American comics, arguably one the most influential of the different comics around the world. Because for a time it was the example other countries comics followed. Nowadays, that seems to have lessened with changing times. How did cheap, affordable, available, and wide-reaching content become so exclusive? Let’s go over some history.
American Comics’ Victorian and Platinum Ages
American comics start much like how they got their label. They started in the 19th century in Britain as periodicals with caricatures. In fact the first comic on American shores is a fan translation of a Swiss text comic. Artists loved what they saw and got inspired to follow the example. The only problem was the magazines they made could only reach wealthy audiences. So some entrepreneurs decided to take comics to newspapers for a larger audience.
Soon serialized Comic Strips started in 1884. Everything from funny animals to the birth of word balloons begin here. Pretty soon, some of these papers started to publish the strips into books. Hence the beginning of comic books, collections of funny strips. Pretty soon storytellers began to see the potential in the strips and books; enough to bring back drama and adventure. Sometimes the genres combined, as is the case with Thimble Theatre’s Popeye, the Sailor Man (Thweet! Thweet!).
Superhero Advents of American Comics
But now let’s get to the ages everybody’s familiar with. In the 30s comes the comic book Americans are most familiar with. I don’t just mean Action Comics iconic cover or Superman, but format and distribution. All of the comics were original material rather than strip reprints. Best of all, the comics were easy to find regardless of consumer class.
Taking inspiration from pulp novels and the papers, comics could be found anywhere from news stands to drugstores. This is thanks in part to partnerships with news companies as well as a few independents. Please note this means both indie comics and distributors dedicated to comics.
The US entering World War II was practically the height of American comics popularity. This is thanks in no small part to superheroes, especially patriots like Superman and Captain America. In these troubling times people wanted images of hope that could inspire people to live on. Of course some publishers didn’t limit themselves to capes, plenty of them used licensed material like Disney characters. Plus westerns and teen comedy like Archie begin here.
Planting Seeds
So notable are these comics that they begin to take root in other countries. For example, Canada got the taste for it thanks in no small part to Joe Shuster giving back to his hometown. Over the course of the war, comics ended up overseas, especially around military bases. In Japan, some superheroes influence tokusatsu (stuff like Power Rangers source material). Meanwhile Italy, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and India all take something from US comics. Because hey, if the War Exchange Conservation Act can’t bring anymore comics to their borders, they’ll make their own. Sound familiar?
Which is incredibly ironic as superhero popularity started to slow down in the US after the war. With the biggest bad guys in the Axis defeated, it seemed redundant to read about more crime fighters. So publishers decide to diversify content with different genres including horror. Of note, EC comics thrived on horror and crime stories. Along with an anti-racist sci-fi comic featuring a non-caricatured black man, another one went into generational hate.
Restrictions and Movements
Which brings us to the tragedy of ‘parental concerns’. A psychologist thought having comic content around kids would be a bad influence. What happened afterwards? Book burnings, racist caricatures were still normal, and politicians jumped into it purely to further their careers! It’s worse when you realize that this was the 50s, the McCarthy era. But it would be wrong to make Dr. Fredric Werthem a boogeyman. He regretted that his book helped endorse censorship and actually praised science fiction and comic fandoms for teenagers growth.
But it didn’t stop a rating system from getting made. Publishers like EC and Comic House did everything they could to retain their dignity and identity. But the crackdown on crime and horror along with the Red Scare put them out of business.
The only comics that survived tended to be the humor content like MAD Magazine and Archie. It’s there that Archie Comics starts to thrive and become an American icon. The character Archie Andrews grew with the times to explore the American civilization. But superheroes stick around and mature too. Even if some situations get so bizarre, character almost didn’t matter.
The Rebels
But some efforts did matter, especially to normalize acceptance in important areas. Perhaps nobody did that better Harvey Comics‘ Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost. Hey if they’re gonna give up horror might as well satirize elements like devils. Also titles like Little Dot feature girls with layers of personalities along with their quirks. Other publishers like Gold Key managed to use loopholes to publish straight horror comics. How by taking advantage of their wholesome reputations. Plus it helped to get superheroes to help cover tracks. I mean Marvel counterculture heroes and the Adam West Batman signaled their return to prominence.
As for the more mature content, underground comix stepped in for more creativity. Subjects like depression, abortions, and dealing with troubling relationships were something influential. Plus the fact they were created by one artist at a time to express these anxieties, they’re rather empathetic.
Content Inflation?
Maybe it’s because of those anxieties that the next era is so notable. It’s around these times that some of the systemic issues surrounding comics arise. I don’t mean comics’ campy reputation or the lack of creator’s rights; although those are still important. It was when gimmicks start to become the norm. Some of them like Spider-Man and Green Lantern/Green Arrow depicting drug issues start as means to push publishing limits. But there are also times when these really are just a gimmick. For example, the rest of GL/GA is messily constructed social commentary.
