A Brief History in American Comics: Part 8: The Growth of Fandoms in the 1980s

The 1980’s comic sales reached a new market, due at least in part to the new specialty “fan shop” comic stores that began arising for collectors and readers alike. Although comic sales never quite reached pre-Comic Code levels, the new shown interest allowed the market to somewhat recover [3]. 

Even adventure comics began to hit a snag when comics about World War II seemed far enough in the past to seem irrelevant to many readers.  But where war comics were on the decline, superhero comics were on a substantial rise. Through the 1970s and 80s, sales for superhero titles went up, as did the general fan-base for superheroes [3].  

Although the superhero genre was “in decline since the late sixties,” the next couple of decades would ignite the genre and the comic industry in general. “The slow maturation that American mainstream comics had been experiencing over the previous decade took a dramatic leap forward [6].”

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1970s anthology, Star Reach, “lacked the inhibitions of the Comics Code, freeing creators to pursue more sophisticated themes. “Paired with the American trend towards longer, more involved stories, this led to a new focus on the craft of writing for the comics medium as a literary pursuit in itself, rather than simply a frame on which to hang the art [6].” 

In 1975, Len Wein and Dave Cockrum “reinvigorate[ed]” the X-men franchise, opening up “a major shift” in American comic stories. Chris Claremont later took over for Wein on The Uncanny X-Men, and, focusing on the teen-centered market, developed more complex plots and individualization of characters in lieu of an issue’s “self-contained stories”. Claremont also helped develop the “’family’ theme” of X-Men, “in a direct appeal to the outsider’s desire for a place of belonging—a theme many young superhero comic fans could relate to and become deeply invested in [6].” 

 

 As the stories of serials grew longer, publishers began to release “mini-series” and “maxi-series” starting from 1979. The end of episodic comics also aided to their “collectability” since several issues were needed to keep track of full stories and events. However, this also resulted in hampering the ability for new readers to keep track of previous events, thus gave rise to the “comics’ fandom as an insular subculture [6]”.  

Greater, more in-depth stories allowed for more political and “adult-focused content” for the more “mature-reader” of the 1980’s. The feminism wave of the 1960s brought awareness to popular sexist stereotypes, calling for “the complete reassessment of the industry’s treatment of women characters.” However, it wasn’t until the 1980s when publishers began to include this transformation [3].

By the end of the 1970s, comic book sales (including superhero titles) were low. Still sold at newspaper stands (and viewed as similar product), comic books were sold merely as a buffer profit or “bonus” by vendors, rather than as a valuable merchandise. However, the venues of underground comix proved that comics could be sold in separate or different venues from newspapers and still sell, such as specialty stores. Some of these stores evolved and grew their markets into general comic stores, where readers could purchase and collectors could sell or trade their old comic books. Comics also began to be ordered beforehand by consumers, rather than vendors purchasing them wholesale, thus cutting down on vendor returns and profit risk. This direct market approach allowed store owners to not only cut down on the stock received from publishers, but to customize their stores according to what they wanted to provide, allowing the stores themselves to help regulate title distributions. This newfound profitability “saved the comic book, but by doing so… changed the comic book’s appearance [4].” “By the mid-1990s, over ninety percent of all comics were being sold through this channel. In the space of a few short years, the fan market had gone from being a parallel outlet of little commercial importance, to becoming the new mainstream [3].”  

“It was these ‘veteran fans’ that dictated the creative evolution of the comics, and increasingly, it was other veteran fans like them who would produce the comics they read. In short, in order to survive in the direct market, publishers were forced to attend to the needs of their most enthusiastic supporters, isolating themselves more and more from the outside world… [4]” 

In 1984, Marvel’s Secret Wars became the “first large crossover ‘event’”, which covered a single storyline across several comic titles (think Marvels’ current film series). DC attempted a similar event with Crisis on Infinite Earths [6].  

The downturn of comic sales in the 70s and 80s is often shown to correspond to the rise of TV and video games. However, this factor may have also helped spread popularity of certain serials, such as Star Wars (1982) and Indiana Jones (1984), based on their film counterparts [3]. 

