History of the American Comic Book: The Golden Age

I figured since this column deals primarily with comic books and the comic book industry that the best way to start off would be with a little history lesson, specifically the history of comic books in America. Now bear in mind this is an abridged version concentrating on some of the main and more important points and aspects of the birth of the American comic book. So where do we begin? Some people believe the first comic published in America dates back to 1754. It was a political cartoon written and drawn by Benjamin Franklin published in an American newspaper.

For our purposes however the American comic book market is broken down into a number of historical ages. They are defined as follows, the Platinum Age, the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age and the Modern Age. For our purposes we will be centering on the Golden Age of comic books (1933-1952). I will be revisiting this topic in future columns to further discuss some of these other historical ages in more detail.

The Golden Age of American comic books is most notably recognized as the birth of the superhero genre. Specifically it featured the first appearance of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman character in Action Comics #1 (1938). The character appeared on the cover of the book but was only a back up feature within the pages. Superman has gone on to become an icon and has full entrenched himself within American pop culture, as have a slew of other superhero characters. The list is of course too long to fully chronicle them all here. However, like all things which are popular, comic books where not without their detractors.

So what have we learned so far? We know that comic books have been around in their current form since the early 1930′s.  The medium has experienced exceptional highs and incredible lows.  In the beginning, the millions of loyal comic book readers were mainly children and teens who enjoyed the exciting stories and marveled at the vivid illustrations in a myriad of books.  The stories ran the gamut from fantastic superhero and space faring adventures to criminal mystery thrillers, and everything in between.  In the early days, these books were attacked incessantly by adult critics who said the books contained an abhorrently low quality of writing and artwork.  They also cited reasons to ban them, such as the strong emphasis on violent stories and images aimed at their main readership, children.

Shortly following the end of World War II, the popular superhero titles of the day began to loose readers.  Books like The Spirit and Superman, mainstays to the medium took a hit and the tastes of the comic book readers of the day took a turn.  This turn led to the inception of the horror genre.  This featured supernatural tales of horror, with graphic depictions of violence and gore.  Some of the most extreme and popular stories from this era were released by William Gaines of E.C. Comics.  Readers were lured in by books with such enticing titles as Crypt of Terror, Haunt of Fear and Vault of Horror.  During this time attacks against the medium began to increasingly mount.  Newspapers and magazines debated the influence of comic books on young children and teens.  Citizen groups were formed and religious leaders pressed publishers and those who sold comic books to drop what they deemed hurtful trash which was leading the youths of America into a downward spiral.

One of the most outspoken crusaders of this movement against the burgeoning comic book industry was Frederic Wertham. His well known book The Seduction of the Innocent (1954) caused an uproar amongst parent and religious groups. The book summarized that reading comic books led children and juveniles to mimic similar behavior to what they were reading in the comic books such as violence, drug use and other similar adult fare. Writer David Hajdu brings this tumultuous period of comic book history to light in his book The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America (2008).

Unfortunately, with the tirade from Frederic Wertham, joined by parent and religious groups, the growing negativity and outward public pressure lead to the unthinkable.  In 1954, the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency opened hearings into whether comic books did indeed lead to and inspire juvenile delinquency.  The hearings led by Senator Estes Kefauver took place in New York on April 21, 22 and June 4 1954. I won’t bore you with all the minute details here, but suffice to say, the aforementioned hearings had done their damage.  Even though the Subcommittee declared in their report that no connection could be found between comic books and delinquency, the Senate called for a self regulation board to be created within the industry to keep violent and hurtful titles and material out of the hands of children.

Enter the Comics Magazine Association of America.  Created by comic book publishers, this new trade group created the Comics Code Authority.  A strict set of guidelines to control what content would be permitted within the pages of a comic book.  As a direct result the horror genre and the publishers who released horror and crime books for all intents and purposes disappeared.  This in turn directly affected a refocusing of interests within the comic book industry on earlier comic books of all types and superheroes especially experienced a silver age revival. The Silver Age of comic books was ushered into existence with the release of DC Comics (National Periodicals) Showcase #4 (1956) featuring the introduction of Barry Allen, The Flash. But that is a story for another day.

Now, of course this is a cliff notes version of the long illustrious and sometimes tarnished history of the American comic book industry during its Golden Age. The Golden Age is for all intents and purposes the foundation upon which all other comic book stories are built, and it is such a rich and strong foundation. I personally feel that comic books are a truly original and American art form. They take equal parts of literature, artwork and story telling, and then they blend them all together to create something completely unique and original.