(Studies in American Popular History and Culture) Mila Bongco - Reading Comics - Language, Culture, and The Concept of The Superhero in Comic Books-Routledge (2000)

READING COMICS
LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND THE

CONCEPT OF THE SUPERHERO IN
COMIC BOOKS
MILABONGCO
First published 2000 by
G arland Publishing Inc.
Published 2013 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, O xon ÜX14 4RN
7111bird Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Roulkdge is an impnnl of the Tt!.Y1or & Frands Group, an injorma besiness

Copy right © 200 0 by M ila Bongco.
All rights reserved . No pa rt of th is book ma y be reprinted or repro-

du ced or urilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, no w known or hereafrer invented, induding photo-
copy ing and recording, or in any informatio n storage o r retrieval
system, wirheut perm ission in wririn g fro m rhe pu blishers.
Library of Cong ress Caralo ging-in-Publication Dara

Bongco, M ila.
Read ing Comics : language, culrure, and rhe concept o f rhe
super hero in eomie books I Mil a Bongeo .
p. em.
Includes Index.
ISBN 0-8 153-33 44-7 (alk. paper]
ISBN 978-0-8 15-33344-9 (hbk)
1. Co mic books, strips, ete-History an d critic ism. 2. Herces.
I. Tid e.
PN6714.B66 1999
74 1.5 ·09-<1c21
99 -046 175
Contents
Acknowledgments Vll
Introduction IX
Chapter 1: Comics and Cultural Studies: Sites for Struggle 1
Chapter 2: Responses to Comicbooks and the

Concept of the "Popular" 19
Chaper 3: On the Language of Comics and the

Reading Process 45
Chapter 4: Superhero Comicbooks 85
Chapter 5: Factors that Changed Superhero Comicbooks 125
Chapter 6: Frank Miller's The Dark Knight

Returns (1986) 151
Chapter 7: A Glimpse at the Comics Scene after 1986 177
Index 231
v
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List of Figures
Figure 1
Influences of the underground comix.
Dirty Plotte #1 by Juliet Doucet (1990) 5
Figure 2
Rate #23 by Peter Bagge (1996) 7
Figure 3
Panel without text. Bane Val. One: Out [rom Boneville
by Jeff Smith (1996) 47
Figure 4
"La Sorpresa" from Luba #1
by Gilbert Hernandez (1998) 48
Figure 5
Definition of comics in Understanding Comics
by Scott McCloud (1993) 52
Figure 6
The central role of sequence in comics.
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (1993) 53
Figure 7
Soulwind #3 by C. Scott Morse (1997) 55
Figure 8
Bleeding Heart #5 by Peter Kuper (1993) 56
Figure 9
Daisho by Patrick Debruin (1993) 57
Figure 10
The angle in relation to the reader. Daisho
by Patrick Debruin (1993) 60
vm List of Figures
Figure 11
Another angle, a different response.
Figure 12
The overlapping of frames signal speed of
action. The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot (1995) 61
Figure 13
Falling frames mimic action. The Maxx
by Sam Kieth (1993) 62
Figure 14
A visual dialogue between artists and readers exist.
Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner (1985) 64
Figure 15
Six kinds of transition in comics narrative. Understanding
Comics by Scott McCloud (1993) 66
Figure 16
Proportion of transition states. Understanding Comics
by Scott McCloud (1993) 67
Figure 17
Reading the "empty space."
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (1993) 68
Figure 18
Playing with the gutter. . Comics and Sequential Art by Will
Eisner (1985) 69
Figure 19
Narrator space instead of balloons. Pallokaville #4 by Seth
(1993) 71
Figure 20
Images in thought balloons. Madman Comics, Yearbook '95
by Mike Allred (1995) 72
Figure 21
Images tell a story. Bleeding Hear #5 by Peter Kuper. 73
Figure 22
Texts used as images. Soulwind #4
by C. Scott Morse (1997) 74
List of Figures IX
Figure 23
Whoa, Nellie! #1 by Xaime Hernandez (1996) 76
Figure 24
Figure 25
Zotf Book One by Scott McCloud (1990) 80
Figure 26
Time and timing. Comics and Sequential Art
by Will Eisner (1985) 81
Figure 27
Good girl art. Lady Death: The Reckoning written
by Brian Pulido and illustrated by Steven Hughes (1995) 109
Figure 28
Naughty Bits #26 by Roberta Gregory (1998) 112
Figure 29
A page from Love and Rockets #50
by Xaime Hernandez (1996) 133
Figure 30
An aging Batman kills Joker in The Dark Knight Returns
by Frank Miller (1986) 159
Figure 31
Concrete #4 by Paul Chadwick (1987) 180
Figure 32
Eightball #2 by Dan Clowes (1990) 187
Figure 33
Humourous and entertaining scenes abound in Rate
by Peter Bagge (1993) 189
Figure 34
Peepshow #1 by Joe Matt (1993) 198
Figure 35
Palookaville #4 by Seth (1993) 199
Figure 36
Yummy Fur by Chester Brown (1992) 201
x List o{ Figures
Figure 37
Nowhere postcard by Debbie Drechsler (1997) 202
Figure 38
Cover of Optic Nerve #4 by Adrian Tomine (1997) 203
Figure 39
Optic Nerve #3 by Adrian Tomine (1997) 204
Figure 40
A page from Acme Novelty Library #1
by Chris Ware (1993) 206
Figure 41
An advertising page reminiscent of the 1950s. Acme Novelty
Library #1 by Chris Ware (1993) 207
Figure 42
Naughty Bits #26 by Roberta Gregory (1998) 208
Figure 43
Desert Peach #16 by Donna Barr (1991) 209
Figure 44
Cover page of Action Girl Comics #1
by Sarah Dyer (1994) 210
Figure 45
The Maxx #1 by Sam Kieth (1993) 212
Figure 46
Bone meets Thorn in Bone Val. One: Out [rom Boneville
by Jeff Smith (1996) 214
Figure 47
Astra City: Li{e in the Big City by Kurt Busiek (1999) 215
Figure 48
Madman Comics, Yearbook '95 by Mike Allred (1995) 218
Figure 49
Madman Comics, Yearbook '95 by Mike Allred (1995) 219
Figure 50
The Tale o{ One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot (1995) 220
Acknowledgments
Many people assisted me in various ways in the course of putting

this book tagether. The most important is Jan Philipzig, for his
patience and unswerving belief in this book. He also wrote most of
the material I translated for Chapters Seven and Eight. I also thank
Milan Dimic who supervised my dissertation and encouraged me
to have it published.
Other individuals who helped me directly include Mike Chow
who lent me his comicbooks and gave feedback on some of the
chapters, Gunnar Blodgett who also provided some comments,
and Brent Simon and Lorne Tkachuk for technical help with scan-
ners, CD burners, and the Macintosh. I want to acknowledge Pre
Print Inc. for letting me use their equipment in scanning the
Images.
I gratefully acknowledge the permission given by the artists
and publishers for the images in this book, without which reading
this book will definitely be less interesting.
Most importantly, I wish to thank those who motivated and
encouraged me during many moments of doubt: my family and
friends from Manila, Bacolod, Munich, Dresden, Edmonton,
Beaumont, New York, and California.
I regret the absence of illustrations from Marve1, and more illustrations

from DC. I never got any response from Marve1, and DC would only
allow one. Ir is unfortunate that bureaucratic policies prevailed over the
value the illustrations would have had for readers.
xi
Introduction
At the dose of the twentieth century, the American comics industry

seems to be facing a crisis. Sales had drastically dedined since a ren-
aissance in comics around 1986, and a burst of growth from 1990
to 1993. At the height of the boom in 1993, the total retail value of
the comics market was estimated at over $1 billion. Three years
later, this was just slightly less than half. In 1998, industry profes-
sionals say that sales are still dedining, albeit in a much slower rate.
The steady decrease in sales has affected comics shops which sprout-
ed all over the United States and Canada around 1981. Audits from
the two largest distributors in the comics market, Diamond and
Capital City, show that in 1993, there were 9,400 retailers. In
August 1995, the stores numbered between 6,100 and 6,500, and by
]uly 1996, their records indicate about 4,500 stores. Since 1995, the
biggest changes in the market have been the change in the demo-
graphics of its readers hip, a noticeably shrinking consumer base, and
the shift in the distribution structure and sales strategy of comic-
books. All these have greatly affected the comics industry and have
caused some apprehension in many publishers, retailers, distribu-
tors, and artists. Comicbooks have sprung back after dire predic-
tions in the 1950s and 1970s. However, many say that the crisis in
1993·1996 is the biggest crisis so far in the comics market.
Interestingly, although sales are down, comics as an art form is
flourishing. In the history of comics in North America, never have
there been so many original contributions and innovative work
being done in so short a time. There is no denying the sheer variety
of material available in comics form today. The types of work being
xiii
xiv Introduction
done vary from genre fiction to autobiography, to meticulously

research historical fiction, journalism, dream work, essays, erotica,
fantasy epics, and so on. The number of comics publishers has also
increased, making it possible for cartoonists to escape the tyranny of
big publishing houses in terms of style, recognition, and cornpensa-
tion. A choice in publishers has allowed authors and illustrators
wider room for experimentation in expressing themselves, and this
is apparent in the choice of comicbooks available today.
The current trend stresses the importance to distinguish
between the medium's development aesthetically and its develop-
me nt as an industry. However, the relationship between commerce
and art is complex and difficult to untangle. Any art form exists
only in the environment that creates it and allows it to grow; and
the art form sometimes changes as its surroundings shift.
Analysing comicbooks within cultural studies highlights the inter-
relation between the medium and the society which fosters it. By
their very accessibility and ubiquity, comics have necessarily con-
tributed to the fashioning of the imagination of the society which
contains them. Conversely, as a medium intended for mass con-
sumption, the comics must cater to popular wishes and demands,
including commercial and business needs.
This book outlines some developments in comicbooks since its
inception until the 1990s. No claim for comprehensiveness is
made, rather, the focus is on the following five important changes
in the comics industry, how they affected the development of the
medium in the last fifty years, and how they led up to the current
conditions. The important changes were in the following:
a) Image and perception of comics
b) Format and overall appearance of comicbooks
c) Artists and publishers involved in the industry
d) Readership
e) Distribution and marketing of the products
The first chapter provides a sketch of the history of comics in
America to provide a context for the earlier perceptions of comics
that have been detrimental to the medium and the industry. This
approach provides a more comprehensive critical framework for
understanding the complexity of both the production and the
reception of comics within contemporary cultures. It serves two
purposes: to diverge from the traditional negative critique of
Introduction xv
comics and to circumvent the confining limits of traditional liter-

ary studies in investigating a cultural product such as comicbooks.
The next chapter provides an outline of the responses to comic-
books in relation to the assumptions and ideological perspectives
which inforrn the concept of popular culture. The focus is on
showing how the perception of the "popular" as impermanent and
inferior has had consequences for the reception of comicbooks,
particularly in the critics' assessment of them.
Chapter Three elucidates on the language and grammar of
comics, highlighting the study of comics as a narrative mode: it is a
tangle of "competing languages," comprising both graphie and ver-
bal signs. Reading comics involves the pictures and their meanings
in addition to the accompanying words. The key to understanding
comic art does not lie in the words or pictures alone but in the inter-
action between them. The expressive potential and uniqueness of the
medium lie in the skilful employment of not one but two sign sys-
tems. Interestingly, the relations between the divergent "languages"
of comics reflect the simultaneously competitive and complementa-
ry relationship which exists between comics and other genres, other
popular forms of expression, other forms of literature. Chapter Four
starts to focus on superhero comics. It utilises the concepts of genre
studies to analyse superheroes by providing a short history of the
context and activities in the rise of the superhero genre. In analysing
the definition of a superhero, heroes such as Superman, Captain
America, Spider-Man, and the Batman will be studied in the context
of the form of masculinity offered in these texts. The portrayal of
women in superhero texts will also be investigated, as weil as their
role in relation to the superheroes. It will be argued that superhero
comicbooks delight in displaying chaos and criminality which belies
the usual perception of these texts as merely espousing the ideologies
of a dominant culture. Chapter Five follows this line of thinking and
concentrates on analysing the generic changes in the portrayal and
conceptualising of superheroes in the comicbooks of the 1980s.
Factors that changed the superhero are also evaluated in context of
the changes in the overall comics industry in North America. Textual
examples for this chapter are culled from more recent graphie nov-
els, particularly those labeled "Suggested for Mature Readers,"
which clearly exhibit different concerns from the prevalent escapist
themes of more popular comicbooks. Examination of new charac-
ters and novel themes will be based on the works of Frank Miller,
xvi Introduction
Alan Moore, and Neil Gaiman, among others. The Batman, Black
Orchid, the Sandman and the heroes in Sin City and Watchmen, will
provide the main focus and examples for analysing the new breed of
superheroes.
Chapter Six is a close look at The Return of the Dark Knight
which is seminal in changing the direction of comicbooks, both
aesthetically and commercially. There have not been many detailed
interpretations of individual comicbooks to date, and there is a
need for more critical studies on topics like the developments in the
works of recent writers and illustrators, the handling of themes
and topics within a particular period, or evolution in the narrative
and graphie styles of a batch of artists. The last chapter provides
developments in the comics scene after 1986, focusing more on the
small-press and alternative publishers that sprouted in the rnid-
1980s. Works from various artists are mentioned, as weIl as spe-
cific elements that contributed to the innovations and different
directions in comics.
Despite the downward trend in sales, comic art seems to be
slowly shedding the cultural disdain normally attached to it and
making its mark as an expressive new artistic form. Recently,
comics have been attracting not only more serious critical atten-
tion but also more serious artists who are expanding the potentials
of comics as a narrative medium while addressing more profound
topics not usually associated with comicbooks. Respectable book
clubs, such as the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Quality
Paperback Book Club, now include selected comicbooks in their
offerings. This recent confluence of good artists and good critical
reviews in the area of comics may yet work to cast off decades of
critical scorn and cultural marginalization that have long arrested
the medium's development. As modern culture becomes less print
oriented and more visual, the comicbook may become more and
more attractive as a narrative form. Art Spiegelman, Pulitzer Prize
winner for his comicbook Maus, once commented: "All media are
as rich as the artists working inside them".l As comics comes of
age in America, its potential may now be limited only by the cre-
ativeness of the artists willing to risk working in it.
NOTES
1. Interview with Art Spiegelman in Time (November 1, 1993): 65.

CHAPTER ONE
Comics and Cultural

Studies
Sites [or Struggle
Once upon a time there were the mass media and they
were wicked, of course, and there was a guilty party. Then
there were the virtuous voices that accused the criminals. And
Art (ah, what Iuckl) offered alternatives for those who were
not prisoners of the mass media. Weil, it's all over. We have to
start again from the beginning, asking one another what's
going on.
Umberto Eco
Travels in Hyperreality 1986
OVERVIEW OF CRITICAL ATTENTION TO COMICS
Browsing in bookstores, one sees an abundance of highly sophisti-

cated studies of cinema, television, and popular fiction like detec-
tive novels, science fiction, and romances. There is, however, a
noticeable shortage in comparable studies about comics.
Superficiality has characterised much of the critical literature on
comics longer than on most other popular forms. I believe this
superficiality is closely connected to the nature of comics reader-
ship, generally perceived to be a group even more marginalized
than the consumers of film, television, or popular fiction: these are
children, young adults and, in non-industrialised nations, the poor
and not-so-literate. The association of comics primarily with chil-
dren, adolescents, and the sub-literate is apparent in the profusion
of books, articles, reviews and outright attacks on comics that
2 Reading Comics
characterised its body of critical studies for the longest time. These
attacks may be characterised as the "effects and influence tradi-
tion" of mass media critique that concentrates on the possible
harmful effects of substandard and unchecked entertainment on
malleable minds.! Traditional criticism about comics reflects the
pattern of ambivalence and censorious attitude toward mass media
in general. Among the most famous and virulent attacks against
comics is Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, published
in 1954. Wertharn criticised American comicbooks indiscriminate-
ly as inherently sensational, trivial and illiterate, depicting too
much sex, violence and anarchy. He asserted that the practice of
reading comics led to juvenile delinquency.-' The only other two
lengthy discussions about comicbooks published before 1960,
those of Gershon Legman and Geoffrey Wagner, echoed Wertham's
disapproving appraisal of comics:
"Legman, Wertham and Wagner compete in their merciless
castigation of the comics, heaping blazing coals upon them
for their excesses of violence and gare, their often unwhole-
some treatment of sex, and their frequently low level of writ-
ing and drawing.t'v
Legman, an authority on dirty jokes, the dirty limerick and

erotic folklore, focused on the action and violence in comics to
suggest a generic link between violence and adventure comics,
instead of placing these comics against the general background and
history of graphic brutality in mass media. Indeed, the eruption of
comics in the 1940s and 1950s was no spontaneous growth and is
better seen against the general backdrop of increasing production
and popularity of pictographs after the war. What was unique in
comics was their mass production and the easy public access to
them, not their content. Unfortunately, the rise of comicbook pro-
duction coincided with a time of extraordinary attention to juve-
nile delinquency. There was an uncommon concern over criminal
behaviour infecting America's youngsters during the post-war
era-movies, dime novels, radio programmes, magazines, televi-
sion shows and comics were all suspect. Of these, comicbooks
were the most affected as Wertham's provocative book, together
with his active crusade against comicbooks, incited public indig-
nation and set off a campaign which took the form of local pres-
sure from parents' groups, religious groups, and school organisa-
Comics and Cultural Studies 3
tions. All this resulted in the public forum of the Senate Hearings
under Senator Kefauver into possible links between the comics and
juvenile delinquency." The Senate Hearings on comics were apart
of a bigger investigation into crime and adolescence that lasted a
decade. Twitchell (1989) provides an explanation of why comics
took the brunt of the repercussions of these delinquency examina-
tions:
The large media were protected frorn criticism in two ways.
They were parts of American industry, important conduits for
the flow not so much of information but of advertising. The
sponsors of radio crime shows-cigarettes, toiletries, auto-
mobiles-were loath to give up their audiences. The movie
industry could always claim its audience was self-selective,
and in fact, the industry surveys of the audience of 1950
showed that only the people with sufficient disposable income
and time to go to rhe movies were those between twenty-two
and forty. Television was no menace-yet. Kids could not
watch wh at was not there. Saturday morning TV did not
carve out an audience until rhe late 1950s ... The other pro-
tection for mass media was that audiences were as unwilling
to give up their entertainment as advertisers were to give up
their audiences. The democratising effect of electronic media
meant that programming was done for the largest possible
audience, and that audience, by its very nature, was too big
to budge.
Almost by elimination, the comics were left standing alone;

they were never able to align themselves with any interested
parties, having no untainted supporters who could vouch for
them ... But the real reason comic books proved such a huge
target was that the hands turning the pages were so young, so
male, and so easy to discipline-at least initially. Here was
where the juvenile delinquency virus must be entering the body
politic, and here is where it must be eradicated.v
Although the campaign against comics and the ensuing Senate

Hearings did not lead into actual laws banning comics, the pres-
sure forced many publishers out of business. More significantly, it
set off a large comics scare and caused the self-censoring attempts
of the comics industry. Although comics developed differently in
Europe, North America, Asia and Latin America, the comics scare
in the US in the 1950s-more specifically the crusades against
4 Reading Comics
American crime and horror comics-rippled through to many

other countries. In Britain, for example, the campaign succeeded in
getting an Act of Parliament passed which made the publication or
distribution of "horror comics" illegal. In many other countries,
these American comics threw up shockwaves of anger and demands
for censorship. Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy,
Denmark, Norway, Germany, and The Netherlands each had their
national version of an anti-crime and horror campaign.s
The industry's self-censorship proved fatal to the medium's
growth and development. In complying with the Code's insistence
on "good" always vanquishing "evil," for example, comics tended
toward the representation of oversimplified conflicts that led to
thematic and generic stagnation. In part, the strict restrictions of
the Comics Code did not allow comics the creative freedom
enjoyed by the other media, and the comicbooks that flooded the
market were trapped in the trifling problems and conflicts in a uni-
verse of costumed superheroes or "funny" talking animals.
However, the Code cannot be blamed entirely for the minimal
developments made in comics as a narrative form. In Comic Books
as History, joseph Witek analyses the effects of the Code on the
development of comic books as a medium for a more sophisticat-
ed audience and reminds us that:
To bash the Comics Code is easy enough: ...(B)ut it is impor-
tant to remember that the Comics Code was not imposed on
the industry by the government. In fact, its provisions make
hash of the First Amendment and could stand no legal test.
The Code's rules are not laws; they are self-imposed industry
guidelines, and as such they simply codified the existing edi-
torial leanings of most American comics. E.C.'s powerfully
written war comics failed becauseof laggingnews-stand sales,
not because of the meddling of the Comics Code, and while
the Code killed off most of the sophisticated American comic
books, for many other comics the Code simply meant busi-
ness as usual. The Code officially ruled out overtly mature
treatments of adult themes in American comic books, but few
such books existed anyway, and to blame only the Comics
Code Authority for the lack of serious literature in comics
form is to badly underestimate the puerility of the comic book
publishers and of the mainstream comic audience.7
Partly as areaction to the Code and the acquiescent attitude of
mainstream comics producers and consumers, comic books that
increasingly went beyond the thematic and narrative possibilities

approved by the Code developed within the counterculture of the
1960s. These Underground comix, as they became known, culti-
vated an outlaw image and deliberately aimed to offend the sensi-
Figure 1. Just the title, Dirty plotte, calls attention to the lack of inhibition
in this series. A page from Dirty Plotte #1 showing influences of under-
ground comix. Art and script: Julie Doucet @ 1990 The creator.
6 Reading Comics
bilities of bourgeois America (see Figure T). They defiantly

opposed the sanitised views and values of middle class society
proffered by their traditional counterparts. Instead, they offered
biting parodies and satires of media and social customs as alterna-
tives. Bound neither by the Code nor by any need to appeal to a
wide audience, the Underground cartoonists had the incredible
luxury of almost unrestricted artistic freedom. The "comix"
became the principal outlet for the works of artists who were inno-
vative and who rebelIed against the restraints of the Code, thereby
stretching the limits of what "comics" could be. Amidst the shame-
less obscenity and bad taste that abounded, several striking talents
did emerge from this movement and much highly original work
was accomplished. Though as a widespread cultural and artistic
force, it lasted barely a decade, the Underground comix movement
is a crucial phase in the development of comicbooks as a narrative
form and a means of artistic expression. This was the first signifi-
cant group of comic books in the United States aimed at an entire-
ly adult audience. Many artists who are now major figures of
comicbooks and who realised the potential of comics as a narra-
tive form for serious themes and issues came from this movement.
Industry insiders and critics agree that the roots of the new, fact-
based comicbooks that have recently emerged in the United States
can be traced to the Underground comix, "not only in the works
of such established artists such as Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson,
and Kim Deitch, who still create comicbooks, but also in a grow-
ing number of comicbook creators who take from the
Undergrounds new visions of possibility for comicbook narratives
but without that antagonism toward a general audience which so
often led to the self-ghettoization of the Underground comix (see
Figure 2)."8
For a long time after the late 1960s, much positive innovation
in the comics was curbed by the conditions that dicta ted comics
production and consumption: either they were mainly puerile ado-
lescent entertainment or marginalized defiant magazines of the
counterculture. Didactic comic books with definitely wholesome
social aspirations also existed: these included biblical re-tellings,
inspirational biographies, educational manuals, and historicalleg-
ends. The most well-known would be theeducational series by the
Gilberton Company including the Classics Comics and Classics
Illustrated which were redactions of literary works and popular
Figure 2. Hate is an example of a comicbook that treats sex candidly but

neverthe less can app eal to a wide audience. Hate #23. Art and script: Peter
Bagge @ 1996 Th e creator,
8 Reading Comics
stories. However, these were generally more expensive and not as

popular as the regular comics although many played on combining
the informational and sensational with presentational patterns
analogous to the comic-book industry's stock-in trades. The
comics that held the public's attention, especially in the 1970s,
were those that related to the two extremes: simplistic superhero
fantasies or flagrant violence, anarchy and salaciousness. For crit-
ics concerned about comics at this time, it was uncomplicated to
forego analyses of the artistic merits of comics and continue focus-
ing on its "effects and influences" since the choice between
approval and disapproval was almost prompted by the develop-
ments in the medium itself. Even in the absence of a specific criti-
cal rationale, critics judged the Underground comix as "bad,"
offensive and perverse in a condemnation that, despite its superfi-
ciality, was heeded by many.? By the mid-1970s, much of the force
of the comix had disappeared just as the energy of the countercul-
tu re as a whole had dissipated. However, the practice of focusing
on the capacity of comics to exert different kinds of influence over
its readers persisted.
What is regrettable about the traditional critique of comics is
that its fixed and enduring focus on morality has been maintained
to the detriment of studies of other areas. More importantly, the
various negative claims that have been made about the influence of
comics were supported by insufficient data, and/or characterised
by debatable methodology, in a way unimaginable for scholarship
in other more established fields.J? It would not occur to a serious
critic to judge a novel on the evidence of a few paragraphs, nor a
play on the basis of one or two scenes. Yet this practice is widely
accepted in the criticism of comics. Such nonchalance and disap-
proval have also characterised works done on mass media and
popular culture, most probably due to the stigma of "trivializa-
tion" that had been conferred on them from the start.U Since
many studies on comics were included as part of works on mass
media and popular culture, it is not surprising that comics were
embroiled in the early struggles of these two disciplines to break
out from the tangle of contentious claims about merit, validity,
scope, terms, subject matter and so on. Scholarship in all these
areas could not advance without a major shift in perspective from
the frustratingly narrow and repetitive concerns about the apoca-
lyptic views of seductive mass media and inferior popular culture.
By the 1970s, the popularity of comicbooks extended as their

characters were transformed into action figures, masks, posters,
ashtrays, mugs, boardgames, university mascots, and so on, to ini-
tiate a collection craze. The continuous rise in the number of
comics being produced, sold, and read by the 1970s was accom-
panied by a substantial increase in the attention to American
comics, both as strips and books, in journals, magazines and even
books. In general, however, these publications are surveys and his-
tories, mostly nostalgie and/or celebratory rather than analytical.
One exception is Les Daniels' survey Comix: A History of Comic
Books in America, which provides a sensible outline of major
developments in comicbooks.l- Another, and perhaps the most
significant, analysis of American comics at this time is Dorfman
and Mattelart's How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology
in the Disney Comics, a study of the Disney comics and an indict-
ment of Disney as a prime carrier of "cultural imperialism. "13 This
study is well-researched and well-argued, and is often cited as a
paradigm of Marxist cultural analysis. In Comics: Anatomy of a
Mass Medium, Reitberger and Fuchs culled examples from both
comic strips and books and examined the social significance of
comics, investigating broadly how comics propagate images and
ideas that play up to prejudices.H Maurice Horn published the-
matic studies-Comics of the American West which is a heavily
illustrated survey of the major Western comic strips and books and
their basic symbolic themes; Women in Comics which provides an
initial study on the representation and roles of women in comic
strips and books; and Sex in the Comics which includes many illus-
trations, most of which come from the comics of the Underground
culture of the 1960s. 15 Despite such studies as these, however, it
remained clear that comics could not evade the notoriety estab-
lished by some critics. The general tone of comics analysis under-
scored its role in the moral and cultural decline of modern society,
and works on comics remained weighed down by the apprehen-
sions of educators, parents, child psychiatrists, and moralists.
Meanwhile, in the 1980s and especially in the latter half of the
decade, theorists of popular culture and media discourse started
confronting the need to re-examine traditional thinking and
expose the inadequacies of old conceptual moulds. This involved
an active reassessment of the basis for the derision of popular cul-
tu re in order to reveal the relativity or arbitrariness of the stan-
10 Reading Comics
dards on which earlier conclusions on media influence were

grounded. More current studies re-evaluatethe terms, categories,
presuppositions and methodologies with which mass media have
customarily been thought of and call attention to the cultural hier-
archies that attend the social construction of subjectivity and of
standards.lf Unlike previous approaches which mostly aimed to
prove that media has the power to influence, or illustrate the
effects of that influence, the more recent ones investigate the
explicit and implicit logic and processes operating in these claims
of media influence: What are the reasons behind the analyses?
From which perspective are they being conducted? Who is doing
the studies and for whom are they meant? What ideologies are
being espoused or criticised in the analyses? New critics demand
that current media discourse not simply stop at asking if media
influence takes place and what the effects are; it must clarify HOW
the processes are supposed to take place, explain how ideas,
images, attitudes, forms and contents of a specific medium can
exist within the texts and reproduce themselves in the readers.
This broader and more penetrating approach to communica-
tion and media studies, while having been very constructively
applied in studying cinerna, television, and the genres of melodra-
ma, romance and detective fiction, is not yet as prevalent in stud-
ies of comics. An exception and an excellent example of the new
breed of comics critic is Martin Barker who, through his discussion
of comics, systematically re-exarnines claims about media influ-
ence and re-assesses many poor theories or empirical misrepresen-
tations concerning the power of mass media in general, and comics
in particular. In Comics: Ideology, Power and the Critics, Barker
shows how, in the brief history of comics as a mass medium, crit-
ics have made all kinds of ideological claims about what comics
supposedly exemplify.I? He uses comics as a case-study to reveal
the ways critics have investigated the mass media for possible
"influences," while calling attention to the fact that there are liter-
ally thousands of works on how comics affect children without the
authors acknowledging that they are coming from a particular ide-
ological perspective. He also demonstrates how many standard
concepts used in critiquing the media, such as "identification" and
"stereotypes" for example, are not so much analytical tools as
arguments from definable social positions.
In addition to cultural studies and media discourse, the rise of
semiotic studies and an accompanying interest in the relations of

verbal and visuallanguages also spawned some proficient analyses
of comic books. There began an awareness of comics not only as
a created product and social activity but as an artistic product
which must be looked at in its own aesthetic terms. Will Eisner's
Comics and Sequential Art is an important critical contribution by
one of the central figures of the comicbook industry.lf Eisner
views comics as a distinct artistic expression with a literary-visual
form. Using his own illustrations, he discusses his ideas on the
potency of the medium for graphie storytelling and proceeds to
discuss comics as a form of reading. Another fresh analysis of
comics is Thomas Inge's Comics as Culture which shows the
growth and development of comics as an important document of
the twentieth century, and a distinct part of America's national her-
itage. In addition to demonstrating how comics have enriched and
reflected the trends in American popular culture, Inge traces the
influence of many American cartoonists in the world art scene and
the relation of comics with other art and cultural forms.l? ]oseph
Witek's Comics as History examines comicbooks for adults as nar-
ratives and provides a close reading of three examples utilising the
methods of contemporary semiotics' reading of images and other
nonverbal structures as texts. 20 Included in his study is one of the
comicbooks responsible in large part for a revived interest in
comics in the United States in the mid-1980s.
Published in 1986, Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Suruiuor's Tale is
a comicbook recounting his parent's experiences related to their
internment in the concentration camps in Auschwitz parallel to
showing his strained, current relationship with his father, This
comicbook caused a stir when it was nominated by the National
Book Critics Circle for the biography category in 1987, and later
won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. 21 In the media attention to Maus,
it was clear that North American readers were surprised by the
topic, style, form, and length (2 volumes) of Spiegelman's comic-
book. Spiegelman's innovative and intelligent exploration with
comicbook form and content is not isolated. There have been other
successful attempts in comics which break away from common
comicbook formulas to maximise the rich formal and thematic
heritage of the medium; much of these took place in Europe, pri-
marily in France, Belgium, Italy and Germany, where a tradition of
well-written and skilfully illustrated comic books designed specifi-
12 Reading Comics
cally for adults have existed since the late 1960s. In the United
Stares, where comicbooks are mostly devised for teen-age diver-
sion, there have been notable changes in the comics scene in the
last two decades as evidenced br- the creations of, among others,
Will Eisner, Harvey Pekar, Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Jules Feiffer,
the Hernandez brothers, Art Spiegelman, Scott McCloud, Chester
Brown, Seth, Donna Barr, Roberta Gregory, Kurt Busiek, Peter
Bagge, Mike Allred, Jeff Smith, David Mazucchelli, Howard
Cruse, Daniel Clowes, and more recently, Adrian Tomine (refer to
Chapter Seuen, the section on "In the Shadow of the Speculation
Boom" in this book [or more information on these artists and their
works).
Artists, readers,and critics are developing an increasing confi-
dence towards the capacity of comic books as a legitimate artistic
form for expressing a wide range of ideas and emotions. As Witek
observes:
"the comic book, a widely accessible and commerciallyavail-
able medium, is now being chosen as a form by serious writ-
ers whose themes have traditionally been expressed in the
forms of verbal narratives, or in films and other visual narra-
tives ... such that a general reading public now exists in the
United States for narratives written in a medium historically
considered solely the domain of subliterate adolescent fan-
tasies and of the crassest commercial exploitation of rote
generic formulas. Comic art is thus a literary medium in tran-
sition from mass popularity and cultural disdain ro a new
respectability as a means of expression and communication,
and this new respect is evident first in the attitudes of the cre-
ators themselves. "22
The popular success of comics as a mass medium has long
obscured their pre-existence as an expressive form. Paying atten-
tion to the horde but ignoring individual examples, critics have
seized upon comics as a sociological subject for clinical study,
denying however from the onset that aesthetic qualities could be
attributed to this medium. That comics can function as an artistic
expression is proved by the presence of recently published comics
which dynamically deal with larger aesthetic and psychological
issues earlier unthinkable in the medium. As weil, there has been a
shift in critical attitude towards them to recognise that comics are
a legitimate contribution to the visual and narrative arts of the
world. One of the most comprehensive book dealing with comics

