Cultural History of Comic Books
According to Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, 1993) a comic book is a "series of words and
pictures that are presented in a sequential manner to form a narrative that may
or may not be humorous." For a very long time in our culture, comics have been read, loved, hated, and controversial. They both celebrate that which is popular and also creep along the edge of a generation's fears, political views, and ultimately shape who we are as a culture. Love them or hate them, comics are part of US.
Given its complex cultural and commercial role, a definition of “comic book” raises issues and "debates about sequence, narrative, image, text, genre, and art as well as its relation to other genres, such as children’s literature" (Meskin 2007). More than just a form of entertainment for children (particularly boys), comics can be a serious art form.
Since the 1960s the comic book industry has been dominated by the two major publishers—Marvel and Detective Comics (DC). DC’s official name was National Periodical Publication; Marvel was first known as Timely Comics from 1939 to around 1950, and then as Atlas Comics.
Comic books are often divided into “ages” to distinguish periods of comic book history that share styles of art and writing, storytelling techniques, marketing strategies, and other genre devices.
These ages are typically referred to as: Golden (1938-1956), Silver (1956-1971), Bronze (1971-1980), Iron (1980-1987), and Modern (1987-present).
The thematic elements of the superhero genre can be traced back to ancient Greek & Roman mythology and heroes from such epics as Beowulf or The Iliad and The Odyssey. More modern archetypes include Friedrich Nietzsche’s Übermensch (Superman), national heroes such as Daniel Boone, and pulp characters from literature such as Burroughs' Tarzan.
The narrative sequences of panels found in comics can be traced as far back as primitive cave paintings, but more likely to medieval broadsheets, a narrative strip carved into woodcuttings (Hayman and Pratt 2005).
Some might even say that "the Bayeux Tapestry, which traces in a graphic pictorial narrative the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, is an early form of the comic strip" (Meskin 2007).
The first “real” comic strip is acknowledge to be Richard Felton Outcault’s The Yellow Kid, which debuted in 1895 in Joseph Pulitzer’s The New York World. Yellow Kid was also notable as the first comic strip to use balloons as a place for the character’s dialogue. Comic features such as Buster Brown, Foxy Grandpa, Krazy Kat, Katzenjammer Kids, Popeye, and Mutt and Jeff became standard in newspapers and periodicals. Most strips in the early twentieth century were humorous subject matter and characters and so became known as “the comics” or “the funnies.”
In terms of distribution, audience, narrative style, and thematic content, comic books were more the direct descendants of the pulp magazine. “Pulp magazines” were printed on the cheapest possible paper for mass distribution. Like the comics of our day, pulp magazines catered to the tastes outside the mainstream and featured stories with action, adventure, fantasy, horror and suspense genres. H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (author of Conan the Barbarian), for example, wrote for the pulp magazine Weird Tales.
By the end of the 1980s, comic books continued to reinvent themselves. New issues of comic books, such as Spiderman and X-Men, as future collector items were marketed. During the 1990s comics became collector items, only less popular than stamps and coins. In 1991 Marvel became the first comic book publisher to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Within six months, an issue of Marvel’s X-Men sold a record 8.2 million copies. Marvel had grown into a multimedia entertainment company, and currently the superhero is the golden boy of Hollywood. X-Men (2000) earned $150 million at the box office, and Spiderman, Daredevil, The Hulk and The Avengers, for example, were blockbuster films and money-making industries. Even popular television shows, such as The Walking Dead series was taken originally from a comic book series.
After reading an article on X-Men, the Movie, we will screen the film.
HOMEWORK: Please complete your reading of Maus and prepare your portfolio. We will use the lab for 10-15 minutes on Friday to complete printing and organizing your portfolio. The portfolio is due Friday.
Given its complex cultural and commercial role, a definition of “comic book” raises issues and "debates about sequence, narrative, image, text, genre, and art as well as its relation to other genres, such as children’s literature" (Meskin 2007). More than just a form of entertainment for children (particularly boys), comics can be a serious art form.
Since the 1960s the comic book industry has been dominated by the two major publishers—Marvel and Detective Comics (DC). DC’s official name was National Periodical Publication; Marvel was first known as Timely Comics from 1939 to around 1950, and then as Atlas Comics.
Comic books are often divided into “ages” to distinguish periods of comic book history that share styles of art and writing, storytelling techniques, marketing strategies, and other genre devices.
These ages are typically referred to as: Golden (1938-1956), Silver (1956-1971), Bronze (1971-1980), Iron (1980-1987), and Modern (1987-present).
The thematic elements of the superhero genre can be traced back to ancient Greek & Roman mythology and heroes from such epics as Beowulf or The Iliad and The Odyssey. More modern archetypes include Friedrich Nietzsche’s Übermensch (Superman), national heroes such as Daniel Boone, and pulp characters from literature such as Burroughs' Tarzan.
The narrative sequences of panels found in comics can be traced as far back as primitive cave paintings, but more likely to medieval broadsheets, a narrative strip carved into woodcuttings (Hayman and Pratt 2005).
Some might even say that "the Bayeux Tapestry, which traces in a graphic pictorial narrative the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, is an early form of the comic strip" (Meskin 2007).
The first “real” comic strip is acknowledge to be Richard Felton Outcault’s The Yellow Kid, which debuted in 1895 in Joseph Pulitzer’s The New York World. Yellow Kid was also notable as the first comic strip to use balloons as a place for the character’s dialogue. Comic features such as Buster Brown, Foxy Grandpa, Krazy Kat, Katzenjammer Kids, Popeye, and Mutt and Jeff became standard in newspapers and periodicals. Most strips in the early twentieth century were humorous subject matter and characters and so became known as “the comics” or “the funnies.”
In terms of distribution, audience, narrative style, and thematic content, comic books were more the direct descendants of the pulp magazine. “Pulp magazines” were printed on the cheapest possible paper for mass distribution. Like the comics of our day, pulp magazines catered to the tastes outside the mainstream and featured stories with action, adventure, fantasy, horror and suspense genres. H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (author of Conan the Barbarian), for example, wrote for the pulp magazine Weird Tales.
By the end of the 1980s, comic books continued to reinvent themselves. New issues of comic books, such as Spiderman and X-Men, as future collector items were marketed. During the 1990s comics became collector items, only less popular than stamps and coins. In 1991 Marvel became the first comic book publisher to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Within six months, an issue of Marvel’s X-Men sold a record 8.2 million copies. Marvel had grown into a multimedia entertainment company, and currently the superhero is the golden boy of Hollywood. X-Men (2000) earned $150 million at the box office, and Spiderman, Daredevil, The Hulk and The Avengers, for example, were blockbuster films and money-making industries. Even popular television shows, such as The Walking Dead series was taken originally from a comic book series.
After reading an article on X-Men, the Movie, we will screen the film.
HOMEWORK: Please complete your reading of Maus and prepare your portfolio. We will use the lab for 10-15 minutes on Friday to complete printing and organizing your portfolio. The portfolio is due Friday.
Comments