Evolving Information 1950’s & Today: COMIC BOOKS

Abstract: Published information from the 1950’s and now are significantly different. Whether it be from audience changes, price & profit, publishing technology, or mediation and use, comic books have drastically changed in America. How has it changed? Read below

Comic books, much like the publishing industry, had its peak Golden Age around the end of the Great Depression. Although many historians dispute the exact era of when the Golden Age of comic books occurred, most are confident that the creation of Superman in 1938 paved the way for comic book success in America (PBS, The Golden Age Of Comics: History Detectives, n.d). The precursor to the comic book, comic strips, were introduced at the end of the nineteenth century (Bui, n.d). As America headed into the Great Depression, publisher Maxwell Gaines came up with an idea to utilize his printing equipment more frequently, producing an eight-page comic section folded down the middle (Bui, n.d). This was the dawn of the comic book.

The first comic book to surface was titled, Funnies on Parade. When comic strips began to be grouped this way, a new genre of adventure reading was born, and America was hooked. During the Golden Age of comic books, the atmosphere of the American people was focused on WWII (PBS, The Golden Age Of Comics: History Detectives, n.d) and superhero characters were framed to triumph over evil and establish peace. One superhero character, Captain America, was even pictured battling Hitler on the cover of its introductory issue of Captain America (PBS, The Golden Age of Comics: History Detectives, n.d). Comic books provided the American people not only positive entertainment, but the publishing system in place that produced these comic books made comic books cheap and portable (PBS, The Golden Age Of Comics: History Detectives, n.d).

Prior to the 1950’s, comic books were comic strips and were usually published in newspapers to gain audience and were usually humorous in content (Bui, n.d). Comic strips, with the innovation of printing equipment in the 1930’s, were then easily able to be pieced together. The themes of these comic-strip-formed-books were also humorous in nature. It wasn’t until the late 1930’s when adventure and heroic themes started to immerge as public perspectives on life dramatically shifted (Bui, n.d).

Creation, Production Distribution and their Technologies & Location/Acquisition:

In the beginning of comic books, comic books were produced on cheap newsprint paper with spot color (Wiley, 2019). Spot color is how printing was done on newsprint, one layer at a time. This process took a long time to finish compared to the modern-day print method where colors are printed together at the same time. Most creators of comic books were both the author and illustrator. Original comic books were trimmed using a three-knife cutter and were bound with either stitches or staples. With the increased popularity of comic books, illustrator Benjamin Day began experimenting with color print options. He and other comic book publishers took up the Ben-Day dot printing process that took small dots of color in varying sizes and weights to produce depth and shadow (Wiley, 2019). Original comic books were mass produced and sold in chain stores for pennies on the dollar (Bui, n.d).

After the 1950’s, comic books began to be produced more digitally and in sections. Artists were simply artists and writers were simply writers. The type of paper product, ink, color, and binding became more customizable (Wiley, 2019). Currently comic books are produced with the 4-ink color method: magenta, cyan, yellow, and black. Some printing presses can produce up to eight pages on a large sheet while other types of presses feed roll paper into the machine that can produce one long sheet of paper. The paper is then cut down, trimmed, folded, and glued into the finished book (Wiley, 2019). Comic books are continuing to be sold in chains such as Barnes & Noble as well as directly through comic bookstores and online websites.

Audience: Use and their Technologies:

The typical audience for comic books created in the Golden Age were most Americans looking for an escape to the dismal times of the Great Depression (PBS, The Golden Age Of Comics: History Detectives, n.d). Audiences were looking for heroism and happy endings that contradicted the actual environment of their everyday lives. Audiences were also looking for patriotism and nationality, humor, adventure, and discovery. Moving into the 1950’s, audiences changed dramatically. In 1945 the Comics Code of the CMAA was established due to the rising concern of blood, gore, violence, and sexuality accessible to children from comic books (Bui, n.d). A large portion of the comic book industry went out of business and many more struggled to keep afloat.

DC comics released The Flash in 1956 that paved the way for the creation of The Justice League. Themes, storylines, backgrounds, and the overarching universe captured the attention of readers again, catapulting comic books into their second age (Bui, n.d). Strong comic book companies such as DC and Marvel began taking over the comic book market. The 1945 Comics Code was continuously fought. Superheroes such as Batman were attacked for not obeying the Comic Code (Abad-Santos, 2014). Writers found new ways of publishing in underground markets. Abad-Santos, author of “The Insane History of how American Paranoia Ruined and Censored Comic Books” writes, “Comic book shops began popping up in the ’70s. As time went on, publishers weren’t indebted to their distributors, and a new distribution method allowed them to sell stories to shops that didn’t have the code’s seal of approval” (2014). Comic book shops allowed comic books to be produced without the need for an approval seal, therefore reintroducing the violence, gore, and sexuality back into the stories. In today’s time, readers can access uncensored stories through in-print sellers and even through digital mediums.

Information Mediator Work & Knowledge and Skills for Information Mediation:

As comic bookstores began selling comic books that did not follow the code, more and more comic book authors began publishing challenging and innovative stories (Abad-Santos, 2014). Narratives no longer needed to represent the American perspective of the current atmosphere of the time. Comic books included a wide array of plots, some moving away from superheroes, some moving towards superheroes. Audiences who were maintained through the Golden Age, the CMAA regulation, and the rise of unregulated comic books found love again.

Before comic books were produced digitally, printing equipment know-how was necessary. Creators needed to know how to draw, color, design, write, print, and bind comic books for sale. Now it is a more segmented process where multiple people work on specific areas of a comic book, building on existing work (Wiley, 2019). Creators no longer need to hold all the production skills that were necessary to produce a comic book in the Golden Age nor do creators have to have their work approved by the Comic Regulation.

Summary:

From the 1950’s to today, comic books have changed form in the way they have been produced, distributed, accessed, and created. Lower level technology in the 1930’s and 1940’s allowed for fast publishing, but slow printing. New color printing technology sped up the publishing process, generating more comic books at a faster and higher demand. Audiences have changed throughout the lifetime of comic books, once disapproved for children now are being accepted. The knowledge accessible through comic books can be found in witty superhero stories as well as science fiction, comedic, detective, and romantic genres. The future of comic books is dependent on the audience of which comic books cater to and the current perspective of American society. New innovations such as the comic bookstore and online subscriptions have made comic books more accessible and cheaper.

References

Abad-Santos, A. (2014). The insane history of how American paranoia ruined and censored comic books. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2014/12/15/7326605/comic-book-censorship

Bui, A. B. (n.d). From comic strips to comic books: The history of comic art in America. Virginia Commonwealth University. http://www.people.vcu.edu/~djbromle/cartoon04/projects/barry/barry_comic-strips.htm

PBS. (n.d.). The golden age of comics: History detectives. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/the-golden-age-of-comics/

Wiley, N. (2019). The history of comic book printing dot by dot. Printivity Insights. https://www.printivity.com/insights/2019/08/08/the-history-of-comic-book-printing-dot-by-dot/