as an artistic medium is Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics:
The Invisible Art. This is a remarkable 215-page critical appraisal
of the art in a comicbook form, using the medium of comics itself
as a very innovative and effective way to study the art. 23 Robert C.
Harvey's The Art of Comic Book: An Aesthetic History clarifies
the form and language of the medium and illustrates the powerful
potential of comics as narrative art. 24 Other examples of scholar-
ship on comicbooks is Adult Comics: An Introduction by Roger
Sabin which comprehensively chronicles the rise and development
of these comicbooks in Great Britain and the United States. 25 For
insight into superhero comicbooks and the environment where
that created them, recent books published in North America that
are worth mentioning are Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs' The
Comic Book Heroes and Trina Robbins' The Great Women
Superberoesls
The emergence of comicbooks as a respectable literary form in
the 1980s might seem unlooked for given the long decades of cul-
tural scorn and active social repression but the potential has
always existed for comics to present the same kinds of narratives
as other verbal and pictorial media. Serious literature in comic
book form may be a relatively concept in American culture, but in
Europe, comics have long made broad inroads into highbrow cul-
ture, especially in France and Belgium and Germany where comics
for adults have been published steadily. In Germany, it is not
unusual to read reviews about comics in reputable newspapers, as
weIl as magazines such as Der Spiegel. In France, comics have been
reviewed in the literary pages of Le Monde alongside articles on
semiotics and biographies of prominent cultural figures. Without
having to go underground, French comics took on a highly critical
sociological and political character in the 1960s and 1970s.
University degrees on this topic may be had in France, Germany,
Belgium and Italy. In fact, at the Sorbonne, comics as a distinct dis-
cipline was institutionaIly introduced by the Institut d' Art et
d'Archeologie as early as 1972 and a special subject "l'Histoire et
l'Esthetique de la bande dessinee" (Aesthetic History of Comics)
has been taught by one of the leading figures in comics analysis,
Francis Lacassin. Together with Jules Renard, Lacassin helped
found the "Club des Bandes dessinees" in 1962 in Paris, which
later became the "Centre d'Etude des Litteratures d'Expression
14 Reading Comics
Graphique," a Center wh ich has consistently been crucial to the

development and growth of comics scholarship. He also published
Pour un neuuieme Art, to date the most comprehensive description
and analysis of the formal and structural aspects of comics.Z? Most
of the early critical attention to comics has been provided by
French, German and Italian scholars, who have even produced
many of the most comprehensive studies of American comic strips
and books. 28 Another difference in the attitude towards comics
between Europe and the US is apparent in the perception of comics
artists. The talents of Winsor McCay of Little Nemo in
Slumberland and Harry Herriman of Krazy Kat, both American
artists, were more fully appreciated in Europe before the USo At
present, several comics artists in Europe are publicly acclaimed not
only für their comicbooks, but for their achievements in other cul-
tural forms as well. The French-Yugoslav star Enki Bilal and the
Chilean Alejandro Jodorowski, for example, have recently made
films, and Gerard Lauzier's plays have opened successfully in Paris.
Other crossover artists include British novelist Doris Lessing, who
is presently scripting a comic book, and Javier Mariscal, who is
one of Spain's most famous designers, creating furniture as weIl as
the 1992 Olympic mascot, Cobi. 2 9 Art Spiegelman notes the dis-
crepancy: "In France, a cartoonist is one step below a movie direc-
tor. In America, (a cartoonist) has only slightly more status than a
plumber."30
Cultural attitudes towards the comics are changing in the USo
Comicbooks with intentionalliterary and artistic aspirations may
still be relatively rare but certainly prevalent enough to initiate new
interests, including re-considerations of the traditional, more com-
mercial comicbooks. One can finally see the development of a
body of works attempting to assess comics on their own terms,
measuring their worth against their own developed standards and
aesthetic principles rather than by the yards ticks of other related
art. 31 This is the most difficult area to write about due to present
inadequacies in the critical vocabulary as definitions of the struc-
tural and stylistic principles behind successful comic art have yet to
be formulated. Thus, there is still the tendency to rely on terms
borrowed from other areas of creative expression. Apart from the
necessity of formulating evaluative terms, there is as weIl the need
to clarify terms without turning them into constraints.
The problems confronting the re-assessment of comics reflect
the dilemmas which attend the study of other forms of popular cul-
ture: the attempts to smoothe the friction between refined aesthet-
ics and mass popularity and the struggle to legitimise its status
through critical academic approval-in short, preoccupations with
acceptance and hierarchies which have long plagued the field.
Much of the improved understanding and appreciation of popular
forms may be attributed to the shifts in ideological inclinations
used in analysing modern culture and society. Sanctioning and cat-
egorising are actions that have ideological implications, and para-
digms and criteria that were earlier presumed sacrosanct are now
being shown to be artificial, relative and subjective. Much of the
exposure and re-evaluation of implied ideology in the analysis of
popular culture is being undertaken within the framework of cul-
tural studies and it is in this field that the current breakthrough of
comics into mainstream scholarship must be contextualised.
NOTES
1 There have been intermittent attempts to sanitize the thematic and

graphic contents of comics which have been directed for the most part
against comicbooks, not comic strips (for a thorough investigation-
and reinterpretation-of the major complaints against comicbooks, see
Martin Barker, Comics: Power, Ideology and the Critics (Manchester:
Manchester UP, 1989). The publication requirements of the latter-
they are considerably shorter, usually appear in daily or Sunday news-
papers, and are subject to editorial regulations of these periodicals
which target a wider range of audience than comic books-have res-
cued the strips from the cultural hostility the comic books have suf-
fered. On the other hand, these requirements have set more limitations
for the comic strips and in general, the strips cannot match the graph-
ic spectacle of the books.
2 Wertharn, Fredric, The Seduction of the Innocent (New York:
Rhinehart and Wilson, 1954). Seen from outside the context of postwar
America of the 1950s, it is amazing how such an unsound and unsci-
entific piece of research could have been so powerful. There are now
many critics who probe the Import of this book on cornics. Among
them, james B. Twitchell extensively quotes Wertharn and illustrates
the flaws and inconsistencies in his reasoning, as well as exposes some
purposeful misreadings by Wertham. See "Disorderly Conduct
Illustrated: The Rise and Fall and Rise of the Comics," Chapter Four of
Preposterous Violence: Fables of Aggression in Modern Culture (New
York: Oxford UP, 1989): 129-80. Wertham's book is also discussed at
16 Reading Comics
length in Chapter Five of Martin Baker, A Haunt of Fears: the Strange

History of the British Horror Comics Campaign (London: Pluto Press,
1984) especially in relation to the insiduous use of the concept of "iden-
tification" in the criticism of comics; as weil as the problems this con-
cept embodies.
3 Lupoff, Dick and Don Thompson, eds. All in Color [or a Dime (New
Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1970): 17. The other two published
discussions were sociological studies of comics by Gershon Legman,
Love and Death: A Study in Censorship (New York: Breaking Point,
1949) and Geoffrey Wagner, "Popular Iconography in the USA," in
Parade of Pleasure (New York: Library Publishers, 1955).
4 For information on the American campaign, see in particular ]ames
Gilbert, A Cycle of Outrage (New York: Oxford UP, 1987). A great
deal of information and argument about this campaign is also to be
found in any of the general histories of American comics. To be.fair to
Wertham, he never advocated ablanket censorship. In fact, he pub-
lished his protestations about the arbitrariness of the Code and how
America would be better off if it did not exist. However, by this time
no one was listening. "Contrary to common belief Wertham's political
orientation was in fact liberal. He is often painted as a puritan, even a
fascist, but in his earlier life, he had campaigned against the abortion
laws and for freedom of speech. He was a supporter of Civil Rights and
opened the first psychiatrie clinic in Hadern (charging less than the
going rate because the locals were poor). Thus, in one sense, his oppo-
sition to blanket censorship was in keeping with his overall political
philosophy" in Roger Sabin, Adult Comics: An Introduction, (London:
Routledge, 1993): 280.
5 Twitchell, op cit., 135.
6 In his Notes and References to Chapter I of Comics: Ideology, Power
and the Critics, op cit., 303), Martin Barker provides information on
articles relating to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Germany.
7 ]oseph Witek, Comic Books as History: The Narrative Art of [ack:
]ackson, Art Spiegelman. and Harvey Pekar (Mississippi: University of
Mississippi Press, 1989): 50.
8 ]oseph Witek, "The Underground Roots of Fact-Based Comics," in
idem (1989): 48-57, p. 54. For more information on the Underground
Comix, refer to Mark Estren, A History of Underground Comix (San
Francisco: Straight Arrow, 1974); the second chapter of Thomas Inge,
Comics as Culture (Mississippi: University of Mississippi Press, 1990);
and the last chapter of Les Daniels, Comix: A History of Comic Books
in America (New York: Bonanza Books, 1971). So far, Estren's book is
the most comprehensive record of the comix; documentation of this
movement is difficult because (a) the underground comix were too idio-
syncratic in approach and too multifarious in subject matter to be eas-
ily summarised, (b) it must cover a wide expanse of the counterculture

scene which spanned California to New York, and (c) there is a gener-
al reluctance among the artists to cooperate with researchers and crit-
ics.
9 Refer to the Mark Estren, op cit., where he cites and counters numer-
ous examples of objections to the undergound comix. For other reac-
tions to the censorship of underground comix, see also, D. Donahue
and Susan Goodrick, eds., The Apex Treasury of Underground Comix
(New York: Quick Fox, 1974); and S. L. Huck, "Sex Comix: AReport
for Adults Only," American Opinion 17 (1970): 15-20.
10 See, for example, Valerie Walkerdine, "Seme day my Prince will come:
young girls and the preparation for adolescent sexuality," in Angela
McRobbie and Mica Nava, eds., Gender and Generation (London:
Macmillan, 1984): 162-84; Clare Dellino, "Comics that set a bad
example," Sunday Times (February 15, 1971): 19; Ruth Strang, "Why
Children Read Comics," Elementary School journal (1943): 336-342.
For more examples and sustained analysis of poor approaches and
methodology in comics criticism, refer to the two books by Martin
Barker in the Bibliography section of this thesis.
11 Joli Jensen, Redeeming Modernity: Contradictions in Media Criticism
(London: Sage Publications, 1990) especially Chapters Two and Three.
12 Les Daniels, Comix: A History of Comic Books in America (New
York: Bonanza Books, 1971).
13 Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart How to Read Donald Duck:
Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic (New York: International
General, 1976). Barker (1989) praises Dorfman and Mattelart as a
"rnodel of propriety when it comes to giving references" since a gener-
al frustration in studying comics is the incompleteness of references,
especially inattention to details in dates and edition numbers of the
original materials.
14 R. Reitberger and W. Fuchs, Comics: Anatomy of a Mass Medium
(London: Studio Vista, 1972). Translated from the German Comics:
Anatomie eines Massenmediums published by Rowohlt
Taschenbücher.
15 Horn, Maurice, Comics of the American West (New York: Winchester
Press, 1977); Women in Comics (New York: Chelsea House Publishers,
1980). This book provides good visual examples but disappoints in
critical depth, A third one is Sex in the Comics (New York: Chelsea
House, 1985).
16 For examples of the new approaches to media discourse, refer to the
works of John Fiske, James Carey, Tony Bennett, Stuart Hall, Ervin
Goffman, M. Gurevitch, J. Curran and J. Woollacott, among others, in
the Selected Bibliography section of this study.
18 Reading Comics
17 Martin Barker, Comics: The Critics, Ideology, and Power (Manchester:

Manchester University Press, 1989).
18 Will Eisner, Comics and Sequential Art (Tamarac, Fla.: Poorhouse
Press, 1985).
19 Thomas Inge, Comics as Culture (Mississipi: University Press of
Mississippi, 1990). Inge is an important authority in the medium and
played a vital role in the academic community's awakening to the art form.
20 Witek, op cit.
21 Art Spiegelman, Maus: A Survivor's Tale (New York: Pantheon, 1986).
22 Witek, op cit, 37.
23 Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (Princeton,
Wisconsin: Kitchen Sink Press, 1993).
24 Robert Harvey, The Art of the Comic Book: An Aesthetic History
(Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996).
25 Roger Sabin, Adult Comics: An Introduction (London and New York:
Routledge, 1993).
26 Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs, The Comic Book Heroes (Rocklin, CA:
Prima Publishing, 1997) and Trina Robins, The Great Women
Superheroes (Northampton, MA: Kitchen Sink Press, 1996). There is
also an excellent book in German about the medium in Andreas
Knigge's Comics: Vom Massenblatt ins multimedia Abenteur
(Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1996).
27 Francis Lacassin, Pour un neuuieme art (Paris: Slatkine Editions,
1982).
28 European sources, mostly unavailable in English, have been included
in the Bibliography section.
29 Margot Hornblower, "Beyond Mickey Mouse: Comics Grow Up and
Go Global," Time (1 November 1993): 63-64.
30 Ibid, 64.
31 Refer to the works of Arthur Berger (1991); A. Dorfman (1983); S.
McCloud (1993); D. Chavez (1988); N. Harris (9185); B. DeMott
(1984); Pearson and Uricchio (1993); R. Sabin (1993), Harvey (1996),
among others, in rhe Bibliography section of this study.
CHAPTER Two
Responses to Comicbooks
and the Concept of the
"Popular"
This chapter focuses on how varying perceptions and discourses

about popular culture are implicated in the discourses used in
describing and evaluating comicbooks. My concern is not to come
up with a definitive meaning of the "popular" but to focus on the
languages in which comicbooks have been discussed, and the ways
in which these discourses have affected the history and politics of
the production and consumption of comicbooks.
Discussions of any cultural form inevitably involve questions
of aesthetics, history, and politics. Clarifying the categorisation of
comicbooks as a "popular" form, and analysing the traditional
critical ambivalence in responding to sequential art as a valid cul-
tural product, bring up aspects of the notion of "popular culture"
that are best perceived as problematic rather than definitive. In the
range of responses to comics and its by-product-in the press, by
critics, by fans, or by cultural theorists-there is a level of energy
wh ich attests to a cultural and social debate that is connected to
many other aspects of modern life such as technology, media, com-
munication, and visual arts. That the majority of the criticism of
comicbooks, except for the recent ones, have largely failed to pro-
duce new concepts for exploring cultural forms, social relations
19
20 Reading Comics
and hierarchies, or even acknowledged that they might be

required, is a measure of the newness and the difficulty of the
problems addressed in this study. This chapter, then, shall attempt
to relate the development of critical discourses about comicbooks
to the wider context of popular culture while questioning the usual
impressions of the concepts, relations, hierarchies and standards in
the social and cultural spheres of modern life.
The discussion will focus mostly on the responses to sequen-
tial art by American and British critics, theorists, and publics.
Given the more substantial amount of research on sequential art in
continental Europe, this may seem surprising. But the proposition
that the development of political, literary and theoretical lan-
guages used to analyse popular culture has to be given the speci-
ficity of anational context cannot be emphasised enough.
Sequential art, particularly comic strips, has been popularly
acknowledged as an American form. And, although European
comicbooks have previously outdistanced American ones in the
range of themes, narratives, and forms of visual impact, the form
and content of sequential art in the United States, Canada, and
England quickly caught up in the mid-1980s.
Changes to the reactions to comicbooks in the United States
reflect the radically changing tendencies in thinking about culture
and the "popular." In the specific history and development of
comic strips to graphic novels, for example, one sees the develop-
ment of recognisable and distinctive responses to the medium,
characterised by patronage, paternalism, and obsessive return to
the "literary" or concepts in cinema criticism. This latter gesture is
particularly ironic as a medium itself once labelled "popular"-the
cinema-is now being used as a legitimising medium for sequential
art.
In trying to evaluate comicbooks as a new cultural form,
explicit and implicit cultural hierarchies must be examined. This
examination will necessarily touch upon arguments or charges
about cultural decline in a wider context. It would be difficult to
understand the compelling influence of Frederic Wertham and the
consequences of his attack on comicbooks in isolation from the
American political context of the 1940s and 1950s that spawned
it. We need, therefore, to examine the country's social and cultur-
al ideals in order to decipher the rise and "need" for underground
comix to rebel against the definition of the all-American boy, the
Responses to Comicbooks 21
family as an institution, prevailing middle-class bourgeois values,

and so on. In the same vein, in evaluating the decline in sales of
superherocomicbooks in the mid-1990s, we have to examine the
impulses in the comics industry and its readers which led to its
decline.
The most popular comicbooks read mostly by male adoles-
cents present a specific and interesting commentary concerning the
relations between culture, history, national identity, and social suc-
cess. The unquestioning patriotism of superheroes unashamedly
fighting for Uncle Sam while remaining assured of recurring and
unfailing victory against the enemies of country and society pro-
vides an example of a social text worthy of examination. The rep-
resentation of enemies and villains in these comicbooks is highly
dependent on the social and cultural relations of the United States
at any one time, as weil as the prevailing ideas of unity and con-
formity. The study of comics necessarily invites investigation in
this more sociological realm.
In looking at the development of comicbooks and the respons-
es to them, one becomes aware of the problems the concept of the
"popular" poses for debates within the dominant culture and the
categories relevant to define it, e.g., history, national identity, insti-
tutional stability, monetary resources and productive power,
among others. In previous studies, representations and ideas in
comicbooks which suggest cultural hierarchies and differences
have been usually cloaked in general cultural terms, as if these dif-
ferences were simply a matter of audience, taste, or preference.
Only recently have critical responses to comicbooks referred
explicitly to the assumptions about class, age, race and gender
which underlie the differences and reveal the biases in the envi-
ronment in which they are received and reviewed. In tracing the
changes behind responses to comics, one may perceive the complex
and focal points of cultural studies in re-constructing the concept
of the "popular" by accounting for cultural differences and prac-
tices NOT in reference to intrinsic or external values (how good,
how beautiful) but by inferences to the overall map of social rela-
tions and practices (in whose interests, by whose estimation).
The sudden prestige granted to adult comics or graphic novels
attests to the need for caution in evaluating new cultural forms
strictly within the confines of either intrinsic or external values.
Graphie novels increased both in quality and quantity since the
22 Reading Comics
mid-1980s and are now part of a cultural landscape that would

have been unimaginable two decades ago. Their present cultural
status and favourable reception cannot be traced solely to the
refinements in their formal and structural features. The following
list, for example, provides a partial enumeration of some of the
changes in the production, distribution and marketing of comic-
books which have influenced the perception and reception of these
books: the amount of disposable income now available to former
adolescent comic fans; the increasing number of people who "grew
up" with comics now in positions of power in the publishing busi-
ness; the spread of new scholars and critics who grew up in a
rnulti-media environment of learning and cultural refinement; the
growing appreciation of other graphie arts like films, videos and
television; the formation of an auteur system that gives the artists
more creative freedom; the sale of comicbooks in specialty stores,
bookstores, and over the internet rather than news-stands; devel-
opments in technology; the multi-media approach to promoting
comicbooks characters and stories; and finally, the increased con-
temporary awareness and availability of comicbooks from Europe
and Japan. All these and other factors have greatly influenced the
recent trend in comicbook sales in America, the changes in the
medium's form and contents, as weIl as its critical reception and
type of audience. Sequential art is gradually shedding the stigma of
triviality to establish itself as a genre capable of rivalling other nar-
ratives and signifying practices in the process of producing and
representing reality.
THE POPULAR AS INFERIOR
The reasons why comics have been described as a form of popular

culture show the ambiguities involved in conceptualising the "pop-
ular"; the reasons also recall the on-going dialogue about hierar-
chies and definitions in culture. First of all, sequential art is seen as
a popular form because it is different from the forms favoured by
the dominant or official culture. Critics constantly refer to its dif-
ference from literature, often comparing the experiences of reading
literature and "reading comics." Usually perceived as a visual
form, sequential art is deemed both inadequate and/or too explic-
it for a culture that confers pre-erninence on the written word.
Reading literature is seen as offering free play to the imagination,
while comicbooks are overtly explicit and thus produce passivity.

Too many factors and other people intervene between the "cre-
ator" or author and the audience. Reading, according to this the-
ory, should allow for direct access to an author's thoughts and lan-
guage, whereas creative expression in comics, or other popular
forms, is constantly hampered by the industrial and technical con-
straints of the medium. Furthermore, popular forms like comics
are more sales or profit-oriented and thus are capable of compro-
mising excellence or artistic merits for wider consumer appeal.
Therefore, the creators themselves often concede creativity because
they are constrained by factors external to the medium such as
deadlines, editorial decisions, space allotment, sales statistics, and
so on. This practice contrasts highly with the presumed purity of
artistic expressions and the unrestricted range and freedom found
in novels, poetry, and other forms of art deemed serious by the
principal culture.
Comics, then, is a popular form by default because it does not
meet the criteria for serious cultural significance when compared
to works of literature which consist of the "finest human experi-
ence" and are capable of evoking a "genuine personal response." 1
Popular culture, collectively and commercially produced, is stereo-
typed, formulaic, anonymous, and deficient in "human experi-
ence" according to this view. Consequently, sequential art is
described as an impoverished form of culture, hence "popular,"
Here, one sees the equation of "popular" with "base" or "inferi-
or" wh ich has characterised many discussions of popular culture.
Such notions have also led to a rather extended rejection or trivi-
alization of comics and caused a dearth of serious critical attention
to it.
THE POPULAR AND IMPERMANENCE
Sequential art is also described as "popular" because of its

ephemeral nature. Dominant forms of culture are institutionalised
in libraries and galleries or in ways that will ensure their preserva-
tion and their centrality to the cultural debate. The institutions of
comics, on the other hand, are notorious for their impermanence
as objectified by their product's form, often referred to as "throw-
away entertainment." Until recently, there also seemed astrange
reluctance to engage with any notion of the history or continuity
24 Reading Comics
of this medium. Only now are there noticeably more attempts to

document the popular or critical memories of comics and the
comics industry. Unfortunately, a vast amount of primary material
has already been irretrievably lost. Oue to the scarcity of organised
and existing accounts about the industry and the conditions and
decisions therein, most research into the early days of comics must
be constructed from the memory or perspective of "industry insid-
ers." This ephemeral quality assures sequential art exclusion from
those cultural discourses founded on the notion of continuity and
tradition, and whose merits are gauged by their enduring qualities.
Comics are thus largely denied the serious critical and theoretical
attention given to other forms of communication and expression
due to the long-standing fallacy of equating the most prevalent
form of the medium-the physical comicbook-as BEING the
medium itself. The wrong, but persistent, perception of the actual
comicbook as the medium itself has prompted many changes in the
present production, distribution and sales of comicbooks. There is
currently a noticeable shift of emphasis on "books" rather than
"comics," as evidenced, for example, in the re-narning of comic-
books to "graphie novels" as reeent erops of eomiebooks pub-
lished in North America increasingly aspire to a "book-look," sim-
ilar to the format of comicbooks in Europe and Japan. In the same
vein, comicbooks are now sold in bookstores and specialty stores,
wh ich has enhanced their cultural status among the general public,
and has likewise modified its group of readers. Much like any
product subject to a semiotic reading, the socially determined place
of appearance influences the decision of the comics reader, includ-
ing its critics. Where comics are placed and seen, who reads and
talks about comics, what comes before and after them and what
surrounds the perception of the medium are all aspects which
attest to the fact that the place of the medium is related to its
meaning and that the location and environment of comics have
semantic value.
While comicbooks themselves may be ephemeral, the medium
and form are not. In fact, many acclaimed directors and scriptwrit-
ers of film, television and video admit their indebtedness to comics
for refining aspects of their art. Many mythologies, characters,
anecdotes and forms of humour which originated in comics are
deeply ingrained not only in American consciousness but have
found their way into a world-wide system of reference. The lan-
guage, characters and narratives in comics do not exist devoid of

ideologies, doctrines, and biases. Given the ubiquity of the medi-
um and its influence on a large portion of the population, it is dif-
ficult to imagine that sequential art did not, in an enduring way,
participate in or contribute to the cultural debates or struggles of
the medium's surrounding social environment.
GENERAL ACCESSIBILITY SPELLS MEDIOCRITY
Comics are often described as a "popular" cultural form simply

because they are well-liked andhave most probably touched the
lives of everyone at one point or another. This observation can be
made in relation to comics as a whole, in relation to particular
types of comics-superhero comics, humorous comics, science fic-
tion, horror, and romance are among these at the top of the list-
or in relation to by-products and spin offs from comics in whatev-
er other form of merchandise. The power and popularity of comics
and the characters generated from them as a whole, however, have
generally been problematic for critics, simply because the other,
more negative meanings of the "popular" are always present in the
margins. Comics, for example, is seen as "popular" in its general
accessibility (contrary to catering to a "cultured" or "cultivated"
few), its pandering to mediocrity, and in its broad appeal to a gen-
eral, acquiescent public which is characterised as unsophisticated
and hence easy to cater to.
The debate between general accessibility and cultural authen-
ticity is usually based on the concept of cultural authenticity in the
sphere of the literary: comicbooks are measured against the narra-
tives and characterisation found in the novel or are measured
against a set of cultural values derived from literature. Given this
criteria of evaluation, comics are naturally almost always found
wanting. This attempt to designate the particular, historically spe-
cific modes of representation which have characterised the novel as
a guarantor of the worth of all cultural forms cannot be impartial.
Once more, this emphasis on the criteria of other literary modes is
a testament to the importance of the "literary" as an articulation
of agreed cultural values. Confronted by this tendency it would
seem that there is no way to respond to the democratisation, or
accessibility, represented by comicbooks and other popular forms
of expression except in terms of decline, and loss of authenticity.
26 Reading Comics
The frequent movement between the realm of literary criticism and

the analysis of popular culture has tended to hamper the develop-
ment of a specific language for the analysis of popular narratives
in general, and sequential art in particular.
REPRESENTATIONS IN COMICBOOKS
One other way in which comics are implicated in discourses of the

"popular" encompasses two seemingly contrary notions. They are
seen both as (a) constitutive of and (b) rebelling against the ideas
of the people and the nation. At any one time, readers are cog-
nisant of a hegemonie or dominant mentality and, accordingly,
comics are perceived as either rebelling against or catering to this
mentality. Critics frequently echo this sort of construction, either
attempting to align comics with those that assert legitimisation of
the common or dominant cultural values, or criticising comics for
falling behind the "standard American." Either way, the definition
of prevailing ideas of "people" and "nation" are implicated. To
what extent do comicbooks celebrate dominant viewpoints?
Especially after the institution of the Comics Code, comicbooks
are seen as offering constructions of social relations which make a
certain unified notion of "the American people," the very same
paradigms that are ironically de-constructed in more recent graph-
ie novels.
Arguments about how comicbooks deliberately and playfully
engage the interests of their readers will be discussed in more detail
in the following chapters though it must be mentioned here that
establishing a legitimisation/criticism dichotomy ignores the com-
plexity of the issue. Argumentation itself, for example, may be
more a matter of degree than of absolutes. And even the most fun-
damental social criticism appearing in mainstream media may, in
certain instances, serve to legitimate social values and structures,
albeit in the disguise of criticism. As Gitlin shows, oppositional
movements can be "framed," their voice and arguments distorted
and labeled as deviant and wrang, in such a way as to depoliticize
thern.Z
Some critics reject the dismissal of all television as debased and
corrupt, and try to establish a hierarchy within the forms of tele-
vision, either in terms of different channels (shopping channel vs.
all-news channel) or in terms of different genres (soap operas vs.
current affairs}. The same is true now with sequential art. 3

