Winsor McCay was known for his amazing illustrative skills. He was involved in very successful comic strips in newspapers such as 'Little Sammy Sneeze & Dream of the rarebit fiend', and ground breaking animation - 'Little Nemo', and his vaudeville acts of chalk drawing to an audience. His contribution to the comic and animation industry raised the standards and set a precedence for future artists.
The Golden age of the Comics - was an American historic point. It celebrated the publication of modern comic books. This Golden Age era was from 1930's to late 40's early 50's. It saw the archetype of the super hero created and defined.
Art Spiegelman created 'Maus' which was so successful it won the Pulitzer prize. It was drawn and written by Art, based on the true story of his fathers journey through the holocaust in WW2. There is great continuity in this comic as it had been done by the same person.
Superman was created by Created by American writer Jerry Seigal and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio and sold to Detective Comics. The style of 'Superman' in comparison to 'Maus', is very American. Maus portrays Jewish and Polish cultures whilst Superman is very American - and superman one of Americas biggest icons. Maus is about the degradation and oppression of Jewish and Polish races, whilst superman is about the super power that America is and undefeatable to its foes... They're highly contrasting stories and styles.
Some differences between Brittish and American comics are..... well the humour for one :) Americans portray very patriotic themes and seem to spend a lot of time establishing their role as saviours of teh universe..... Strong adolescent themes are targeting young adult readers
which are slowly expanding but still predominant. Some examples of American comics are: 'Superman', 'Spiderman' and 'The Fantastic Four'. They reflected the current art movements and trends of the time. Pop art was big in America and made a visually fantastic comic.
American comics would be repackaged and sometimes printed in black and white and sold to Britain. The English comic, originally the same size as a U.S. comic, adapted a magazine sized style.... becoming more a book. Young adults and children are the Brittish comic targets. Examples of Brittish comics are: 'The Beano', 'Judge Dredd' and 'Dandy'.
The war would have affected the comics. I remember seeing a cartoon last year called 'Ducktails', it was actually a study piece for a CSU subject. 'Ducktails' which was produced by Walt Disney and it depicted some extremely racists images, texts and stereotypes. Mainly these were against the Japanese, Chinese and Russians. As the world changed I think so too did our comics.
Pop Art hit the fifties and from it arose artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein... creating a genre or style of comic art that is still popular today. Mass production happily circulated comics in colour through this time.
Writer of Comic Books of the 1950s, by Don Ensign, notes that
"Little Lulu, Rawhide Kid, Jann of the Jungle, Caspar the Friendly Ghost, Archie & Jughead, Captain Video, Davy Crockett, Crime Can¹t Win, Howdy Dowdy, Frontline Combat, Wyatt Earp, Beware Terror Tales, Young Love, Mad, Rex the Wonder Dog, Sad Sack, Roy Rogers and many more were comic books of the 1950s.
Most comics historians place the birth of the American comic book industry with Funnies on Parade (1933) which lead to Famous Funnies. These comic books reprinted current newspaper comic strips like Joe Palooka, Mutt & Jeff, Dixie Dugan and others. Comic books became a publishing phenomenon when Superman appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). 1939-1943 saw an explosion of Superman inspired characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel, Captain America, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Shield, Steel Sterling, Black Terror, and numerous others. Toward the end of World War II super-heroes declined in readership and genres like romance, jungle, funny animal, western, teen, war, science fiction and others had their surges in popularity from 1946 -1954.Two genres that earned the wrath of social critics were the infamous crime and horror comics of this era. In 1952 approximately 150 horror and dozens of crime comic book titles choked the nation¹s newsstands. Titles like Haunt of Fear, Tales from the Crypt, Adventures into Terror showed graphic images of gore, severed heads, cannibalism, and torture. A leading critic was Dr Fredric Wertham whose highly controversial and influential book, Seduction of the Innocent (1954) claimed that crime and horror comic books were a major factor in escalating juvenile delinquency. In April 1954 Wertham and comic book industry spokesmen testified before the US Senate Sub-committee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency.While no overt government action occurred the publishers realized the need to clean up their act. In October 1954 many publishers banded together to form the Comics Code Authority to regulate the moral contents of comic books. Most publishers signed on with the Code and those that didn¹t (with some exceptions) went out of business. The Code was very strict concerning the contents of comic books and for the next twenty years mainstream comics were safe (and tame). The latter half of the decade was dominated by Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, numerous Disney TV and movie related comics, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, other movie and TV tie-ins. Marvel Comics, the current industry leader, almost went out of business in 1957.By 1950 except for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel (RIP 1953), Plastic Man (RIP 1956) and a few others super-heroes were nearly extinct. DC Comics decided to revive some of their second string super-heroes. The first was a successfully revamped Flash (1956) and then Green Lantern (1959). This lead to a major super hero revival called the Silver Ages of Comics.The 1950s were a time of upheaval and stagnation for the American comic book. By the decade¹s conclusion change was in the air."
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