1 Introduction 2 a Proposed Theory and Method for the Incorporation of Comic Books As Primary Sources
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Notes 1 Introduction 1. It is common within scholarship to use the term ‘comics’ in reference to both the industry and the medium (encompassing comic books, comic strips, sequential narratives, visual narratives and graphic narratives). Syn- onymous terms have been used mainly to avoid frequent repetition of the word ‘comics’. However, it is acknowledged that ‘comic strips’ generally refer to comics that occur within newspapers while ‘comic books’ tend to be published in pamphlet form, either as anthologies or as one longer narrative. 2. A stance echoed by Carr, who also suggests that history itself is the ‘con- tinuous process of interaction between the historian and his facts’ (1961, 24). 3. For more on children’s comics in relation to the general market pre-Haselden, see Chapman (2011) and Perry and Aldridge (1975). 4. Churchill, W. The Few, House of Commons, 20 August 1940 http://www .winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/1940 -finest-hour/113-the-few, accessed 13 January 2014. 5. There were clearly practical problems for wartime industries everywhere. Hammond and Towheed have pointed out that the price of paper almost doubled in the first two weeks of the First World War; rationing was quick to follow, and yet somehow the trade was expected to cope with an immedi- ate 25 per cent increase in the demand for news. The steady personnel drain made it increasingly difficult to continue ‘business as usual’ (Hammond and Towheed: 2007, 4). 2 A Proposed Theory and Method for the Incorporation of Comic Books as Primary Sources 1. This book focuses on the widening of sources within history. Although acknowledgment is due to the discipline of the History of Art, where the aca- demic study of comics has been long accommodated, this often focuses on the visual and technical aspects of the form. In doing so it can overlook the content and the unique synergy between text and image in comics. Comics are a prime example of Ernst Gombrich’s ‘iconic art’, achieving impact by appealing to cognitive skills that cross cultural divides, returning to the use- fulness of popular culture’s interpretative mode (1960). The art historian W. T. J. Mitchell (2005) has since noted that the cartoon and comics form leaves a large cognitive space for audiences to interpret meaning, acting as a ‘living organism’, even demanding a user interaction (see also Maggio: 2007). Comics Studies too has emerged consistently to affirm and expand upon the artistic and literary value of the medium. The focus here, however, is on 180 Notes 181 the social and politically historical content of the comics, not the technical issues of them as visual art and literature. 2. Indeed, even the most apparently objective forms of record, such as the pho- tograph, have been critically evaluated as products of individual subjectivity. As an entry point to such discussions, see Sontag: 1977. 3. The quandaries posed by the work of David Irving on the Holocaust, in conjunction with the response by Richard Evans, provide an insight into the extremist possibilities of the abuse of historical practice in the post- structuralist, narrativist landscape, while the challenging and pioneering work of Richard Price is outstanding for its attention to the formal construc- tion of narrative. See Price in Munslow: 2013; also Price: 1990; and Evans: 2002. 4. Naturally, narrative theory has its objectors. David Carr, for example, has written quite extensively in ‘an effort to reaffirm the epistemic or truth- telling character of history’ (Carr in Roberts: 2001, 197). In practice, he does not reject theories of narrativity in absolute terms, but seeks to re-establish apparently more fundamental aspects of the writing of history by outlin- ing the continued importance of ‘getting the story straight’ (Carr in Roberts: 2001, 197), which is perhaps better described as accurate chronicling. For more, see Carr: 1986. 5. All Star Comics #8, December 1941–January 1942, in DC Comics: 1998. 6. Although it is essential here to draw on established principles within the the- ory and practice of history to support the positioning of this proposal, that it might resonate more strongly with historians, subjectivity and subject loca- tion is a concern across disciplines. For examples, see the works of Jacques Lacan in psychoanalysis and philosophy, Roland Barthes in literary theory and philosophy and Clifford Geertz in anthropology. 7. Derrida’s ‘writings abound in responses to a wide range of literary texts’. See Attridge in Derrida: 1992, ix. 8. All Star Comics #8. 9. Carr (1961, 16) described Collingwood as ‘the only British thinker in the present century who has made a serious contribution to the philosophy of history’. 