Hierarchies are established between graphie novels and superhero
series and humorous ones, bound volumes and loose-leafed or sin-
gle issues, traditional superheroes and mature, ironie new ones,
established artists and unknowns. Even the publishing houses are
ranked according to putative value.
Unlike television, however, whose almost intrusive accessibili-
ty makes its representations of reality available to most members
of all social classes, the differences in comicbooks are already vis-
ible at the point of consumption. Reading comicbooks entails
more activity than watehing television; it often requires the choice
and purehase, and sometimes collection, of issues with variable
publication dates and frequency. These activities are performed
repeatedly, usually weekly or monthly, as opposed to the conven-
ience of daily turning on a television in one of several rooms. There
are also more representations of all kinds of social reality available
in television simply because of the immense quantity of types of
programmes available: newscasts, advertisements, game shows,
documentaries and so on. Such programmes are aired almost
twenty four hours allowing one to anticipate them for viewing or
simply chance upon them while channel surfing. Representations
in comicbooks are already circumscribed by the amount and type
of periodicals purchased, and for the longest time the assortment
of comicbook genres was not very broad. Even in the case of comic
strips, the difference between the dominant and the marginally
popular was never particularly visible at the point of consumption
since strips began appearing in newspapers and, even presently, are
still published within newspapers and magazines. Furthermore, the
reading of comicbooks denies the possibility of the kind of inter-
active discussion and sharing which often attends group television
viewing, or the reading aloud or re-telling of comic strips in com-
munal settings-i.e., the sharing of newspapers within the horne,
workplace, and such public places as a doctor's office, trains, or
subway stations. The audience perception of differing media con-
cerning their content and significance is influenced by the differing
circumstances which frame television and comic strips and which
allow for communal forms of qualification by readers.
Like any other medium, comicbooks may be read on different
levels, but in gauging critical responses in general, they seem to be
more prone to be read as legitimising or rebelling against rigid
28 Reading Comics
social categorisations because of the lingering association of the

medium with adolescents or the avanr-garde. More nuanced
assessments of cultural practices and differences, however, may be
detected in aspects which were formerly identified as similarities
and continuities in comicbooks. The labelling or classification of
comicbooks has been getting increasingly difficult, as has the iden-
tification of its readership." Earlier critical attempts to distinguish
genres within comics and the connections between types of comics
and readers were conducted in general cultural terms which tend-
ed to account for such differences as if they were simply a matter
of age and taste, instead of examining and explicitly referring to
the issues of social class, gender, and opportunities which underlie
these differences and preferences.
In undervaluing the grounding of differences at the level of
social dimensions instead of simply cultural ones, there is a ten-
dency to see the popularity of comicbooks as a symptom, or per-
haps a source, of a certain cultural homogeneity. Readers are unit-
ed by the fact of their reading comics. Critics, government com-
mittees, and the comicbook industry admit to this by their insis-
tence in giving an "identity" or definitive description to the
"groups" who read comicbooks. The demographies of this homo-
geneity have been used as the basis for sporadic attacks on comic-
books by educators, child psychologists, and concerned authori-
ties, as well as by those involved in the manufacture of the medi-
um in order to plan for and improve their merchandise and rner-
chandising strategies. Both camps endow more social and political
substance to this unity, assuming that readers of comicbooks form
coherent, non-hierarchical groups who share cultural and political
values. This exemplifies the fluid shifts in the significance of "the
popular"-from a term of legal and political relations to a syn-
onym for the "general public." This is an interesting tension
utilised in the discussions of sequential art as a form of popular
culture. While one set of arguments tends to reproduce existing
social and cultural hierarchies (culture in terms of "elevated" and
"base"), the other tends to repress them in the name of the "audi-
ence" or the "man in the street" (as in wide and well-liked or
trendy). Thus, difference and distinction can be acknowledged at
the level of the cultural where they can be represented as natural,
but are consistently removed from discussions of the social dimen-
sions of comics which also tend to overlook wh at roles comic-
books might have had in the construction of notions of "the pop-

ular."
CULTURAL COLLAPSE
Evaluating responses to sequential art raises exactly the sorts of

questions about the relation between cultural forms and social and
political structures central to the attempts to find new categories
and new ways in studying cultural forms. Even the use of one
form, comicbooks as a case study, shows the difficulty of thinking
social, technological and subjective determinants simultaneously
and is a measure of the difficulty of breaking away from inherited
debates about social and cultural relations. Within the past decade,
a wide range of cultural critics, as weil as literary and social histo-
rians, representing radically different ideological perspectives, have
pointed to the crisis within cultural life. They consider culture to
be no longer a unitary, fixed category but a decentered, fragmen-
tary assemblage of conflicting voices and institutions. They draw
attention to the prevailing awareness that an "official," centralised
culture is increasingly difficult to identify in contemporary soci-
eties. Although explanations for this development differ quite
drastically from theorist to theorist, as do their responses to it, the
common denominator remains a recognition that a "culture"
shared by all is continuing to fragment.v
As categories of literature and kinds of public continue to
diversify and multiply, "culture" becomes a fundamentally conflict
ridden terrain.
The significance of this emerging school of cultural analysis
comes from its recognition that all cultural production must
be seen as a set of power relations that produce particular
forms of subjectivity, but that the nature, function, and uses
of mass culture can no longer be conceived in a monolithic
manner.v
As the concept of "eulture" splinters into varying directions,

the terms and the framework we use to understand it become
ambivalent, even arbitrary. Jim Collins proffers the observation
that our culture has become highly "discourse-sensitive" in that:
how we conceptualise our culture depends upon discourses
which construct it in conflicting, often contradictory ways,
30 Reading Comics
according to interests and values of those discourses as they

struggle to legitimise themselves as privileged forms of repre-
senta tion. 7
An on-going proliferation of popular narratives, the unpre-

dictable diversification of their publics, and the increasingly seri-
ous attention given to these forms attest to this "struggle for legit-
imisation." Amidst the rise of varied textual production and social
diversification, analyses of cultural forms must rest on expanded
definitions of culture, media and communication and changed cri-
teria for the designation of valid objects of study. Cultural analy-
sis must act on the democratic principle assumed by Raymond
Williams in Culture and Society that the discourses of all members
of a society should be its concern, not just those of an educated
elire.f
As more and more kinds of texts and forms of discourses com-
pete to define for themselves their cultural and social space, the
connection between language and the distribution of power and
the role of discourses in the distribution of ideologies, become
more apparent. Critical studies of television and cinema have
exhibited much initiative in exploring these lines of inquiry. The
uses of cultural forms to maintain social control, the relations
between dominant and subordinate cultural forms, the possibility
of cultural authenticity, the necessary relations between technolog-
ical progress and cultural decline, the corrupting effects of gener-
ally accessible forms of culture, the hierarchies imbued in cate-
gorising forms, and the gender roles in cultural production and
consumption are all areas which have been explored in this gener-
al critical project. Responses to comicbooks have only very recent-
ly started locating the medium and its consequences within such
discussions. Nonetheless even former ways of talking about
comics, when re-examined along the lines of these new perspec-
tives, can be made to participate in the continuation and adapta-
tion of debates about issues central to the evaluation and re-defi-
nition of culture, media and communication.
Much interrogation of the validity of comicbooks as a cultur-
al form concerns the mass media's "effects and influence" or
"hypodermic needle effect" type. This form of cultural inquiry
concentrates on the effects of comicbooks in influencing moral and
social values, including political ones, and the medium's role in the
distribution of deficient and rebellious values relative to estab-
lished authority. To some extent, such questions are unavoidable

since comicbooks and strips may be perceived as a widely con-
sumed source of political and dramatic representations (though
still far below the range and frequency of television). It is notable,
however, as Denis McQuail has pointed out, that we do not ask
such questions of other major institutions of communication such
as the Church, or the Law, whose legitimacy and responsibility
seem to be taken for granted.?
But while such establishments are more prominent, and cer-
tainly more powerful in creating partial representations of reality,
it seems more reasonable instead to look at a less culturally perva-
sive medium such as comicbooks in terms of the ways it con-
tributes to our conception of social and cultural relations, or about
the types of experience or knowledge which these books either
enhance or marginalise. There are some questionable presump-
tions underlying the traditional "effects and influence" method.
This model treats its subjects as decontextualised, asocial beings
who either absorb mass media contents or (luckily) resist them. It
also frames the problems in terms of assessing the measurable
"effects" of comicbooks on an otherwise stable political and cul-
tural structure, running the risk both of simplifying the communi-
cation process and displacing an entire matrix of social transfor-
mations onto a single institution.
We must not farget that whatever the effects of comicbooks
are, it cannot be assumed that the environment is otherwise stable
in that it only receives without re-acting. Rather, it is more the case
that the environment is a continually changing thing and much
more complex in character than that which allows itself to be pas-
sively influenced. The truth is that the audience affects books just
as books affect the audience, because consumers affect the product
just as products affect consumers. Comicbooks have flourished at
a time of increased diversity in society's composition and identity.
Increased mobility and an attendant intermixing of people led also
to the greater mixing of social ideologies and aesthetic preferences.
This is reflected in the increasing variety of forms and types of dis-
courses people choose to believe can reflect their reality or the real-
ity they wishto see. People often utilise multiple discourses; those
who read comicbooks, for example, usually also watch television
and film, and avail themselves of other forms of print narratives.
In the face of many factors that are constantly interacting, it is
32 Reading Comics
really quite difficult to blame such particular cultural forrns as

comicbookswith causing the moral deterioration and cultural
decline attributed to it by many critics.
Overlooking the general instability of society as a factor is
apparent, for instance, in the magnitude of response to Frederic
Wertham's attack on comicbooks despite the unsound reasoning of
his book and the gaps between his premises and conclusions cen-
suring comicbooks for a range of deficiencies from juvenile delin-
quency to romanticising criminal and sexual deviance, and belit-
tling authority. His charges occurred during a time and in an
atmosphere imbued with changes and uncertainties about the
structure and stability of social institutions. Due to its format and
unfortunately close link to adolescents and children, comicbooks
were easy targets as scapegoats.U' Frorn a very early stage, a par-
ticular and persistent equation was made between comicbooks and
adolescence and, by extension, the moral and spiritual health of
the family, society and the nation. This follows the tendency of
criticism about media effects to see the family as the focal, and vul-
nerable, point of social relations. In the case of comicbooks, the
family is particularly threatened because its most vulnerable mem-
bers, children, are ingesting dubious values and ideas about ethics
and authority through comicbooks. By 1954, when Wertham's
Seduction of the Innocent was published, comicbooks were
already long susceptible to outside pressure groups because of their
child-oriented market.
The ability of pressure groups to influence a medium depends
gready upon its perceived vulnerability to such pressure. Comics
were sufficiently vulnerable to outside criticism and press ure
because it was perceived as a medium for children and adolescents,
and for a long time, it was not clear that they were protected by
the First Arnendment.U Educators and psychologists endlessly
debated whether comicbooks corrupt children. In 1940, one of the
first descriptions of comicbooks in a professional journal (Journal
of Educational Sociology) claimed that comics'
emde blaeks and reds spoil the child's natural sense of eolour,
their hypodermie injeetion of sex and murder make the ehild
impatient with better, though quieter stories, Unless we want
a eoming generation even more feroeious than the present
one, parents and teaehers through-out Ameriea must band
together to break the "cornic" magazine. 12
Quite early in its inception as a medium, the potential for out-

side criticism from parents, educators, community and religious
groups, and especially the government had afflicted comicbooks
and already tended to "mainstream" content and discourage
themes that might be viewed as corrupting.
In addition to this continuous outside pressure to "rnain-
stream" content, two other factors influenced the content and for-
mat of comicbooks in its early years, and steered the medium
towards reinforcing dominant social values and institutions: a) the
organisation of the comics industry and its preferred methods for
production; and b) the war effort which increased the importance
of reinforcing dominant values and institutions to solidify the 0.5.
sentiment against the Axis menace. It is easy to understand why
World War 11 comicbooks exemplified the medium's purest expres-
sion of dominant social values.
More indirect were the effects of the basic organisation of the
industry and the way the medium was produced. As in any medi-
um, there was tension between those industry practitioners who
saw their product as a commodity and those who saw it as an
artistic endeavour. After the enormous success of Superman in
1939-1940, the comicbook industry expanded suddenly and mas-
sively as more and more businesses sought to profit from this new
phenomenon. Many early comicbook organisations, especially the
smaller companies, were owned by people who had earned size-
able amounts of money during Prohibition, not always legally, and
who sought to invest this money in easily accessible and successful
industries.t ' Thus, in the industry's first decade, the scales were
overwhelmingly tipped toward the commodities view where the
philosophy of many of the early publishers was
da it cheap, Find cheap labour, pay cheap prices. Low over-
head. Tie up as little money as possible. Take out as much
money as possible. The results were predictable-in a few
years the bad drove out the good.l"
By the mid 1940s, production was already highly routinized

and the strict divisions of tasks between artists, writers, and edi-
tors were not conducive to artistic innovation or autonomy. For
artists, especially, economic incentives encouraged simple, quickly
produced content. Many artists were teenage boys from modest
backgrounds who were willing to work for low wages. They were
34 Reading Comics
typically paid by the page which encouraged them to work quick-

ly.15 The publisher usually owned the rights to the finished art-
work, and artists and writers were rarely credited. All these factors
encouraged the early comicbook creators to work quickly and to
put little artistic effort into plots, characterisation, and illustra-
tions. Coupled with the main audience of the medium, children,
this reinforced the formulaic aspects and mainstream themes of
comicbooks. Comicbooks shied away from themes dealing with
sophisticated social criticism and instead opted for plots and char-
acterisations that children could easily grasp. Through the 1940s
and early 1950s, comicbooks stressed simple themes such as good
versus evil, with clearly established rules for understanding which
characters were good and which characters were not.
Despite all these factors which sought to steer comicbooks
toward reinforcing dominant views and ideals, negative sentiments
reigned in the critical responses to the medium. The appraisal of
comicbooks as a serious threat to society culminated in the form-
ing of the strictest and most influential organisation ever to have
control over comics-the Comics Code Authority formed in 1954
and headed by former New York magistrate Charles F. Murphy,
who became the comicbook equivalent of the notorious movie cen-
sor Will Hays.l6 Once again, the Comics Code Authority was
explicitly designed to "mainstream" the values and messages pre-
sented in comic books. One rule, for example, stated that "police-
men, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall
not be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for estab-
lished authority." 17
Within its first six months of existence, the Authority
reviewed 5,000 stories, 200 of which were rejected and 1,300
were revised. Many comic book publishers were pushed out of
business. EC (Educational Comics) at first subscribed to the
Code but abruptly abandoned it after a story about a black
astronaut was to be rejected unless the character was
recoloured as white (44, p. 314). Like some other publishers,
EC then switched to a larger-sized black and white format that
was not subject to the Code.
The Code was a setback for the art of comics, which was
forced into essentially infantile patterns when its potential for
maturity had only begun to be explored,18
There was nothing inherent in the nature of comicbooks that

dictated its development as a cultural form economically and insti-
tutionally linked to children and adolescents. After all, the earliest
comicbooks were bound reprints of strips earlier published in
newspapers and enjoyed by adults and children alike. However,
bereft of the surrounding seriousness of black-and-white columns
of print about politics, sports, and current stock market reports,
the same strips seemed to give a different impression. The very first
comicbooks were given away as premiums for the purchase of chil-
dren's praducts. Even these, however, were bound strips of "Joe
Palooka" and "Mutt and Jeff," not specifically intended as chil-
dren's fare. Undoubtedly, it was the 1938 publication of the first
superhero, Superman, that launched and guaranteed the success of
comicbooks as a medium for the youth. This success was rein-
forced by Superman's pervasiveness in other media such as syndi-
cated newspaper strips, the sale of other commodities with the
Superman character or symbol and, somewhat later, Saturday
morning cartoons in the television. Superman stories were pub-
lished in two periodicals, Action Comics and its sister publication
Superman. By 1941, the two Superman comicbooks sold 1.4 mil-
lion copies every two weeks.I"
Children regarded the early comic books as "their books," the
first medium they exclusively could call their own. Ninety-five
percent of boys and 91 percent of girls between the ages of six
and eleven bought comic books regularly by 1943. Annual
sales revenue reached $15 million, approximately 75 percent
of which came from children's purchases. 20
The implications of this new cultural form invading the priva-
cy of hornes and school playgraunds were received, and have since
then been attached, with suspicion and head shaking among
adults. Comicbooks were very quickly perceived as a "problern."
The growth of a cultural form that was affordable, easily accessi-
ble and so popular triggered anxiety: how was contral to be exer-
cised over the consumption of such cultural forms?
The obsession with control and regulations was reflected in
the critical discussions of comicbooks. As early as the 1940s, when
comic books were beginning to be extremely popular, one can
already find the elements that were to dominate the discourses
which addresscomicbooks: a noticeable displacement of social
36 Reading Comics
problems onto forms of "the popular"-a strategy not unique to

the reception of comicbooks but generally utilised in evaluating
new forms of mass media. New popular forms are hardly primari-
ly analysed for their aesthetics or intrinsic formal characteristics
but are always evaluated in terms of their impact on society, more
specifically, the extent of their merit or threat in upholding values
and institutions already in place and in terms of how they conform
to or rebel against authority.
Interestingly, the apprehensions and caution which greet new
forms tend to revolve around issues related to sex and violence.
Perhaps due to the general suspicion in perceiving new forms or
because of the general apprehensive atmosphere of cultural decline
in the twentieth century, discussions ab out effects and influences of
the mass media and popular culture were usually examined in rela-
tion to the vulnerability of order and authority in society and very
often became disguised treatises and attacks about sex and vio-
lence. A common critique of comicbooks, for example, could be
summarised this way: the "problem" is seen as social decay, i.e.,
too much sex and violence; the "cause" found in comicbooks, and
the "solution" is the imposition of one common set of social and
moral values, presented in the name of peace and progress. A
review of the responses to comicbooks reveals that a large per-
centage of the critical commentary follows an established pattern
of investigation and evaluation. Previous studies of mass media,
which correlate the expansion of popular forms and the deteriora-
tion of societal norms concerning the family and other social insti-
tutions, are reviewed and their negative findings re-articulated.
VIOLENCE IN COMICBOOKS
Studies done on mass media, especially in relation to sex and vio-

lence, are often predetermined by assumptions that bear on the
very categories, methods, procedures, and therefore, results of the
research. A pervading sense of cultural decline and social disinte-
gration, for example, overdetermines or sets the tone for such stud-
ies. Morag Shiach, in relation to his analysis of television, critiques
one of the most influential books on mass media criticism, Eysenck
and Nias's Sex, Violen ce, and the Media.2 1 Morag Shiach may be
quoted at length here because it shows the same assumptions
ab out sex and violence which inform most essays about mass
Responses to Comiebooks 37
media and popular forms and their role in the deterioration of

modern society:
Eysenck and Nias do not examine the history of the concepts
of "sex" and "violence" in order to understand the cultural
and historical specificity of identifying particular images or
acts as "sexual" or "violent." Within any society there is a
complex set of legitimate and illegitimate acts of violence, and
the meanings of any particular representation can only be
assessed in terms of such social norms. Eysenck and Nias
ignore rhe fact that the meanings people derive frorn particu-
lar representations are to some extent culturally specific ....
(advocate instead) restrictions amounting to an eradication of
all images of sexuality and violence, not considering how vio-
lence is represented in a particular text, its relation to a par-
ticular narrative, or the extent to which certain forms of vio-
lence such as war, are culturally sanctioned while others, such
as vandalism, are condemned. Eysenck and Nias merely
assume that sex and violence are bad, and their representa-
tions dangerous. 22
The representation of violence in comicbooks has been an

overwhelming concern für most critics. 23 They suggest damaging
effects from the profuse, repetitive and graphie depictions of vio-
lence in comicbooks which purportedly incite children to more
violent and unrestrained behaviour. Critics also question the dan-
ger in portraying the triumph of individualism and wish fulfilment
in the guise of comicbook characters, especially in the immortality
of superheroes and even some favourite villains. The same critique
is levelled at those comicbooks wherein the exploits of cunning
detectives suggest by their very existence that the forces of govern-
ment and law are not sufficient to contain outlaws and sinister
powers.
Violence in comicbooks is often disparaged as pointless and its
context irrelevant and irreverent, capable of threatening the inno-
cence of children, inciting aggression, and endangering the stabili-
ty of families because of the repetitive representation of certain
types of authority and of the rebellion against them. There is con-
cern that children lose their place and forget their proper relation
to society because of too much fantasy. Thus, there is the danger
of the erosion of proper and fulfilling relations between parents
and children, between authority figures and those under their
38 Reading Comics
charge. Apparently, interest in comicbook violence was more

inspired by aspirations of "social control" than appreciation and
comprehension of the new medium.
This form of interest is also evident in methods of inquiry
which do not follow the "effects" tradition. Standing opposite to
this form of approach, for example, is the "uses and gratification
approach" which argues as follows: the "effects" model treats the
audience as a passively encountering mass media, insulated from
other forces in society that might influence their perception and
reception of the media contents. The uses and gratification
approach recognises that audiences are already members of their
society and interact with mass media by actively choosing what
they will read or watch since they want certain things from them.
In effect, the concern now is not what the media do to the audi-
ence, but what the audience does with the media.
As areaction against the "effects" tradition, this approach to
comicbook research took audiences seriously and searched for rea-
sons as to why people watch television or read comicbooks. In
effect, the "uses and gratification" approach sought to discern
what needs these activities satisfied. 24 A famous, and often cited,
piece of early research into comics-readership by Wolfe and Fiske
came out of this tradition.V Wolfe and Fiske showed that children
read comics progressively: they go through several phases in read-
ing different kinds of comics-classified as Funny Animal,
Superman-type, and True comics-which correspond to distinct
phases of their development. The researchers also strongly implied
that normal children generally outgrow reading comics in the
process of maturation, and that this process may vary from child
to child. However, even as they claim that comics "fulfil children's
developmental needs," these needs are noticeably classified as ones
to be got over as soon as possible. Wolfe and Fiske distinguished
between "normal" readers, readers with "problems," and "neu-
rotic" and "psychotic" readers.
The rather strange form of reader classification employed seems
to suggest what the authors wanted to prove; that normal children
have reading patterns and preferences different from those with
"problems." Not surprisingly, they described children who became
and remained comics fans as out of control and neurotic, ones
"whose problems had affected their entire behaviour patterns."26
Wolfe and Fiske portrayed comics reading itself as a neurosis: "The
fan does indeed become neurotic, i.e., the habit and characteristics
of comic reading gradually engulf his life and affect his entire behav-
iour patterns." Wolfe and Fiske also talk about fantasy as one of the
phases a child goes through but must overcome to reach a "correct
attitude" which is described as a "realistic interest in the world." For
them, fantasy is escapism, and escapism, being lawless, is potential-
ly dangerous. Anything "fantastic" that is read provides a link with
uncontrolled tendencies. They concluded that the sheer fact of read-
ing comics puts children at risk.
For the normal child, then, comics are a means of healthful
ego-strengthening and a source of amusement. Other children
do not seem to be so eager to fortify themselves for the expe-
rience of life. They do not seem to have emancipated them-
selves from their parents to any great degree... But their belief
in their parents seems nevertheless to have been shaken ... They
therefore search for a more perfect father-figure, a being who
is omnipotent but, at the same time, tangible and feasible. And
such a father-figure they find in Superman. These children
become fans... For normal children, then, the comics function
as an adaptation mechanism... For the maladjusted child, the
comics satisfy, just as efficiently, an equally intense emotional
need, but here the need itself is not so readily outgrown. The
religion of comics is not easily given up ...27
Wolfe and Fiske's research reveals the presumptuous argu-
ments whichcharacterise uses and gratifications research: timeless
needs which explain why people use the media, and naive classifi-
cations of media content and type. Here, we see yet another
approach to comics which does not seek to analyse comics them-
selves, and in addition, a method which already embodies pre-
judgements about that which it wishes to establish. Much like the
"effects" tradition it is reacting against, the framework of the
"uses and gratifications" method is problematic in that its very
framework tends to produce or confirm the results already
assumed in the initial theory. One such unexamined presumption
in a great deal of existing studies about texts and readers of comics
is the linking of violence and adolescent boys.
Critics who sought to establish a relation between exposure to
violent images in comicbooks and subsequent acts of violence have
tended to focus on adolescent boys, generally claiming to demon-
strate that "high exposure to comicbooks violence increases the
40 Reading Comics
degree to which boys engage in serious violence.t'-f Why the link

between adolescent boys and violence should be self-evident
remains largely unexamined, however. The underlying assump-
tions followed are simply that: a) violence is innate, b) adolescent
boys are prone to violence, and c) comicbooks reduce inhibitions
in relation to violent behaviour, and therefore, exposure to comic-
books leads to acts of violence or rebellion.
Seldom, if at all analysed, are the reasons why girls do not
resort to acts of violence when exposed to such images on the same
scale. That girls do not read as many comicbooks as boys do, how-
ever, is not a sufficient reason for the lesser tendency to transform
comicbooks violence into real life. Martin Barker, in A Raunt of
Fears and Comics: Ideology, Power and the Critics, examines how
girls were just as interested in horror comicbooks and crime and
detective stories until the mid 1950s when these comicbook genres
started catering increasingly and exdusively to boys. Furthermore,
girls are just as exposed to other popular forms of entertainment
such as television and cinema which are censured for violence.
Why is the influence of violence then so gender-specific? If, among
girls, the interest in popular forms which depict violence does not
transform itself into violent behaviour in female adolescents, per-
haps there is a need to examine more dosely the relationship
between the formation of social and sexual identity and acts of vio-
lence.
Violence should not be assumed as an unproblematic and
measurable category, ignoring the possible ways in which repre-
sentations of violence interact with discourses of dass and rnas-
culinity. In addition, the extent to which violent behaviour might
be explicable in terms of environment and dass should also be con-
sidered. By overlooking these possibilities, comicbooks are simply
seen as expressive of social dedine but, in the process of analysis,
are removed from the social relations that constantly inflect their
meaning and use.
RE-ASSESSING CATEGORIES
The identification of comics as "popular culture" represents a cri-

tique of the categories for the description of the cultural forms and
relations in the twentieth century. Thinking of comicbooks in
terms of the "popular" indicates a refusal or an inability to engage
with many of the medium's varied forms of representations, since

it undermines the complexity of the ways in wh ich comics may be
understood and the range of meanings it can produce. Clarifying
the functions of reader/text relations cannot be defined outside the
history and context in which specific texts-some more than oth-
ers-have conspicuously functioned intertextually to make a plu-
rality of different readings possible. Caution must be exercised in
positing a notion of the audience as a social aggregate subjected to
the effects and influences of representations in cultural forms, as
weIl as in concentrating on the individuality of spectators whose
diseiner subjectivity is constructed by the various systems of mean-
ing in which they participate.
By presenting a more comprehensive understanding of the
relationship between culture and subjectivity than had been previ-
ously theorised, many critics have recently effectively rescued an
enormous segment of cultural production from the oblivion earli-
er assigned to it by mainstream critics. Of note are feminist analy-
ses of mass media, along with those certain British culturalists
who, instead of assuming that readers are passive and can be sub-
jected and influenced en masse, argue für the active participation
of an audience otherwise thought of as a lobotomised media con-
sumer.
But in focusing on the subjectivity and power of readers and
viewers, there is the tendency to emphasise or claim a heterogene-
ity of the audience while assigning a fundamental homogeneity in
the production of mass or popular culture; this then also results in
a lopsided notion of cultural production. In evaluating reader-text
relations, Jim Collins advocates the critical awareness of "conflic-
tive textual production and reception in tension-filled environ-
rnents;" he emphasises tension-filled and multiple environments to
explain the differences in the reading constructed by media con-
sumers. He also recommends awareness that numerous con-
tentious qualities shape the very formation of the texts, as weIl as
their ariticulation. 29 The "mediation" of texts begins at their
inception; their original structure and development are shaped by
an environment that influences the functions that popular texts
would serve for diversified audiences.
The profusion of popular narratives presents different, and
even contradictory, positions for potential spectators which merit
critical analyses, not merely critical statements or pronounce-
42 Reading Comics
ments. Barker (1989) shows the deplorable fact that numerous

studies about media influence hardly acknowledge that they are
investigations of ideological effects, nor are the authors themselves
aware that they are espousing a particular theory or ideology. This
thesis agrees that inevitably, any discussion of mass media influ-
ence must involve ideas about ideology since hardly any form of
popular culture (or culture in general, for that matter) is free of
ideological domination. Positing aspace beyond the reach of ide-
ology-a space of "authenticity" where the dominant culture will
hold no sway-is possible only within the terms and theory of cul-
tural analysis, and may have no existence outside it. Nevertheless,
investigations of mass media and popular forms can still aspire to
relative objectivity, that is, a critical analysis characterised by
appeals to standards and values that can be understood and
shared, and the use of methods that are at least revealed to every-
one.
This chapter has focused on an attempt to clarify how the ori-
gins of certain sorts of judgements about popular culture as
debased or irrelevant must be seen in their historically shifting rela-
tion to dominant cultural forms. Implied in this analysis is the
belief that popular culture matters: it has clearly mattered to those
who have sought to classify it or control it, and should now mat-
ter to those who seek to challenge existing social, sexual and cul-
tural relations. Examining any form relegated to the popular can-
not escape ideological implications, especially in analysing reader-
text relations, since factors such as dass, gender, race, and age, as
well as the conditions for text production and articulation, affect
their definition.
Corresponding to this view, the following chapters will focus
on examining a particular type of comicbooks-the superhero
comics as a genre-tracing the development of the genre, to con-
sider such questions as who reads such books, why and in what
way. Examining the superhero comics as a genre will stress the
manner in which the involvement of reader and writer could shape
the contours of texts. Genres are interesting in that they represent
a set of conventions whose parameters are redrawn with each new
book and each new reading. Once one thinks of a text as an exam-
pie of a genre, it can no longer be approached only as an artefact
to be analysed in some form of contextless critical purity. Looking
at superhero comicbooks as a genre will bring together a range of
levels in which these forms operate in our culture, from the prag-
matics of production to issues of ideology and language. The func-
tions and dynamics in superhero comicbooks will be used as an
example to illustrate how a particular form of discourse, one
among the many discourses, competes to define its place and audi-
ence in the highly discourse-sensitive society we now live in.
NOTES
1 Leo Lowenthal, Literature. Popular Culture, and Society (California:

Pacific Books, 1971): 18.
2 Todd Gitlin, The Whole World is Watching. (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1980): 44ff.
3 That such divisions cannot actually be related exactly to other social
and cultural hierarchies is a problem for both types of critics, who con-
stantly risk the ignominious slide into utilising the concepts of the prob-
lematic "popular. "
4 Roger Sabin, Adult Comics: An Introduction (London and New York:
Routledge, 1993): 2ff.
5 Refer to the Bibliography section of this study to studies done by A.
Easthope, Gurevitch, T. Bennett, J. Woollacott, J. Fiske, T. Gitlin, and
C. MacCabe.
6 Peter Davison, "General Introduction," in Peter Davison, et al, eds.
Literary Taste, Culture and Mass Communication, Vol. I: Culture and
Mass Culture (Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1978): viii.
7 jim Collins. Uncommon Cultures. Popular Culture and Post-
Modernism (New York: Routledge, 1989): xi.
8 Raymond Williams, Culture and Society (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1983). See especially Chapter Two.
9 Denis McQuail, "The Influence and Effects of Mass Media," in ]ames
Curran, Michael Gurevitch and Janet Woollacott, eds., Mass
Communication and Society (London: Routledge, 1977): 70-94.
10 There was a rise in crime and horror comics during the early 1950s
wh ich no doubt perpetuated the situation of raids and incessant nega-
tive attention. But even while Wertharn hirnself was censuring only the
crime comicbooks, the censoring board that was formed as a result, the
Comics Code Authority, had blanket authority over all comicbooks.
11 Matthew Paul McAllister, "Cultural Argument and Organizational
Constraint in the Comic Book Industry," Journal of Communication
40.1 (Winter 1990): 55-70.
12 Josette Frank, "What's in Comics?" Journal of Educational Sociology
(December 18, 1940): 54-59.
13 Ted White, "The Spawn of M. C. Gaines," in Dick Lupoff and Don
44 Reading Comics
Thompson, eds. All in Colour for a Dime (New Rochelle, N. Y.:

