Truth, Justice, and the American Way : The Effects of Comic Book Superheroes on American. Society During the 20 th Century

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1 Truth, Justice, and the American Way : The Effects of Comic Book Superheroes on American Society During the 20 th Century Key Words/Tags: Comic Books, Superheroes, American Culture, 20th Century American culture has evolved and changed quickly over the 20 th century, and no artistic medium better represents this shift than American comic book superheroes. Their continued publications with recurring characters over the last eighty years offer a unique insight into changing American society. As America changed, so did its superheroes. Furthermore, comics have proven to be their own vehicle of social change, with profound impacts on adolescents. Beginning as funnies and political satire in the 1800s, comics developed into western adventure serials during the early 20 th century. The medium floundered financially without popular characters until Detective Comics (DC) developed Superman during the Second World War. Superman represented and reinforced American values as he fought Hitler and the Nazis. The trend of characters reinforcing American values continued in the coming decades. First in the Post-War era with The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spiderman, and The Invincible Iron Man. Later, in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s comics represented a growing counter-culture within the United States. Comics shifted from proliferates of American values to critics of it. Superhero comic book characters represented and influenced changes in United States culture throughout the 20 th century.

2 As countries grow, they develop their own cultural and artistic institutions. With the perennial releases of Marvel and DC Hollywood movies it is impossible to deny the importance of superheroes to American popular culture. But where did superheroes come from? When, where, and how did they become an iconic representation of American life and artistic culture? These are the questions that will be answered in this paper. As well, how comics have shaped and been shaped by American society during the twentieth century. Comics, like any other art form, act as vehicles of social change and are influenced by society themselves. Comics are indispensable when examining social change because they have been continuously published for over 70 years. Superheroes, unlike any other characters in any medium, are continually evolving to fit with the times and keep relevant for current readers. This paper will explore how comics influenced and mirrored changing social aspects in American life through the Great Depression, the Second World War, the postwar period, the 1970s, and the last two decades of the century. Before delving into superheroes and comics as vehicles for social change it is important to understand what superheroes are and where they found their origins. Comics in America first found popularity during the Civil War in the form of single panel, satirical artwork with captions. 1 By the 1880s they evolved into multi-panel funnies which became popular staples of the 2 Sunday paper. In the 1930s, comics moved out from the umbrella of newspapers and found a home in pamphlets. The genre also expanded from funnies or political satire to include adventure and western stories which were popular among children. The low cost of comics was alluring to consumers during the Great Depression, however, publishers entered and exited the 1 Jean-Paul Gabilliet, Of Comics and Men (Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2010), xi. 2 Ibid.

3 market because there were no characters that could keep the public s attention. Not until Detective Comics (DC) appeared in 1937 and created what would become the most iconic character in all of American popular culture would comics find their niche. Superman, created by Jerry Siegal and Joe Schuster, became the world s first superhero. Superman is an alien who crash landed in the American heartland, Kansas, after his planet Krypton had exploded. Our sun s radiation gives him superhuman powers and, after being taught the values of truth, justice, and the American way from his adoptive parents, he uses those powers to save people and defeat criminals. Young readers began to fall in love with Superman, and so did the publishers who saw over a one-hundred percent increase in sales. DC quickly caught on to superhero mania and introduced new heroes to meet the demands, Batman (1939), Sandman (1939), and Blue 3 Beetle (1939). Superheroes began to dominate the comic medium. In less than one hundred years comics evolved from supplementary entertainment in newspapers to a legitimate medium that could compete with film and radio with its own staple characters, superheroes. Now that we have discussed how superheroes became the staple of comic books it is important to understand what constitutes a superhero. As defined by comics historian Danny Fingeroth, they must have strength of character, a system of positive values, and a 4 determination to, no matter what, protect those values. Whether or not these values relate to societal values is up to the writers, however, in order to relate to the maximum amount of readers possible they usually do. Superheroes have some sort of power usually supernatural, magical, or technological that allows them to fight crime. During the 1930s superheroes fought basic criminals and were not concerned with the 3 Ibid, Danny Fingeroth, Superman on the Couch (New York: Continuum, 2004), 17.

4 happenings of society, however, during World War Two superheroes began to respond to the 5 social and economic context of the time. No two characters represented the nationalist fervor of wartime America better than Superman and Marvel s Captain America. These two heroes represented American ideals: Superman, an immigrant from another planet America being the ultimate immigrant country fought for truth, justice, and the American way while Captain America, an engineered super soldier, fought against the oppression of the Axis powers. Most comic stories set in the present wove yarns about spies and saboteurs from aggressive nations, 6 or dictators imposing their yoke on terrified, helpless populations. Action Comics #10 showed Superman punching a German bomber plane to pieces on the cover. In this time period, comics shifted to match current events and societal values, however, they also helped to shape those values. Comics gave a popular and entertaining face to war with American superheroes defeating Axis forces. Some of the most popular figures in pop culture were endorsing the American war effort and as seen by the increasing number of comic book sales during the war individual releases jumping from 697 in 1940 to 1125 in 1944 and 1945 Americans loved it. 7 More telling still is that the largest institutional customer of comic books during this time was the U.S. Army. Children also became large consumers of comics as they had little else to spend their money on as industrial production was geared toward the war 8 effort. From this information one can see that comic books were influential in shaping American cultural consciousness during the Second World War. Superheroes fought for the American way which was adversarial to the imperial oppression of the Axis powers. Children at 5 Gabilliet, Of Comics and Men, Ibid, Ibid, Ibid, 23.

Wertham accused comics of morally disarming children, inciting juvenile delinquency and 11 drug use, racism, and sexual deviance. The American people and government did not take these claims lightly.

5 home and soldiers abroad found comfort and entertainment in their favorite heroes taking the fight to the enemy Comic book sales continued to climb after the Second World War until revered child psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published his 1954 report on comics Seduction of the Innocent. Wertham accused comics of morally disarming children, inciting juvenile delinquency and 11 drug use, racism, and sexual deviance. The American people and government did not take these claims lightly. Later that year the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA) was formed to regulate the ill-perceived medium. Comic book publishers were forced to create characters and stories that represented new post-war American values, especially that of the 9 Image retrieved from Wikia: The Home of Fandom. March 25, Image retrieved from Talking Comics. March 25, Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent (Clarke, Irwin & Company: Toronto). These claims are discussed at length throughout the book, specifically in the chapters You Always Have To Slug Em, Design for Delinquency, and I Want to be a Sex Maniac!

6 12 family unit, male masculinity, and teenage responsibility. During the Cold War, under the threat of nuclear war and opposing communist ideologies, America banked its economic and political security on the stability of the family unit. 13 The family unit with traditional gender roles was promoted in advertisements, film, and eventually comics. Stan Lee s The Fantastic Four was the first comic to promote the family unit. This team was made up of Dr. Reed (Mr. Fantastic), Susan Storm (Invisible Woman), Benjamin Grimm (The Thing), and Johnny Storm (The Human Torch), all of which gained superpowers while on a mission in space. When they returned to Earth the group came together to create a makeshift family unit and to use their powers to fight crime. In this group Mr. Fantastic represents the father figure with his actual wife the Invisible Woman. They parent their metaphorical children The Thing and The Human Torch. The Human Torch being the hot-headed teenager and The Thing having been disfigured during the accident and turned into a large rock creature acts as the temper tantrum throwing child. The group goes through internal and external conflicts; however, they always manage to come out on top. They represent the idealized strength of the family unit during the postwar period. Another issue that arose during the postwar period was male masculinity, called into question because of the prioritization of the nuclear family. Magazine articles asked questions such as: what s wrong with the American man?, why is he afraid to be different?, why do women 14 dominate him?, and why does he work so hard? No superhero represented the shedding of domesticity and retaking of manhood better than Marvel s Incredible Hulk. The Hulk is a large 12 Robert Genter, With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility : Cold War Culture and the Birth of Comics, The Journal of Popular Culture 40.6 (2007): Ibid, Ibid,

7 green creature with unimaginable strength that emerges uncontrollably from Dr. Banner s inner anger. Dr. Banner was a scientist working on a gamma ray bomb when it exploded and gave him this unfortunate power. Banner s masculine awakening represents the awakening society wished of men who had shifted from strong industrial workers and soldiers during the Second World War to white collar workers during the 1950s. The post-war period saw the birth of a new social group, the teenager. Teenagers were a group at a distinct stage of adolescent development, caused by changing educational structures, familial shifts, and 15 economic prosperity. Teenagers soon became the most commercially targeted social group because of their influential nature and disposable income. The first teenage superhero was Marvel s The Amazing Spider-Man, introduced in Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and turned overnight from geek to superhero. His powers include agility, strength, climbing walls like a spider, and spidey senses which allow him to sense approaching enenmies. He also developed his own web slingers which allowed him to swing along the skyscrapers of New York. Spiderman was Marvel s way of attracting teenage readers, however, he also sent an important message to them. When Parker got his powers, like most teenagers would, he used them for entertainment and to make money. This backfired when a robber, who Parker could have stopped, ended up shooting his uncle. In his uncle s dying breath he stressed that with great power comes great responsibility. Parker took up the mantle of Spiderman the next day and dedicated his life to helping others. This statement symbolizes the power and responsibility that teenagers were inheriting during the Cold War. American teenagers were lucky to have a world class education available to them and were expected to be responsible for 15 Ibid, 970.

the fight against the USSR as they became adults. The Cold War period is known as the Silver Age of comics because creativity was censored under the CMAA.

responsibility. The Fantastic Four endorsed the family unit, The Hulk promoted male masculinity, and Spider-Man promoted teenage responsibility.