The Rise of the Graphic Novel  

“In the latter half of the 1970s, comics like Sabre (1978), by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy, a sci-fi thriller with nudity, announced the arrival of a new age in which a non-children’s audience could access comics that broke with the limitations of the Comics Code, but not with those of the traditional genres [4]. 

 

Comics “not subject to Comics Code censorship” and often included more ‘mature’ content compared to major publishers, “ground-level” comics were a newfound middle ground. Star Reach was one popular comic of this type, and one of the few comics “where mainstream and Underground met.” Star Reach also included the first printing of an English-translated Japanese comic, although the pieces did not insight any greater interest in importing manga.Star Reach was one of “the earliest concerted attempts by mainstream creators to enter the world of alternative publishing [6]”.  

Gil Kane released His Name is Savage (1968) but it didn’t sell well, despite its magazine format and higher “abundance of text” to appear more literary-conscious [4]. Blackmark (1971) was Kane’s second attempt and proclaimed it as “the next step forward in pictorial fiction”. Although Blackmark was visually impressive, it was in essence reminiscent of pulp magazines of the 1950’s rather than an overall new look [6]. 

 

There were some other attempts to further the comic medium through the 1970s, including Jack Katz’s First Kingdom[4], but none quite popularized it until Will Eisner’s Contract with God in 1978, released as what he called a “graphic novel”,used in attempt for more literate-serious attention [8]. Released at a time when comics were still viewed as material for children or less mature readers, this collection of four related stories, as well as others by Eisner and several others, would only later help to project the medium into a field of higher criticism.

Next time in A Scroll in Time…
  Thank you all for your part in keeping this blog going. This entry marks the end of Season One, and thus the start of a new turning point. I will be taking a several-month hiatus from posting, during which I will be catching up on a bunch of research materials and writing a bunch of new, more in-depth accounts and entries. I apologize for the sometimes uncertain posting schedule that has occurred in the last year, but by preparing my entries earlier, I hope to eliminate that for the years to come. I am having so much fun doing this blog, and hope to bring a vast new interest in learning and understanding the ways culture and history shape our comics today. 

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STAY TUNED….

[1] Couperie, Pierre, Maurice Horn, Proto Destefanis, Edouard François, Claude Moliterni, Gérald Gassiot-Talabot, and Eileen Hennessy. A History of the Comic Strip. New York: Crown, 1968. Print.
[2] Steranko, James. The Steranko History of Comics. Reading, PA. 1970. Print.
[3] Sabin, Roger. Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels. Hong Kong. 1996. Print.
[4] Garcia, Santiago. On the Graphic Novel. University Press of Mississippi. 2015. Print.
[5] Hajdu, David. The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America. New York. 2008. Print.
[6] Mazur, Dan, and Alexander Danner. Comics: A Global History, 1968 to the Present. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014. Print.
[7] Wright, Bradford W. Comic Book Nation. Baltimore, MD. 2003. Print.
[8] Andelman, Bob. Will Eisner: A Spirited Life. M Press. 2005. Print.

A Brief History of American Comics: Part 3- The Continuation of the Comic Strip

The 1940’s Part I: The Continuation of the Comic Strip 

Comics ended strong in the 1930s and carried the momentum into the 1940s, providing a “panorama of impressive dimensions” in comic variety. As American comic strips surpassed those of Europeans in regards to production (who still mostly focused on children’s works), the majority of titles were exported for international consumption. However, several elements to come would create a shift in comic strips that would develop a devastating downturn ^[3].

 

A 1964 The Spirit cover. Note the above
newspaper title and the more mature nature
compared to previous comic images

The newspaper wars of the 1930’s continued as The Chicago Sun quickly introduced a color comic section and a 16-page comic book-sized section (soon to feature Will Eisner’s new Spirit), which included a new storyline concept for American comics. The Chicago Tribune moved quickly to create their own comic section (creatively named Comic Book Magazine). The Tribune’s Magazine was a clear example of scrambling for content as it contained “a bizarre array” of never before published comics from the 1920’s ^[2]. 

Some artists of the 1930’s attempted to transition the western adventure literature and other material to comics, starting with King of the Royal Mounted in 1935, followed by Fred Harmon’s Red Ryder and Fran Stiker’s Lone Ranger. Despite the positive outlook, the western genre didn’t receive much traction past their film counterparts ^[4]. Highlights like Dick Tracy (police detective-genre), The Shadow (mystery/caped crusader-genre), and Secret Agent X-9 (sci fi-genre) were also in the forefront of the sale stands ^[2]. 

 

Although many recognize content from The Spirit,
few will recognize its retaliation, the Comic Book
Magazine. Cover notes featured comics included.

 
In 1936, Lee Falk premiered The Phantom, the first masked costume hero in comics. His visualization, set by Ray Moore, portrayed the “no pupil” mask and tights outfit of the “Phantom with the ‘muscles of a Goliath’, which was fore setting for the following of heroes to come” ^[4]. The Phantom is also described as a “more conventional” hero in comparison to others, stating he is “the only comic strip hero who is capable of dying” ^[3]. Falk was originally inspired by early 1900’s edgier shows and utilized cliff hangers within the stories quite often ^[4].

The War within Comics

With the battle front lines forming overseas, the people of the United States tried to help fight battles at home in any way that they could via rations, war bonds, and even encouraging their favorite comic strip title characters ^[4]. By 1937, the war was already showing itself in comics, as heroes fight Japanese opponents, which are coined as “the invaders” by comic narratives ^[3]. With international conflict starting in 1939, the comic world was jump-starting into a movement to put any efforts available towards the war ^[3].

Ultimately, thanks to the re-introduction to wartime paper rations during World War II, “the panel space necessary to sustain work of such quality was swiftly and brutally reduced”.  New newspaper commuter patterns, as well as the introduction of the television, transformed newspaper comic strip space into a collective of authors and writers fighting for space amongst their pages. The shrewd reality this produced was “a healthy number of well-handled strips” coming to light in the 1940s with the majority including content focused on realistic crime, western, and sci-fi ^[2].

“As a result, realistic action and fine-art humor strips faded from the comic pages, and an increasing number of simplistically drawn he-said, she-said repeater-gag strips filled newspaper strip space” ^[2]. By 1940, “the papers had humor strips by the hundreds” ^[4], and the comic strip industry was “bursting”, although content varied more on quantity than quality, by most standards ^[3]. With the exception of few “witty and wonderfully imaginative” strips like The Wizard of Id and Peanuts, “most were little better than space fillers” ^[2].

A strip from Barnaby. Readers may also recognize the artwork of Crockett
Johnson from another of his famous works, Harold and the Purple Crayon.

It is important to note that while Politics and detective work remained popular, they did by no means consume all of comic stands. “Barnaby”, by Crockett Johnson, is one of those which stand apart from this period. Barnaby’s journeying to a “fantastic universe” via train provides a thought back to “Little Nemo”, while its stylistic wit and contextual poetry reminded readers of “Krazy Kat”. Although it was short lived (original: 1942-1946; revived until 1954), its content along with its use of printed balloons within the comic rather than lettered ones gave it a sense of originality and modernity ^[3].

Although comic strips continued to change and develop through the 30s and 40s, as we will continue to track, the biggest thing to happen to comics within these two decades wasn’t in the strip pages at all. As newspapers began slashing back the space for comic strips in the 1940s ^[2], comics began to find space within their own format, the comic book!

To be continued…

[1] Marschall, Richard. America’s Great Comic-Strip Artists. New York, NY. 1989. Print.
[2] Blackbeard, Bill and Crain, Dale. The Comic Strip Century: Celebrating 100 Years of an American Art Form. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1995. Print.
[3] Couperie, Pierre, Maurice Horn, Proto Destefanis, Edouard François, Claude Moliterni, Gérald Gassiot-Talabot, and Eileen Hennessy. A History of the Comic Strip. New York: Crown, 1968. Print.
[4] Steranko, James. The Steranko History of Comics. Reading, PA. 1970. Print.

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