Arlington House, 1970): 25.
14 Ibid., emphasis in original.
15 Coulton Waugh, The Comics (New York: MacmilIan, 1947): 350.
16 During this time, censorship in the movies and television were also get-
ting increasingly stricter. The simultaneity of tighter control among the
various popular forms may weil be more a sign of general alarm at the
pace and scope of the changes happening in society, most of wh ich
were perceived as threatening to a recognisable order, and were then
projected as corrupting capabilities intrinsic in the forms themselves.
17 Sabin, op cit., 251.
18 McAlIister, op cit., 62.
19 ]ules Feiffer, The Great Comic Book Heroes, Volume I (New York:
Dial Press, 1965): 238.
20 McAlIister, op cit., 57.
21 H.]. Eysecnk and D.B. Nias, Sex, Violence and the Media (London:
BlackwelI, 1978).
22 Morag Shirach, "The Changing Definitions of the Popular," in Gary
Day, ed. Readings in Popular Literature: Trivial Pursuits? (London:
Macmillan, 1990): 77
23 See, for example, articles on comics in the journal called Childhood
Education, especially during the 1940s and 1950s. See also the Report
of the Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications
Industry, Vol. 4, (New York: Royal Commission on Violence, 1966).
24 The "uses and gratification" approach was also areaction against the
aftermath of research on propaganda during World War 11. Useful
introductions to this research approach are ]ay Blumler and Elihu
Katz, The Uses of Mass Communications: Current perspectives on
gratification research (Beverley HilIs: Sage, 1974), and Kar!
Rosengren, Lawrence Wenner and Philip Palmgreen, Media
Gratifications Research: Current perspectiues (Beverley Hills: Sage,
1985).
25 Katherine M. Wolfe and Marjorie Fiske, "The Children Talk About the
Comics," Communication Research: 1948-49 (New York: Harper and
Bros 1949): 3-50.
26 Wolfe and Fiske, ibid., 29.
27 Ibid, 34-35.
28 Wertham, op cit., 54.
29 Collins, op cit., 19.
CHAPTER THREE
On the Language of
Comics and the Reading
Process
How can we recognize or deal with the new? Any equipment

we bring to the task will have been designed to engage with
the old: it will look for and identify extensions and develop-
ments of wh at we already know. To some degree, the unprece-
dented will always be unthinkable.
But the question of what "texts" are or may be has also
become more and more complex, has forced us to revise our
sense of the sort of material to which the process of "reading"
mayapply.
Terence Hawks
"General Introduction to
New Accent Books"
INTRODUCTION
The study of comics has a goal similar to the study of art and lit-
erature in general: to promote an understanding of the medium
that sharpens perception and awareness, leading ultimately to a
keener enjoyment of the form. Unfortunately, the lack of serious-
ness in the general attitude towards the medium as an art form has
been an enduring factor that has impeded the development of
comics. This situation may be summed up using the words of
Maurice Horn: "(Comics is) an original form whose intrinsic val-
45
46 Reading Comics
ues must be objectively assessed. A thorough knowledge of the

field must be obtained, with the same assiduity as is required of
any other discipline; the a priori judgement that this is an inferior
form only deserving of inferior scholarship is an especially galling
piece of tortuous reasoning." 1 The concept of comics as a distinct
art form must be an accepted premise in the analysis of comics as
an art. In the absence of this principle, and without being accord-
ed the status of an independent art form, comics will suffer as a
poor relation of other literary or visual forms.
A close look at comicbooks reveals an ingenious form, with a
highly developed grammar and vocabulary based on a unique
combination of verbal and visual elements. This medium uses
words and pictures in a way more completely integrated than illus-
trated or picture books. Reading a comicbook is as a complex
semiotic process-it involves understanding how the interactions
between words and images have been manipulated in order to
achieve a story or joke. The appreciation of comicbooks is not pos-
sible without the recognition that its language and grammar con-
sist of not one but two elements: words and images.
TEXT-IMAGE CONFLICT
The simultaneaus presence of two mediums-words and images-

neither started with comics nor is unique to them, yet their exis-
tence remains a contentious issue in studying comics. There are
factors that seem to favour the valorisation of images over texts.
In early studies about the origin and development of the medium,
for example, agraphie history was usually provided and an "icon-
ic archaeology," rather than a textual one, was instinctively
assigned to comics.Z
It is not difficult to focus primarily on the images in comics
since graphie art is more striking than printed letters. Any comic-
book is first perceived visually; readers are usually first struck by
illustrations when choosing one comicbook over another. Studies
have shown that people are initially attracted to illustrations
more than to words.3 Indeed, in some comics, words are even
unnecessary-strips like Henry by Carl Anderson show that
comics are possible without words. In other instances, words
become secondary to images; some panels or whole pages of
comicbooks are intentionally rendered without any text (see
Comics and the Reading Process 47
Figure 3. Bone Vol. One: Out [rom Boneville. Art and Script: Jeff Smith
© 1996 The creator.
Figures 3 and 4). It is not surprising that comics are often dis-
cussed on the basis of their graphie aspects alone. For example,
individual panels of Milton Caniff's comic strips have been dis-
48 Reading Comics
La o6RPRESA
Figure 4. "La Sorpresa" teils a story without text. Back page of Luba #1
Art and script: Gilbert Hernandez © 1998 Fantagraphics Books.
played in museums. This presumes that Caniff's art may be

appreciated out of the context of the comics medium, since the
illustrations were isolated from the context of the narrative they
were initially intended for. The subsequent reviews of Milton
Caniff's exhibition attest to the possibility of exclusively paying
attention to comics illustration divorced from the textual cues
and the context of the comic strip or comicbook stories. The
appropriation of comics in Pop art by, among others, Roy
Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, has also caused comics to be re-
submitted to pictorial, artistic criteria and to be perceived as
viable museum pieces. While studies of comics abound which
focus on the graphics, there are hardly any studies which focus
only on the texts without referring to the illustrations at all.
Indeed, it seems that images are more essential to comics than
texts. On the other hand, since comics usually contain stories,
some studies have focused on the medium as a narrative art.
Comics are compared to fiction and, using methods of literary
analysis, factors such as character, theme, and plot are evaluated.
In analysing comics, however, it is necessary to develop a new
kind of understanding that goes beyond comparing and assessing
verbal and visual structures separately. We must not lose sight of
the fact that both pictures and texts are the fundamental basis of
almost all comics, and to seek to understand one without the other
is to misinterpret the substance of this hybrid genre. Reading
comics involves the pietures and their meanings in relation to the
language, and the key to understanding comics does not lie in the
words or pictures themselves but in the interaction and relation-
ships between them.
The crucial point is how effectively the linguistic and pictorial
signs interact-how perfectly, how absorbingly and dynamically a
story is related in pictures and texts. The interaction is all-impor-
tant. The relation between text and image is a defining character-
istic of comics, and the efficacy of the medium rests on the inter-
dependence of the two mediurns. As such, comics cannot help but
demand of its readers the ability to decipher and "read" a new lan-
guage of combined written and illustrated codes. In reading comics
and appreciating its formal composition, words and illustrations
form the language and grammar of comics. It is essential to under-
stand why the relation of the two mediums is important and how
it operates specifically in comics.
50 Reading Comics
Until very recently, this was a difficult area to write about due
to inadequacies in the critical vocabulary for the medium. In earli-
er studies of comics, there was a tendency to rely on terms bor-
rowed from other areas and critical evaluation used the yardsticks
of other related art. In order to assess comics on their own terms,
definitions of the structural and stylistic principles behind success-
ful comics art must be formulated. In addition to constructing
evaluative terms, there is also the need to clarify terms without
turning them into constraints.
DEFINITIONS
A clear definition of comics is indispensable in establishing a sys-

tem for analysing the conventions specific to this genre. To articu-
late an aesthetic theory of comics, we need a vocabulary tailored
[or comics and derived [rom the most distinctive aspects of this art
form. Until there is agreement on what this art form is, difficulty
in specifying and evaluating its distinctive aspects will continue to
plague discussions. If we consider the bewildering assortment of
artistic and graphie styles, stories, characters, and purposes pres-
ent in comics, a clear generic definition seems all the more corn-
pelling. We need a means of sifting through the wide variety of
comicbooks to ascertain those features that may be deemed com-
mon and integral to the art form. The search for a definition of
comics can help dispel many misconceptions and limitations of the
medium. A proper definition will expand the popular connotation
of "comics" as humorous or simple, illustrated reading materials.
The search for this definition will also reveal the difficulties
involved in the textual analyses of comics and the need for body of
criticism to establish norms and standards.
Will Eisner, a prominent cartoonist intent in cultivating comics
as an art form, suggested a new term for comics: "sequential art."4
Sequential art has the advantage of avoiding the generic connota-
tions of the word "comic" while sidestepping associations with the
burlesque, the ridiculous and humorous which have burdened ini-
tial impressions of the medium. This problem does not exist in the
"Bilderstreifen" of Germany, "bande dessinee" of France and
"fumetti" of Italy, which have no immediate connections to the
"comic" and, in fact, call attention to intrinsic qualities of the
comics as a narrative medium. The desire to clearly define what
comics are and to detach them from notions of the comical and
humorous is one of the critical concerns in re-assessing comics.
Stan Lee, renowned for the creation of Spider-Man and his other
achievements at Marvel Comics, makes the following statement:
"Consider the word "cornicbook." I've been fighting a losing
battle with the rest of the wor/d over that word for years. Most
everybody speils it "comic book" as if it's two separatewords.
Asis, "comic" isan adjective whichmodifies the ward "book,"
thus making it mean a comical book. Such an interpretation
would certainly give a casual reader the wrong impression...
Now, let's consider the single word "comicbook." Ah, what a
wor/d of difference! Suddenly, it is no longer an appellation
indicative of humorous reading matter, but rather a generic
term denoting a specific type of publication.t'-
In an interview for Time Magazine, Art Spiegelman had this to
say: "But I spell it c-o-m-i-x, so you are not confused by the fact that
comics have to be funny, as in comic. You think it is a co-mix of
words and pictures.t'f Perhaps the most revealing definition is
Martin Barker's assertion about the perception of comics: "a comic
is what has been produced under the definition of a 'comic'. One
cannot answer the question "What is a comic?" by formal qualities
alone; a comic is what has been produced under that controlling def-
inition.t? Barker's statements underIine the incessant efforts to cen-
sor and control what may or may not be produced under the name
"comics" which have become powerful determinants of the prod-
ucts. In these instances, the definition of comics became a constrain-
ing force, requiring publishers and artists to abide by it and, in turn,
sustain the limiting public concept of what comics are and can be.
In addition to associating comics with humour and "trivia ",
the usual definitions of comics in English also limit the stylistic of
the medium by constant connection with cartooning and carica-
ture. One dictionary meaning of comicbooks, for example, is "a
magazine consisting of narrative cartoon drawings.t'f This defini-
tion perpetuates the drawback of limiting the style that may be
employed in comic art. Comie strips, meanwhile, are defined as "a
narrative series of cartoons, usually arranged horizontally in a
newspaper, magazine or book" or "a form of cartooning in which
a cast of characters enacts a story in a sequence of closely related
drawings designed to educate and/or entertain readers."?
Cartooning should not be included in defining comics. As Scott
52 Reading Comics
McCloud appropriately asserts, "nothing in its definition should

limit style or determine subject matter or range of topics to be cov-
ered," otherwise, the common unfortunate practice of mistaking
the style and format of the most popular comicbooks for the
essence of the medium itself shall continue (see Figure 5).1 0
There is another aspect of comics that is usually taken for
granted, and its role as an indispensable feature of the medium is
Figure 5. A proper definition of comics does not limit the medium.

Understanding Comics. Art and script: Scott McCloud © 1993 The creator.
undermined: comicbooks always consist of "story situations."

Comicbooks contain accounts of people and ideas with a logical,
sequential progression in which "reading" plays an important role
(see Figure 6). This aspect is highlighted in the new terms that are
Figure 6. Essential in conceptualising comics is the idea of its being a

sequential art-not simply a visual stimulant but something that must be
"read". Understanding Comics. Art and script: Scott McCloud © 1993
The creator.
54 Reading Comics
increasingly employed in recent discussions of comics, concurrent

with the seemingly new status of the medium: graphie novel or
sequential art are alternatively used for comicbooks to avoid the
English terminology problems cited above.U Sequential art is fur-
ther expanded by Scott McCloud to provide adefinition for
comics as "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate
sequence." This definition is noticeably neutral. Ir does not limit
the medium to a particular style of illustration or schools of art, a
range of storytelling themes, technique and procedures in printing
and publishing, and materials or tools to be used. 12
The concept of comics has traditionally been too narrow and
limiting for the medium. A proper definition, if found, would give
lie to stereotypes and show that the potential of comics is limitless
and exciting. Following McCloud's definition, some works of,
among others, Maurice Sendak, Raymond Briggs, Edward Gorey
and Shel Silverstein, branded and marketed as illustrated "books"
could actually be classified as comics if it were not for the old
notion of comicbooks as cheap, softcover magazines of serialised
cartoons.t ' The following sections undertake to discern the con-
ventions in comics largely based on narrative. The discussions con-
tend that the primary function of the features of comics, particu-
larly that of the peculiar text-image interaction, is to solicit narra-
tive comprehension.
COMICS AND NARRATION
Narration, broadly defined, is the intent of comicbooks; their pur-

pose is to tell a story. Because they aim at a large public, cornic-
books have come to compete with older forms of popular narra-
tives such as dime novels, pulp fiction, and magazine serials, While
sharing many themes, images, and even characters with these other
popular forms of expression, comics deviate in their narrational
activity by using an intricate inter action of words and pictures.
The relation of these two elements depends on the thrust of the
narrative they operate it. Although image and text may affect the
style, overall design and aesthetic effect of a sequence in comics,
their interaction principally serves to aid readers to construct the
story that the artist intended. Ir is in the activity of selecting,
arranging and rendering story material-especially in the choice of
what to illustrate and wh at to narrate-in order to achieve a nar-
rative coherence perceptible to a receiver that the interaction of the

two mediums is most vital to the artist and reader. Many cognitive
activities are performed in making sense out of a narrative: a read-
er makes inferences that are open-ended, probabilistic and subject
to corrections. Meanwhile, the reader often hypothesises about the
story's ending-weighing the probabilities of future narrative
events and testing his or her expectations as more information is
given and more events unfold. The interaction between graphie
and linguistic elements in comics aids the reader in executing oper-
ations relevant to constructing a story out of a sequence's particu-
lar depiction. Ignoring one medium leads to amisinterpretation of
the story or worse, makes a sequence wholly incomprehensible. It
is when images and texts are perceived together that they are more
effective in realising the narrative in comics (see Figure 7). The
Figure 8. The size of the Figure

small guy belies
8. The sizetheof the small guy belies the
Figure 8. The size of the Figure
small guy belies
8. The sizethe of the small guy belies the
narrative
narrative
56 Reading Comics
opposition, confirmation, and other interaction between the pic-

tures and words reveal unstated premises for making inferences,
and make possible the humour, surprise, or other such appropriate
endings of the story fascinating to the reader. Since all narratives,
in order to sustain a reader's attention, are composed alternately to
reward, modify, frustrate or defeat a reader's search for story
coherence, the play between text and image becomes even more
potent. It is this very play which provides the irony, complications,
double meanings, humour, suspense, melodrama, pun, parody,
secret motivations, and other similar intentions in the story (see
Figure 8).
By manipulating the interaction between the two codes which
make up its language, comics have at their disposal the syntax of
other literary and artistic forms: iteration, distortion, amplifica-
tion, stylization, and more. There is, however, an idiosyncrasy in
Figure 8. The size of the small guy belies the sincerity of his response.
Bleeding Heart #5. Art and script: Peter Kuper © 1993 The creator.
comics narrative due to publication or production requirements

which differ from other forms subjected to narrative analysis, like
books or even films. The flow of the story in comics may be
marred by artificial or strategie narrative breakdowns caused by
publishing requirements that reduce or cut up materials to intelli-
gible daily, weekly or monthly instalments (quite similar to earlier
novels previously published in serialised forms). Many cartoonists
manage to turn this requirement into an advantage; they try to
enhance the suspense or humour naturally accruing from each
instalment by working deliberately toward a concluding panel to
serve as aspringboard of suspense to carry the story to the next
issue (see Figure 9). The conventions of the art form are refined
enough today that most contemporary books and strips can sel-
dom be faulted for narrative breakdowns, while older strips sorne-
times offer examples of obviously flawed breakdowns. Even
Figure 9. We know there will be some fighting in the next issue because of
the ending of this one. Daisho. Art and script: Patrick Debruin © 1993
The creator.
58 Reading Comics
among the recent ones, in fact, there are still inept or awkward
breakdowns which weaken the structure and projection of the
story. Although narrative breakdowns reduce all action to discrete
static moments, comicbooks can, nonetheless, be evaluated by the
extent to which a smooth sequential progression and narrative
coherence are achieved. This progression must be served by both
the visual impact and the nuances of the story, and its assessment
must embrace both the pictures and the texts used. The next sec-
tions will discuss the elements that are utilised in the creation and
process of "reading" comics. These are: 1) panels, which include
the concepts of gutter and closure; 2) the use of balloons and the
art of lettering in comicbooks, and 3) the use of panels and text
balloons in signalling the rhythm of the narrative, which also
addresses timing and duration in comics.
NARRATION IN FRAMES: THE USES OF PANELS OR

VIGNETTES
The image-text conflict may be circumscribed by ta king the panel

or frame as a unit of signification. In comics, images are drawn
and accompanying texts provided are usually framed together.
Since both image and text are contained within one panel, ta king
this as a single unit attenuates the dispute regarding the advantage
of one medium over the other. Instead, image and text may be
given equal interpretative weight as they need not be analysed sep-
arately. The panel provides an enclosure, a unified field wherein
images and text may be analysed in relation to one. The panel, in
fact, graphically and diegetically unifies image and text in the
comics: it forms a graphic unit which represents one moment, one
instant of an action in the narrative. Then, one frame interacts
with other frames to create a sequence which constitutes the syn-
tagmatic discourse of the story. The panel is the smallest unit of
"comics grammar" in which the complex interaction of text and
picture operates. It is a process of organising sensory impressions
into intelligible patterns wherein the panels' lines, sizes, and shapes
offer cues or criteria for perceiving meaning as intended by the
artist.
The use of panels has been credited as responsible for the nar-
rative unity in comics.U It is a graphic technique specific to the
comics which effectively synthesises two distinct mediums to opti-
mise expression. In addition to its unifying function, the panels

also signal the relevant time and space dimensions in comics nar-
rative whereby aseries of "framed" views interact to cue and chan-
nel the reader's construction of a meaningful story.l> Frames
enable the writers to surmount problems in presenting complex
narratives within the static, two-dimensional space of the comics
world. The progression of time and action are simulated by vary-
ing the contents and size of each frame in order to move the story
forward.
The utilisation and perception of space is of paramount irnpor-
tance in comics. Instead of relying on textual clues, narration in
comics depends considerably on the effective positioning of the
viewer with respect to a production in/of space. Discourse becomes
aseries of views, having their source in the viewer's position
(strategically controlled or manipulated by the illustrator). One of
the artist's primary concerns is always: How is the space of the
story to be presented and where is the spectator in relation to it?
The ingenuity of a comics' artist lies in the manipulation of the
contents and sequencing of panels in order to most effectively
express their narratives. The primary function of perspective
should be to purposely manipulate the reader's orientation in
accord with the author's narrative plan.
Another use of perspective is to manipulate and produce vari-
ous emotional states in the reader. The reader's response may be
influenced by his or her positioning as a spectator, so that a scene
depicted from above may evoke a sense of detachment-depicted
from below, a feel of inferiority or fear (see Figures 10 and 11).
Concurrent to the angle of presentation, the size and shape of the
panel may also be used to elicit different levels of involvement or
response from the readers, i.e., a narrow panel could trigger a
sense of confinement, whereas a wide one inspire freedom or
escape.
A panel must have a coherence and balance on its own, but it
is always only apart of a bigger design which follows and exhibits
patterns of narration, a rhythm of the unfolding events, and a
recognisable space and time dimension. Panels form units which
mark the rhythm and tempo of the narrative's unfolding, control
the points of view and angles of presentation, signal to the reader
which perspective is being given or made sympathetic, as well as
signal the story's space and time dimensions (see Figure 12). Joined
60 Reading Comics
Figure 10. This man looks threatening because of the angle in relation to
the reader, as weil as the fact that he extends past the gutters. Daisho. Art
and script: Patrick Debruin © 1993 The creator.
Figure 11. The same man looks non-threatening at all because the frame
is smaller, and we see hirn from a bird's eyeview. Daisho. Art and script:
Patrick Debruin © 1993 The creator.
side by side, panels form a system of signs that becomes coherent

by orienting the reading of the narrative. The manipulation of the
various aspects of the panels provides almost unlimited means of
manoeuvering the plot and gives rise to numerous narrational pos-
sibilities (see Figure 13).
Comicbook composition and layout may be evaluated by
looking at individual panels, a sequence of panels, at one full page,
or a double-page layout. An essential guiding feature to gauge the
effectiveness of the composition and layout in comics is narra-
Figure 12. The overlapping of the frames and the shift from one small
frame to another signals the speed with which all of the actions happen.
The Tale of One Bad Rat. Art and script: Bryan Talbat © 1995 Thc cre-
ator,
62 Reading Comics
Figure 13. The layout of the smaller frames mimics the action of our hero.
The Maxx #1. Art and script: Sam Kieth © 1993 The creator.
tional elarity-in how the choice and organisation of panels func-

tion to advance the story. Controlling the focus of the reader is
important; one way to effectively do this is to select a "camera"
distance so that each panel contains only the minimum essentials
of a scene while maximising story-telling, This corresponds to
what Robert Harvey calls the "graphie centre of narrative focus:"
Most eomposition in the graphie arts have what I eall a "cen-
tre of foeus"-a plaee to whieh rhe arrangement of the ele-
ments of the eomposition forees our attention (not necessari-
ly the geometrieeentre of the eomposition). In the most effee-
tive eomie panel eomposition, our attention should be
foeused on whatever element in that panel that eontributes
most to rhe telling of the story. That plaee in a panel I eall
"the graphie eentre of narrative foeus"-graphie eentre
emphasising the visual nature of the medium, and narrative
[ocus embracing the storytelling funetion of comic art,16
In comics, panel composition does not neeessarily follow the

"geometrie centre of composition" of most graphie art because of
constraints such as: 1) having to arrange speech balloons and their
corresponding characters in reading order, 2) the inelusion of cap-
tions, 3) the need to change camera angle to vary perspective in a
sequence, and 4) an artist's preference or ability to draw close-up
or wide angle scenes. To overcome such constraints, a skilled car-
toonist can also use his or her understanding and appreciation of
the readers' "visual literacy." With each decision of wh at to
inelude or exelude, an artist presumes knowledge of some visual
competence which is mostly based on experience and memory. The
artist must supply sufficient cues in each panel so as to activate the
remembrance necessary for comprehension, without providing too
much so as to take the pleasure out of recognition and participa-
tive reading (see Figure 14).
One of the principal skills of comicbook narration lies in
selecting, from among a potentially infinite number of choices, the
most effective points and moments to rnatch the thematic move-
ment of the story. Each moment depicted in comics is the outcome
of a narrative choice which will then set the tone of the narrative,
present a privileged angle, or determine the truth and ideological
elaims in the story being related. Analysis and comparison of texts
must take into account a complex set of prior narrative choices
that establish the field and boundaries of each particular telling of
64 Reading Comics
In a given series of panels wherein the frame encompasses only the head, a
'visual dialogue' oecurs between the reader and the artist which requires cer-
tain assumptions growing out of a common level of experience:
A B c
The slim nead (A) The tat head (8)

lmplles a slim body. implJes a tat body.
Subsequent views of the cnaracters will ot course substanttate tnese assurnp-

tlons. Illustration C, nowever, serves to demorietrate that there can be a
misreading 01 the artlst's intentions unless a rnore skilled drawlnq Is exeeuted in
lhe panel itsell or a prior panel nas estabüshed what it is the reader is viewing.
Figure 14. A visual dialogue between the reader and the artist requires cer-
ta in assumptions growing out of a common level of experience, An illus-
tration from Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner © Poorhouse Press.
events. As an example, Joseph Witek provides an analysis of two

comic books depicting one historical event: The Battle at Fort
Sumter. The two versions vary widely in point of view, in tone, and
in the ideological implications each draws from the events it is nar-
rating. Witek points out how the title and the initial panels of each
comicbook already direct the interpretation of an event: First Shot
rendered by Harvey Kurtzman, Joe Severin and Will EIder starts
with an exploding cannon ball which fiUs more than half of the
first page. The succeeding four panels show the trajectory of the
shot and its subsequent explosion. Meanwhile, the other version,
April 1861: Fort Sumter, by Jack Kirby, opens with a more con-
ventional rendering of battle showing soldiers and officers, drawn
with a demeanour of rationality, sensibly discussing their next
moves and possible surrender. In contrast to the impression of
destruction that opens First Shot, the latter version lends an air of
rationality to the battle. Witek warns against hasty judgement of
the precision of one over the other, however. Instead, a better focus
is to investigate the varying ways in which these narratives deploy
the conventions of sequential art to make truth claims about an
event already weighted with cultural significance, previously estab-
lished readings, and individual associations.I?
A more common, though largely unnoticed privileging of an
ideological tone or truth claim is performed by presenting the nar-
rative through the perspective of the lead character. In most popu-
lar American comicbooks, this is usually the ubiquitous crime-
fighting superhero/ine. Specific narrative devices grant superheroes
narrative centrality and often cede to them narrative authority
through point-of-view frames, first person narration, and other
textual and graphic cues which foster reader identification with
them and their exploits. In the process, reader acceptance of the
superhero's hegemonic role and function is encouraged, notwith-
standing the fact that some superheroes resort to "illegal" means
of solving crimes or upholding justice, and that the presence of
superheroes attests to flaws and lacunas in society's legal and
policing systern.lf
GUTTER AND CLOSURE
One important and distinct feature of comic art narration and

panel composition is the concept of the "gutter." As panels form
borders to enclose material for narration, so do the same borders
work to exclude the surrounding space. Much of the story in
comics takes place in these intervals between the frames, in the
gaps which separate the panels, called the gutter. From past expe-
rience and sense-making that one naturally employs while reading,
readers fill in gaps in information and cues supplied to them. In
sequential art, although nothing is provided either textually or
graphically, experience tells us as readers that something must be
there and so we make the leap ourselves frorn one panel to the
other. We provide the intervening actions and do this no matter
how long or large the interval is between one panel and the next.
The type of leap to be made dictates the flow and pace of the nar-
rative. The rhythm or the narrative in turn depends upon the dif-
ficulty of the transitions the readers are asked, or rather, forced to
66 Reading Comics
make, as the amount of bridging material that must be supplied in

moving from panel to panel to comprehend the story is set.
Scott McCloud has categorised these "leaps" into six different
levels in a transition scale for narrative movement and cornprehen-
sion in comics: 1) moment-to-rnoment, 2) action-to-action, 3) sub-
ject-to-subject, 4) scene-to-scene, 5) aspect-to-aspect, and 6) non-
sequitur (see Figure 15). He also graphed the frequency of the tran-
sition techniques used by well-known comics artists internationally
and showed that the breakdown proportion of transition types used
is consistent among different genres of the medium, and very similar
even among artists with very different styles, designs, and subject
matter (see Figure 16). McCloud proposes that the proportion is an
Figure 15. McCloud identifies six kinds of transition most commonly used
in comics narrative, each one differing in the amount and range of leap in
bridging rhe sense from one panel to another. Understanding Comics. Art
and script: Scott McCloud © 1993 The creator.
Figure 16. There are similarities in the proportion of the transition strate-
gies used in American and European comicbooks. Understanding Comics.
Art and script: Scott McCloud © 1993 The creator,
important, albeit invisible, struetural eruteh used widely in comics in

order to provide readers with minimum signals to mentally eon-
struet a eontinuous, unified reality from a medium whieh depends
on reading and understanding "empty spaees" (see Figure 17).19
As part of further experimentations with panel and page for-
mats, many artists started "violating" the gutter spaee as early as
the mid-1960s. Text and graphie art would sometimes extend into
the gutter although the squares designating the panels are kept
intaet. Sometimes, the borders of the panels are eliminated alto-
gether and images spill into the gutter without, however, totally
obliterating the spaees whieh signal the transition between panels.
In addition, various shapes other than the traditional squares or
rectangles are used to rnark the panels, therefore ineorporating the
68 Reading Comics
Figure 17. The reader makes the leap frorn one panel to another; here, one
assumes that the sound in the second panel is somehow connected to the
death threat in the first. Understanding Comics. Art and script: Scott
McCloud © 1993 The creator.
gutter more graphically into the narrative and total page lay-out.
The functions of this procedure are variable, but accentuating key
moments in the narrative or rendering panoramie images are two
of the most common (see Figure 18).
Figure 18. The clothesline used to separate the first and second row of
panels also serves as an escape device for the fugitive. In the centre row,
Eisner also manages to depict succeeding moments without any change or
break in the brick wall. An illustration from Comics and Sequential Art
by Will Eisner © Poorhouse Press.
70 Reading Comics
TEXT READS AS IMAGE: LETTERING AND BALLOONS
Similar to the use of panels, the use of balloons is a defining

characteristic of the comics. Nowhere is the inter-relation of image
and text in comics more apparent than in the imaginative use and
continuous transformation of words and text into graphie status
through the use of balloons. Balloons started as a reetangle delin-
eating speech in a frame, usually employed to differentiate direct
speech from narration. Narrative texts not placed in balloons are
usually utilised to supplement images, as in providing additional
information about critical persons or objects, expounding on the
intervening events in the interval between panels, or reveal the
internal thoughts of characters (see Figure 19). In some serial pub-
lications, there are even special panels for narrative texts at the
beginning and/or end of instalments-summarising previous
actions or foreshadowing future ones-to ensure continuity.
However, the majority of comicbooks, past and present, combine
the use of narrative texts and balloons in presenting the story.
When introduced, the use of balloons made the third person
and invisible narrator superfluous. The characters can speak more
directly and a more conventional, less stilted style of dialogue could
be used. Thought balloons also made introspection more direct and
personal. In reducing or sometimes even totally omitting narrative
text, the use of balloons is also effective in propelling the plot for-
ward in terms of actual reading time. Through time, balloons have
developed into agraphie component intrinsic to sequential art. Its
development, which allowed for the integration of texts into images
in one imaginative fashion after another, has marked the differences
between other "illustrated texts" and the comics.
Eisner has called balloons a "desperation device" which
"attempts to capture and make visible an ethereal element:
sound."20 Corresponding to the increased sophistication in the
medium and its artists, the balloon developed from a simple enclo-
sure to take on additional meaning to become an important nar-
rational device. It soon gained independence from a merely func-
tional role to become aesthetically imbedded and part of the whole
vignette as more and more artists experimented with and manipu-
lated its appearance and content.
Now, balloons themselves constitute an essential element as
part of a new pictographic code. The various forms and contours
Figure 19. Instead of a speech or thought balloon, Seth uses aseparate

narrative text to reveal the thoughts of his character. Palookaville #4. Art
and script: Seth © 1993 The creator.
of the balloons enhance both texts and image in expressing emo-
tions, movement, sound effects, abstract concepts, tone of dialogue
and secret motivations or intentions (see Figures 20 and 21).
72 Reading Comics
Figure 20. The thought balloons here show a series of images instead of
text but just as clearly convey what our hero is thinking. Madman Comics,
Yearbook '95. Art and script: Mike Allred © 1995 The creator.
Noticeable too, is how artists have rendered the lettering, both

within and outside a balloon, such that the letters function as an
extension of the imagery. The choice and design of the typeface
convert the normally mechanical aspect of type or font into a corn-
ponent of supportive involvement in the imagery which can pro-
vide the mood, a narrative bridge, and the implication of sound.
Text, rendered in concert with the art, shows how the "reading" of
it ean evoke and influenee speeifie emotions and modify the per-
eeption of the image (see Figure 22).
The ability of verbal signs to be transformed into graphie signs
through the use of balloons is international, and works even in cul-
tures with different figural tradition like Japan, China and
Thailand. Indeed, it is possible that, to an extent, the Japanese and
Chinese are predisposed to more visual forms of eommunication
beeause of their ealligraphy which evolved from ideograms and
fused drawing and writing. Comies-manga or komikkusu in
Japanese-make up 30 percent of Japan's total produetion in
books and magazines, and over one billion Japanese eomie maga-
zines and books are sold annually.U Japanese comics are not mere
western importations but belong to a century-old tradition of pic-
torial narration whieh ean be traeed back to the pieture serolls of
the 19th eentury. Japanese comics eontain highly developed syrn-
bolie systems and eonventions that are mutually understood by
Figure 21. Images inside the balloons instead of texts tell a story just as
effectively in this example. Back page of Bleeding Heart # 5. Art and
script: Peter Kuper © 1993 The creator.
74 Reading Comics
Figure 22. The word "Shoorn" fills this page and mimics the reverber-
ation of the sound beneath the sea as the creatures get nearer and the
sound gets louder and louder. Sou/wind #4. Art and script: C. Scott
Morse © 1997 The creator
artist and reader and accepted as typical story elements, but which
prove to be bewildering to foreigners.ö-
]apanese comics are highly susceptible to graphie manipula-
tion because of the ]apanese language. Depending whether one
lives in the western or eastern hemisphere, ]apanese comics are or
are not read "backwards," that is, a11 panels and pages move
sequentially from right to left. Usually, the writing in each dialogue
ba1100n is vertical and is read from top-to-bottom and right-to-left.
But in fact, the language can be written in any direction except
from bottom of the page to top. This flexibility can work as an aid
in creative lay-outs, setting of tone, signalling other things both
iconically and verbally, The dialogues and onomatopoeic words,
for example, can be directed to enhance and control the visual flow
of the page.
What gives the page even more flexibility is the fact that the
]apanese language employs not one, but four entirely separate
writing systems: ideograms imported from China, two differ-
ent syllabic scripts, hiragana which is cursive and katakana
which is more angular, and the Roman alphabet... ]apanese
people normally write ablend of all four systems, but by
being selective an artist can create different moods. 23
RHYTHM OF THE NARRATIVE: TIMING AND

