The following is taken from the first lecture in my History of Comics series. Each lecture is only an hour and a half long, meaning that these could be considered brief overviews of comic's history, rather than an indepth look.
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Welcome to the history of comics! I’m incredibly excited to be delivering this series of lectures. I am currently doing my PhD in comics, specifically looking at time and how it is conveyed to the reader. While my study has been in Superhero comics, I want to stress that they will not be the focus of these classes. They will play a part, but they are not a primary focus. Within these lectures, we’ll be looking at the history of comics as a medium, and its global evolution. These lectures will be split into chronological order. This first week is The Golden Age, up to 1950. The second lecture will look at the Silver Age, 1951 to 1969. Third lecture will look at the Bronze Age, 1970 to 1985, Fourth Lecture will be the Dark Age, 1986 to 1998, and finally the last lecture will look at the modern age. 1999 until right now. The aim of these lectures is to give you a solid overview of the medium, and just how versatile it can be.
It’s very tempting when discussing early comics to go back to Ancient Egypt and the Hieroglyphics and discuss them as if they were the first comics. However, consider the way the people of Ancient Egypt would encounter the Hieroglyphics. Would they see it as something comparable to comics, or would it be seen as writing? Comics are primarily a commercial media, so when considering the first comic book, consider the audience. Hieroglyphics was the writing form of the day and could be read by those high class enough to be fortunate to read. The Bayeux Tapestry is another popular starting place for discussing comics, and from a cursory look, it does more closely resemble modern comics that the Hieroglyphs did. However, you do have to also consider the audience viewing it at the time. This was artwork that only the higher class of their day would be allowed to view. It was not widely viewable to the masses, meaning that even though it was telling a story, there was no intent to entertain the masses.
Instead, we will focus on political cartoons, pulp magazines and newspaper strips. What you will see here is a selection of 20s and 30s political cartoons reflecting the time they were created. The one on the left reflects the Great Depression during the 1920s and 30s, with a squirrel asking the former banker, ‘why didn’t you save some money for the future, when times were good?’. We see an individual story unfolding in this single panel. A man affected by the great depression, and those who weren’t acting as though survival was easy. On the right, we see a 30s cartoon referring to the military leaders, scientists, and government leaders crying over war. The caption, Crocodile Tears, and the fact that each of the figures are depicted as crocodiles plays on the idea of a predator tricking it’s prey into thinking it’s weak. That Even though they are crying, it is just for show. These particular figures are still making money and furthering their own agenda, despite the atrocities. Political cartoons such as these were a very powerful tool, especially in newspapers. As while they took up little room on the page, their message was strong.
In addition to the political cartoons, many newspapers also printed comic strips. These comic strips would tend toward the comedic in tone and were genuinely received favourable. The syndicated comic strip meant that each week, a new strip with the same characters telling one long story would be printed. For many during the Great Depression, the idea of having a syndicated comic strip was incredibly appealing, as not only would you have a regular income, but you could guarantee that a large portion of the American population would see your work.
Outside of the newspapers, you would also find what became known as a pulp magazine, so named for its use of cheap pulp paper. These magazines would contain short stories in the fantasy, science fiction, crime, or noir genre. These magazines were cheap, but contained stories written by the likes of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of Murder on the Orient Express and the creator of Sherlock Holmes respectively. The combination of political cartoons, comic strips and pulp magazines gave rise to the perfect environment for Comic books to rise.
These syndicated comic strips did make it overseas to both here in the UK and to Europe through a company called King Features Syndicate. King would buy the distribution rights to some of the most popular comic strips and sell them to newspapers overseas. Meaning that if you managed to get a popular syndicated comic strip, not only could you make a good living, but there was potential for international acclaim.
So how did we get to what we now recognise as a comic book? In America, that was thanks to two people, Harry Wildenberg and Maxwell Gains. In 1933 Wildenberg and Gains, two employees at Eastern Color decided to experiment with printing. They realised that if they folded a newspaper page in half, they could print on both sides of the page and have a full book full of comic strips. Hence, a comic book. They did a test run of 10,000 copies which they called Funnies on Parade. The book sold incredibly well. However, after a while you kind of run out of material. Which led to New Fun Comics, the first American comic book made of brand-new material.
One particular book I’d like to highlight is Detective Comics, a book that is still being published today. This was actually the first comic book to have a dedicated theme, in this case detective stories.
Overseas, Europe and the UK were also inventing the comic book, this was very much based on the same principle as the American printing process. Realising that they could sell books entirely of comics. In Belgium, we saw the publication of le Petit Vingtieme, which was home to Tintin by Herge. In France, we had Coeurs Vailants (Brave Hearts) which also printed Tintin but for the French audience.
Here in England, we have The Beano and The Dandy, which is currently known for characters like Dennis the Menace.