10. Specifically, the issues consulted are the first twelve of Sensation Comics along with the fabled ‘first appearance’ in All Star Comics #8 and the summer special Wonder Woman #1. 11. All Star Comics #8. 12. Sensation Comics #1, January 1942, in DC Comics: 1998. 13. All Star Comics #8. 14. Sensation Comics #2, February 1942, in DC Comics: 1998. 15. Wonder Woman #1, Summer 1942, in DC Comics: 1998. 16. Wonder Woman #1, Summer 1942, in DC Comics: 1998. 17. For an overview of the conflict in the Pacific, see Van der Vat: 1991; for more in-depth coverage, see Costello: 1982. 18. For recent discussions, see Olson: 2013 and Dunn: 2013. 19. Sensation Comics #5, May 1942, in DC Comics: 1998. 20. Sensation Comics #5, May 1942, in DC Comics: 1998. 21. Sensation Comics #6, June 1942, in DC Comics: 1998. 182 Notes 22. For discussion of the US home front, good surveys are found in Winkler: 1986 and Jeffries: 1996. 23. An accessible narrative account of these events appears in Ardman in Historynet.com: 2006. See also: FBI website: 2014. 24. Sensation Comics #9, September 1942, in DC Comics: 1998. 25. Sensation Comics #10, October 1942, in DC Comics: 1998. 26. For examples, see Wonder Woman #1, Sensation Comics #10 and Sensation Comics #11, November 1942, in DC Comics, 1998. 27. Wonder Woman #1, November 1942, in DC Comics, 1998. 3 Haselden as Pioneer: Reflecting or Constructing Home Front Opinion? 1. Daily Mirror, 1 January 1915. Circulation of the Mirror rose to 650,000 per day by July 1910 and continued to rise, to well over 1 million copies daily by the outbreak of war in July 1914. 2. The tank was credited with being a major contributing factor in the breaking of the deadlock on the Western Front after the German Spring Offensive of 1918. ‘Big Willie’ was the nickname for the British MK1 tank which was also nicknamed ‘His Majesty’s Land Ship Centipede’ and ‘Mother’. For further information, see Encyclopædia Britannica (2014). 3. Simonis, Henry, ‘The Street of Ink: The Daily Mirror’, Newspaper World, 20 January 1917. 4. Daily Mirror, 23 November 1914. 5. Daily Mirror, 5 January 1915. 6. Daily Mirror, 5 January 1915. 7. Daily Mirror, 28 January 1915. 8. For more, see Lippitt (1995, 54). 9. For more on stereotyping, see Pickering (2001). 10. Daily Mirror, 8 November 1916. 11. Haselden, Daily Mirror, 10 November 1916. 12. Haselden, Daily Mirror, 9 November 1916. 13. ‘I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows’ (Shakespeare: 2014b). 14. In doing so Haselden was reinterpreting the cartoon ‘Bravo, Belgium’ by F. H. Townsend, which had been published in Punch two months previously. 15. Daily Mirror, 17 December 1914. 16. The Mirror was not published on Sundays and its sister paper, the Sunday Pictorial, was not renamed the Sunday Mirror until 1963. 17. W. M., Daily Mirror, 9 July 1917. 18. ‘Special Intelligence Report No. 13’ of the US Office of Facts and Figures Bureau of Intelligence Division of Information Channels, Section I, 7 March 1942, Library of Congress microfilm. 19. Haselden, Daily Mirror, 9 July 1917. 20. Haselden, Daily Mirror, 11 July 1917. 21. Haselden, Daily Mirror, 26 July 1917. 22. Haselden, Daily Mirror, 3 August 1917. 23. Haselden, Daily Mirror, 4 August 1917. Notes 183 24. Haselden, Daily Mirror, 11 August 1917. 25. Robinson, quoted in Daily Mirror, 11 August 1917. 26. Daily Mirror, 23 July 1917. 27. Daily Mirror, 24 July 1917. 28. For more on women workers, see also Braybon (1989). 29. Haselden, Daily Mirror, 2 August 1917. 30. From the editorial column signed W. M., Daily Mirror, 16 July 1915. 31. Haselden, Daily Mirror, 7 August 1915. 32. W. M., Daily Mirror, 7 August 1915. 33. Daily Mirror, 11 August 1915. 34. Daily Mirror, 16 and 17 August 1915. 35. Daily Mirror, 18 August 1915. 36. W. M., Daily Mirror, 19 August 1915. 37. Daily Mirror, 20 and 21 August 1915. 38. From a letter signed, ‘Joy Flapperton, Anywhere in England’, Daily Mirror, 27 August 1915. 39. W. M., Daily Mirror, 18 July 1915. 40. Haselden, Daily Mirror, 10 August 1917. 41. After the war Haselden continued to draw on factual events, criticise govern- ment policy and promote the Mirror’s viewpoint that the country was not adequately recompensing its war heroes. In ‘The Future of Tommy’ (21–29 November 1918) he targeted the problems faced by soldiers returning home. He subsequently also focused on the general dissatisfaction and atmosphere of ‘unfulfilled promises’ (Lebas, Magri, Topalov: 1991, 263) surrounding the 1919 Housing Bill. In a series of five comic strips (May to December 1919) he attacked housing agents and the government on the subject, having pre- viously identified the issues faced by a young couple affected by the housing shortage (20–30 January 1919). 4 Proto Comics as Trench Record: Anti-Heroism, Disparagement Humour and Citizens’ Journalism 1. For more on First World War historiography, see Bond (2002).