Marvel Comics and New York Stories: Anti-Heroes and Street Level Vigilantes Daredevil and the Punisher

City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 Marvel Comics and New York Stories: Anti-Heroes and Street Level Vigilantes Daredevil and The Punisher Jesse Allen Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/402 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Marvel Comics and New York Stories: Anti-Heroes and Street Level Vigilantes Daredevil and The Punisher By: Jesse Allen A master’s thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree for Master of Arts, The City University of New York 2014 !!" " This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in satisfaction of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts. Thesis Adviser: Date: Cindy Lobel Approved Executive Officer: Date: Matt Gold " " " " " " The City University of New York !!!" " Marvel Comics and New York Stories: Anti-Heroes and Street Level Vigilantes Daredevil and The Punisher By: Jesse Allen Thesis Adviser: Cindy Lobel Abstract Thesis Adviser: Cindy Lobel This thesis argues that the creation of street level, vigilante heroes The Punisher and Daredevil created by Marvel Comics authors and illustrators in the late 1970s and early 1980s reflected the socio-economic environment of New York City at this same moment in history. By examining an era of New York that was fiscally and socially tense along with the development of characters created by the New York based Marvel Comics, I aim to show how their creation was directly related to the environment which they were produced in. !#" " Acknowledgements In writing this thesis I would first like to thank the IDP program and my undergraduate professors at Trinity College for which this would not have been possible. Seth Markle, Stephen Valocchi and Johnny Williams. I would also like to thank the professors at CUNY who saw me through a difficult period in figuring out what direction this thesis would go and giving me the freedom to allow it to develop as it has. First and foremost huge thanks goes to my advisor and overall guide to this project Cindy Lobel, then to Robert Singer, Robert Reid Pharr, Jonathan Gray, and Shifra Sharlin. To my father, thank you for sticking by me and being supportive while I navigated my way through academia. To Pamela Donaroma, thank you for being there for me, I appreciate it. Finally I’d like to thank my friends from Middletown, CT. While this thesis is the culmination of my academic years, in actuality it took a lifetime to write, and they have been supportive of me throughout. #" " #!" " Table of Contents Approval……………………………………………………………………………. ……ii Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….. iii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………… iv List of Figures………………………………………………………………………….... vi Introduction……………………………………………………………………..…...…….1 Crumbling Foundations: New York In Turmoil……………………………..………........6 Gangs, Graffiti & Bernhard Goetz……………………………………………….……...11 The Rise of Comic Book Companies……………………………………………...……..17 A History Of American Vigilantism……………………………………………...……...26 The Post Vietnam Era……………………………………………………………...…….33 Guardian of Hell’s Kitchen: Frank Miller and the Transformation of Daredevil……..…45 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..…...65 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………......68 #!!" " List of Figures Figure 1. “Blackout ’77: Once More With Looting.” Time. 25, August 1977………........8 Figure 2. “Crime: Why and What To Do.” Time. 30, June 1975 ………….…………….8 Figure 3. “Youth Crime.” Time. 11, July 1977 ……………..............................................8 Figure 4. “The Goetz Case.” Time. 8, April 1985 …….……………………………….....8 Figure 5. “Are You Ready For The New Ultra-Violence?” New York. 12, June 1972 ...12 Figure 6. Walter Hill dir. The Warriors. Paramount Pictures, 1979, Film Poster…….....12 Figure 7. Michael Winner dir. Death Wish. Paramount Pictures, 1974, Film Poster…...15 Figure 8. “I’m Sorry But It Had To Be Done.” The Daily News, 2, January 1985……..15 Figure 9. Action Comics #1, DC Comics, June 1938………………………………...…18 Figure 10. Detective Comics #31, DC Comics, September 1939……………………......18 Figure 11. Captain America #1, Marvel Comics, March 1941……….............................20 Figure 12. Crime Suspense Stories #22, EC Comics, May 1954………………….…….22 Figure 13. Fantastic Four #1, Marvel Comics, November 1961………………………..24 Figure 14. Amazing Fantasy #15, Marvel Comics, August 1962……………………..…24 Figure 15. Guardian Angels, Photo Credit: Bruce Davidson…………………………….28 Figure 16. Detective Comics #27, DC Comics, May 1939……………………………...30 Figure 17. Batman #230, DC Comics, March 1971………………………………….