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
Regina De La Parra
I really liked reading comics because today we take them very much for granted. I found it very interesting how they were created to make people focus on them and take their minds away from the horrific events of WWII. Now I understand that these characters were not just an opportunity to make money, but to bring assurance to many people during that era. Great job Amanda!
Samuel Stallcup
Superman has been redone and refilmed so many times in history, yet people still go see the new movies involving him: every time. I feel this is because of tradition, but it’s also because of Superman’s appeal. He’s the American super hero that also cares about society. He shows prowess in saving the world, and looks good while doing it, too.
Natalia Flores
This article shined a new light on to the comic books world. I never thought of it this way which was people trying to distract themselves from the Great Depression and WWII. This does make sense since a lot of popular heroes such as Captain America and Wonder Woman have scenes of fighting abroad and in the war itself. There are people that don’t like comic books, but it still interested me to hear their arguments and I thank the author for putting those in.
Rafael Lopez-Rodriguez
This article is very interesting. I did not know most well known super hero comics began in the era of the Great Depression and WWII. Being able to find moments of joy or something to get your mind off the problems surrounding a community and in this case a country is not easy. If Super Man was the most popular super hero then, I think today that can be debated but he is of course on of people’s many favorite comic heroes. Great article!
Michael Thomas
I found this article interesting because it details the history of comics and how it was denounced by people in society. I did not know that comics were created to take peoples mind off WWII. With the introduction of heroes such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash, this led to the creation of DC comics. It was surprising that the government was against comics as entertainment.
Jason Garcia
Comic books and superheroes have always inspired people, always made people believe that are apart of something greater. Superman is credited with being the First Superhero. He was what started it all. He made way for not only comic books but science fiction. After the rise of comic books, they tackled issues that the world was facing. The x-men fought for civil rights, Captain America for the Amercian way, Spiderman for the teenage demographic. Superman was the foundation
Natalie Childs
As a big fan of comics, particularly DC comics, this title definitely caught my attention. While I knew a little bit about of Superman’s rise to fame, I had always been completely clear on his origins. I also didn’t even realize that Wonder Woman was created to represent women in the war effort. Even though the article was specifically about her rise as hero, I found it incredibly interesting that such a strong figure was created as representation.
Destiny Flores
Personally, Id much rather prefer Marvel Comics, yet it was interesting to see the background to Superman and know that he played a bigger role in society rather than just a random for a entertainment. He was made to uplift spirits in trying times and that makes comic books a bit more meaningful. It also caught my attention when it talked about how comic books struggled and were heavily criticized.
Seth Castillo
Comic Books are great ways for someone to simply enjoy a quick read. The worlds that these artists create are so detailed and they make you feel a connection with the fictional characters. As kids, we all wanted to be something that was saw on TV or read somewhere. I can surely bet many of us wanted to be some rendition of Spiderman or Superman, maybe even Deadpool if our parents didn’t know what that character did. Taking a look back into the past and seeing how much criticism that the medium of storytelling had to take to eventually be recognized as this amazing thing really can make one appreciate the worlds created for us.
Caroline Bush
I’m a huge batman fan and its interesting to see how the company that published him got its start. I never knew where the famous Superman saying of its a bird! its a plane! no, its superman came from until I read this article. I actually didn’t even know superman had a radio show either, I guess it would be the equivalent of cartoons for the time. Its interesting to see how comics were able to lift peoples spirts during a time when people didn’t have much to be happy about. At the same time its funny to see how some people later saw comics as a hazard rather than a reprieve from the real world. This article had really interesting information and was overall a really good read.