem, and the women's' liberation movement. Marvel acquired the rights to publish Robert E. Howard's CONAN in 1970, and its' success caused other publishers to publish their own sword and sorcery comics. A SPIDER-MAN story concerning drug abuse caused the Comics Code Authority, an organization set up by comic book publishers in 1955 to police the content in the books, to relax its' strict rules regarding what could or could not be present in a comic book. With the change in the Code's rules, the industry began to once again publish comics featuring vampires, zombies, and other horror genre-related subjects, which had been banned since the code's inception.
The 1980s' brought an age of the darker and more gritty super-hero. This trend can actually have been said to have began in the early to mid 1970s' with the introduction of the anti-hero known as The Punisher or the savage hero called Wolverine, of X-MEN fame. But, with the publication of BATMAN, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, by fan favorite, Frank Miller in 1986, and WATCHMEN, by acclaimed comics writer, Alan Moore, the new darker heroes came to the forefront of the comic book industry and it seemed to have influenced most super-hero comics of the period. The influence of these stories can be seen by comparing Tim Burton's BATMAN from 1989 to 1965's BATMAN television program.
The 1990s' brought about an age of gimmick covers and speculative frenzy. The publication of SPIDER-MAN #1 (1990) by hot new talent, Todd McFarlane sold in the millions and was followed by other million dollar-sellers including X-FORCE, and the new X-MEN comic by other industry fan favorites, Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee. In 1992, DC Comics killed Superman in a storyline that received coverage in the national news. To promote these and many other comics, publishers turned to gimmicks, such as foil embossed covers and sealing the books in plastic polybags. Many of Marvel's top talented artists split from the company to form their own comic book company named Image Comics. By the mid-1990s' all the speculator-driven sales had ran its' course and had unfortunate repercussions on the industry, as many longtime fans, disgusted with the gimmicks and the publishers' reliance on style over substance, abandoned the industry.
The beginning part of the 21st Century have seen comics rebound in a fashion, creatively and sales-wise. Super-hero and other characters from the comics have proven to be more popular than ever in other forms of media. Film and TV shows like "SPIDER-MAN," "SMALLVILLE," "X-MEN," "BATMAN BEGINS," and even the original television series, "HEROES" prove that the idea of the superhero is a viable one that should continue to thrive into another century. The impact that the art form and the industry has made upon the popular culture is remarkable. Icons such as Superman and Batman are known to every American, as well as most of the people around the world. This is a testament to the men who first produced those early tales of fantastic adventure nearly a century ago!
Thanks and I hope to C-U at C.U.!! -- Matt