DURATION
No matter how illustrative the texts are rendered, there remains a

paradox in the use of words to accompany images in telling a
story. While texts help the narrative to move forward-by provid-
ing more information, directing the reader's attention, bridging
gaps in time and movement-the presence of the text itself delays
the reading of the story. The duration it takes to read the text
already increases the time areader may spend with one frame
rather than if that frame were wordless (see Figures 23 and 24).
But more significantly, texts demand that readers process more
information, the meaning of the words alone, and then in relation
with the pictures, which itself initiates further re-thinking of
already formed inferences, the making of new hypotheses and so
on. Since a11 narratives unwind in time, this process of retardation
is unavoidable in any narrative structure.
76 Reading Comics
Figure 23. The wrestling match seems to go faster due to the

absence of text. Whoa, Nellie! #1. Art and script: Xaime
Hernandez © 1996 The creator.
Figure 24. This fight scene seems to take longer because of the pres-
ence of texts which retard the readers eye movement from panel to
panel. Daisho. Art and script: Patrick Debruin © 1993 The creator.
78 Reading Comics
Retardation is more complicated in comics narration because

the perception of texts and images is different. Images. are per-
ceived instantly and may be experienced at once. Reading requires
time since prose must be read in a linear, time-based sequence. In
cinema and television, where the motion of images is now seen
simultaneously with the sound of the accompanying texts, the two
narrational elements, through the use of sight and sound, may
attain a synchronicity of comprehension not available to the medi-
um of comics.c' In comics, images are static and thus may be per-
ceived immediately while the texts must be read through time; fur-
thermore, both actions require the use of the same organ for per-
ception. In addition, images in comics are part of a sequence of
other images and must then be comprehended in relation to a
series of images. Thus, time elapses from the instant of seeing the
events and information illustrated, through the process of relating
this information to the whole story and framing hypotheses to con-
firm or disconfirm moments upon reading the text. This interven-
ing time may be deliberately manipulated by the artist to suit his
or her own graphie style and narrational purposes. The delaying of
the reader movement from panel to panel due to the necessary
unfolding of the text in time, for example, ean be used in marking
and controlling the timing and dura ti on of the story in unfolding
and may be a means of holding reader interest.
Most of the time, texts are used to complement the accornpany-
ing images. Texts provide subtle shades of meaning too complex to
be contained in images; they clarify strange, imaginary and other
unfamiliar situations and scenes; they re-direct the reader's attention,
and signal the continuation of the action and the duration of time.
On the other hand, graphie images may be presented which are dis-
confirmed by the verbal information, or vice versa. While everything
included in a comic strip is related to a specific story, some codes are
intended to evolve and function in diverse, even opposing parame-
ters in the process of creating engrossing or interesting narratives.
Even within one frame, there are multiple codes which do not
advance in the same time, nor even in the same direction.
The order in which one perceives the various textual and pic-
torial elements of a single panel-not to mention aseries of pan-
els-depends on eye movement. Interestingly, eye movement in a
panel is determined in the West by both the left-to-right, top-to-
bottom conventions of reading and by the freer patterns associat-
ed with the contemplation of pictures. A good comics artist knows

how to work the two seemingly unrelated eye operations to his
advantage. The tendency for aseries of panels to move the eye
along in a prescribed pattern suggests the second facet of ordering
in comics-duration. The concept of duration refers to the period
of time depicted in the panel drawing, whether it is a single instant
or a longer interval. Duration also refers to the time allotted the
viewer to perceive each panel picture (including the length it takes
for one to read the text). The time to be spent in reading each panel
is carefully controlled, in that the text actually determines the
amount of time spent viewing the scene. Depending on what the
text says, readers eagerly proceed to the next panel, search the cur-
rent one for confirmation, or refer backwards to whatever was
missed in the previous panel. Each panel, however, no matter how
many verbal and pictorial elements are included in it, eventually
pushes the reader forward into the next panel, according to the
flow and pace of the story's continuity. Each drawing in comics has
its allotted reading time, without which narrative continuity would
be severely hindered.
The power of the panels to establish duration holds true in a
variety of situations. A panel may represent a single instant-a fist
hitting an assailant-or it may depict a scene that would take sev-
eral mornents to obtain-a conversation among two or more char-
acters. But in either case, the number of panels and the presence of
text will influence the amount of time in the reader's act of per-
ception. A long-panel may actually be divided into multiple
frames, usually cut according to the various segments of conversa-
tion. The panel with aseries of pictures becomes in fact a tableau,
a frozen scene that comes to life in segments. Each segment comes
alive the moment the reader pays attention to it and only so long
as the reader's attention is on it; each group of conversants is in
motion only during its speaking moments, and only as their lines
are being read. Due to the graphic impact, however, the semblance
of continuous conversation and the appearance of a single unbro-
ken scene exist simultaneously, creating the effect of a single, unit-
ed scenario out of a scene that actually unfolds in time (see Figure
25). Graphic cues utilised in the picture blend easily into our per-
ception of the whole-so easily in fact that we are hardly aware of
the mental gymnastics necessary to coordinate the time frames.
The ease of the reader's perception is ordered by the text so that
80 Reading Comics
Figure 25. Each segment comes alive only as the reader moves from
one speech balloon to another yet there is the illusion of perceiving
the whole panel as one unified scene. Zot! Book One. Art and script:
Scott McCloud © 1990 The creator.
eye movement and the pace of the story are both controlled. In this
case, the text both creates and controls the illusion of running
time, the "duration" of the scene.
The instantaneous effect of image-perception, meanwhile,
allows for the maintenance of the illusion of perceiving a whole.
Both the reading of texts and the viewing of cinema involve con-
trol over the revelation of the next scene. In the case of comics,
readers may take in the whole graphics first which may influence
the interpretation of the texts, and may even stimulate them to
read faster than their usual rate in anticipation of the next panel in
the page. Thus the role of the text in ordering visual perception is
not merely one of influencing eye movement but also of control-
ling the temporal aspect of perception.
In comics, time is a function of space, and panels may serve as
divisions of time. The succession of panels in comics is the mecha-
nism by which timing is achieved, and carefully controlled timing
enhances the drama of every event (see Figure 26). The narrative
flow (how the author conceives of the passing of time in a partic-
ular sequence) and time flow (how it is perceived by the reader) are
seldom coincidental. Both must be weighed against actual reading
TIMING
TIME
A simple actlon whose result is A simple action wherein tne result

immediate ... seconds, (only) is extended to ennance ernotlon
Figure 26. An illustration from Comics and Sequential Art by Will

Eisner © Poorhouse Press.
time. The presentation of images and words must always corre-
spond to the intentions of relating a story, where some information
may be privileged in order to create the desired narrative effect.
Although the control and manipulation of information is char-
acteristic in any storytelling, there is an added dimension in comic
art because it is primarily visual and the format of comics is such
that the reader can actually read any one panel he or she faneies.
The comics artist must rely on a tacit agreement in reading com-
petencies built up in reading comics so that readers will follow the
pattern set up for the best presentation of the story. The reading
manners in western and eastern countries, for example, differ in
direction such that even "instinctive" eye movement would also
vary.
Another distinct consideration of the temporal aspect in
comics is the seemingly limitless and open-ended concept of time
in it, Time, for instance, may also be reversible. Often characters
will go back decades or more in time and start the cycle all over
again potentially thrusting the narrative in a different direction.
Comics are also ahistorical in that there is almost complete
absence of teleology. Events that took place in the past usually do
not have the slightest influence on the events taking place in the
present, at least not in a strictly causative sense. Radical changes
may be introduced in one issue that completely contradict infor-
mation provided in earlier ones. In addition, the most popular
comicbooks often provide the feeling of an eternal present tense;
characters do not age with their "celebrity life" while the back-
ground and settings wh ich are ambiguous and fantastic may rarely
be equated to any particular time period.
82 Reading Comics
The sarnple narrative analysis provided für Frank Miller's The

Dark Knight Returns in Chapter Six illustrates the role of panels,
gutters, and duration in comicbook narrative. But before this tex-
tual analysis, Chapter Four discusses superhero comicbooks with-
in genre criticism in order to further clarify more distinctive fea-
tures of the medium.
NOTES
1 M. Horn, Seventy-Five Years of the Comics (Boston: Boston Book and

Art, 1971): ix.
2 1. Pennachioni, La nostalgie en images (Paris: Libraires des Meridiens,
1982): 22.
3 Rolf T. Wigand, "Toward a More Visual Culture Through Comics," in
Alphons Silberman and H.-D. Dyroff, Comics and Visual Culture
(Munieh: K. G. Saur, 1986): 28-61; H. Culbertson, "Words vs.Pictures:
Perceived Impact and Connotative Meaning," journalism Quarterly
51.2 (1974):226-237.
4 Will Eisner, Comics and Sequential Art (Tamarac: Florida: Poorhouse
Press, 1985).
5 Stan Lee, "Introduction," in Les Daniels, ed. Marvel: Five Fabulous
Decades of the World's Greatest Comics (London: Virgin, 1991): iii.
6 Time (November 1, 1993): 68.
7 Barker, op cit, 8. Italics mine.
8 Patrick Hanks, ed. Collins. Dietionary of the English Language
(London: Harper and Collins, 1978).
9 Ibid.
10 Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (Princeton,
Winsconsin: Kitchen Sink Press, 1993): 17.
11 A note of caution must be made regarding the term "graphic novel."
Graphie novels existed long before the term itself was coined and
became popular around1986-7. The term is now used mostly to refer
to a particular type of adult-oriented comicbooks published in expen-
sive album-forrnat and sold not only in comics stores but regular book-
stores as well. Comics scholar Roger Sabin, in Adult Comics: An
Introduction (London and New York: Routledge, 1994): 236-50,
states that "a graphie novel is a comic in book form, but not all comics
in book form are graphie novels" and aspects to be considered in
determining which comicbooks may be regarded as graphie novels
include, among others, thematic unity and perception of a finite story
(in cases of collections); length of narrative, number of pages, the pac-
ing of the narrative, and so on.
12 McCloud, op cit., 22.
13 In his discussion of graphie novels as a definable category of comics,

Sabin (op cit., 237) already includes Raymond Briggs in his list of
prominent authors of the graphie novel, therefore placing hirn within
the tradition of comics for adults.
14 Antonio Lara, EI apasionante mundo del tebeo (Madrid: Ed.
Cuadernos para el Dialogo, Sociedad Anonima, 1972): 35ff.
15 Ruben Gubern, EI lenguaje de los comics (Barcelona: Ediciones
Peninsula, 1972): 115.
16 Robert Harvey, "The Aesthetics of Comic Strips," Journal of Popular
Culture (Spring 1986): 650.
17 ]oseph Witek, Comic Books as History: The Narrative Art of Jack
[ackson, Art Spiegelman, and Harvey Pekar (Mississippi: University of
Mississippi Press, 1989): 22ff.
18 The hegemonie roles and functions of superheroes, and how these are
implied or emphasized through various narrative devices in comic
books, will be discussed in more detail in Chapters Four and Five of
this study.
19 McCloud, op cit., 70ff.
20 Eisner, op cit., 26.
21 Frederik Schodt, Manga! Manga! (New York: Kodansha International,
1988): xx.
22 Schodt, ibid., 55-60.
23 Schodt, ibid.
24 Shows that are sub-titled require a different process for understanding,
compounded by the linguistic abilities and literacy levels of the view-
ers. Silent films, meanwhile, are also another matter because they con-
tain separate panels of text which often interrupt the temporal flow of
the images.
CHAPTER FOVR
Superhero Comicbooks
Commodities like mass-produced texts are selected,

purchased, constructed, and used by real people with previ-
ously existing needs, desires, intentions, and interpretative
strategies. By reinstating those active individuals and their
creative, constructive activities at the heart of our interpreta-
tive enterprise, we avoid blinding ourselves to rhe fact that the
essentially human practice of making meanings goes on even
in a world dominated by things and by consumption. In thus
recalling the interactive character of operations like reading,
we restore time, process, and action to our account of human
endeavour.
jane Radway
Reading the Romance 1984
Since their inauspicious debut in the newsstands of New York in
the 1930s, comicbooks in America have been published in billions
of copies for audiences of countless millions. It would be fair to say
that most who grew up since the introduction of comicbooks to
popular culturehave come under its pervasive speIl at one time or
another. Not until the arrival of television was there a sharp
decline in comicbook sales. On the other hand, television enabled
the instant transmission of comicbook-inspired material on
Saturday mornings and prime time. Eventually, television would
help propel the sales of comicbooks and also extend the produc-
tion and manipulation of comicbook products into an increasing-
ly multimedia base. Today, the comicbook continues to manifest
85
86 Reading Comics
itself, although in different forms than its 1930 prototype. This

chapter will discuss how the changes and development in comic-
books, especially the construction and properties of superhero
comicbooks, can be correlated much more dosely with the fanta-
sy wishes and consumer caprice of readers than most other com-
mon forms of popular narrative like television, cinema or romance
fiction. Some reasons for the dose relation between comics and its
readers are: the cheapness of comicbooks as a commodity; the gen-
erallow opinion of the product wh ich bonded those who favoured
it and also fostered a strong underground movement; its well-
developed community of fans; the way comicbooks were produced
and distributed; and, most importantly, the nature of the superhero
figure and his adventures and exploits which made it easy and pos-
sible to incorporate almost any "neat" idea proffered by those in
the industry as well as its readers.
At the height of its popularity in the early 1940s, the super-
hero comicbook was a unique visual phenomenon. In most cases,
it was in a standard 64-page magazine format and celebrated the
exploits of superheroic characters in action-packed, vividly
coloured covers that children found hard to resist. The superhero
dominated the pages of the early comicbook. These were mostly
muscular men 1 in brightly coloured tights shown performing
remarkable feats of strength and defeating strange villains one
after another. The heroes also had all the traits a child could dream
of: speed, strength, power, and knowledge. The recurrence of this
sight and theme in the minds of thousands of children and adoles-
cents over a fifty-year period must have helped the American
(male) youths to a better understanding or recognition of their fan-
tasy goals as they related to their personal ideals. Interestingly,
what primarily appealed to the visualised fantasies of childhood
provided the twentieth century with a pantheon and mythology
comparable to those of previous cultures. The superhero figure has
developed into a lasting and vigorous presence id American and
European popular culture such that the recognition of the Batman
or Superman, for example, by millions who have never read a
Batman comicbook or seen a Superman film is ensured.s
The lasting popularity of superheroes is rather unexpected if we
consider the characteristics most familiar to superhero comics:
a) the plot, characterisation, and theme are relatively simple; b) they
rely frequently on formulaic plots and traditional symbols; c) there
Superhero Comicbooks 87
is an interpreting narrator to direct the stories; and d) simple, car-

toon-like illustrations with bright, primary colours are used. While
their generic similarities and obvious evocation of archetypes make
them easy to remember, most superhero texts seem to be quite
undetailed. The stories are so similar to each other, possess very few
qualities distinct enough for durable impressions, and do not seem
substantial enough to allow permanence over the years. Yet, despite
their sameness, superhero comics have endured, have crossed over
to other media, and have managed to maintain their almost world-
wide presence in popular culture. Closer scrutiny of the genre
reveals that the persistence and popularity of certain superheroes
and particular texts belie the seeming interchangeability of these
comicbooks. In fact, thousands of devout comicbook fans could
enumerate differences in detail that would quell any doubts about
the uniqueness of each text. Then again, careful analysis of the par-
ticulars of these "differences" shows that they are often appreciat-
ed in relation to their unexpectedness or deviance from a recognis-
able convention of a superhero text. This enjoyment derived from
the manipulation of established conventions indirectly acknowl-
edges the existence of a "model" or a "paradigm" for such texts.
The shifts between repetition and uniqueness, between imitation
and imagination in superhero comicbooks will be emphasised in
this section which, by using genre criticism, will discuss superhero
texts within the framework of cultural studies. The aim of the
analysis is to study the central core of repeated patterns and restat-
ed meanings gleaned from a wide variety of superhero texts and
evaluate the comicbook form within a cultural perspective. Some
central points are: what are the defining traits of a superhero; what
kinds of superheroes are popular during the important stages in the
genre's development; what social realities are most reflected in this
type of narrative; who are its producers and readers and how do
they participate in shaping the genre; what social trends affect the
genre most; in which direction does the genre seem to be headed?
In discussing superhero comicbooks within cultural studies, a
number of paradoxes will be immediately apparent: a) the super-
hero comicbook is a popular art form traditionally known for its
apparently hegemonic and sornetimes overtly authoritarian texts;
b) it is a publishing genre which began to gain a degree of cultural
respectability by ducking the 'underground' label at least partially
for greater distribution; c) it is an art form which has been handled
88 Reading Comics
(if at all) with disdain by the literary establishment, and yet has
built up its own heuristic critical discourse through what is still
rather misleadingly know as the "fan press;" d) it consists of a body
of contemporary mythology from which television and Hollywood
have plundered and distributed material; and finally, e) critical per-
ception of the formal and narrative patterns and meanings of
comicbooks is often based on an appeal to a common culture
although the culture of comicbooks is not necessarily shared by
students and scholars of literature. The culture of comicbooks
seems to be in apower relationship with dominant literary norms,
exposing notions of contradictory norms and power. Looking at
how superhero comicbooks have survived and developed in the last
fifty years will reveal some of the reasons and purposes for the
paradoxes outlined above. Once we think of comics as an example
of a genre, we can no longer approach it as only an artefact to be
analysed in some contextless critical purity. We need to ask who
reads such books, why and in which way, seeing them as "texts-in-
use" that are accompanied by the pragmatics of production as well
as issues of ideology and language.
THE USE OF GENRE STUDIES
It is important to clarify some points about the concept of the

genre before plunging into the comicbooks themselves. The word
genre conjures up different sets of associations. Often it is used in
the context of popular literature, where it frequently implies "not
literature" but rather some low-level formulaic production. But it
may also be traced to formalist academic literary critics, for whom
it meant established literary forms, with definite rules where a
writer's art was shown in their faithful observation of or artful
departure frorn these rules. Some types of literary criticism have
come to decree that great writing is to be unique and sui generis-
literally, each great work creating its own genre. But such condi-
tions of uniqueness and transcendence of the generic would cause
problems for evaluating comicbooks which are clearly formulaic
and archetypal. The advent of cultural studies and the correspon-
ding increase in attention to varying forms of popular narratives
have caused the re-examination of genre and genre criticism. Once
aga in, we are aware of the importance of genre, now not as a set
of rules that ought to be followed, but as a framework that is
always present to some degree. All texts are dependent on and

grow out of other texts such that all texts are variations of previ-
ous models that contain rules, structures and patterns that make
storytelling possible and the stories recognisable. Nonetheless, the
importance of the rules may be that they are there to be broken.
Jonathan Culler (1981) defines genres as groups of norms and
expectations that help readers assign functions to the various ele-
ments in a work.3 The readers know what to expect and why: each
genre has its codes and conventions. If we read crime novels, for
example, we expect a mystery, an investigator, and a solution. If
we read romance we expect a leading man, a leading lady, and true
love. In superhero comicbooks, we expect a hero with superpow-
ers, a villain, a confrontation, and a conclusion where the hero
wins. However, norms and expectations are not inscribed within
texts forever but are dependent on the readers' and writers' knowl-
edge of the codes. Hence, one is not necessarily always sure which
conventions to read by. For example, no one reading Frankenstein
in 1818 could have thought they were reading science fiction, but
with a history of science fiction we now can read it differently."
Genres represent a set of conventions whose parameters are
redrawn with each new book and each new reading. The concept
involves a contraet between authors and readers. Generic conven-
tions are especially important in superhero comicbooks as a way
of understanding and constructing a tri angular relationship
between the producer, the text, and the reader. As John Fiske
remarks:
Genres are not to be seen as forms of textual codifications,
but as systems of orientations, expectations, and conventions
that circulate between industry, text and subject.Ä
Generic conventions are the structural elements that are

shared between producers and readers and they are crucial to the
pleasures a genre offers its audience. This can be clearly seen in
superhero texts where repetitions in orientation, expectation, and
conventions played an important role in keeping the genre alive.
The market of superhero comicbooks was such that publishers
could reckon with a fast turnover which made repetitions easy,
even necessary. Many of the heroes that exist today have survived
at least forty years of publication, and have undergone changes
while retaining what may be termed the "key components" of their
identity and the core ideas of their individual narratives. Many of
90 Reading Comics
the patterns and meanings which emerge from current texts, as

weIl as the play wh ich is derived from them, rely for their fullest
impact on the readers' cumulative sense of significance of the sim-
ilarities and differences among the individual elements within
texts. There is a strong element of intertextuality among superhero
texts which forms a progressive series of cumulative knowledge
among their readers. This knowledge is developed through reading
and following comicbooks, in acknowledging certain texts while
disputing or dismissing others. There is a general agreement
among Batman fans, for example, that the campy Batman televi-
sion series with Adam West in the 1960s is not at all part of the
bat-texts which comprise the key components in defining Batman's
identity and psyche. Another example is the way fans ignored the
Captain America texts which were published briefly in 1954. On
March 1964, Captain America's revival showed hirn awaking from
being frozen in suspended animation since 1946, totally excluding
whatever text was written between 1946 and 1964.
Comics accumulate sign and meaning possibilities that do not
depend on one book, but rather on aseries of on-going short narra-
tives. There is a complex intertextuality in comicbooks which opens
a greater availability to different readings on both the synchronic
and diachronic levels since the genre has existed for a long time.
Simultaneously, its nature dictates a drive for perennial contempo-
raneity. In the context to be used here, a genre is defined less through
its conventions and rules, and more as a shifting provisional set of
characteristics that are modified as each new example is produced.
GENERIC CONVENTIONS OF SUPERHERO COMICS
A logical place to start in ferreting out the characteristics of the

superhero narrative is in scrutinising its two most apparent fea-
tures: the hero and his adventures. For this purpose, John Cawelti's
description of the basic structure of a hero's adventure is very use-
ful, pertinent to the point that it begs to be included here:
The central fantasy of the adventure story is that of the hero
... individual or group... overcoming obstacles and dangers
and accomplishing some important moral mission. Often,
though not always, the hero's trials are the result of the
machinations of a villain, and, in addition, the hero frequent-
ly receives as a kind of side benefit, the favours of one or
more attractive young ladies. However, the interplay with the

villain and the erotic interests served by the attendant damsels
are more in the nature of frosting on the cake. The true focus
of interest in the adventure story is the character of the hero
and the nature of the obstacles he has to overcome. This is the
simplest and perhaps the oldest and widest appeal of all for-
mula types. It can clearly be traced back to the myths and
epics of earlier times that have been cultivated in some form
or other by alm ost every human culture. At least on the sur-
face, the appeal of this form is obvious, It presents a charac-
ter with whom the audience identifies passing through the
most frightening perils to achieve a triumph. Perhaps the
most basic moral fantasy implicit in this type of story is that
of victory over death, though there are also all kinds of sub-
sidiary triumphs available depending upon the particular cul-
tural materials employed: the triumph over injustice and
threat of lawlessness in the western; the saving of the nation
in the spy story; the overcoming of fear and defeat of rhe
enemy in the combat story. While the specific characterisation
of the hero depends on the cultural motifs and themes that are
embodied in any specific adventure formulas, there are in
general two primary ways in which the hero can be charac-
terised: as a superhero with exceptional strength or ability or
as "one of us"-a figure marked, at least at the beginning of
the story by flawed abilities and attitudes presumably shared
by the audience.P
Seen against this basic hero formula, the construction and

appeal of the comicbook superhero become obvious and apparent:
being pure fantasy, it can cover all kinds of fantasies and triumphs
enumerated above that evoke the rnythicaland span the range of
thernes from moral conflicts to combat stories. Furthermore,
superheroes embody the two types of hero mentioned since they
are usually endowed with a dual identity being simultaneously a
super-power while also being "one of us." Superhero narrative is
simple and formulaic, held together by rapid action of one such
character or a group of such characters. A mystery or dilemma is
confronted with violence. Women are victims to be rescued.
Heroes are tough and honourable. The law needs the hero's help.
There are elaborate fight scenes whose winner is almost inevitable.
Language is masculine. Plotting is precise and often predictable.
Dialogue is short and punqhy until the elaborate schemes of the vil-
lains need explaining. The conc1usion is foreseeable. But despite
92 Reading Comics
the predictability of the stories, for some inexplicable reason, the

"willing suspension of disbelief" in readers becomes inexhaustible.
No matter how many times Superman, the Batman or Spider-Man
achieve their triumphs, the next adventure captivates again, and
reader suspense and involvement is always successfully manipulat-
ed. The play between predictability and innovation must account
for some of the reading pleasure in the texts, and may lead one to
the conclusion that the form is not as restrictive as is often
thought,
Classic superhero narratives usually start with a disruption of
the status quo and proceed to a discovery and eradication of the
perpetrator of this disruption.Usually, the "establishment," name-
ly, the police, and the judiciary, are the forces given credit for
restoring order and stability, since the Superhero usually works
with them. In classic superhero fiction, the disruption takes place
in closed hierarchical communities-a "named" and identifiable,
albeit imaginary, locale like Metropolis and Gotham City. The
problem is solved by the superhero who is generally known as an
establishment figure. The comicbook ends with the restoration of
the old hierarchies. The superhero from this position could thus be
seen as the last bastion of imperialism and outmoded class atti-
tudes, sanitised violence, racism, sexism; he has too much respect
for authority and an unhealthy tendency to see moral issues in
absolute terrns. However, attributing to superhero narratives such
conservative forms tends to imply rather negative reasons for the
prominence or persistence of the genre among its readers. Ir would
suggest that its readers are those attracted most by repetitive gen-
res with conservative implications.
But this view is erroneous. Ir is based on a too scanty knowl-
edge of the history of superhero comicbooks, and a far too rigid
interpretation of the superhero genre, at least an outdated one in
view of the more recent re-makes of many of the genre's characters
and narratives. More and more, one can assert that the boundaries
of the superhero are relatively fluid. This genre does not necessar-
ily have conservative implications since only an extraordinarily
fertile and productive genre could have spread and caught the
attention of readers world-wide for so long. Ir is true that classic
superhero texts tended to end with certainties-chaos is van-
quished and stability is restored. In the .past, the classic superhero
figure also tended to be an establishment figure which seemed to
imply that the forces of law and order were always good and
unproblematic. Nevertheless, it is possible to make a convincing
argument that the outcome of the fights is often only secondary to
the unfolding of the disruption and its effects, the ensuing con-
frontation with the villains, and the development and expansion of
the superhero character in each issue. Even in a "classic plot"
involving rather uncomplicated protagonists, there are at least two
problematic elements: a) the depicted society is always in danger
and its institutions for law enforcement are deficient, otherwise it
would not need a superhero; and b) the restoration of peace and
order is only temporary since recurring threats to a superhero's
domain are intrinsic to the genre. In some cases, popular prota go-
nists are even deliberately left to escape and their probable return
is implied. In addition, many superheroes operate outside the
law-the Submariner, the Hulk, Plastic Man, the Spirit, and count-
less others-helping powerless and worthy people to defend thern-
selves against criminal and evil forces in areas where the official
system of law and order has proven ineffective. The ending is
moreover usually perfunctory, a necessary ending, but hardly
equivalent to the complex fight scenes, the elaborate illustrations
and interactions which preceded it, as well as to the flamboyant
and memorable villains and rogues who litter superhero narra-
tives. In reaching the end, all sorts of unexpected things can hap-
pen just as all sorts of unexpected things are introduced. After all,
crime involves the disruption of normalities (superheroes them-
selves are already a disruption of normalities), and superhero nar-
ratives are often the consequences of this disorder. While the plots
are naturally geared towards the restoration of law, they are also
about the breaking of the law, about the transgression of normal
rules. Viewed from this perspective, the narratives become more
interesting and take on more dimensions especially in relation to
power and control. It is possible to perceive the genre as actually
dealing with the transgression of the law, portraying the play
between breaking and restoring law, or at the very least, showing
an ambivalence about law and order.? After all, if the police were
efficient and sufficient in maintaining law and order, superheroes
would be unneccessary. The presence of superheroes to augment
the establishment's capacity to uphold the law lends a distance
between the hero figure and aspects of establishment. Moreover,
the superheroes of today have evolved a great deal from the
94 Reading Comics
unabashed patriots of the 1940s and 1950s. Since the early 1970s,
they have been shown routing out scientists, politicians, priests,
and other establishment figures who turn out to be in league with
criminal elements. With the sophistication of the more recent
graphie novels, the once reassuring form of traditional binary
oppositions and simple disputes in the older texts have given way
to a multitudinous and pluralistic range of images that fit ourcon-
temporary existence. Newer texts like The Dark Knight Returns,
Watchmen, Astro City, and Madman tackle complex moral dilem-
mas and diverse political shifts where changes and contradictions
cannot so easily be labelled and appraised. Often, the superheroes
themselves question their role in upholding the law in a world
where those in powerful and institutionalised positions have
debatable intentions and morality. The world is very different from
that of thirty years ago: the bases of power have shifted, and so
have ways of understanding them. Old certainties have gone,
though new and perhaps equally repressive authoritarianisms have
emerged. These, in their turn, must be challenged. This present
world of uncertain directions and kaleidoscopic and contradictory
images is increasingly reflected both textually and visually in
comicbooks.
There is one other essential feature of usual adventure or hero
stories that is used quite differently in superhero tales: these are the
trials designed to test if the hero should really be a hero, if he is a
march for the tasks set before hirn, if, for example, he can cheat
and triumph over death. But superheroes were conceived to be
intrinsically indestructible. That a superhero never dies is a tacit
agreement between artists and readers for otherwise, there would
be no subsequent issues of that comicbook. The superhero's
immortality, however, is directly proportion to its popularity
which then dictates which comicbooks will be further published.
Such narratives are not really geared towards an innovative ending
other than the hero's triumph. The innovation and variability of
each text is actually in presenting a variety of villains and in cook-
ing up the "distortion" of the law. The originality and creativity of
the artists lie in making up and developing transgressions that pro-
vide the plot in each issue. In a way, it is actually crime and the
supervillains that keep the superhero in business. The proliferation
of crooks and chaos is allowed as long as core ideas of the origins
and identity of the hero are maintained. Committed comicbook
readers have come to expect this, and letters to the editor often
applaud or rebuke these "innovative repetitions," implying that
the readers accept some rules governing story-construction and
superhero definitions.f
SHORT HISTORY OF SUPERHERO COMICBOOKS
The first publication to call itself a comicbook in the US came out

in 1917 from the Saalfield Publishing Company and consisted of
collected reprints from newspaper comic strips. Its size and format
looked very much like the Sunday comic section of the newspa-
pers, except that it was mostly black and white. It would not be
until 1933 that the comicbook in the format we know it today
appeared, produced by the Eastern Color Printing Company as
give-aways for companies like Proctor and Gamble, Wheatena,
Milk-O-Malt and Kinney Shoes.? Although now in full-colour and
magazine format, the comicbook was nevertheless still a compila-
tion of popular Sunday comic strips, with neither original materi-
al nor an extended narrative featuring one character. By 1938,
reprint comicbooks had become the norm. For the most part dur-
ing these five years, early comic-book publishers were content to
continue raiding the Sunday comic pages and had come up with
neither a major original character nor concept.
But two teenagers would be responsible for changing the his-
tory and development of comicbooks in the US for all time.
Despite refusals from major comic syndicates-the concept was a
major departure from the idea of comicbook content-Jerry Siegel
and Joe Shuster managed to have an original character called
Superman published in Action Comics 1. This comicbook laid the
groundwork for the transformation and growth of the largest and
most successful comicbook genre that would assure the future of
comicbooks. Action Comics 1 (dated June 1938) hit the news-
stands in early Spring 1938. There were two succeeding issues but
no immediate success was noticed by its publishers until the fourth
issue when Action Comics sold about half a million copies while
other titles would be selling approximately two hundred thousand
copies per issue. DC's owner, Donenfeld, unsure of why the comic-
book was doing so well, ordered a newsstand survey and found
that the children were not asking for Action Comics but for the
comicbook "with Superman.r Iv
96 Reading Comics
Action really stood out from the other dozenor so comic-book

titles on the stands that month. Its cover pictured a muscular
man wearinga brightly colouredred-and-blue costumewith a
cape, lifting a car over his head as criminals flee in terror.!1
Donenfeld had ordered Superman out of the cover after the
first issue, worried that the character was too fantastic and ridicu-
lous. But after the survey, he ordered hirn back on the covers and
watched each succeeding issue sell out.
So unexpected and rapid was the success of Superman that it
would be almost a year before he was joined by serious imitators.
Although some superheroes would later be given more elaborate
origins that may be traced back to Egyptian, Norse and Greek
mythological beings who helped in the affairs of mortals, the roots
of the early American comicbook superhero can be found in the
popular fiction magazines of the early 1930s. Characters like the
Shadow, Doc Savage, Dr. Mystic, and the Spider were all popular
pulp-magazine characters with secret identities, costumes and
super physical powers. Since many comicbook creators were also
writers of the pulp adventure stories, and many comicbook pub-
lishers originally published pulp hero magazines, the similarities
were not coincidences.l-
The Golden Age of comicbooks is generally acknowledged to
have begun in 1938, but it was hard to tell this by looking at the
other comicbooks published that year. Most early comicbook pub-
lishers did not have a regular staff of artists and writers, and books
were packaged by comicbook studio shops which littered
Manhattan at this time. It took almost a year before the industry
caught up to Superman's popularity, but when it did, superheroes
multiplied by the hundreds and comicbook sales increased to mil-
lions of copies sold. Stan Lee of Marvel Comics remembers the
time when a variety of superheroes were being introduced almost
every week as publishers sought to launch a superhero that would
capture the readers' imagination like Superman, Batman or
Captain Marvel did. "It seemed that unemployed costumed heroes
were turning up almost daily at the Marvel office, and more loi-
tered in the streets of Manhattan... "13 In 1939, there were fifty
comic titles, by 1941 there were 168 arid over eighty percent of
these had superhero adventures in thern.I" Despite the seeming
inertia in the industry due to the war shortages in paper and labour
which limited the growth of the industry, comicbooks surged in
popularity during the war years. One publisher alone, Faucet