Dell Comics, an American company had the rights to produce comics based on Walt Disney properties beginning in 1936, these followed specific characters like Mickey and Donald, or saw the entire cast together to create fun little adventure stories. Just like the syndicated newspaper strips, these also saw a wide distribution in Europe and England. All of these first comic books arrived between 1929 and 1937.
In 1938, we got the first Superhero comic book. This didn’t start fully formed, however. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were two young kids both born in 1914. They dreamed of getting out of the Great Depression by writing and illustrating stories. Specifically, they dreamed of making it big as newspaper comic strip creators. In 1933, they created a short story called Reign of the Supermen. This featured a mad scientist gifting a man great telekinetic power. The man goes mad with power, killing the scientist and plans to take over the world. However, the powers are not permanent, and the man goes back to living in obscurity.
The story was fine but needed to be reworked for a comic strip. They decided to make the titular Superman the hero, basing him on mythological heroes and dressing him like a circus strongman. They ended up failing to sell it as a comic strip, but Major Malcom Wheeler Nicholson of National Periodicals, the company we now call DC Comics, saw potential and asked if they could print it as a comic book. Siegel and Shuster eventually took the deal and sold the rights to Superman for just $130. In 1938, the world was introduced to Superman in Action Comics #1. The first superhero and the Champion of the Oppressed. Heavily influenced by the creators having to endure the Great Depression.
Superman was so widely popular that National publications (DC Comics) approached Bob Kane and asked him to come up with a similar concept for their Detective Comics. Bob Kane is now not looked at so favourably as he once had due to his actions behind the scenes. Bob Kane made his money and acclaim by paying others to write and/or draw his assignments. When it came to this assignment, Kane approached Bill Finger for help. Kane had come up with the idea of a crime fighting superhero called Bat-Man. However, his idea is very different to the image you might have in your head right now.
This Bat-Man wore a simple mask, a red leotard, and had bat wings attached to his costume. He had no underlying idea passed this, and hence asked Bill Finger to help come up with some kind of story. Thanks to Bill Finger, we have the idea of Bat-Man living a double life, the original idea behind his origin, the iconic costume, and the gadgets.
In 1939, people were introduced to Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, on the cover of Detective Comics #27. Now sporting a dark costume, more in theme with a bat. A pair of gloves, a cowl that gave the iconic outline of the bat ears, and the wings are now recontextualised as a stylised cape. Early on, the character also sported purple gloves, though this was phased out fairly quickly.
With the introduction of both Superman and Batman, the comic book world began its first obsession with the Superhero. Many other companies decided to try and cash in by creating characters inspired by Batman and Superman but with their own spins. Pep Comics #1 saw the creation of a patriotic superhero called The Shield. A hero in a red costume with a blue mask and American flag inspired chest piece, gloves and boots. Pep Comics will come up again for a completely different reason later on. We also have Whiz Comics #2, which was actually the first issue, introducing a character you might recognise. This is Captain Marvel, created by CC Beck. Captain Marvel was created to try to one-up the concept of Superman. While Superman lifted a car on his first cover, Captain Marvel could throw that same car and smash it into a wall. Captain Marvel has a very long history moving forward, but what’s important to remember is that he was solely created to mimic the popularity of Superman. Final example is The Black Terror appearing in Exciting Comics. And his sidekick, Tim. Both sported a black costume, with yellow highlights, a blue and red cape, and a skull insignia on their chests.
The popularity of superheroes was so strong at this time, that when famous comic strip turned comic book creator, Will Eisner, started to pitch the character of The Spirit, his editor instantly asked what his costume would look like. Prompting Eisner to add a mask and gloves to the character to make him look both mysterious and more inline with superhero culture.
During this boom, we start to see the beginning of a specific company. In 1939 Timely published Marvel Comics #1, which introduced 2 characters fans of the Marvel universe might recognise. Firstly, The Human Torch created by Carl Burgos. The Human Torch was an android created by Professor Phineas T. Horton, but due to a flaw in his design, the android burst into flames the first time it is explored to oxygen. The android escapes, learns to control its abilities and begins fighting crime in New York.
Secondly, the issue also introduced Namor the Sub-Mariner, a half human, half Atlantean with a hatred for humanity. Namor would largely be seen as a menace to society, but with an underlying good heart. Both of these characters were popular during this time but would become more famous nowadays for their association with the modern Marvel Universe. A few years ago, Marvel released Marvel Comics #1000 to commemorate this issue. Which is very strange when there was never a Marvel Comics #2-#999.
However, there is one major global event that I am overlooking. Primarily because America was as well. The reason I am primarily talking about American comics right now, is because Europe, Britain and Japan were engaged in the Second World War. With countries at war, resources were scarce, Artists and Writers went to war, and most importantly, Hitler really didn’t like comics.