The problem that continues today is that most publishers don’t know when to stop. Between all of the victories like creators getting recognition, inclusive character-based storytelling, and diverse genres there are drawbacks. Whether it’s reprints, the number of publishing titles, or the house art styles, it started to drive American Comics into a niche. Ironically that very niche is where the alternatives like Cerebus and Elfquest thrived. It goes something like this:
American Comics In All Seriousness
Pretty soon all of the gimmicks would consolidate near the end of the twentieth century. Of course it was all in the name of streamlining content and profits. This was especially the case with Watchmen and the Dark Knight Returns. Watchmen‘s success got comics recognized by the general public as a work of literature. That was thanks in no small part to the new strategy of collected editions. But that’s also where things started to take a turn for the worse.
Again, I don’t just mean how companies still find ways to screw creators out of their efforts. It’s not just about publishers’ edgelord phases in the Dark Age of comics. Or how they tried to capitalize on collecting habits with low quality items. It’s about how the gimmick of writing for these trades became the go-to way for quality. Publishers churned out trades to try and follow Watchmen’s example through their most popular titles. But as a result, some titles became obscured. This was especially the case with most Milestone Media content not getting the collection treatment. Even worse, publishers still rely on the more insular single issue runs to measure success instead of the trades.
Cross-Platforming and Lack Thereof
Finally, what knocks comics out of the limelight are creators shifts to more profitable mediums. With comic creator salaries not being the most ideal, comics become more of a side hustle for building portfolios. For every Neil Gaiman, there’s an Ed Brubaker finding more financial success in TV screenwriting. Along with how screenwriters like J. Michael Straczynski and Joss Whedon get into the comic business. But by the 2010s, this built an environment of cross-pollination. The comic publishers with legacies became more gated, preferring creatives with huge followings rather than talent. That or connections with past successes as is the case with Chip Zdarsky and Kieron Gillen.
Then there’s how comic distribution and experiences have changed. With digital markets and platforms, there’s a chance to reach wider audiences with more affordability. Plus with mobile technology like touchscreen phones, it should’ve made accessibility easier. But the only publishers who took advantage of it all were the ones trying to get content out to everyone. To be specific that’s Scholastic, Viz Media, and Webtoon. Everybody else stuck to the niche markets, not even bothering with accessibility.
Who Loves American Comics More?
In short, American comics went from being an aspiration to a hoarded afterthought. Ironically European countries like France and Italy showed more love. Marvel in particular spent the extra effort to lower their license fees for the biggest presence. Most English speaking countries use distributors like Diamond or PRH for the direct market. The former of which had poor management and customer service according to reviews on Indeed. Compare that to Panini Group, a distributor and licensor to most non-English countries. They make the comics and trades a consistent size and order in comparable ways to manga’s tankoban. This tells me something big, Europe loves American comic books more than the US does.
American Comics Need To Follow Leaders
In spite of what I said, this isn’t confirming that the comic industry is dying. The most recognizable USA publishers will survive by licensing alone. There is also still quality material still being released that get into bestselling lists. It’s just that companies like Marvel and DC went unopposed for so long, they went blind to their competition. Because of this, legacy comics have been driven into a niche corner. In the meantime Scholastic has been taking advantage of the markets they left behind. With this, it is now the premiere comic publisher of the USA. Meanwhile on the digital front, manga and webtoons came stateside with great digital services to lessen piracy. That’s in addition to the general market success manga built up.
But a grade to middle school focused publisher can’t be the only thing that defines US comics. I mean comic strips are still the first things people tend to see. Just check your search engine or newspaper (websites too). Plus with archives and webcomics they’ve never been more accessible.
American Comics Are Built Tough
I’ll always be on the lookout for my country’s best reception in comic books. I wouldn’t have this website if I didn’t believe in something beyond all of the gimmicks. Besides the best stuff involving comics tends to come from the entrepreneurial side. Image Comics for example went the extra mile with mold-breaking content and merch. Some publishers like Iron Circus and Scout Comics go even further in storytelling and marketing. For what they lack in recognition, they make up for in opportunities few creators take advantage of. I mean Iron Circus has its own crowdfunding system.
New technology is just as important as the formats evolve. Take webcomics for example; even before Webtoons came around, people tried to build infrastructure around the many titles. Still despite the lists, networks, awards, crowdfunding, and crowdsourcing there always seems to be something missing. Or maybe that’s just marketing in general; but at least now we’ve got platforms like Hiveworks.
And why stop there? Remember when Marvel briefly touched on AR and motion comics; well Rob Shields’ Neon Wasteland proved that they barely tried to use those techniques. Man, I really hope that Madefire’s motion book tool becomes free software. If anybody’s concerned about blockchain or NFTs, Interpop Comics and Macroverse show the proper way to use them. It’s like how niftys allows music to be free, while making ownership scarce. Not only does this make digital comic collecting more valuable, they also make comics accessible.
We definitely can’t forget about platforms like Graphite Comics or GlobalComix for smaller publishers. The ads and subscriptions allow for yet another stream of profit.
Future American Comics
At this point it’s hard to tell what the future holds. American Comics have changed for better and for worse over the ages. Once the USA books were an example for other countries to follow. But increasing gimmicks, complacency, and gatekeeping leave it a shell of its former glory. This makes it look like overhyped and overpriced commodities that people pass over. So comic strips, public markets, and entrepreneurs have to pick up their slack. There are plenty of comics that embrace new formats and technology to reach audiences. Not to mention for creators to get better payment.
Thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.