Under the backdrop of the 1970s, known as a decade of social unrest and sexual liberation, compounded by the Vietnam War, comics began to mirror an emerging counterculture in the United States.

8 the fight against the USSR as they became adults. The Cold War period is known as the Silver Age of comics because creativity was censored under the CMAA. They understood the profound effects that comics had on American society and, therefore, wanted comics to promote postwar American ideals such as the family unit, male masculinity, and teenage responsibility. The Fantastic Four endorsed the family unit, The Hulk promoted male masculinity, and Spider-Man promoted teenage responsibility While comic writers in the Cold War era were regulated by the CMAA to provide American children suitable role models, the 1970s saw radically different developments. Under the backdrop of the 1970s, known as a decade of social unrest and sexual liberation, compounded by the Vietnam War, comics began to mirror an emerging counterculture in the United States. Marvel s new series The X-Men was different from others because the superheroes powers were not celebrated by their fictional public. Rather than gain their superpowers from happenstance, they were born with theirs; they were Mutants, cast out by mainstream society 16 Image retrieved from Comic Book Brain. March 25, Image retrieved from Comic Link. March 25, Image retrieved from Comic Book Resources. March 25, 2016.

9 because of their differences. The correlations between Mutants and 1970s counter-culture becomes obvious when one reads the comics. As comic historian Ramzi Fawaz states, there was a shift in comic-book content from oblique narrative metaphors for social problems toward 19 direct representations of racism and sexism, urban blight, and political corruption. The X-Men saw the first empowered female characters since Wonder Woman. While superheroes robust masculinity served as a metaphor for the strength of the America body politic female X-Man Ororo Monroe (Storm) a weather goddess from Africa questioned 20 the strictures of normative femininity. Storm becomes a metaphor for nonconformity even further as she is claustrophobic, which represents her fear of being trapped by society. Another female hero, Jean Gray, goes through a physical transformation into the all-powerful being The Phoenix which illustrates her liberation from the constraints of traditional American womanhood. 21 The X-men also represented a shift from the nuclear family popularized in The Fantastic Four to a family unit based on individual values and traits. The X-Men were an amalgamation of different races and sexes with some characters not even appearing human. They all appeared different, however, they had one thing in common, they were Mutants. This creation of a family outside the traditional unit mirrored the creation of sub-cultures in the disco era. Groups taking the failures of the government into their own hands is what political activism is all about, and that is exactly what The X-Men represented. Concerns over government policies and intervention continued and heightened in the 1980s and 19 Rami Fawaz, Where No X-Man Has Gone Before! Mutant Superheroes and the Politics of Popular Fantasy in Postwar America, American Literature 83.2 (2011): Ibid, Ibid, 373.

10 90s. Increasing crime rates alarmed the general population. People did not feel that the government could keep them safe. Many feared that the American dream was dead because of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. In response, they elected the cowboy president Ronald Reagan who the people believed was a Washington outsider and did not play party politics. Reagan represented himself as a renegade in Washington who looked out for the best interests of 22 the people, not the politicians that held office. He did this by saying that he would limit big government and give the power back to the people however, during his tenure big government 23 increased. This idea of the renegade vigilante was mirrored in comic books of the time. Superheroes were no longer fighting for the betterment of the state like Superman did during the Second World War. It was during this time that superheroes began to question the state s ability to protect the citizens and thus vigilantes emerged. Characters with increasingly complex origin stories and motives emerged such as The Punisher whose entire family was killed in a gang war crossfire and as a result he calls for a war on criminals and kills anyone who he deems to be such. The Punisher is an extreme and polarizing example of a hero during this time. In the comic, citizens from the political left applaud The Punisher for taking the law into his own hands and protecting the innocent while the political right condemn him as a murderer and state that he has no authority to play judge, jury, and executioner. No hero illustrates the evolution of heroes during this time better than Captain America. Traditionally a super-soldier whose identity was to fight for his country, during this period Captain America begins to question the orders that the government give him. In one issue, 22 Mike S. Dubose, Holding Out for a Hero: Reaganism, Comic Book Vigilantes, and Captain America, The Journal of Popular Culture 40.6 (2007): Sheldon L. Richman, The Sad Legacy of Ronald Reagan, The Free Market 6.10 (1988), under Mises Institute: 35 Years of Austrian Economics, Freedom, & Peace,

he refused orders from his commanding officer because he felt that the orders were cruel and unusual.

The Captain refused to give in because he was aware of the Government s capacity to throw out the rules of morality as it suits their purpose; the government, after all, [was] responsible for

Vigilantes emerged during the 1980s to represent a growing concern over the government s ability to protect its people and properly portray American values.