Primarily, this was due to political cartoons being done in British and European newspapers. One such cartoon made its way to Hitler, who found it so offensive that the artist was put on a list in his Black Book. This list had the names of every person Hitler wanted round up and shot as soon as he invaded England.
Comics across Germany were banned and replaced with approved imagery that favoured the Nazi party, and condemned those such as the Jewish, and any Hitler considered his enemy. When countries such as Belgium and France were invaded, the comic industry collapsed as Nazi occupied country’s followed German rule. This meant the end to stories such as Tintin, Le Petit Vingtieme, and imports of American material. Essentially, the Franco-Belgium comic scene grinded to a halt.
While America hadn’t joined the fight yet, the same could not be said of American comics. A large majority of comics writers and artist were Jewish and were very aware of what was going on overseas. While many artists and writers did use pseudonyms, primarily due to antisemitism in America, they could not contain their frustration and anger. Names we now hold in very high regard are actually aliases, Bob Kane’s really name was Robert Kahn, Bill Finger was Milton Finger, Jack Kirby was Jacob Kurtzburg, Carl Burgos was Max Finkelstein, and even Stan Lee was originally Stanley Martin Lieber. Granted, Stan Lee’s use of an alias had nothing to do with antisemitism, but rather an embarrassment for working in comic books. Wanting to save his real name for when he would write a great novel.
This frustration from the artists and writers made it’s way through the comics. In 1940, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster produced a two page comic for Look magazine intitled, How Superman Would End the War. In this story, Superman flew to Germany, destroyed their weapons and picked up Hitler. He also stopped by Russia and picked up Hitler’s then ally Stalin, and took them to the League of Nations, the precursor to the UN, where their fates would be decided by the people. This was the kind of story they couldn’t tell in Superman’s own comics. Primarily because for Superman, ending the war would be just this easy. However, the war would still be raging on, and children reading along would be left with a feeling of despair. Interestingly enough, this story did make it to Hitler, who referred to Seigel and Shuster as ‘mentally and physically castrated’.
Then, in 1941, Timely Comics, the precursor to Marvel, released Captain America #1 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. This book didn’t hold any punches, literally. The cover depicts Captain America punching Adolf Hitler straight in the face. It’s hard to really convey just how shocking this cover was when it came out. The very idea that a character dressed in the American flag would openly take a side. There was no denying what was being shown here, emphasised by the caption, ‘smashing thru, Captain America came face to face with Hitler’. American comics took a firm stance in the war before America did.
Notable, Captain America #3 featured the first Marvel work written by Stan Lee. A short prose piece entitled, 'Captain America Foils the Traitors Revenge'.
Then in December of 1941, Pearl Harbour was attacked by Japanese forces. Emperor Hirohito sided with Hitler as part of the Axis power, and due to how close America and England were politically, they feared that America would strike. The Attack on Pearl Harbour was a pre-emptive move to show that they wouldn’t back down. The following day, America officially joined the Second World War.
With America now officially in the war, comics became much more openly patriotic. Many superheroes did join the fight in their stories, though others, such as Superman became strong supporters of the military. The question as to why Clark Kent wasn’t drafted was answered within the comics. That Clark was so eager to serve his adopted country, that he ended up reading the eye chart several rooms over due to his X-Ray vision. The military deemed him blind and unfit to serve. So in order to maintain his secret identity, Superman would support the troops, but would not actively take part. However, this patriotic stance comics were taking meant that some of these covers are more than a little racist. Including the infamous cover to Action Comics #58, which features Superman running a printing press, producing posters stating, ‘Superman says: You can Slap a Jap with War Bonds and Stamps!’.
Many artists and writers were either drafted or enlisted in the military, including Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. While serving, many would also continue writing and drawing comics, sending them by post back to the publisher before they would hit the press. Stan Lee, in addition to writing Marvel scripts, which were largely back up stories, war stories and romance comics, would even write health and safety comics for the military. Jack Kirby in particular is incredibly proud of his service which will come into play later.
However, due to the Second World War, Golden Age comics are incredibly rare and fetch a very hefty price now. This was due to the patriotism shown on the covers and in the back pages. Children were encouraged to recycle paper, such as the comic they were holding, and donate the money to buy war bonds. Hence how we get lines such as ‘Each Bond You Buy is a Bullet in the Barrel in your Best Man’s Gun!’.
Outside of Superhero comics, characters closer to the young readers age were introduced to give kids role models to help the soldiers overseas. Two of the most notable examples were the Boy Commandos, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, as well as Archie, who first appeared in Pep Comics #22. Archie is still around today, having been rebooted in 2015 by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples the artist behind SAGA. Characters such as these were intended to promote good behaviour in the youth, and to offer ways they could help their parents cope.
