I was never too much into comic books in the 70's, and the ones I did get were Archie stuff.
Tonight after PBS news a 3-hour special started, Superheros: Never Ending Battle. Fascinating, and I know a lot of folks here follow this stuff closely; catch this show if you can.
It chronicles the DC (originally, Detective Comics) story (perfect heros, patriotic), and then the rise of Marvel (heros with flaws, and weaknesses), but what was really interesting to me is how comics followed what was going on in America over the years: World War II, feminism, Vietnam, Watergate, the nuclear age, the space age, television, Warhol, drugs, street crime, on and on.
I was especially interested in an entity that was formed after WWII, the Comics Code Authority; it was a censoring entity, basically. I recognize the emblem that they placed on the cover of all my comics from way back when, never really realized what it represented. It was an anti-drug comic, one of the first, that was rejected by the CCA, that prompted them to publish the comic without that seal. The issue sold phenomenally, and the CCA despite rewriting their very charter, soon faded away. I think today about the mild concern over the Saw movies and violent video games... watching culture itself change within my lifetime, wow...
Highly recommended to you comic fans! :text-+1:
Tonight after PBS news a 3-hour special started, Superheros: Never Ending Battle. Fascinating, and I know a lot of folks here follow this stuff closely; catch this show if you can.
It chronicles the DC (originally, Detective Comics) story (perfect heros, patriotic), and then the rise of Marvel (heros with flaws, and weaknesses), but what was really interesting to me is how comics followed what was going on in America over the years: World War II, feminism, Vietnam, Watergate, the nuclear age, the space age, television, Warhol, drugs, street crime, on and on.
I was especially interested in an entity that was formed after WWII, the Comics Code Authority; it was a censoring entity, basically. I recognize the emblem that they placed on the cover of all my comics from way back when, never really realized what it represented. It was an anti-drug comic, one of the first, that was rejected by the CCA, that prompted them to publish the comic without that seal. The issue sold phenomenally, and the CCA despite rewriting their very charter, soon faded away. I think today about the mild concern over the Saw movies and violent video games... watching culture itself change within my lifetime, wow...
Highly recommended to you comic fans! :text-+1:
