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
Mariah Cavanaugh
I have never actually thought about the ways in which comic books influenced different generation. As you pointed out in your article, people need an escape from reality especially when their reality is as frightening as the Great Depression and World War II. I am always fascinated by the fact that each generation essentially repeats itself. Educators, psychiatrists, journalists and the federal government felt that comics would lead to violence and crime. The same thing was said about video games not too long ago. I wonder what the next big thing will be that is deemed to have a violent influence.
Tara Sellers
I did not know the reason behind why comic books were created. That they were created to help bring joy to a time of tension. I also did not know that there was so much stigma around comic books back when they were created. Comic books are so prevalent today that it does not seem possible for them to have been considered destructive. We have children as young as 5 years of age going and seeing the marvel movies and they were worried about them just reading them.
Cherice Leach
I personally love superheroes of all kinds! This article really got me excited to learn a little bit more about something I love. It’s interesting to see that superheroes were made to distract people of the real violence and poverty that was going on. I think creating the fictional superheroes actually gave real life people hope that someday, someone would save them from the horrible things that were happening to them. I think to anyone, a story of any kind that has a genuine, good main character or protagonist, can help turn anyone’s negative thoughts into positive ones. Most importantly, I think these superhero comics brought hope to all the people who enjoyed reading them.
Justin Garcia
This is well written article that explains the effects and uses of comics during the Great Depression. This article also describes the early era of comics very well. From mentioning the first comic book character Superman to shedding light on the inspiration to create characters such as Wonder Woman. I believe more could have been added in this article to further drive the points presented. For instance talking about the many issues in which characters such as Superman and Captain America fought the embodiment of foreign enemies such as Russian spies and The Red Skull. All in all the article does a good job in getting your main point across. I’m just offering a suggestion to keep in mind for the future.
Mariana Govea
This was an amazing article! I did not know that the first article was way back in the 1930’s and that it was a superman article! Who would have none that almost a hundred years later, Superman is still such an icon character for many age groups! It really is crazy to think how comics can have and have had an effect on the american society. Many comics are still used today and the market for comics is outrageous people are constantly in search of new and old comics. Great read and the information was eye catching!
Briana Bustamante
What an interesting topic to write about. Who would have known the history behind a comic book. You did a great job writing this article and giving a history behind the importance of the characters, such as Wonder woman. I did not know that Wonder Woman was a representation of women during the war. I find it amazing how even today, these characters are alive and little children are still infatuated with each character. Over all, great article!
Alexis Soto
Awesome article! I was surprised to see an artitle on comics but I’m glad it was written. I’m a huge fan of superhero stuff so this was bound to catch my attention. You were able to explain the origins of the early comics and superheros which was interesting. What I found to be expected was the publics initial outcry over comics and their content. It’s all too much the same with video games in present day. That being said great read!
Samuel Sanchez
It was an amazing article. I liked how discussed the background of how the comics came to be. The way you tied in the effects of the comic books on our society was amazing. I did not know there was an outrage with educators on how to promotes violence with young people. It is understandable because there is violence in comic books so they thought it would develop young minds into being violent. There is the same argument for video games as well so history does repeat itself. Comic books were meant to be a distraction from the hard times and it did its part. Overall amazing article keep up the good work.
Jennifer Pogue
I have never been into comics, but I do love the superhero movies. It is crazy to think a HUGE media empire grew out of this one comic. I wonder what Malcolm would think of this? He created the comic to relieve the stress of the war. I hope he would be proud of what his creation has turned into. Great article and congratulations on getting the award for the best featured image. It has helped me gain inspirations on what I should have my images as.
Alyssa Valdez
Great Article! I must admit that Im not the biggest superman fan but I love how much of an impact he had during such hard and tragic times and how his comics were used to distract people yet still found a way to them into war! Many people like to talk down about comic books, but I honestly find them interesting.