For the soldiers overseas, they would be sent care packages containing chocolate, letters from home, and most notably, comics. These comics would largely be superhero fair and were meant to encourage the soldiers and remind them they were not alone. This gave extra meaning to the patriotic storylines, reminding the soldiers what they were fighting for, reinforcing the idea of the enemy, but largely, they provided them with entertainment. Because of these care packages, American comics were now reaching many countries they hadn’t been before. In contrast, soldiers were also seeing comics and works from these other countries.
This cultural exchange was so big that in Papua New Guinea, soldiers encountered tribesmen who became fascinated by their comics. This fascination went so far that they started decorating their shields with images of The Phantom, a character whose entire premise was that he is ‘The Man Who Never Dies’. These shields still exist, and some have been donated to museums to preserve their cultural importance.
When American soldiers arrived in Britain, this caused a major cultural exchange. Primarily due to the fact that we speak the same language. Communication was much faster and thus sharing culture was a lot easier. The very first comic store in Britain was opened in Paisley, Scotland in 1940, fittingly named Yankee Mags. The store is now unfortunately closed, but it’s opening was a landmark moment. The store stocked comics that were carried by American tropes, weather they be American or picked up from other countries, who donated them, as well as any British comics still in circulation. Most likely helped by the fact that the Publisher of The Dandy and Beano were based in Scotland. The store is notable for being the starting ground for many modern Scottish writers such as Grant Morrison and Mark Millar.
By 1945, the Second world war was drawing to a close. On April 30th, Hitler and his wife Ava Braun committed suicide in the Fuhrer’s bunker. This was due to the Allied forces getting closer, and the idea that he’d rather die than be captured. This slowly caused Europe to regain freedom from under Nazi rule.
Following this, on August 6th, the first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb was dropped by the Enola Gay under the orders of America, Britain and Canada. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t just the Americans. On August 9th, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Both of these bombs devastated the area and caused the Japanese to almost immediately surrender. Between the two bombings, an estimated 210,000 people died, including women and children. The devastation was so immense that Japan could now be considered in a post-apocalyptic state. This will heavily effect their fiction and how they would tell stories moving forward.
World War II officially ended on September 2nd, 1945, when Harry S. Truman announced the surrender of Japan, despite their unconditional surrender taking place on August 14th. Celebration was heard across the world, and particularly in the comics.
Superheroes celebrated the defeat of their great enemy, characters such as the Boy Commandoes and Archie were now able to focus on living a normal life post-War. There was just one problem with all this. Because of how heavily associated Superhero comics were with the Second World War, they started to very much decline in popularity. Meaning that many companies who had started up and survived by cashing in on the trend, were now forced to close. Those who survived began to focus on other genres.
Most notably, the new craze was Horror and Romance comics. Superheroes were still around, Superman and Batman in particular survived, but if you wanted to sell a book, it better be Horror or Romance. This meant that artists and writers returning from the war, had to get to grips pretty quickly. Jack Kirby in particular was very prolific during this time in romance comics. Horror comics took an anthology approach to its storytelling. Packing 4 to 5 stories of spine-chilling horror, all hosted by a ‘presenter’ figure. Tales of the Crypt for example was introduced and hosted by the Crypt Keeper. These would become as iconic as the superhero titles.
Post-World War II, the Franco-Belgium comics scene took the time to rebuild after years of oppression, bringing back titles such as The Adventures of Tintin. In Britain, the impact of the War and the influence of American culture led to the creation of Comics such as Eagle, an anthology series focused on science fiction and war. The most famous creation to come out of this was Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future, created by Frank Hampton.
After the Japanese Surrender, America began its occupation of Japan. Controlling the media as much as they could. Including censoring the newspapers to remove any mention of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It didn’t become widespread information until around 1954. Instead, America exposed Japan to their culture, such as Superhero, Horror and Romance comics, as well as the work of Walt Disney.
This exposure to Disney in Japan heavily inspired the Japanese youth. Including a certain young artist who you will be hearing a lot about in the next lecture. But to highlight just how much this cultural exchange shaped the medium coming forward.
The work of Disney and the German film Metropolis lead to one of Tezuka’s earliest creations. Metropolis. Though Tezuka has stated that he never actually saw the film Metropolis, but instead took inspiration from the iconic poster.
A work he created at the age of 20 years old, the story shows many hallmarks of a Tezuka story very early on. Including character designs, he’ll use as core archetypes in later works. The story revolved around an android that escapes and tries to explore the city. The android is able to change genders at will and uses his fun and childish nature to accidentally cause havoc. The comic was adapted in 2001 by Rintaro, however the film fuses the manga storyline with that of the original 1927 Metropolis.
Tezuka’s work goes on to heavily influence not just manga, but comics worldwide. However, that is a story for next time.
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