Milestones in Anglo-American Comics
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Milestones in Anglo-American Comics Nicole Špruncová Bachelor Thesis 2014 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 2 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 3 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 4 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 5 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 6 ABSTRAKT Tato bakalářská práce je zaměřena na historický vývoj amerického komiksu. Důležitou součástí této práce je popis hlavních a zásadních událostí, které měly vliv na tvorbu v oblasti komiksu. Další část popisuje hlavní postavy amerického komiksu. Nedílnou součástí je také krátká charakteristika nejdůležitějších tvůrců komiksu a specifikace nakladatelství DC Comics a Marvel Comics. Klíčová slova: Komiks, autor, nakladatelství, historie, postavy ABSTRACT This bachelor thesis focuses on the historical development of American comics. The description of the main and principal events, which influenced the production of comics, is another important part of this thesis. The next part describes major characters of American comics. Inseparable part is the short characteristic of the most important creators of comics and the specification of publishing houses DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Keywords: Comics, author, publishing house, history, characters TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my thanks to my supervisor Mgr. Petr Vinklárek for his willingness to give me valuable advices and information, for his patience to work with me and also for his optimistic and positive approach. TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 8 CONTENTS CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 9 I. THEORY ..................................................................................................................... 10 1 FEATURES OF COMICS ......................................................................................... 11 1.1 BASIC TERMS .......................................................................................................... 12 1.2 FORM OF LANGUAGE .............................................................................................. 12 1.3 READERS OF COMICS .............................................................................................. 13 2 HISTORY OF COMICS ............................................................................................ 15 2.1 THE PLATINUM AGE (1897-1937) .......................................................................... 15 2.2 THE GOLDEN AGE (1938-1955) ............................................................................. 17 2.2.1 “SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT” AND THE COMICS CODE ...................................... 19 2.3 THE SILVER AGE (1956- CA 1970) ........................................................................ 21 2.4 THE BRONZE AGE (CA 1970-1985)........................................................................ 22 2.5 THE MODERN AGE (1986-PRESENT) ....................................................................... 24 2.6 AMERICAN INFLUENCE ON EUROPEAN COMICS ...................................................... 25 3 MOST INFLUENTAL CHARACTERS .................................................................. 26 3.1 SUPERMAN.............................................................................................................. 26 3.2 BATMAN ................................................................................................................. 27 3.3 WONDER WOMAN .................................................................................................. 28 3.4 FANTASTIC FOUR .................................................................................................... 29 3.5 SPIDER-MAN .......................................................................................................... 30 3.6 ANTI-HEROES ......................................................................................................... 31 4 MAIN COMIC BOOKS AUTHORS ........................................................................ 33 4.1 WILL EISNER (1917-2005) ..................................................................................... 33 4.2 JACK KIRBY (1917-1994) ....................................................................................... 34 4.3 STAN LEE (1922) .................................................................................................... 35 5 DC COMICS VS. MARVEL COMICS .................................................................... 37 5.1 DC COMICS ............................................................................................................ 37 5.2 MARVEL COMICS .................................................................................................... 37 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 39 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 41 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 9 INTRODUCTION Comics have thousands of admirers, readers and fans in today´s world. The popularity of this medium is partially caused by the presence of popular comics’ characters and superhero genre in modern movies. However, not everybody knows the extensive and rich history of comics. Comic has become the part of literature and art. This bachelor thesis describes the main features of comics, such as the form, language or readers. It also covers and divides particular historical eras and development of American comics, starting with the first comic and finishing in today´s modern age. The thesis divides the history of comics into ages: the Platinum Age, the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age and the Modern Age. A lot of important events happened during these periods of time. Every event has significant impact on the development of comics. Various comic books were also important entertaining medium during World War II because of its patriotic themes. One of the most important affairs in the history of comics is undoubtedly the censoring of comic books, themes and characters during the 1960s. The next part contains brief description of the most important and the most influential comics’ characters. This thesis also includes short biographies of the most important authors and producers of comic books and characters, who have influenced the development of comics and went down in history of comic with their creation. The last part contains the characterization of evolution of the most popular and the most significant publishing houses specialized in comics, which are known as DC Comics and Marvel Comics today. TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 10 I. THEORY TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 11 1 FEATURES OF COMICS Before describing the main events and milestones in the history of American comics, it is very important to know, what exactly comics is. In dictionaries exists a lot of definitions of comics. Simply it is a narrative of a story and usually it is not too long. Comics use the combination of pictures and text. But we can also find comics without any text at all. British writer and journalist Paul Gravett described comics very precisely: "Comics usually convey narratives through a series of images, in various media, arranged in sequence. Text may appear separately outside of but alongside the image, or there may be no text at all.”1 Well-known comic expert Scott McCloud explains the theory of comics in his book Understanding Comics (1993). According to him, Comic has not a precise definition. “If people failed to understand comics, it was because they defined what comics could be too narrowly. A proper definition, if we could find one, might give lie to the stereotypes and show that the potential of comics is limitless and exciting.”2 He also emphasizes the fact that there are no strict rules how to draw comics. Comic creators can choose from a lot of possibilities how to draw their comics. “Our definition says nothing about superheroes or funny animals, nothing about fantasy, science-fiction or reader age. No genres are listed in our definition, no types of subject matter, no styles of prose or poetry. Nothing is said about paper and ink. No materials are rule out by our definition. No tools are prohibited.”3 The printed version of this graphic narrative is the most frequent. Comic books are very popular, but in most cases it does not have the form of book, but of a magazine. Comics can also appear in broadsheets, magazines, tabloids or in any other type of newspaper, in given part of this newspaper and in shorten version, for example only one line, usually 1 to 5 frames. However, the online and electronic form of comics is becoming very popular in today´s world of internet. So it can be seen on the computers, mobile phones and other devices.4 1“Encarta: A Definition of Comics,” Paul Gravett, accessed July 19, 2009, http://www.paulgravett.com/index.php/articles/article/encarta. 2 Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (New York: Kitchen Sink Press, 1993), 3. 3 McCloud, Understanding Comics, 22. 4 Gravett, “Encarta: A Definition of Comics.” TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 12 1.1 Basic terms It is usual to find set phrase comics strip. Comics strip is the series of two to four pictures. Plot is captured on the pictures.5 Today, it symbolizes the common structure of comics