Publications, sold nearly forty-seven million comicbooks in 1943,
more than double its sales of the previous year. In 1944, its most
popular superhero title, Captain Marvel Adventures, sold over 14
million issues during a twelve-month period, almost three million
more than the previous year. 15 Increasing numbers of American
servicemen became comicbook readers to the extent that comics
were reported to have outsold popular magazines such as Lire and
Reader's Digest at a rate of ten to one on army bases (1949).1 6
Propelled by the rising sales, more and more superheroes were
published. World War 11 initiated a big push for patriotic heroes. It
provided the superheroes with a new set of enemies and supplied
a complete working rationale for the world view of a super-patri-
otic hero such as Captain America who epitomised American val-
ues during World War 11 (first appeared in Captain America 1
(1941).1 7 In the Summer of 1941, Nazi-bashing superheroes began
in earnest-with propaganda and slogans included in the pages of
the comicbooks.lf The war also induced an element of realism into
the comicbooks, and publishers adapted historical events or biog-
raphies of war heroes into comic-book stories. Fantasy, however,
still ruled as seen in the spiralling powers granted to the super-
heroes, in the visual renditions of their strength and fighting capa-
bilities, and the contraptions and gadgets used both by the super-
heroes and villains. Ta name a few, Captain Flash, Captain Atom,
Doctor Solar and Dynamo provide a clue to the artists' and read-
ers' fascination with scientific and futuristic curiosities. Wonder
Woman (published by DC) broke the sex barrier in Summer of
1942, Marvel quickly followed with Miss Fury (Winter 1942) and
Fawcett also added Mary Marvel (December 1945), a superheroine
counterpart of Captain Marvel.l? The summer of 1943 brought
the first parody of the superhero comics in the form of Plastic Man
created by humour artist jack Cole for Police Comics. As Plastic
Man stretched and slithered after criminals and transformed him-
self to all kinds of imaginable objects, he was played strictly for
laughs, and hisadventures were refreshingly different from the
deadly serious crimefighters of the day.
After the war, superhero comics soon lost two things: its ser-
vicemen readers and Nazi/]apanese villains. It is generally agreed
that the golden age of comics and superhero comics in .particular
lasted from 1938 to 1949 after which the bulk of superhero comics
98 Reading Comics
folded due to falling readership. Only the Batman, Superman, and

Wonder Woman came through without a break in publication dur-
ing the lean years of the early 1950s when interest had shifted to
crime, western, and in particular, "horror and gore" comics.
Ironically, the excess of gore and horror, wh ich initiated the cen-
sorious attacks of Dr. Wertharn and the Congressional hearings on
comics and juvenile delinquency, also led indirectly to the renais-
sance of superhero comics.e" Very few comics publishers weath-
ered the implementation of the Comics Code which clamped down
excessively on crime and horror comics. DC and Marvel were two
of the few which survived, and for both, the revival of superheroes
seemed safe within a Code which upheld authority figures and
stipulated that law enforcernent leaders should always be shown in
a respectful and sympathetic manner. The year 1956 then sparked
one of the most significant trends in comicbook history-the
revival and updating of original comicbook superheroes for a new
audience. Are-born and re-costumed Flash appeared in Showcase
4, October 1956 (the date usually regarded as the beginning of the
so called Silver Age) and paved the way for the Green Lantern who
returned in the Showcase 22, October 1959; a new heroine
Supergirl also appeared, and then a whole superhero team in the
shape of the Justice League of America who first appeared in The
Brave and the Bald 28, March 1960. Norse Gods and legends were
added as Thor first appeared in Journey into Mystery 83, August
1962. In March 1966, the comic was retitled The Mighty Thor.
Horror wedded to the superhero format materialised in the form
of The Incredible Hulk who burst on the scene in The Incredible
Hulk 1, May 1962. Golden Age characters like Captain America
and the Submariner were brought back out of retirement as well.
The superhero revivals were carefully planned and published; the
superheroes were featured in teams and groups as a chance to
bring them all back at once, as well as to gauge from reader
response which ones might be given their own issues or cover titles.
Marvel dominated the scene in the 1960s and early 1970s, but
it was DC who benefited from the enormous appeal of the 1960s
Batman television series. Almost immediately after its January
1966 premiere, USA went "bat-crazy." The show achieved tremen-
dous ratings and was broadcast twice a week. This event had a
great impact on comicbooks. Sales of all superhero comicbooks
rose as a result of the show, and the Batman comicbooks in par-
ticular reached a very impressive circulation of dose to nine hun-

dred thousand copies, the largest circulation of any superhero
comicbook since the 1950s. 21 Soon, the Batman was featured
prominently in all DC comicbook covers, while both Marvel and
DC rode on the wave of a new superhero popularity. By 1969,
Batman and Superman titles made up nine of the ten best-selling
comics in the United States. 22 Although the second heroic age of
comicbooks, the "Silver Age" is acknowledged to have begun in
1956, it is difficult to determine exactly when it ended.
Nevertheless, 1967 might be a good year to mark the beginning of
the end of the second superhero boom. Almost every comicbook
published in 1967 had lower sales than the previous Bat-year, The
Batman fell in circulation by nearly one hundred thousand copies
and many other titles experienced a ten to twenty percent drop in
sales.
The next interesting landmark in superhero comics would be
1971 when Spider-Man (issues 96 to 98) defied the Comics Code
Authority by featuring an anti-drug story, reflecting the new social
consciousness of the young writers and artists working on the
books. Because of Code prohibitions against any portrayal of drug
use, this Spider-Man issue had to be distributed without the seal of
approval from the Comics Code Authority. However, as a result of
the industry's desire to present anti-drug messages, the Comics
Code reviewed its 1954 standards and modified them so that such
topics could be treated. At the same time, the Code relaxed the
prohibition against the use of horror in comics, and the treatment
of law violations. Before 1971, Spider-Man also introduced anoth-
er innovation for the superhero genre-despite the fact that he was
not originally intended to star in aseries, he became the epitome
of the radical innovations that characterised the Marvel Age
(1961-70) when he started to analyse his motives for being a super-
hero: 23
"Can they be right? Am I really some sort of crack-pot, wast-
ing my time seeking farne and glory? Am I more interested in
the adventure of being Spider-Man than I am in helping peo-
pie??? Why do I do it? Why don't I give up? And yet, I can't!
I must have been given this great power for a reason! No
matter how difficult it is, I must remain Spider-Man! I pray
that some day the world will understandl't-"
100 Reading Comics
Marvel editor Stan Lee used Spider-Man to challenge the very

concept of the superhero. Spider-Man was neurotic, compulsive
and profoundly sceptical about the whole idea of becoming a cos-
tumed saviour. He was constantly struggling with hirnself while
others continued their valiant fights against whichever villain was
currently wreaking havoc in their spheres.
By the 1980s, the Comics Code had become a spent force.
Both Marvel and DC had started to advertise insouciantly many of
their comics as "Suggested for Mature Readers.v-> offering comic-
books dealing explicitly with violence and sexuality. Such confi-
dence in the labelling bespoke the strength of their adult reader-
ship. In the mid-1980s, DC asserted itself as the leading comic-
book publisher by launehing a new line of comics (DC Vertigo)
specifically for adults; by initiating a shrewd and imaginative
revamping of classic titles, and by promoting bold and innovative
work both in the superhero genre and in the linked genres of fan-
tasy and horror with titles such as Hellblazer, Watchmen,
Sandman, Moonshadow, Shadows Fall, among others. The current
crowd of superheroes are much more mortal and more complex,
especially in their psychological constitution.
Despite the introduction of new characters through many
years, the Batman and Superman still remain the most popular
superheroes. 26 They are popular with a variety of audiences who
have grown up and embraced the superhero genre through a col-
lage of different media manifestations during a fifty-year history.
The Batman and Superman, together with many other super-
heroes, have come a long way from being related to the mystery
men of the 1930s and 1940s pulp fiction, as well as from being
patriotic do-gooders of the war years. Although almost all of the
original superhero concepts were developed between 1938 and
1943, the superheroes have definitely grown up, and so have the
genre and its readers. Looking at the characteristic features of
superhero texts as gleaned from Superman and the Batman, we
will be more able to appreciated the changes in superhero comic-
books that have happened in the last ten years.
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF SUPERHEROES
The concept of an invulnerable character with superhuman

strength caught the fancy of a nation as Superman's arrival creat-
ed a whole new genre out of a very coarse set of materials. Today,

many aspects of the first Superman and its narrative approach
have the appearance of a cliche. Indeed, much of what would
becorne central to the superhero genre was already established in
the thirteen pages of the first Superman issue. The first issue intro-
duces readers to a distant, dying planet and explains that a "seien-
tist" placed his infant son in aspaceship, launehing it towards
Earth. The "sleeping babe" is discovered and delivered to an
orphanage (Clark Kent's parents were a later addition to the
mythology). On reaching maturity, the young man discovers he has
considerable powers, (though modest compared to the god-like
capabilities that he would later acquire in his fifty-year career). He
decides to dedicate his strength to the service of mankind, and
becomes Superman-"Champion of the oppressed, this physical
marvel who has sworn to devote his existence to helping those in
need." All these facts were contained in just the first page. The
next five pages relate how Superman prevents an innocent woman
from going to the eleetric chair, how Clark gets an assignment
from the (yet unnamed) editor of the Daily Star (later to be
renamed Daily Planet) and assigned to cover the feats of
Superman, and how Superman intervenes in a wife-beating scene.
Then, as Clark Kent, he meets his colleague Lois Lane who
agrees to a date to "give hirn a break, für a change." It was a dis-
astrous date, interrupted by achallenge to fight from a "hunk"
called Matson who disdains Clark's pacifist attitudes, and later
bundles Lois Lane into his car as she angrily leaves the club by her-
self. The car's getaway was blocked by the imposing figure of
Superman who tips both Lois and the roughnecks out of the car,
and then trashes the vehicle (this is the panel which provides the
subject matter for the first Action Comic's famous car-throwing
cover). Clark's problem, in that his second identity steals the affec-
tions of Lais, starts here; the very next day, Lois treats hirn more
coolly than ever. Meanwhile, Clark is assigned to stir up news for
the Star's front page and is told to go to the small South American
republic of San Monte. But instead, as Superman, he takes the
train to Washington to investigate corruption in the US Senate.
The actions and motifs in this first issue reveal the influence of
usual hero-adventure narratives, as weIl as establish much of what
will be staple to the superhero genre. Some of the features that
would be repeated countless times in other superhero stories could
102 Reading Comics
be listed as follows: a) aberrant or mysterious origins, b) lost par-

ents, c) man-god traits, d) a costumed, secret identity, e) difficulties
with personal and emotional relationships, f) great cancern for jus-
tice, and g) use of superpower in politics. Similar to Superman
being forced to leave Krypton, the usual superhero adventure
begins with someone from whom something important has been
taken away-home and/or family, a loved one who dies, normal
human constitution because of an accident, the sense of security is
threatened, the feeling of complacency is lost because of the aware-
ness of a "difference," and so on. In the usual hero-adventure
story, the hero then undertakes a mission to recaver what has been
lost, to avenge a wrong, to discover some life-giving elixir or all of
these together, usually fulfilling a cycle of departure and return.
For the true superhero, this cycle is rendered impossible by the
nature of their "repetitive narratives," not to mention commercial
demands, which dictate that they should battle again and aga in
and thus bar any return to a former, calmer existence. The super-
hero cycle is simply comprised of discovering the cause of disorder
and defeating the transgressor. However, even the ensuing peace
and ca1m is often illusory, contradicted by an intrusion from the
comicbook editor who advertises the next issue(s), directing the
readers to upcoming battles and cancelling any pretence of a com-
plete cycle,
Another basic motif of hero adventures utilised in this genre is
the departure from one condition, usually psychological immaturi-
ty or physical dependency, in order to achieve individual and com-
munal success. As in the folktale world, a superhero's coming into
his inheritance or the acceptance of his "difference" and conse-
quent role in society may be seen as a symbol of coming to a con-
dition of moral autonomy. One favourite technique in obliging
superheroes to confront autonomy is the loss of parents or a loved
one-the Batman, a.k.a. Bruce Wayne, is haunted by the murder of
his parents; Superman hails from a dying planet and is raised by
human foster parents; Spider-Man's dosest relative is his Aunt
Mary who is also murdered; Wonder Woman starts as a lifeless
sculpture created by her mother and she later renounces her
immortality to remain in this man's world; the Submariner lost
both his parents in a dash between humans and the inhabitants of
Atlantis; Daredevil starts working out to avenge his father's death.
Although heroes in the folktale and comicbook worlds may be
said to be already earmarked for great deeds, many superheroes

are different from folktale heroes in that their status is not gained
by undergoing trials and tasks; most of them start out as a result
of freak accidents (Spider-Man, Captain America, Dr. Manhattan,
the Fantastic Four, the Hulk) or they are born somewhere else
which gives them special powers on Earth (Superman, Wonder
Woman, Mighty Thor, Iron Man, Submariner). Through no con-
scious desire of theirs, they find themselves thrown into an advan-
tageous or extra-ordinary position. Some possible exceptions are
Daredevil and the Batman who decide to transform themselves
physically and mentally, driven by vengeance for their parents'
murder. In dedicating over twenty years of his life to changing his
physical and intellectual prowess, the Batman achieves what other
superheroes already possess: some special powers that are either
physical, magical, attributable to a weapon or device, or, most fre-
quently, a combination of the above. We must not forget that
supervillains may also have certain powers and the motivation to
be supreme. What separates the two types of superbeings is the
moral triumph that drives the hero in contrast to the egotism of the
other. The implicit high moral of these avenger-type heroes pro-
vides a critique of the customary institutions of law and order in
society, and expresses adesire for a fiercer and purer authority that
would arise to punish evil, without the delays and corruption of
constitutionallaw. In varying degrees of severity and explicitness,
the presence and polarity of superheroes and the superhero genre
involve a critique rather than a celebration of a given society's judi-
cial system. If society does enjoy a distinct and central power
source, then why the need for aberrant heroes? The code of the
superheroes reveals a transcendent sense of justice that throws into
question the accepted civil justice and the nature of "law" itself. As
each superhero takes the "law" into his own hands, an alternative
sense of justice is presented which implicitly or explicitly prob-
lematises the nature of "law." Acceptance of laws and social order
should negate any need for independent crimefighrers who are
sometimes adversial to both state police and criminals.
That superheroes usually want to remain unknown to both
crooks and cops attest to a preference not to favour (or trust)
either side. A superhero has to assurne another identity or an alter
ego for reasons of privacy and protection, Having to assurne dual
identities, however, usually means ente ring into aseries of corn-
104 Reading Comics
promises, learning to be selectively deaf and blind to inconvenient

realities. This may sometimes prove problematic for the super-
hero's alter ego because, wh ether in his private or "public" life,
readers have come to expect a high morality in the superhero char-
acter.
One essential feature in superhero comicbooks that is used to
differentiate the private man from the superhero is the use of cos-
tumes. Costumes perform an interesting function in both defining
and camouflaging a superhero, not only visually but in their bear-
ing and outlook as well. Bruce Wayne's suave, playboy personali-
ty effectively covers his nocturnal activities as the Batman; Clark
Kent's shyness and fumbling speech hide Superman's invincibility;
Diana Prince's eyeglasses and dowdy clothes cover Wonder
Woman's curves and cunning; Dr. Blake's lame leg distracts from
Thor's god-like perfeetion; and the list goes on. There is no rnis-
taking when each is functioning under their superhero or human
capacity, and the most immediate sign to this is their costume. lt
would be no exaggeration to say that perhaps the most distin-
guishing trait of the comicbook superheroes is their costume.
COSTUMES
From its inception, colour has been a chief selling point of

comics.J? By 1939, comicbooks werea full-colour medium and
creators borrowed the colourful costumes of circus performers and
aerobats to dress their heroes and make striking covers to attract
buyers (which at that time were mostly children).28 Because of the
acrobatic stances of the heroes, it was convenient to draw them in
tights which did not encumber the emphasis on the muscles and
the anatomy, in general; capes added grandeur to the visuallines
as the heroes dangled in mid-air or swooped upwards or poised for
a fight. 29 The costume also served another important purpose. It
allowed for easy identification of the characters especially consid-
ering the graphie quality of early comics. In the poorly drawn and
printed pages of pre-war comics, for example, costumes distin-
guished a superhero from other characters or other superheroes.
As more and more superheroes were introduced, costumes became
a crucial sign of super-heroism that marked out heroes (and vil-
lains) from by-standers and other characters who did not wear cos-
tumes. In this sense, the costume functioned as a uniform which
bound together all super-beings and costumed characters in con-

trast to the non-costumed ordinary world. The appearance of a
costumed character in a story will generate a specific set of expec-
tations-it signals, for example, that the figure is now operating in
his superhero identity and at any moment will be involved in vio-
lent conflict with villains. Costumes also increasingly indicated an
individual hero's character and powers. The colours, shapes, and
ornaments in the costumes, as weIl as other implements, show the
features essential to the hero's identity, powers, and capabilities-
Thor's hammer, Wonder Woman's lasso, bracelets and tiara,
Captain America's shield, Wolverine's steel claws, Silver Surfer's
board, and so on. 30
Changes in costumes have also been used within the gambit of
character development as in The Wasp who brought a different
kind of rhetoric to her varied disguises. Her repeated costume
changes were purely for the sake of appearances, aimed to empha-
sise her femininity and served to blur the boundaries between the
superheroine and her alter ego, janet Van Dyne, a socialite and
fashion designer. Due to the constant variation of her attires, The
Wasp lacked immediate visual identification and was established
more through contextual elements. Wonder Woman's characterisa-
tion also changed as her ornaments were discarded: her powers
and way of thinking had to be re-defined due to the loss of some
abilities dependent on her tiara and bracelets. Part of her origin-
stories had to be re-written because these ornaments were special
gifts from Aphrodite, the main goddess of the Amazon's Paradise
;Land where Wonder Woman comes from. A member of The
Avengers, Henry Pym became variously known in costume as the
Ant-man, Giant Man and Yellow Jacket as he underwent costume
changes in an effort to refine his own powers and superpowered
identity. Ultimately, Pym's problem centred on justifying his place
in a super-team full of far more powerful and more charismatic
super-characters. Pym's failure to find any definitive version of his
costume placed hirn firmly in the ranks of secondary or back-up
characters. He was never featured in his own comic-book and was
only viable as part of a superhero group, The Avengers.
The discourse implicit in superhero costumes is far from being
an arbitrary set of conventions, so much so that the popular heroes
are recognisable even just in their silhouettes or in more abstract
renditions, and are identifiable through colour and/or shape com-
106 Reading Comics
binations. To change the costume of solid superheroes like Captain

America or the Batman would mean redefining apreeise icono-
graphie configuration. Captain America who burst forth on the
comics scene in 1941 in aseries of patriotic adventures against the
Nazis, became Marvel's most popular superhero during the 1940s
because he captured the essence of a World War 11 patriotic fight-
ing hero.
"Captain America was very much a reflection of his time. He
was patriotic when the country was patriotic. He was willing
to fight for his country when his country was getting ready to
get into a horrible war. We saw hirn as a political statement
fleshed out to be an active force (Joe Simon, co-creator of
Captain America)."31
Inconceivable outside the circumstances which fashioned hirn,

Captain America was suitably clad in the colours and shapes found
in the US flag. The Batman's dark, bat-like costume is one utter-
ance within the costume code that elegantly articulates the proper
range of associations they were meant for: night, fear, the super-
natural. Ir also suggests Batman's mode of operation: stealth, con-
cealment, surprise.
Many texts about various superheroes have explored the con-
trast between the costume and the person behind it, the problems
in dealing with split personalities, and the burden that the heroic
identity places on them. 32 The man inside the costume is repeat-
edly ca11ed upon to earn his right to the powers which the costume
confers on hirn. The costume somehow becomes a source of power,
to wear the costume is to become the superhero or the super vil-
lain. In fact, the costume is very closely linked to the over-a11 make
up of the hero so that a fraudulent use of the costume usua11y ends
adversely für the usurper. In Batman: Prey (1992) a psychiatrist
who is obsessed with Batman dons a bat-costume very similar to
that of the hero in order to get to "know" Batman better)3 He
also deludes hirnself, no matter how slightly, that he gains some
powers of the Batman when he wears the costume. In The Reign
of the Supermen, despite a11 signs pointing to the contrary, Lois
Lane doubts the claim of the Last Son of Krypton to be the real
Superman (three other "Supermen" are making the same claim)
because "Superman never hid his face behind glasses! And he did-
n't wear black like an executioner!" 34
The role of costume as narrative device is astate of affairs

which the writer and artist can work with or against, but which
cannot be left wholly out of account. Costumes must be recognis-
able and make a formal statement about the hero's personality and
character development. Even more recent texts, such as The Dark
Knight Returns and Watchmen which make playful intertextual
allusions to other superhero comics do not by and large break the
mies of the costume system of signification.V Rather, they playa
knowing set of variations with the audience's established pattern
of responses, based on a shared knowledge of the mies of costume,
and what might be said to constitute a violation of these mies.
(in Watchmen) the deconstruction of costumed superhero val-
ues is pursued as part of the deconstruction of the costumes
themselves. Dr. Manhattan, omnipotent super-being, spends
his 25 year career shedding piece by piece the all-enveloping
costume provided for hirn by the US government. At the end
of the book, he chooses to go naked. And the semiotic tune-
tion of superhero costume can be unpicked in more ways than
one. Superhero costumes are either sexless, denying the
humanity of rhe hero within, or garments of great erotic sig-
nificance. Nite Owl reveals the fetishism implicit in the design
of most superhero costumes, during his exceptionally well-
realised first sexual encounter with Laurie ]uszpeczyk, the
Silk Spectre 36
The sexual encounter between Nite Owl and Silk Spectre,

which only took place when they both had their costumies on
(Watchmen VII, 28), reveals a subtext present since the very first
superhero story. Superman's prowess in defeating Butch Matson is
only the earliest of many examples of the sudden virility and sex-
appeal gained when a character changes into a "costurne. " As
mentioned earlier, women always prefer the character with the cos-
turne on rather than the alter ego. It seems that donning the cos-
turne is more than just a sign of the inner change from ordinariness
to a super man. A costume also endows sorne sexual power and
attraction. In this regard, one of the most interesting parts in the
use of comicbook costumes may be seen in its relation to female
heroines.
The most well-known superheroine is Wonder Woman whose
iconography of whips and chains became the jumping off point for
the sub-genre of "Good Girl" art where superheroines were depict-
108 Reading Comics
ed scantily clad and in provocative and alluring poses. Although

some girls also read them, comicbooks were generally written for
boys. In comicbooks, characters are drawn according to a highly
coloured and simplified scherne, and female characters were in
general more loosely imagined than men and less invigorating to
identify with. There were few major roles for women within the
pages of such magazines. Most females are "girlfriends" of the
hero and serve two functions: trying to learn the hero's identity
and always getting into trouble so that the hero has someone to
save. Or, they wear skimpy outfits, thus producing what is termed
as "good girl art" in the comicbook community (see Figure 27)37
Good Girl superheroines of the 1940s operated in the wider
context of the Vargas pin-up girls, the just jane cartoons and
sweethearts of the forces such as Betty Grable and Rita
Hayworth. Good Girl art takes the signs of pornographie dis-
course (whips, ehains, spiked heels, beautiful but blank faees)
and integrates them into the eontext of non-pornographie
story struetures. In this way, the sign of pornography (never
explieitly delivered) comes to stand in for an entire porno-
graphie sub-text, aseries of blanks which readers remain free
to fill in for themselves. And it is within the neo-pornograph-
ie texts of Good Girl art that the distinetions between eos-
tumed heroes and villains ean first be seen to break down, a
change that in turn influeneed mainstream superhero
eomies,38
The "girlfriends" of the superheroes are always portrayed as

well-behaved, alert and intelligent. Nevertheless, they are also
marked by extreme vulnerability to harm and hopeless infatuation.
This theme was already present in the first issue of Superman. and
Lois's obsession with the superhero continues today. But although
Lois has lived just as long as Superman, she has never achieved
equal star status in cornicbooks.J? The pages of comicbooks
abound with unflattering cliches about women's powerlessness
and isolation which in turn provides a reason for the superhero to
come to their aid. Lead female characters in more current comic-
books are portrayed to be more aggressive and more dangerous-
for example, Vampirella and Lady Death-but in general, the ide-
ology remains the same.
This common theme crosses over to both heroines and female
villains, blurring the boundaries between them. There are many
Figure 27. Good girl art continues today as lead female characters
are still illustrated in scanty outfits and provocative poses. Lady
Death: The Reckoning. Writer: Brian Pulido, art: Steven Hughes. ©
1995 Chaos! Comics.
110 Reading Comics
female antagonists who are shown to be victims of their circum-

stances as women, and later atone and change over to employing
their superpowers at the service of justice. Catwoman started as a
well-known Batman adversary, in the league of the Joker and
Penguin, even conniving with the Batman's enduring foes. She is
revealed to have been astreetwalker who turned to crime partly to
help those in the same plight and others oppressed by poverty.
Although she still works outside the law and is often wanted by the
police, she now leans more and more towards being a superheroine
than a villain. Spider-Woman, like many other superheroines,
started outside the law as Hydra, an agent for an unknown spy
organisation, under threat of death. As her powers increased, she
became a superheroine who was featured in her own comicbook.
Many of Wonder Woman's female enemies turn out to be under
hypnosis or under somebody else's power, usually that of a male
scientist. A featnred villainess who appeared in aseries of Wondet
Woman comicbooks, Baroness Von Gutenberg, was only acting for
the Nazis because they kidnapped her daughter. The Baroness had
to be helped out of this hostage situation and thereafter became
Wonder Woman's ally, Red Sonja enjoyed super-powers because
she hailed from the majestic kingdom of Hyrkania which she was
forced to flee after her parents were slain and she spurned the
advances of the pillagers' king and slew him. 40
Especially in the early years of comicbooks, it seem that
women could not be portrayed as extremely evil as some male vil-
lains were. There are hardly any female antagonists who remain as
vile and unscrupulous throughout their comicbook career as some
well-known male villains. Although by the 1950s, many sultry and
hard-hearted female villains were created in reaction to the hon-
ourable and competent women of earlier comicbooks and strips,
there was neither conspicuous menace in their intentions nor grue-
some violence in their adventures and fight scenes. During the
years from the 1950s to the early 1960s, there were many heroines
who adopted the aggressive, face-smashing attitudes of their male
predecessors-instead of a man bursting through the door and
executing an impressive jumpkick to his adversary, it was a
woman. But in spite of some sympathetic, independent heroines
and some socially satisfying plots, their acceptance of the individ-
ualistic and machismo codes of violence were highly problematic.
Most of these heroines were conceived by men, drawn mostly by
Superbero Comicbooks 111
men, and targeted for male adolescents, resultingin "good girl

art." The comicbook industry was so dominated by men for so
long and so little attention was paid to the polysemy of comicbook
texts that most of the differentiation of female characters remained
in the visual level; the code, message and way of thinking were
clearly male and simply transposed into the mouths and minds of
heroines (see Figure 28).
The "reduction" of female protagonists may also be seen in
the usual underestimation of their capabilities by both policemen
and crooks. The intervention of female heroines seldom seems to
evoke the deference from lawmen or terror from criminals (regard-
less how reluctantly) that herald the arrival of male superheroes in
critical situations. Similarly, a female antagonist has yet to create a
distinct and memorable response of fear or loathing among the
superheroes the way the Joker has, or Lex Luthor, or even J. Jonah
Jameson. By extension, women in general have been relegated to
minor roles in superhero texts, and presented in ways that give
priority to men and the idea of adventure; women have their
assigned places in the men's lives and are made secondary to what
passes between a man and other men. Women provide motivations
for the men's great deeds, but superhero texts eschew the idea of
intimate relations with women.
EXSCRIPTION OF WOMEN
Typical of many superhero stories, in so far as the narrative closure

in each book goes, show the heroes reject or never really win the
love of the woman they want. The BatmanJBruce Wayne finds
hirnself attracted to perceptive women who understand the con-
cept of "Batman" and find the vigilante interesting and hon-
ourable. These are, however, usually the same women who remain
aloof to, or even slightly disdainful of, Bruce Wayne's playboy
lifestyle. At the same time, Bruce Wayne harbours some hesitation
in pursuing such attractions, to keep up with his projected cavalier
treatment of women, and more importantly, for fear that his well-
kept secret identity will be revealed. Often, love and intimacy
demand a choice or conflict between their super-powers or pos-
sessing the woman they really love, as is the case also with
Superman, the Hulk, the Mighty Thor, to name a few. To enjoy
intimacy would entail disclosure of their super-identity which
112 Reading Comics
Figure 28. Naughty Bits #26. Unlikc the weak portrayal of female
characters in superhero comicbooks, curre nt comicbooks written
by wom en present both female prot agonists and antag onists in a
more realistic mann er. Art and script: Rober ra Grcgory © 1998
The creator, Her web page is www.robertagregory.com
would open the superheraes to some vulnerability, and somehow