….30 Figure 18. Martin Scorcese’s Taxi Driver, Columbia Pictures 1976……………………37 Figure 19. Captain America #241, Marvel Comics, January 1979………………...…....39 Figure 20. Captain America #241, Marvel Comics, January 1979……………...…...….39 Figure 21. The Punisher #1, Marvel Comics, January 1986……………..…………...…43 #!!!" " Figure 22. Daredevil #227, Marvel Comics, February 1986……………………..….......46 Figure 23. Times Square Photo 1970s………………………………………………..….50 Figure 24. Hell’s Kitchen rooftop photo……………………………………………..….54 Figure 25. Hell’s Kitchen rooftop illustration by Frank Miller…………………………54 Figure 26. Daredevil #53, Marvel Comics, June 1969………………………………..…58 Figure 27. Daredevil #184, Marvel Comics, July 1982……………………………….…58 Figure 28. Panels from Daredevil #179, Marvel Comics, February 1982…………….…60 Figure 29. Panels from Daredevil #179, Marvel Comics, February 1982………….……60 Figure 30. Times Square Kung Fu Supply Store, Early 1980s……………………..……61 Figure 31. Daredevil #175, Marvel Comics, October 1981……………………...…...…61 Figure 32. Last Panel, p. 30 Daredevil #233, Marvel Comics, August 1986……………64 !$" " Introduction New York has long been a media center. Music, film, theatre, literature, books and magazines, modern art, photography, design, advertising, television and radio broadcasting, and fashion design are among the media industries which draw people to work in New York City. One industry, which began in the shadows of the publishing industry as a whole, has been the creation and production of Comic Books. The industry, which started in New York and has spread throughout America, has blossomed from printing newsstand periodicals to also producing graphic novels and digital comics. In 2013 the comic book market as a whole in North America hit $870 million in sales.1 And yet, unlike some other industries, comic books have been understudied by scholars. This thesis will address this breach, asking, “Why is the study of graphic narrative or comic books important? And how does this medium relate to the study of New York City?” How have comic books contributed to a cultural zeitgeist - which New York helped shape - in relation to urbanity and American culture as a whole, and how do the characters of these graphic narratives reflect the culture during the time they are written and drawn? Like films, magazines, books, and commercial advertising, comic books reflect and reinscribe modern popular culture with myths and insights that then become a part of that culture. New York City has been the working locale for comic book companies since the inception of Marvel and DC Comics in the 1930’s. Both companies have set the template """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" %"&'(#!)"*+!,-".&/0!12-"34'56!1"7/#+(2"8'49+:";!:"<=>?"8!((!/)"!)"@?%ABC" DDDBEFG(!26+42D++9(HB1/0B""IJF(H"%K-"@?%LM-"N+GB"OFPB"@?%LB" @" " for contemporary superhero-based comics. Marvel and DC originated in New York City in the 1930s and both went on to publish stories that covered a wide spectrum of graphic narratives, ranging from detective, romance, war and horror stories to an emerging genre: the superhero story. Pre World War II superhero stories were gaining in popularity with such DC titles as Batman and Superman and Marvel’s Captain America. However after the war ended, the popularity of costumed heroes dwindled and both companies went back to supplementing their withering superhero titles with crime, horror and romance stories. The widely publicized book Seduction of the Innocent, written by Frederic Wertham – a noted psychiatrist - published in 1954, caused a public outcry over the contents of comic books whose gory and risqué images were supposedly corrupting America’s youth. The comics code was invented and the gritty horror and detective stories were now toned down. Throughout the 1950s, the popularity of DC Comics’ Batman and Superman titles rose steadily as issues featuring caped crusaders climbed in sales. While Batman and Superman were created in New York City, they fought their battles in the imagined environs of Metropolis and Gotham City. Hints of the urban landscape suggest New York, but no specific landmarks appear in the books. The supra world in which these DC characters and others exist, with no ‘real’ cities transposed onto their universe of characters makes their stories fantastic fables, a mythology for a generation of readers. But beginning with the introduction of the Fantastic Four, the Amazing Spiderman and the Avengers, Marvel’s superheroes have real New York addresses and their drama is the drama of the Marvel

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