Winner of the Fall 2016 StMU History Media Award for
Best Featured Image
Best Article in the Category of “United States History”
During the Great Depression and World War II, most Americans wanted to find happiness in anything. Throughout this era, there were not many places people could find happiness; so they began looking for entertainment in books. However, these were not just any ordinary types of books; they were indeed comic books.
Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson was the founder of the first comic magazine, which was called New Fun. Although his comic did poorly, Malcolm was able to create a company called Detective Comics. The company was able to create a new magazine called Action Comics, founded in 1937.1 But before Malcolm was able to publish the new magazine, he fell into bankruptcy. Disregarding his personal setback, the company carried on without his involvement. The first issue in Action Comic was published in 1938. The comic consisted of an abnormal man who had incredible strength and wore a skintight suit, commonly known as Superman. In the span of a year, Superman had received his own book title and sold over 1.2 million copies per issue. It later became a radio show in 1940, opening with the phrase “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s…Superman!”2 Eventually other publishers began developing their own superheroes as well. The second comic, which was produced in 1939, is the now popularly known comic series Marvel Comics. By 1940’s Superman was joined by other heroes such as: the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, Batman, the Flash, and Wonder Woman.3 In fact, Wonder Woman was meant to represent the importance of women in the war effort. During the boom of new superheroes being created, Superman was still the most popular of them all.
Unfortunately the comic industry was attacked by educators, psychiatrists, journalist, and even the federal government. They believed comics had no beneficial outcomes for society; instead of bringing entertainment, they were promoting ideas of violence and crime. They also believed that not only did the comics bring harmful thoughts to young minds, but the thin paper was supposedly destroying their eyesight.4 Despite the numerous complaints, Congress took no legal action against the publishers of the books. With this incident, it helped create a trade system, known as the Comic Codes, to help prevent indecency in the industry.5
No one could have guessed that comic books would have created some issues for years to come. For example, various art teachers discovered that the students who disliked and were performing poorly in art class, were the same students who had an interest in comic books; they were often getting into trouble for sketching comics instead of paying attention.6 The students wanted to get away from reality and what better way to do so than by creating your own story-line in a comic book?
That is the whole reason comic books were created, to help distract people from the tough times they were experiencing in life. That is why most people enjoyed them, because they wanted to escape reality by reading about situations that could never happen in real life, by flooding the minds of people of all ages with imagination. It is not hard to see why Americans would be very entertained by the concept of superheroes; they were created to help prevent disasters and to comfort those who were frightened by real-world events. For that reason this era was the perfect time for comic books to emerge. Some people were opposed to them, but in general they helped society in several ways. Although comics may not be as popular as they once were, it gave Americans a new world to discover, even if it was just imaginary.
- Alan Brinkley, American History: Connecting with the Past Volume 2, 15 edition (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014), 676. ↵
- Brinkley, American History: Connecting with the Past Volume 2, 676. ↵
- Brinkley, American History: Connecting with the Past Volume 2, 676. ↵
- Robert L. Coard, “The Comic Book in Perspective,” Peabody Journal of Education 33, no. 1 (1955): 18. ↵
- Brinkley, American History: Connecting with the Past Volume 2, 677. ↵
- Jay Berkowitz and Todd Packer, “Heroes in the Classroom: Comic Books in Art Education,” Art Education 54, no. 6 (2001): 12. ↵
118 comments
Anayeli Prieto
Great Article! Superman I such a great and famous comic and the fact that it was a use to make people feel better during the Great Depression makes me feel so much better. I wonder if this is how all superheroes began and if they had the same objective which was to distract the people from issues. In my history class in High school, I read about how many politicians and our government used cartoons to get their message across, one example was mickey mouse and I’m curious to know if superman had any hidden significance or message about the war.
Nahim Rancharan
I really enjoyed reading this article! For me, comics were never a huge interest, but the history behind the comic books are so fascinating and this article shows a great job at delivering both sides of the story. It’s interesting to see how comic books were developed as a form of distraction to people living through the difficulties that existed within the United State such as the war. It also shows a common trend as to developments in other forms of distractions such as video games and television that, to a certain extent, help distract us from the harsh reality of the societies we live in. Although comics were greatly opposed by some parties, they, for the most, part did a great job in protecting the mind of youths living during that time from the cruelties of the war. This is a side of the story that should be remembered and this article does a fantastic job at doing so. Job Well Done!
Tyler Sleeter
Great article that is interesting and informing. My father is a comic book nerd, so I knew the purpose of comic books and how they were tied into the feelings and attitudes of the World War II. However, I did not know that so many people were opposed to comics. I am not surprised that comic book heroes are becoming popular once again given the threats of terrorism, environmental changes, and the uncertainty in politics right now.
Gabriela Serrato
It is sad to know that comic books were criticized so heavily for having “negative outcomes or effects.” If someone finds joy in reading anything, let them read it! This is not only focusing on a joy for reading for these comic book lovers, but it is also a major source and inspiration for imagination and creativity. Even today these comics have transformed into million dollar movies, so it is easy to say that these superhero stories have revolutionized story telling and expanded the ordinary mind into having zero limits on what one can create.
Cesar Zavala
Before reading this article I would’ve never imagined that something as harmless and joyful as comic books could be scrutinized for being a useless form of writing. What I found even more astonishing was that not only did some people think that comic books were a waste of time and resources, they went as far as to say that the PAPER was damaging the eyesight of children. Little did they know that comics would become the big industry it is today and not only for children, but for many collectors as well.
Luke Trevino
Amazing!! This article was very eye opening and educational. I had no idea that comics were created for that reason. it is crazy that the government wanted to take action upon the book considering it did no wrong, they were meant to create imagination and they wanted to take their imagination. it is very clear why this article won best in the category of the United States. Overall, very good and well written essay!
Aaron Jaramillo
Great article Amanda! I collect a few comic books myself but never knew they emerged during the Great Depression and World War II. I knew that Wonder Woman is as old as Superman but I never knew the Flash and Batman were that old too. What if Congress would have taken legal action against the comic books? We wouldn’t have all these cool comics, superheroes, and superhero movies we have today. Good job.
Nelson Smithwick
Interesting article, although I knew that many superheroes made their comic debuts during times of great difficulty, like World War 2 or the Cold War it never occurred to me that they could be born from a national need for an escape. It’s very interesting to see how media of an era shows how people felt during those times.
Tina Valdez
I would not have imagined that the comic industry was under such attack from so many. Those that attacked the comic industry also represented several different groups. It is interesting to think about this part of history and then to think of how popular comic books remain today. They obviously did serve a decent function. I thoroughly enjoyed reading our article, you had a great, very relatable topic.
Erik Rodriguez
Wow. Amazing article. I was not aware of the story behind the comic book. It is heroic that its purpose was purely to make people happy. It is unfortunate that teachers blamed the comics when children did not pay attention in school. If anything, the comics were an outlet to release mental pressure and problems. Lucky today there are loving communities where comic lovers can express their opinions. I loved this article!