transfer power and contraI over to the women.
Regardless of how intelligent and positive these women are
portrayed, they remain in the background and do not exist outside
of their relation to the superhero. The most popular among them,
Lois Lane, epitomises the secondary rale of women in superhero
texts who, in a typical piece of ideological double talk, are taught
to admire and desire that which rejects them:
(Lois Lane is) hopelessly in love with the Man of Steel, while
at the same time haughtily spurning the sheepish advances of
Superman's alter ego, Clark Kent. The Freudian implications
of this weird menage-a-trois were never fully realised by the
authors, but this story device projeets a neurotie parable:
while Superman was deemed too good for any wo man, no
woman would eonsider Clark good enough for her. Thus, in
both of his impersonations, (as super-hero and super-
sehlemiel) , Superrnan-Clark Kent eould find no sexual fulfil-
ment (and neither eould Lois).41
The subtle rejection of women is presented as a necessary ele-

ment of the plot in most superhero texts. Women are perceived as
threats to male independence and masculinity. Sentiment and erno-
tions among superheroes is presented as a weakness that would
detract from the masculine business of adventure and power.
Women's concerns and their desire for intimacy are the repressed
aspects of masculinity that must thus suffer reiterated narrative
rejection. The hero's possession of such "weakness," however, and
the constant need to conquer or deal with it, is naturalised as part of
the masculine problem. The repetitive rejection of the woman is the
narrative exscription of the feminine towards an ideology of rnas-
culinity that demands a rejection of the feminine in order to foster
male bonding. By granting male relationships narrative centrality,
and portraying adventure and the resolution of crime primarily as
male business, the superheraes (and supervillains) sustain a defined
relationship pratected from the threat of female intimacy. Their
bond is goal-oriented and not relationship-oriented; it depends more
on action than on feeling. Relationships are there to serve a purpose,
mostly to show the need to depend and care for others as exter-
nalised onto a goal and concrete actions, less as an internalised and
basic need of the male. In issue after issue, the superheroes' concern
for friends or family, their hometown, or planet Earth and its inhab-
114 Reading Comics
itants propel them to confront almost anything, always at the risk of

their lives. These external causes are deemed more worthy than true
love and intimacy, enough to convince heroes to hold on to their
identities andJor power which they risk losing if they succumb to
women. However, the avoidance of intimacy places the superhero in
a terrible isolation, and may present hirn as insensitive and less
human-hence the need for higher action-oriented goals and legit-
imised, non-threatening male bonding which can be validly priori-
tised over the continuous agony of repeatedly unfulfilled relation-
ships while not totally exduding the latter.
The exscription of women and the vague stance on intimacy in
superhero texts is more understandable when viewed in relation to
the superhero comicbooks' main audience-adolescent boys-
with their burgeoning and ambiguous concept of dealing with the
female and the feminine. It is not too difficult to understand why
excessive signs of masculinity in an exaggerated and compensatory
display would appeal to adolescent boys still denied the social
means to exercise the power that society imparts as the prerequi-
site of their masculinity. Hero figures are popular among those
whose bodies are not yet strong enough to grant them the power
that they desire and which is conceived to be a sign of masculini-
ty. For the same reason, advertisements for bodybuilding gadgets
litter the comic pages, as well as ads for bicydes, toy cars and guns,
and devices for horne experiments. All of these are ways in which
adolescent boys can vicariously access the strength of superheroes
wh ich is frequently presented as extended by cars, guns, machin-
ery, and technical know-how. For some heroes, these extensions of
physical strength are even essential to their identity, for example,
Iron Man, Silver Surfer, and Night Wing; and for some, extensive
knowledge of advanced technology is essential, for example,
Batman, Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias, and Adam Strange. In gen-
eral, there is a dose link between strength and control, privilege
and virtue, power and humanity. All superheroes are in someway
or another privileged by their super-status. Nonetheless, assiduous
control of their emotions is a condition, as well as selective use of
their might only for the benefit of mankind. Otherwise, there
would be nothing to differentiate them from super-villains who
rnay also be endowed with wealth, cunning and technology but are
unscrupulously greedy and driven by their pursuit of power to
madness.
In scrutinising the "identity" of a superhero, it is evident that

masculinity is a principal concept in defining and distinguishing an
enduring hero. Masculinity, however, is a social concept that goes
beyond being muscular and excelling in brute strength. Being male
and masculine manifests itself more in how effectively a superhero
uses mind and/or muscle to resolve various power struggles, there-
by displaying authority and self-sufficiency, and gaining public
recognition. Superheroes share three traits: scruples, extra-ordi-
nary strength, and financial self-sufficiency, They are also endowed
with varied abilities that allow them to excel and assurne authori-
ty as a masculine force: physical or mechanical power, planning
and leadership, cunning and advanced or specialised knowledge,
andso on-a variety of powers which provide readers with multi-
ple entry points for their identification with a hero. The variety
equally allows different ways of prioritising the concepts and abil-
ities that constitute masculinity for adolescents, who, relative to
the social concept of being "male," are as yet ambiguously situat-
ed in society.
IDENTITY AND MASCULINITY
Although all superheroes have developed throughout their comic-

book careers, there are defining qualities tacitly agreed upon by
both comics creators and consumers that constitute a superhero.
Most of these have been established in the first issue of Superman,
who remains the norm against which other superheroes are meas-
ured. The "true" identity of Superman may be scrutinised in a long
series featuring his (formerly unthinkable) death, a narrative sus-
tained in weekly issues which lasted almost a year. 42 It started with
The Death of Superman which was first published in magazine
form in February 1992, and extended to two other successive
series-Funeral for a Friend, The Reign of the Supermen, ending
with Superman: Back for Good issued in October 1993. As
Superman became increasingly powerful throughout the years, his
invincibility had taxed the encounters with the only element
known earlier to be able to defeat hirn, Krypton: therefore,
Ooomsday had to be invented. Ooomsday, portrayed as incredibly
strong, possesses one of the most compelling, shrouded-in-mystery
origins of any comics character yet and this kept the fan letters
pouring into the DC editorial office. Introduced as pummelling his
116 Reading Comics
way out of a vault buried 100 feet underground in the middle of

nowhere, Doomsday's genesis was intentionally kept rather vague
and not neeessarily evil. He was well-loved by fans, espeeially as
he pushed the stories to beeome grittier and mueh more graphie,
ultimately ending in the defeat and death of Superman.
Although surprised and saddened by the outeome, many of the
fans indieated in their letters that Superman warranted sueh an
end-by a worthy villain like Doomsday rather than through an
inanimate substanee, Krypton.f-' Some typieal fan mail read:
Dear Metropolis Mailbag:
When America heard that Superman was going to die, fans
crawled out of the woodwork to cry out in disbelief and out-
rage. They asked "why?" They asked "how?" The concept
was beyond them.
When I heard of Superman's impending death, however, I

understood. Good people die: Martin Luther King Jr., John F.
Kennedy, kings, queens, popes, my grandfathers, my grand-
mothers. All of them good people. All of them have now
passed on.
Why is Superman going to die? Because, although it is not a

desirable ending, death is a natural process. Ir is inevitable for
everyone. Some ask why Superman has to die now. I simply
inquire when is it ever a good time to die?
How will Superman die? Ir doesn't matter who kills hirn. Ir

doesn't even matter that the Man of Steel could be killed. The
true importance of that question is the manner in which
Superman will die. I simply say that Superman will die the
same way he lived: bravely, heroically, and with honour.
That's just the way it is,
Rest in peace, Kal-El.

Christopher Roestler Sparks,
NY
. . . I am eagerly looking forward to the remainder of the

"Doomsday" (and follow-up) storylines. I have absolute con-
fidence that the death of Superman, as weil as the aftermath,

will be sensitively, intelligently, and entertainingly handled.
From what I've seen so far, I think that you're doing a great
job. It's obvious you understand that it's important Superman
not be killed by some silly gizmo like Lex Luthor or by some
random natural catastrophe. You have pitted Superman,
seemingly, against his opposite number ... a battle against
such a foe, even one that costs a hero his life, is an ennobling
battle.
]on E. Hecthman
Mt. Laurel, N]4~
Together with other fan mail in reaction to this series, these two
share an underlying presumption: a superhero is entitled to a fair
fight and not simply to be defeated by circumstances over which he
has neither power nor control. With the annihilation of the sup-
posedly invincible Man of Steel, death, success and triumph for
superheroes were portrayed and perceived as neither easy nor
always guaranteed. But in relishing Doomsday, no matter how
reluctantly, the readers demanded at least that virtue should still
pay off, that cause and effect be given their due, and the levelling of
a legend not come from some divine intervention or magical force.
Even after Superman's burial, there was still general shock and
disbelief about his death, and very shortly thereafter, the hero was
sighted simultaneously in different parts of Metropolis. The people
who testified seeing hirn varied in their descriptions and agreed
only an one point: a "Superman" helped them out of a critical sit-
uation and prevented a life-threatening crime or accident from
happening. Indeed, there were about four or five costumed char-
acters claiming to be the real Superman, and as each one is
revealed to be an impostor, what constitutes the identity of a super-
hero may be seen. The first one is "The Man of Steel" (introduced
in Superman 22: late May 1993) who was easily discredited
because he wo re a very different costume from the real Superman.
It was metallic and covered his entire body, including his face.
"The Man of Steel" had to don this suit of armour because he was
Black and had to hide his face. Accosted by Lois Lane, he also did
not know anything about Superman's personal life, and his pre-
tence could not last long, because there was not much with which
118 Reading Comics
to keep the readers guessing. Another one is "The Last Son of

Krypton" (introduced in Superman # 687: June 1993) who is actu-
ally the nearest to the realone. His story was also the most plau-
sible as, in some invisible elemental form, he was shown actually
retrieving Superman's body from the casket. Among the others, he
was also the only one with a clear knowledge of Clark Kent, and
Clark's affection for Lois. However, he rejects this part of
Superman and rejects Lois Lane as well. In doing so, suspicions are
cast in readers' minds about his verity. Another impostor was
called "The Metropolis Kid" (introduced in Superman 501: late
June 1993) who is, however, too young, too immature, and juve-
nile to capture the readers' interest. He is portrayed as continu-
ously craving publicity and too indecisive in his choices of
girls/women. He is also easily discounted because he lacks the loy-
alty, temperance and courage that Superman exuded. The last
Superman is "The Man of Tomorrow" (introduced in Superman
78: June 1993), half-machine, half-man whose DNA structure
even matches those of the real Superman. However, being a
cyborg, he is too mechanistic and too unformed in his humanity,
relying too much on mechanical power which goes against the true
Superman's nature. Moreover, he sets Doomsday free and destroys
a whole city-questionable actions which betray his identity and
intentions to everyone.
Reviewing the reasons or characterisations which invalidated
the personalities described above from being Superman, we can
say that superhero texts abide by the following precepts: a) a non-
white person, even if male, is too marginal to be THE superhero
for the mainstream comicbook consumers; b) a superhero usually
maintains an object of love, which renders hirn more human and
personal, and more attuned to his second identity (the Last Son of
Krypton reveals his loss of humanity by his inability to love Lois
Lane and by extension, by the rejection of his alter ego, Clark
Kent}; c) a superhero does not exhibit youth, immaturity, impul-
siveness, and lack of mental and physical control; and d) a super-
hero is never too mechanical and never employs his powers for
destruction and self-gain. All these precepts revert to the social
concept of masculinity and control and power discussed above.
The concepts of identity and masculinity revealed in earlier
superhero texts may be re-evaluated in more contemporary comic-
books which drastically changed the superhero, its adventures, its
ideology and position in the narrative. There are many factors that
contributed in revolutionizing this figure which came hand in hand
with changes to the conventions and form of the medium itself.
The next chapter will discuss the factors that changed the super-
hero comicbook seen against the backdrop of changes in the indus-
try itself, especially in the production, distribution and reception of
comicbooks.
NOTES
1 Although the muscular bodies of earlier superheroes were a novelty in

comicbooks then, these were modestly drawn compared to the bulging
muscles and overall exaggerated physique today,
2 Although Batman is known in both America and Europe, he is still
more ingrained in the minds of North Americans. The producers of the
Batman film did not realise this when they advertised one of the
Batman films in Europe: the sneak preview showed only the Batman
insignia. The promotion did not succeed as expected since the Batman
emblem and colors were not as recognisable in Europe as in America.
3 Jonathan Culler, The Pursuit of Signs: Semiotics, Literature,
Deconstruction (London: Routledge, Kegan and Paul, 1981): 123.
4 See Introduction by Maurice Hindie to Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
(London: Penguin Books, 1985) which interestingly treats the novel as
science fiction.
5 lohn Fiske, Television Culture (London and New York: Routledge,
1987): 111.
6 John Cawelti, "Notes Towards a Typology of Literary Form," Journal
of Popular Culture 10.1 (1976): 34.
7 This is not very surprising since many people in the comicbook indus-
try also feit their marginality in the printing and publishing industry.
There were times when some even took pride in being "different" and
sticking to working for comics which was not considered as a "real"
job but simply a transition or entry point into more serious writing or
illustrating jobs. A certain rebellious streak might also be due to the
youth of many of the people who were working there (see interviews in
Les Daniels, Marvel: Fiue Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest
Comics (London: Virgin, 1991); also, H. Kurtzman, My Life as a
Cartoonist (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988); and The
Comicbook Rebels (1986).
8 In carrying out research on the comicbook audiences, Martin Barker
shows some distinctions between committed, regular and casual comic-
book readers and the correlating differences in their reactions to cornic-
books. The more committed the readers, the "more likely they relate to
120 Reading Comics
the comics as a friend." The implication of this is that they have a com-
plicated social relationship to it. There is a kind of dialogue between
comicbooks and readers in which the cornic is seen as having a person-
ality. See Comics: Ideology, Power and the Critics (Manchester and
New York: 1989): 55-60.
9 Mike Benton, The Comic Book in America (Texas: Taylor Publishing,
1993): 14.
10 Ron Goulart, Ron Goulart's Great History of Comic Books (Chicago:
Contemporary, 1986): 34.
11 Mike Benton, op cit., 23.
12 Russell Nye, The Unembarrassed Muse: The Popular Arts in America
(New York: The Dial Press, 1970): 56.
13 Les Daniels, ed. Marvel Book of Superheroes (New York: Marvel
Comics, 1992): 112.
14 Judith Duke, Children's Books and Magazines: A Market Study (New
York: Knowledge Industry Publications, 1979): 116.
15 Jeff Rovin, The Encyclopedia ofSuperheroes (New York: Facts on File,
1985): 38-9.
16 Bernard Rosenberg and David Manning, eds. Mass Culture: The
Popular Arts in America (Illinois: The Free Press, 1957): 187. The
Armed Forces, in fact, used the comic format in training material dis-
tributed to the troops. One comic artist who worked within this edu-
cational medium for a long time was Will Eisner, creator of the Spirit.
17 The first story is reproduced in Jules Feiffer, The Great Comic Book
Heroes (New York: Dial Press, 1965).
18 Les Daniels, A History of Comic Books in America (New York: Crown
Publishers, 1971): 56.
19 Later, other female heroes entered the arena like Black Cat (Harvey:
June 1946), Doll Man (Quality Comics: December 1951), Supergirl
(Action Comics: May 1959), Spider-Woman (Marvel: April 1978),
She-Hulk (Marvel: February 1980). However, the superhero field was
about ninety-percent male, which seemed to be about the same demo-
graphics as the readership of most superhero comics. (Benton, op cit.,
176).
20 The so-called Silver Age of superhero comics is agreed as having begun
in 1956; there is no agreed terminal date but most would accept that
it lasted until around 1967-70.
21 Patrick Parsons, "Batman and His Audience," in Roberta E. Pearson
and William Uricchio (eds). The Many Lives of Batman: Critical
Approaches to a Superhero and His Media (New York and London:
Routledge: 1991): 66-89.
22 Benton, op cit., 177.
23 Daniels, op cit., 95.
24 Stan Lee, The Amazing Spider-Man #4 (September 1963): n. p.
25 This labelling drew criticism from some artists, such as Frank Miller,
who believed that c1assifications drew an artificial and unnecessary
lines within comic readership.
26 In the Fall of 1998, a comics magazine and price guide, Wizard, under-
took an on-line survey: Who is the greatest superhero of all time? Of
the 500 e-mails they got, Batman was first with 25%; Superman and
Spider-man tied at second place with 24% each.
27 In fact, the comics spawned the term "yellow journalism." The Yellow
Kid (1896) by Richard Outcault is generally acknowledged to have
been the first newspaper comic strip. Ir also marked a breakthrough in
printing techniques because of its use of the colour yellow which made
full-colour reproductions possible in newspapers for the first time. This
strip became a major success, boosted the circulation figures of the
New York Journal, and started a highly competitive campaign between
two legendary magnates of the New York Press-Hearst and
Pulitzer-for the ownership of the "Yellow Kid," as weil as other
comic strips which were regularly being featured in the comic supple-
ment pages. The unscrupulous piracy of comic artists between New
York's leading newspapers during this time, in particular for the
Yellow Kid, is generally acknowledged as giving rise to the term "yel-
low journalism. "
28 Alan Aldridge and George Perry, The Penguin Book of Comics
(Baltimore: Penguin, 1971): 27. There were also some artists who
played with the convention of portraying costumed superheroes, fore-
most of which is Jim Steranko who hails from the Underground comix
movement.
29 Interview with Marvel editor, Stan Lee in Les Daniels, ed. Marvel: Five
Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. (London: Virgin,
1991): 112.
30 One of the more interesting of the 1940s comicbook characters was
The Spirit by Will Eisner, created exclusively for a newspaper syndicate
that wanted a superhero for its Sunday comic pages. The Spirit had a
mask and dual identity but no superpowers. Ir is generally hailed in the
comics scene (although not so popularly known among the general
public) as one of the best written and illustrated comicbooks, known
for its atmospheric stories, grotesque characters, gentle sense of
humour, as weil as satire and parody. The Spirit made its debut as a
weekly Sunday comic book that was distributed for twelve years. Ir
bridged the gap between comic strips and comic books by appearing in
a coverless 16-page comic book that circulated with the Sunday fun-
nies in newspapers.
31 Interview with Joe Simon in Les Daniels, op cit., 72.
32 In Chapter Two of Richard Reynolds, Superheroes: A Modern
Mythology (London: Batsford, 1992), Reynolds provides a prime
122 Reading Comics
example of a superhero contemplating the burdens and demands of

heroism on the hero's alter ego, in his dose analysis of a page from
Iron Man 108. In the last two panels, Tony Stark (Iron Man) thinks to
hirnself: "Why should ]oe and ]ane America care who - or what - is
inside this metal suit as long as Iron Man gets the job done? ..As long
as I risk my life to bring them Peace of Mind? ..Peace that I, myself,
have never known!"
33 Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy and Terry Austin. Batman: Prey (New
York: DC Comics, 1992). Originally published in single magazine
form as Legends ofthe Dark Knight, No. 11-15 (1990-91).
34 Roger Stern, ]ackson Guice and Denis Rodier. The Last Son of
Krypton is Back (Born Again), Superman 687 (New York: DC Comics,
1993).
35 Frank Miller. The Dark Knight Returns (New York: DC Comics, 1986).
Originally published in magazine form as The Dark Knight Returns,
The Dark Knight Triumphant, Hunt the Dark Knight, The Dark Knight
Falls, all from DC Comics, 1986. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons,
Watchmen (New York: Warner Books, 1987). Originally published in
twelve issues in magazine form by DC Comics, 1986-1987.
36 Reynolds, op cit., 33. The first sexual encounter between Nite Owl and
the Silk Spectre fails but this time it succeeds, enhanced by the cos-
tumes and the "orher " identity that comes with their disguises
(Watchmen, op cit., 28.)
37 The trend of illustrating women in provocative outfits and postures has
not changed, as may be seen in one of the comicbook heroines cur-
rently popular among adolescent boys, Lady Death (Chaos! Comics).
38 ]uanita Coulson, "Of (Super)Human Bondage," in Don Thompson,
ed. The Comic Book Book (New York: Arlington House, 1973): 230.
39 There is a weekly television show which began in late 1993 entitled
"Lais and Clark" wh ich now features Lois Lane and Clark
Kent/Superman in equal billing.
40 Red Sonja's tale is reminiscent of the Brunhilde motif: she retains her
powers only so long as she remains a virgin, and she can only yield to
a man who can beat her in fair combat.
41 Maurice Horn, Women in the Comics (New York and London:
Chelsea House Publishers, 1977): 91.
42 As comicbooks increasingly blurred the gap between the fantastic
superheroes and the current realities of modern society, death among
superheroes became an interesting theme beginning with the 1970s.
Marvel initiated a trend by publishing-successfully-the death of
Captain Marvel from cancer. Since then, the immortality of a super-
hero was not a certainty anymore.
43 Many fans were resigned to the pre-ordained death of Superman and
were also certain that he would be revived. Even during the Doomsday
stampede, some were already writing in their suppositions and theories

on how the editors would restore him. The coming of the series Reign
of the Supermen shifted the readers' attention to guessing who the
n real n Superman was among the four or five claiming to be him,
44 The first letter is frorn Superman No. 12, and the next is from No. 15.
Both letters won a Baldy and a Platinum edition of Superman # 75,
prizes for the best fan letter in an issue as decided by the Editors.
CHAPTER FIVE
Factors that Changed

Superhero Comicbooks
I am, I am Superman
And I know what's happening
I am, I am Superman
And I can't do anything.
R.E.M.
"Superman"
Life's Rich Pageant
-not only do we nq longer know if it is really (the

familiar superheroes) we are watehing, or a group of border-
line psychotics, wearing the same costumes, playing a similar
game, but driven by entirely different motivations that might
push them over the edge at any moment.
Jim Collins
"Batman: The Movie,
Narrative and the
Hyperconscious"
THE FANS GROW UP
The superhero genre is tightly defined and defended by its com-

mitred readership-to the point of exasperation for many comics
writers and artists who proclaimed it a warn-out formula as long
125
126 Reading Comics
ago as the early 1970s. Nevertheless, comicbook authors had to

continue churning out the same tired narratives due to commercial
demands of twelve- to seventeerr-year old boys who have tradi-
tionally constituted the bulk of superhero fandom. Up until 1944,
the number of girls reading comicbooks was almost the same as
boys, especially between the ages of 6 to 11. Frorn this year on,
however, there has been a steady decline in comicbook readership
among girls, particularly in the superhero cornicbooks.! Although
girls continued to patronise funny animals and romance comics, in
total numbers, there were noticeably more boys steadily reading
comicbooks, coinciding with the persistent popularity of superhero
comicbooks relative to general comicbook sales.s That the reader-
ship of superhero comicbooks since the 1940s was primarily male
and adolescent has had much to do with the shaping of superhero
characters and narratives.f
The readership took a passionate interest in the content,
details, and occasionally in the form of what they were reading.
The readers steadily communicated these concerns with each
other, as well as the comics writers, illustrators, and editors.
Letters poured in daily to Marvel and DC from fans who continu-
ally monitored and made suggestions concerning comics, provid-
ing a very direct line of communication between the industry and
its committed readers. If a superhero performed out of character,
if a change in plot line was unsatisfactory, if there was a small mis-
take in art work, the fans did not hesitate to express their feelings.
In the columns of the comics thernselves, fans and artists and edi-
tors exchanged views, accepted compliments, justified story lines,
and reacted to previous letters. This communication has remained
active until the present as comicbook producers receive constant
enthusiastic feedback from comicbook readers. Through the years,
the letters columns increasingly reflected an articulate readership
wh ich also signalled the rise of the age level of committed readers.
Dennis O'Neil, one of the most prominent figures in the comic-
book industry and who had been an editor for both Marvel and
DC, comments:
"(We) try to make the letters representative, an accurate sam-
pling of fan opinion. If 75 percent of our mail hated a story,
we will reflect that in the letter column. Most of our reader-
ship is articulate. If you go out to schools, as I da, you will
find that the kids who read comicsare the bright kids, the ver-
Changed Superhero Comicbooks 127
bai kids. And then our marketing information shows that our
average reader is twenty-four and male and very literate, so it
is not surprising that we get a pretty high percentage of artic-
ulate, literary letters. That is one of the changes that has come
about. I no longer feel very much need to write down to any-
body when I am doing a comic book. I fee! a very large per-
sistent need to honour the tradition out of which I am work-
ing, but I don't have to worry about using big words anymore
or even big conceprs.t'"
Fan culture grew to parallel the commercial success of super-
hero comicbooks. What began as columns in the latter pages of the
magazines, regular swapping or sharing of comicbooks, and some
sporadic membership to clubs advertised within its pages, devel-
oped into a sense of fellowship later fostered through "fanzines"
(fan magazines) and gatherings where stories, personalities, and
ideas are discussed and debated. The fans cultivated a sense of
community where shared and cumulative special knowledge about
comicbooks is acknowledged and esteemed. At present, specialist
comicbook stores, comic marts, and full-scale comics conventions
are the outward signs of a certain cohesion among highly loyal and
knowledgeable comic fans. In addition, there are price guides,
comic forums and chat rooms, magazines and journals-, and a
highly organised market-place including internet auctions, for buy-
ing, selling, and collecting old comics.
In the 1960s, the fan movement was gene rally acknowledged
as having shaped part of the resurgence of superhero comicbooks
after the Comics Code of 1954 halted the production of horror
and crime comics, and subsequently damaged the industry as a
whole by stigmatising comicbooks. After this, the comics industry
would never totally regain the same amount of consumer demand
it enjoyed until 1954 because of television which lured readers
away from comics. As sales dwindled, the comics industry started
experiencing difficulties with its normal distribution system which
made it pay more attention to fans. In the 1970s, news-stand dis-
tributors did not give comics much priority and thus hampered
sales and expansion. Until then, the industry's sales strategies were
not favourable to promotion and advertising which was becoming
more necessary to attract new readers. The strong competition
from television, the loss of convenient sales outlets, and the very
limited approach to advertising reduced the industry to depend on
128 Reading Comics
hard-core fans and collectors. The comics industry was then forced
to pay more attention to their fans, and initiated and encouraged
more interaction with followers who were getting to be increas-
ingly knowledgeable about their comicbooks and were somewhat
older than the general comics readers.f By the late 1960s, a small
network of clubs and correspondences already began to develop,
such that by the mid-1970s, a strong and vibrant collector's mar-
ket had begun. The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide observes
that while fans were not a dominant segment in absolute numbers,
they represented a powerful one due to the intensity of their inter-
est and their large per-person purchases. These readers were more
serious about comics, were privileged with more disposable
income, and some would buy several copies of one issue for invest-
ment purposes alone.?
Many of these committed readers ended up as artists and writ-
ers who later worked for DC and Marvel, as weIl as for the inde-
pendent comics publishing houses in the 1980s. This tendency well
attests to the impact this generation of superhero fans had on the
industry. In fact, most of the weIl-known leading artists connected
with the medium at present admit to having been fans themselves,
to having grown up with their favourite superheroes and to having
"been there," allowing them to develop a shrewd grasp of super-
hero fans' wishes and expectations. In addition, these artists regard
themselves as, in some measure, still being very much apart of the
field and the community: Alan Moore, Ed Hannigan, Stan Lee,
jack Kirby, David MazzuccheIli, Len Wein, lohn Byrne, Gene
Colan, Al Williamson, lohn Severin, Steve Englehart, Mark
Gruenwald, are some of these central figures. 8
Two major assumptions are supported by the existence of a
cultivated fan community. First, most people reading and writing
commercial superhero comicbooks belong to that community; and
second, they are not only broadly acquainted with, but have par-
ticipated in the development of at least a sizeable proportion of
what has been done and what is being done to the form and con-
tents of superhero comicbooks throughout the fifty years of the
genre's existence. In this sense, comic fans are not passive con-
sumers of a cultural product. Indeed, they are in many ways active
in its creation, more active with respect to audience interaction
than with most mass-media situations such as television, the
movies, music videos, or romantic fiction.? In addition, given the
relatively dose nature of the comics community, and the fact that
many people now involved in the industry of producing comics
came from the fandom culture, it is quite likely that the comics
audience constitutes one of several direct and significant influences
on the creative process and development of the genre. In his study
of Batman readership, Patrick Parsons suggests an interesting
point; that "contrary to the assumptions of some in both the pop-
ular and academic community, the impact of readers on the con-
tents may be greater than the impact of the contents on the read-
ers. "10 Concerned with the occasional neglect of the audience in
the studies of cultural commodities, Patrick Parsons shows the
many points of interaction between the producers and consumers
of comicbooks, in particular the Batman. He sees the comics fan
community as a specialised sub-culture-"a modern media-bound
specialised community"-and shows how the various demograph-
ic, psychographic and ideological peculiarities of that community
must be taken into consideration when critically analysing, for
example, the current Batman which, for hirn, is "a product of a
variety of cultural and industrial factors.t' l!
The comicbook fans/creators themselves are the real movers
behind the story of the development of comicbooks. This is as true
today as it was in the earlier phases of the genre. The youngsters
who grew up with comicbooks have grown up to be those most
involved now in publishing houses and/or media centres. This
demographic factor has greatly affected the conception of comic-
book characters and narratives and, accordingly, has also changed
the production and distribution of comicbooks.
THE DIRECT MARKET IS ESTABLISHED12
In the early 1980s, a new wave of dealers was appearing.