11 he refused orders from his commanding officer because he felt that the orders were cruel and unusual. Consequently, the government ordered him to either work only on government 24 assignments or turn in his uniform and cease using the name Captain America. The Captain refused to give in because he was aware of the Government s capacity to throw out the rules of morality as it suits their purpose; the government, after all, [was] responsible for murdering 25 civilians via the atomic bomb. Vigilantes emerged during the 1980s to represent a growing concern over the government s ability to protect its people and properly portray American values. Moral authority was moving further away from established institutions and towards individuals Comics evolved in the twentieth century from small images with captions in newspapers to its own medium with thousands of issues sold every month. The first superhero, Superman, 24 Dubose, Holding Out for a Hero, Ibid, Image retrieved from AllPoster.com. March 25, Image retrieved from Wikipedia.com. March 25, Image retrieved from Wikia: Home of Fandom. March 25, 2016.

12 emerged in 1937 and was met with great enthusiasm from readers. The next years saw an explosion in comic book superheroes popularity. As superheroes evolved into American cultural icons they became increasingly influential. Comics are in a rare position among literature to be studied as vehicles for social change because they have been published consistently since their debuts. As American society evolved, so did comic stories and superheroes to match the values of the times. Often, because of their popularity, they created their own values and pressed them on the public. During World War Two superheroes fought on behalf of America, even before it entered the War, and battled German soldiers and Japanese invaders. These comics influences became obvious as the largest groups of readers were the U.S. Army and children. The coolest characters in pop culture were endorsing the War against the tyrannical Axis powers and the general public ate it up. During the Cold War period, there was a growing concern over the influence of comics. The CBAA was organized to regulate comic content. Consequently, the comics of this age stressed American ideals of the postwar era such as the nuclear family, male masculinity, and teenage responsibility. All while stressing the importance of science during the Cold War, as most of the lead superheroes had science backgrounds. The 1970s was known as an era of political activism and sexual awakening and this was well represented in comics with the new X-Men series. The X-Men were a group of diverse heroes that represented the outsider feel of political activists; they were Mutants and outcast for their looks and abilities just as political activists were cast out for their deviant beliefs. The X-Men also portrayed female empowerment with heroines like Storm and the Phoenix who went through awakenings that represent female empowerment during the 1970s. The 1980s and 1990s were decades of increasing concern among the general population. People s trust in the government was waning because of its past

13 transgressions including the Atom bomb and the Vietnam War. Many believed that the government could no longer retain moral authority over them. The cowboy president Ronald Reagan was elected with the promises of reducing government involvement and giving power back to the people. This vigilante image was mirrored in comics with superheroes like The Punisher and the re-vamped Captain America. Comics are excellent sources for documenting changes in literature to match cultural values because of their constant publication since the 1930s. Through their examination, one sees that comic book superheroes have had a profound impact on American values because of their popularity and effectiveness to mirror cultural trends.

14 References Action Comics Vol Wikia: The Home of Fandom. Accessed March 25, Civil War Event. Wikia: The Home of Fandom. Accessed March 25, Cronin, Brian. 50 Greatest Spider-Man Covers of All-Time Master List. Comic Book Resources Accessed March 25, f-all-time-master-list/. Dubose, Mike S. Holding Out for a Hero: Reaganism, Comic Book Vigilantes, and Captain America. The Journal of Popular Culture, (2007): Fantastic Four #1, Jack Kirby Cover. Comic Book Brain. Accessed March 25, Fawaz, Ramzi. Where No X-Man Has Gone Before! Mutant Superheroes and the Cultural Politics of Popular Fantasy in Postwar America. American Literature, 83, 2 (2011): File: Cover of Punisher 1987 number 1.JPG. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed March 25, Fingeroth, Danny. Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society. New York: Continuum

15 Gabilliet, Jean-Paul translated by Beaty, Bart and Nguyen, Nick. Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, Genter, Robert. With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility : Cold War Culture and the Birth of Marvel Comics The Journal of Popular Culture, (2007): Incredible Hulk #1 Full Color Cover Recreation (by George Roussos). Comic Link. Accessed March 25, Marvel Comics Retro. AllPoster.com. Accessed March 25, o-101-phoenix-storm-nightcrawler-cyclops-posters_i _.htm. Richman, L. Sheldon. The Sad Legacy of Ronald Reagan. Mises Institute: Austrian Economics, Freedom, and Peace Accessed March Tales from the Archives: Essential Captain America Stories. Talking Comics. Accessed March 25, merica-stories/. Wertham, Fredrick. Seduction of the Innocent. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, and Company

A collection of limited edition art OF iconic comic book covers. signed by Stan Lee

S U P E R H E R O E S A collection of limited edition art OF iconic comic book covers signed by Stan Lee I want the work that my father started to continue, that's what he would want and that is what I