They'd grown up with institutionalised collecting, took new
comics seriously as potential gold mines, and were starting to
turn comic shops into streamlined, aggressive businesses.
Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs

The Comic Book Heroes, p. 245
Another influential factor in the transformation of the super-
hero genre is the solution the industry found to its distribution dif-
ficulties-direct sales and the specialist shop network. The first
130 Reading Comics
specialized comic shops were opened in 1974 usually near univer-

sities or in the low-rent part of the city. By the late 1970s and early
1980s, these comic shops moved into the city centers and shopping
malls and, with their colorful window displays, attracted the atten-
tion of the wider public. By 1981, an interesting and most welcome
phenomenon occurred in the distribution, marketing, and selling
of comicbooks. A network of several hundred speciality comic-
book stores, selling almost exclusively comics and comic-related
items, had spread out across the United States and Canada. Instead
of the usual news-stands where comics competed for space with
various other publications, the speciality shops got their supplies
directly from comicbook distributors, complete with promotional
flyers which announced upcoming issues, signalIed the availability
of back issues, indicated which issues were increasingly becoming
scarce and pricier, and provided other tidbits of information for
the comic buffs. These flyers started simply as order guides for the
shops so that the publishers could estimate orders more aceurate-
ly and stabilise press runs by reducing wastage from overproduc-
tion. Previously, DC and Marvel determined the number of copies
the news-stands would receive but the news-stands always had the
option of simply returning unsold issues, whether they were prop-
erly displayed or not. With the direct sales, returns could be avoid-
ed, new comicbooks could be promoted in advance, and more
importantly, reader preferences could be better monitored.
This method of direct sales marked a switch from the tradi-
tional newsstand market to a comics culture based on collector
and fan preferences. It served to reinforce the fast emerging derno-
graphie trends in comicbook audience which involved a shift from
popular market to a smaller, more specialised audience that would
frequent and gather at the speciality shops and ask for comicbooks
using titles of issues or series, names of authors and illustrators,
dates of publication, specific cover art, etc. The efficiency afforded
by direct sales made regular acquisition of particular issues easier
compared to the previously uneven availability and operating inef-
ficiencies of news-stand distribution. This enhanced the fans'
recognition and appreciation of individual artists and cultivated an
auteur system in comicbooks. The comics community began to
know and follow the work of the principle artists and writers. The
new comicbook speciality market with its attendant collector con-
sciousness increased the value of comicbooks and made them not
only commercially viable but attached a certain nostalgie, sub-cul-

ture-artefact prestige to them as well. In the light of the comic-
books' steadily shrinking audience, many credited the direct sales
with rescuing the medium from sure collapse.J''
In 1979, Marvel and DC sold already about ten percent of
their comicbooks through specialized comic shops. It took some
time though before either of these two publishers really recognized
the possibilities afforded by the new situation, and to use the direct
market to equalize losses from the decreasing interest of news-
stands to sell comics. But soon after, the first coup of direct mar-
ket selling occurred: with assiduous planning, an original issue of
the historieal comicbook Action Comics #1 was sold for
$10,000.00. Television caught on to the interesting trivia and the
selling of comics suddenly took on the air of a financial invest-
ment. Old issues, the so-called "back issues," suddenly increased
in sales or turnover due to speculation on the part of the buyers.
For very practical purposes, Marvel began earnestly to pursue the
new methods and possibilities of direct marketing. On March
1981, Marvel announced that, for the first time, a comicbook
would be sold exclusively through the direct market. An atmos-
phere of a cultural event was deliberately produced. And, as if to
test how unimportant the actual content of a comicbook with such
a historieal dimension can be, and moreover, how powerful the
possibility of market manipulation can be, the choice was (of all
things), Disco Dazzler. Marvel made the propaganda and rouse
the buyer's enthusiasm, and no one seemed to be bothered by the
hopelessly old-fashioned contents of Disco Dazzler 1. 14 With
400,000 copies sold, this comicbook outsold all other titles in
March 1981. Some pubescent children, for whom investments
were still a foreign concept, also started buying multiple copies of
other popular comicbooks like X-Men with the hope that they
could re-sell these for a lot more money some years down the road.
The experiment went much, much better than expected and the
direct market proved to be a potential goldmine.
As the number of speciality comicbook stores grew, a market
developed that could support small press runs of comicbooks
aimed at collectors. Smaller and creator-owned companies were
motivated to produce for a more specialised market, recognising
the trend that there were enough collectors and readers who could
support early limited efforts by smaller independent comicbook
132 Reading Comics
companies. By 1983, the direct comicbook market had become so

weIl established that a number of new independent publishers
decided to try their hands at comicbooks. Many of these small
publishers were former fans and coIlectors who financed their new
companies out of their own pockets (reminiscent of the
Underground Comix movement in the 1960s).
SMALL-PRESS, SELF-PUBLICATION, AND

ALTERNATIVE WAYS
As Marvel and DC increasingly took the lead in the comics sales in

the beginning of the 1980s, there were less known but very notable
comics that were also being published. Dave Sim's Cerebus and
Wendy and Richard Pini's Elfquest, both self-published, each
increased their monthly sales from a modest 500 copies in 1978 to
around 20,000 in the early 1980s. Even as the direct market was
largely determined by superhero comics, some alternative comics
also found their niches among the comics readers who, by this
time, were getting increasingly weIl versed with the medium.
In 1980, Art Spiegelmanproduced the first issue of a pioneer-
ing anthology, Raw, which housed various and differing styles of
cutting-edge comics artists in North America and Europe under
one roof. Raw was way before its time. At this time, there were not
many comics in North America that were consciously combining
artistic ambitions within the medium of comics, and there were
hardly comics aimed at readers over 25. The most prolific con-
tributors to Raw were Drew Friedman (#1, 2 and 6), Jacques
Tardis (#1, 5), Ben Katchors (#2, 3 and 6), Gary Panters (#3-6, 8)
and Charles Burns (#3-8). The anthology had a roster of excep-
tional talents that brought an inteIligence and breadth of vision to
comicbooks rarely previously seen in the field, especiaIly in North
America.
In July 1982, Fantagraphics published the first issue of Love
and Rackets by the Hernandez brothers, until then self-produced
and distributed. The simple yet impressive force of Xaime
Hernandez's weIl-balanced black-and-white illustrations first
attracted the attention of readers who had heretofore only read
superhero comicbooks. Each of Hernandez's sketches was a smaIl
piece of art. The characters were interesting and the stories were
captivating and unfolded with an irresistible kind of humour that
Changed Superhera Camicbaaks 133
Figure 29. A page frorn Love and Rackets #50. Art and script:
Xaime Hernandez © 1996 The creator.
made it difficult to stop reading. Love and Rackets combined sen-

timentality and punk mentality, two dispositions not usually seen
together, and "friction" between the two produced an unmistak-
able flavour in the series unlike any other previous comicbook.
Xaime dealt with the life of Latin American immigrants in a sub-
urb of Los Angeles; his older brother, Gilbert, demonstrated his
exceptional narrative abilities reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia
134 Reading Comics
Marquez as he wove tales about a Latin American town called

Palomar. The fantastic creatures and adventures displayed in the
beginning of the series decreased steadily as the stories focused
more on relationships and the daily grind of life, stressing the
eccentric "human heroes" in Love and Rackets. Xaime simplified
and made his illustrations a bit more abstract, devoting his time
more and more to the artful composition of the pages and stories.
Love and Rackets became a windfall for Fantagraphies and for
readers who wanted to see the new directions in North American
comics or who simply wanted to enjoy and admire the artistic abil-
ities of "Los Bros" (the brothers Hernandez).
Besides Fantagraphics, Pacific Comics and Eclipse Comics also
experienced increase in sales although these two publishers did not
directly confront the sales impulse of the superhero mainstream.
Following in the success of Marvel and DC, First Comics took
advantage of the direct market to distribute its first comicbook in
March 1983. By October, First Comics succeeded with Howard
Chaykin's American Flagg, which until then was the biggest hit of
an alternative comics publisher, even though neither children nor
newsstand vendors liked this particular series. Set against the
gloomy, disconsolate atmosphere of Chicago at the brink of disas-
ter in the the 21st century, Chaykin used a hero who once was a
pornography star. Reuben Flagg is only an actor who becomes a
hero as the borders of fiction and reality fuse together. Chaykin
picked up on an apocalyptic atmosphere and added a fetishistic
dimension to it, showing the domination and intermixing of sex
and politics and commerce in a way not seen before in North
American comicbooks.
In the following months, the number of comics publishers and
series increased steadily. Kitchen Sink Press, already well-known as
an underground comicbook publisher, ente red the collector's mar-
ket by offering Will Eisner's The Spirit and other "classics" in
comicbook form for a new generation of readers.U Eagle Comics
was another publisher that distributed its books exclusively to
comicbook stores and its first title was Judge Dredd which is a
popular British strip re-packaged for American audiences. Among
the newly published comics from the alternative publishers, two
notable ones were Matt Wagner's Mage (published by Comico)
and Don Simpson's Megaton Man (published by Kitchen Sink).
By the beginning of 1985, however, it became more and more

apparent that the upstart publishers who tried to break through
the comics market by emulating the Marvel action style were head-
ing up a blind alley. In the superhero scene, it was impossible to
prevail over Marvel and DC by using or copying their own
weapons. Whoever wanted action and superhero comics, and like
before, that was the majority of people flocking to comics shops,
would eventually always choose to buy something tried and true:
comics from the two predominant publishers, DC and Marvel.
Due to the lack of demand, Eclipse had to withdraw most of the
series it had counted on to succeed. Fantagraphics, the publisher
most intent on pursuing alternative ways to the action/superhero
comicbooks, had to concede that the direct market intensified the
collecting impulses of comic buyers but did not (yet) awake any
lasting interest in different, better quality comics.
DC and Marvel also took advantage of the new developments
and started publishing for the specialised market as well, this time
featuring writers and artists by name, previously uncommon in the
comicbook industry. Since the core of comicbook fandom were
proponents of the superhero genre, and so were most of the popu-
lar artists at that time, there was another resurgence in the popu-
larity of superhero adventure stories.lv The comics industry took
advantage of an already existing, albeit dormant, interest in
superheroes, while simultaneously catering to a new audience
that did not have the same background knowledge of the genre:
both Marvel and DC utilised the proven popularity of super-
heroes by revamping their major characters. This time, however,
the heroes offered were markedly not mainstream in sensibility
or appearance, but started showing distinctive deviations that are
to characterise themore contemporary superheroes. The recent
spate of graphic novels re-defined the origins and characters of
heroes and villains while stirring up controversies by challenging
some traditional notions of a superhero. By 1984, both Marvel
and DC had started "re-inventing" or "re-vitalising" their char-
acters to cater to a new breed of older and more knowledgeable
readers. In addition, there were also totally new readers now
lured tothe graphically and narratively mature and more sophis-
ticated comicbooks. Marvel issued an Official Handbook for the
Marvel Universe (December 1985) detailing characters for col-
lectors in the new series. Marvel also celebrated its 25th anniver-
sary by publishing the New Universe titles, supposed to be the
136 Reading Comics
beginning of the second Marvel cosmotology and mythology. OC

published the Crisis on Infinite Earth series which allowed them
to re-organise and simplify the OC world with its myriad of char-
acters and universes for new readers, tie up loose ends in their
superhero mythology and history, and revitalise them according
to the new, more sophisticated lines. The most successful was
OC's launehing of a major revision of its two main characters:
Superman was updated in the mini-series The Man of Steel (June
1986) and Frank Miller re-made Batman into an ageing vigilante
in his mini-series The Dark Knight Returns (March 1986). The
best new series also came from oe. Watchmen (September
1986), by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, published as aseries
with twelve issues of 32 pages each, was a richly textured rendi-
tion of a group of superheroes who were trying to make sense of
functioning as heroes in a modern world, while coping with "real
world" problems like alcoholism, impotence, poverty, and so on.
By 1989, Marvel and OC still accounted for nearly seventy-
five percent of all sales made in comicbook speciality stores, but
there were also over seventy-five small and mid-size comicbook
publishers turning out hundreds of titles.l? As the 1980s came to
an end, sales figures seemed to show that comicbooks had re-
established themselves as a vital and growing medium that contin-
ued to appeal to an ever-widening and expanding audience. The
new form of marketing and distribution, which gave more recog-
nition and publicity to individual artists, inspired more creators to
form their own publishing companies, make creator-owned lines
of titles to be published and finally to abandon the "sweatshop
atmosphere" of the two dominant comics publishers. Although
limited in circulation, the independent comic books revitalised and
strengthened the entire comicbook industry. Most of the innova-
tion in style and range of narratives, as well experimentation in the
potential of the medium were published by alternative or inde-
pendent publishers. Many artists who were disillusioned and/or
cramped by bigger publishing houses worked for these independ-
ent publishers. This resulted in the eruption of more new styles and
influences than at any time in the past thirty-five years. The spe-
ciality stores and independent publishers also enabled more pro-
motion, franchises, and regular availability of imported comics
frorn Europe and Japan, opening a steady market for these in
North America. In general, more comicbooks, in the form of
graphic novels, compiled series and albums, were being sold than
ever before. Since 1986, comicbooks also have begun to receive
popular and critical attention and extraordinarily wide coverage in
the mainstream press, in the style magazines, in the music papers,
even in some business magazines. The renaissance in comicbooks
and their new high media profile have altered the medium: all in
all, the new releases are distinguished from their pre-" direct sales"
predecessors by access to bigger budget (and consequently high-
priced) status in all aspects of production, format, artwork, and
above all, aggressive multi-media advertising.
HEROIC TRANSFORMATIONS
The world of North American comics consisted of almost nothing

but conventional and uninspired superheroes in 1979 as Frank
Miller took over the illustrations for the Daredevil series. An
exception could be the Marvel's X-Men, but in general, comics
were published in poor quality paper and was destined to be
thrown away. Although works with potential to awaken adult
interest such as Dave Sim's Cerebus-s, appeared on the scene in
1977, and a year later Will Eisner's A Contract with God and
Other Tenement Storiest", such works were marginal. These two
excellent comicbooks, for example, did not start an impulse that
excited anyone outside the narrow, die-hard fan scene of the
Superhero comics to buy any books.
Between 1975 and 1978, DC initiated over 50 new series but
at the end of 1978, more than half were again withdrawn. At this
time, DC's market was smaller than 50% of Marvel's share. Not
even the success of the film Superman at the end of 1978-until that
time, Warner's biggest commercial success altogether-drove any-
one to take advantage of the interest stimulated in this series.
Marvel was undaunted. With its very conventional use of super-
heros, Marvel aimed to dominate the comics market. Since the
beginning of 1978, Jim Shooter took over the job of Marvel Chief
Editor, replacing Archie Goodwin. Barely a year passed, however,
and Shooter already withdrew as much as 20 series-intercepting
the downward trend of Marvel. In a very authoritative manner,
Shooter demanded an unconditional subordination from the writ-
ers and illustrators (following the style created by Jack Kirby in the
1960s) and the strict adherence to a monthly publication rhythm.
138 Reading Comics
Despite this strictness, very many young comics artists applied to

work for Marvel, similar to the trend in the 1960s. With a certain
feel for talent, Shooter quickly lowered the average age of his
employees.
Despite the youthful batch of new cartoonists in Marvel, it was
the old and experienced Chris Claremont who recognized the signs
of the times and peppered his X-Men with features from the ubiq-
uitous film hit, Star Wars. Although cosmic powers and galactic
wars already played a substantial role long before Star Wars in Jack
Kirby's Fantastic Four and New Gods, the young Star Wars-gener-
ation perceived the comicbooks of the team Claremont/Byrne as
current and contemporary and propelled the X-Men series to the
top of the bestseller's list by the end of 1970. Claremont and Byrne
knew who they were writing for-they did not only meet the expec-
tations of young superhero-fans, but by emphasizing the personal
relationships between the varied members of the X-Men team,
Claremont and Byrne also managed to entice new readers outside
of the superhero-fan ghettos. By 1980, X-Men sales rose to over
300,000 copies per month at the same time that not one DC title
could reach the 100,000 copies per month mark.
In 1979-80, the X-Men was a distant bestseller although
another Marvel comicbook would have a bigger influence in the
contents of future comicbooks: Daredevil. On March of 1979,
with issue #158, Frank Miller took over the illustration of this
series, wh ich until then was on the brink of being withdrawn due
to lack of success. In January 1981, Miller started to write the
scripts as well. Miller's stories and dialogue were stark and down-
right, heavily influenced by Film Noir. His illustration became
increasingly forthright and graphic, ta king on an almost absract
quality that Miller would realize to its perfection years later in Sin
City. In Frank Miller's hands, scenes of brutality that until now
were portrayed in superhero comics as a harmless sports match,
would be explicitly depicted in ways comics readers had not pre-
viously seen. To Miller's advantage, comicbook sales had begun at
this time to be more and more independent of newsstand vendors
who would not dare alarm their customers by such portrayals of
violence. Daredevil, previously a problem for Marvel, became a
successful series under Miller. Miller's rendition of Daredevil (story
and illustration) is also crucial to the further development of North
American comicbooks. He used the fundamental battle between
Good and Evil based on the rules of superhero comics while plac-
ing his characters and narratives in increasingly realistic situations.
By calling attention to the seeming contradictions between super-
beings and his realistic illustrations and situations, Miller showed
that there were still many facets and possibilities not yet fully
utilised within the superhero genre.
While Miller wasopening up a road to the future of superhero
comicbooks, Marvel realised that, in the context of growing
manipulation in the direct market sales, Chris Claremont and
Frank Miller were "winners." Artists used to be unknown and
were previously perceived to be interchangeable, but the direct
market made it possible for authors and illustrators to be the point
of interest. Fans had stopped buying blindly, for example, simply
asking for the newest Batman comics at the newsstands. Instead,
fans started choosing by 'names' among the hundreds of Batman
comics in a specialised comic shop. If a fan really liked an issue, he
or she could and would ask next time for the numbers (naming the
issues numbers from specific authors or illustrators). In 1982, most
of the comics buyers asked for Frank Miller and/or Chris
Claremont. What would make more sense then, than to let the two
work together in one comics? A four-issue series of Wolverine 20
written by Claremont and illustrated by Frank Miller came out at
the end of 1982. Wolverine is one of the most hardened or brutish
members of the X-Men, the first one most apt to the gloomy
atmosphere and dismal tone with which Frank Miller made his
mark in Daredevil. Although, qualitatively, the work by
Miller/Claremont fell short of Miller's Daredevil, the strategy to
appeal to both X-Men and Daredevil fans succeeded tremendous-
ly: Wolverine was a huge hit. In addition to the Claremont-Miller
combination, this series also had the lure of the then new format
of the Mini-Series-t which would later be copied and proliferate in
the following years.
DC reacted to Marvel's success with the start of a counter con-
cept that would radically affect the entire comics market in the fol-
lowing years. DC began to focus resolutelyon an adult or older
public that was outside the scope of Marvel's hardcore superhero
locus. At the end of 1982, DC successfully produced Camelot
3000 which transported the medieval legends surrounding King
Arthur into the future by a very original rendition of fantasy by
Mike Barr, illustrated with beautiful details by Brian Bolland.V
140. Reading Comics
Camelat 3000 was published in twelve issues, and is known as the

inception of what is now known as the Maxi-series, a big or long
series all published more or less within a year.
DC's real triumph for the long term, however, was to have
been able to snatch Frank Miller from Marvel and to let hirn pro-
duce his own mini-series with creative autonomy. In February
1983, Miller left Daredevil where he could only hint at some of his
ideas due to ]im Shooter's regulations and style of producing
comicbook. Five months later, DC published the first of a six-part
Samurai adventure, Ranin 23 , in high-grade quality paper on which
North American comics had never been printed before. Miller
wrote and illustrated a story about a solitary warrior struggling in
a decaying world. The chance to experiment with graphic styles,
together with the ample time for production deadlines and the
quality of the paper opened up possibilities that Miller had never
before imagined in creating comicbooks:
It changed the rules. It showed me that comics have endless
possibilities. I had to adapt my writing and drawing styles for
the improved format. The primary difference was that, on
better paper, the coloring became a vital part of the story.24
The different style and overall impact of Ranin-which clear-
ly showed influences from ]apanese mangas and the graphic style
of Moebius-was acclaimed by critics. However, the sales figure
fell short of expectations, most probably due to the book's price of
$2.50 which was then unusually high for a comicbook.
Nevertheless, with Camelat 3000 and Ranin, DC succeeded in
holding its own against its cardinal competition, Marvel, and in
clearly establishing a new position within the comics scene. With
Ranin, DC started printing "The New DC" in the covers of its
comicbooks to clearly display the trademark that identified this
new line. With Ranin and the remake of the Swamp Thing, DC
succeeded without a doubt to produce comics with good and com-
plex narratives, and the potential to appeal to a wider audience.
The quality of the narratives not only improved, but the paper
used and the overall appearance gave the impression of an ambi-
tious artwork. All the same, within DC's increasing spectrum of
titles, there was not one that could dissolve the confines of the
"comics ghetto" which had developed its biases over decades and
was not prepared to relinquish its predilections overnight. There
was hardly anyone buying in comic shops that had not previously
liked comics, or at least was already exposed to it. The media
interest in comics dwindled in the mid-1980s. Marvel continued to
cater to the expectations of its proven youngreaders (known in the
industry as the "Marvel-zombies"), and the gap between Marvel
and DC remained wide like before. Marvel's market share was
approx. 50% while DC's share was around 30%.
But the credit for the renaissance of superheroes rightly belong
to the initiative and boldness of the creators themselves rather than
to the corporate decisions undertaken by the big publishing hous-
es. It is impossible to think of the re-making of superheroes with-
out thinking of two names: Frank Miller who did The Dark Knight
Returns (1986), and Alan Moore who wrote Watchmen (1986).
While both of these seminal works may be seen against the gener-
al upheaval and excitement in the field of comics around that time
(Maus by Art Spiegelman came out in book format the same year,
and Love and Rockets by the Hernandez Brothers in 1982), the
superhero stories captured the imagination of comics audience
because the new comics dealt simultaneously with something very
familiar and very strange: heroes who have ceased to be superhu-
man, who sometimes have problems with drugs, alcohol and sex,
and above all, who grapple with notions of authority, power, and
evil that are not always clear and against which they do not always
win. The Dark Knight in particular was so successful that it is
recognised not only as responsible for making Batman the most
popular comic book hero but as playing no small role in the
incredible burgeoning of the comics industry in the 1980s. 25 After
this, more and more superhero comicbooks came out which
addressed political, social, and moral issues, and participated in a
boom to re-define comicbook heroes and narratives. In gestures
reminiscent of Frank MiIler's preoccupation with transforming the
heroes of comicbooks, many weIl-known artists participated in the
rejuvenation of the genre. Citing intentions and views similar to
Miller's, they acknowledged the enjoyment in both reading and
creating new heroes while attesting to the increased possibilities
available in transforming comicbook heroes in the context of a
more mature, more serious narrative form. Interviews with those
involved with the comics industry usually reveal an earnest inter-
est and expansive awareness in what is going on with the industry
and the genre, as weIl as in the narratives and artworks of other
142 Reading Comics
comics artists-s. In these interviews, as well as in the coverage by

mainstream press, there was a tone of seriousness that had been
long ignored when dealing with comicbooks. Similarly, super-
heroes that used to be considered ridiculous for prancing around
in colourful tights were discussed sensibly, according to the new
perception of heroes that now frames comicbooks. Frank Miller,
for example, comments about the Dark Knight:
"I was working on a revivification of a folk hero, but 1 was
reaping all the benefits of fifty years of the hero's history. It's
true also with Alan (Moore) because you couldn't really
approach Watchmen without growing up with the Justice
League of America. Now I'm trying to build walls to push
against. With Batman that's easy because you know the rules
of the game."
"Even with the nuclear backdrop and the conternpt for super-
heroes expressed by the world at large in Dark Knight, 1 don't
think Dark Knight is pessimistic ... it has a hopeful ending.
The book starts with Bruce Wayne contemplating suicide; at
the end he's found a reason to live. He's adjusted to the times .
. . . The key transition is his recognition he's no longer part of
the authority. That's really the transition at the end of Dark
Knight, this knowledge that he's no longer on the side of the
powers that be anymore, because the powers that be are
wrong.,,27
Although there have been many attempts to make superheroes

more multi-dimensional, especially psychologically, since the 1960s,
there was a marked difference in the changes in the 1980s: there
seemed to be an underlying cynicism in the revamping of the genre
rather than simply an imaginative elaboration of an old genre. A
connection was apparent between the increased cynicism of the
major superheroes and an apocalyptic impulse in mass culture and a
certain impotence in dealing with it, both of which, not surprising-
ly, coincides with the prevalent sentiment of the early 1990's
Generation X. 28 To remain a commercially viable product, comics
must react to the shifting demographics of its readers, as well as to
the prevailing notions within a broader cultural setting. As seen
through comicbook heroes, these notions centre around more
ambiguous definitions and conceptions of authority, more com-
promises in formulating ideologies, and the underlying feeling of
societal decline, all of which may be witnessed in other such media

as television, popular songs, and films. Both The Dark Knight and
Watchmen, for example, comment directly on the post-Vietnam
syndrome in the US with its ensuing loss of faith in the moral
integrity of the State and its agents. For example, on page 4, Book
Three of The Dark Knight, one sees a classic example of "passing
the buck." True or not, people believe that government officials try
to evade the responsibility for a problem, while hoping that some-
one else can take the biarne. On page 6, Book Two, people repre-
senting various sectors of society give their diverse opinions about
a problem plaguing America. The use of a television box to frame
these voices reflects the collision of discourses in society increas-
ingly made possible by mass media, as weil as the ensuing confu-
sion and uncertainty regarding truth claims. In addition to the loss
of faith in authority and institutions, there was a pervading atmos-
phere of anger, frustration and bitterness over the general signs of
increasing corruption and violence in American society. This may
be seen in Bruce Wayne's decision to team up with the confused
members of the Mutant Gang (Dark Knight) and in Ozymandias'
orchestrated destruction of New York city, in the belief that the
world can be saved only after total annihilation (Watchmen).
The world of superheroes used to comfortably position its
readers as white, middle-class American males-this was the ideo-
logical position necessary to make sense of the superhero texts
unproblematically. The best superheroes were male, white, literate
(if not as superheroes then at least their alter egos); they never suf-
fered from poverty, were ensconced at least in middle class values,
if not of a higher social class, and (directly or indirectly) cornmu-
nicated that violence can be justified if it is used "properly" in
upholding the law. The villains were always distinguishable from
the "good guys." In the end, the superhero always won and
restored order, even if the most part of the comicbook was devot-
ed to the eruption of crime and evil and to elaborate displays of
fighting and violence. More recently, however, creators of comics
have mixed up these codes and have even intentionally directed us
not to submit to these old, comfortable viewpoints. In Neil
Gaiman's Black Orchid, for example, the lead character is a female
hero who is caught and exposed by crimelords within the first four
pages. Although superheroes are always discovered and threatened
at crucial moments, something unanticipated happens in this story.
144 Reading Comics
The man who catches Black Orchid says:

"Hey, you know something? I've read comics. . .I'rn not
going to lock you up in the basement before interrogating
you ...then leave you alone to escape. That stuff is so dumb.
But you know what I am going to do? I'm going to kill you.
Now.29
Then, he not only ruthlessly shoots Black Orchid in the head
but sets her on fire as well. It is a startling moment because as the
killer tells Black Orchid that he understands how the rules of the
superhero genre work, he is not merely addressing an endangered
heroine but also the readers of that genre in a way never done so
directly before. The writer clearly signals that all the familiar rules
of comic book storytelling-all those rules that insure hard-earned
triumphs for the heroes and the inevitability of justice-will not
apply in this narrative. As Mikal Gilmore observes in his
Introduction to this graphie novel:
(In Black Orchid) We are not only at the beginning of a new
story, we are at the beginning of a new way of telling such a
story. It is not just the Black Orchid who is killed in these
opening pages: It is also the ethos of the super-hero genre that
is being set up for its long overdue death. 30
Black Orchid does not follow the expected phases of a hero
adventure: it does not revolve around the heroine seeking out the
enemy; she does not succeed in exposing an organisation dedi-
cated to crime and corruption, which she was bent on doing. She
rescues the man who killed her father and destroyed all the other
heroines, but most importantly, up to the end, she refuses to kill
people who were threatening her and her "daughter" at gun-
point.
Frank Miller's Sin City (1991), meanwhile, inverts the usual
hierarchy of justice. The readers' sympathy is directed towards
societal outcasts like prostitutes, strip dancers and hired killers
who live in the margins of middle-class residential suburbia, and
fight against atrocities which are organised by the police, the well-
known citizens of the main city, even the archbishop who comes
from the most established family in the society depicted. Miller's
heroes are also motivated more by wrath and personal revenge
rather than by a higher sense of justice or the good of the many.
Furthermore, the stark black and white landscape of Sin City ren-
dered by Miller's sharp, rugged lines flaunts equally tough heroes

who are far from being asexual like their predecessors in comic-
books geared for younger readers. In fact, in Sin City both male
and female bodies are shown bare and erotic, although often in
obscure and shadowy outlines due to Miller's clever use of the
chiaroscura effect. In a distortion of justice, one hero, Marv, dies
despite his revelation of the real mastermind behind aseries of
hideous murders. Sin City also participates in the re-creation of a
new mythology for the genre where accepted customs of the super-
hero parables are suspended, and the moods and tones are much
closer to the darker dreams and darker realities of modern-day
life.31
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, most heroes were undergo-
ing personality changes and character transformations. They
ceased being superhuman and were shown to have problems in
dealing with a darker, more corrupt modern world. Also notice-
able is the hint of amorality which started to surround some super-
heroes as they worked more and more on the borderlines of the
law. Retribution and revenge, for example, even became accept-
able motives for becoming a superhero, like the Marvel Comics'
The Punisher (July 1987) who seemed to be a walking arsenal
waiting for bad news to happen. Marvel's best-selling books
around this time were Spiderman and X-Men titles, both with the
"new" concept of a superhero who is guaranteed neither definite
triumph nor immortality. But if there is one figure most closely
associated with the search for and creation of new superheroes, it
would be the Batman, who has now outranked Superman as the
most popular superhero.V
BATMAN AS A MOBILE SIGNIFIER
The Batman started as apart of the Superman tradition and a

contrast to it, being much closer to the then pulp vogue for
masked crime fighters such as the Shadow who, having no super-
powers or guaranteed immortality, was more of a sleuth than
superhuman. Other heroes would follow this path, thus establish-
ing a sub-category within the superhero genre.3 3 Unlike most
comicbook heroes who were created as a result of freak accidents
or who were born with supernatural powers, the Batman decided
to transform hirnself mentally and physically. He did not find
146 Reading Comics
hirnself thrown into advantageous or extra-ordinary circurn-

stances, but consciously and systematically laboured to achieve
his position as an individual empowered to combat crime and
senseless deaths. He does this in order to alleviate his anger and
frustration at the brutal murder of his parents. In the more recent
comicbooks, Bruce Wayne's transformation into a bat is given
more mystical, more psychotic, more metaphorical overtones,
making the Batman's psychology and motives increasingly com-
plex without contradicting previous details in the Batman's
mythology. It is remarkable how various writers have worked
with well-known material and managed to re-define the Batman
character without threatening the coherence of the fans' cherished
experience and knowledge of his nature. Indeed, the multiple
refractions of the Batman character seemed to have made hirn
fuller instead of fragmenting hirn into obscurity.
The writer who started the Batman into his renewed direction,
both textually and commercially, is Frank Miller who wrote The
Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. Oespite the moder-
ate commercial success of his Ronin-series (summer of 1983), OC
still believed in Miller's potential as author and illustrator to
attract a wide audience. Miller had once stated that the Batman-
character has had a big influence on hirn, and OC made hirn an
offer he could not refuse: Miller was allowed to extensively re-
define the Batman character on his own terms and ideas-", Miller
did not disappoint oe. With his audacious re-interpretation of
Batman, he exceeded all expectations and made the Dark Knight
into a dominant figure in American comics. Since The Dark Knight
Returns is a cent raI comicbook in re-shaping superheroes, it is dis-
cussed in more detail in the next chapter.
NOTES
1 Much of what is now known about the audience during the early peri-
od of comics developed out of scholarly and public debate about the
impact of this burgeoning media on children; See, for example, Alexis
Tan and Kermit Scuggs, "Does Exposure to Comic Book Violence Lead
to Aggression in Children?" Journalism Quarterly 57.4
(1980):579-583, Judith Duke, Children's Books and Magazines: A
Market Study (New York: Knowledge Industry Publication, 1979);
Willam Marston, "Why 100,000,000 Americans Read Comics," The
American Scholar 13 (1944): 35-44; Paul Lyess, "The Place of the
Mass Media in rhe Lives of Boys and Girls," [ournalism Quarterly 29.1
(1952):43-54.
2 Since the 1970s, superhero comicbooks have ranked third among the
most popular comics according to sales figures; second is the category
of Sci-filHorror, and the first is the somewhat broad category called
Adult Humour which is made up of such works as "Peanuts" and
"Calvin and Hobbes." See jack Lyle and Heidi Hoffman, "Children's
Use of Television and Other Media," in Television and Social
Behaviour, Vol. 4 (Washington, DC: National Institute of Mental
Health, 1979): 121-256).
3 Even the attempt to attract more female readership by creating super-
heroines resulted in characters more memorable as examples of Good
Girl Art in comics rather than characters whose adventures girls would
enjoy following (see the section on "Masculinity and Identity" in the
preceding chapter).
4 Pearson and Uricchio, "Notes from the Batcave: An Interview with
Dennis O'Neil," in idem, The Many Lives of Batman (London and
New York: Routledge, 1993): 19-20.
5 Roger Sabin provides an extensive list of current comic fanzines and
journals. See Roger Sabin, Adult Comics: An Introduction (London:
Routledge, 1993): 305-306.
6 The science fiction fandom started earlier and is more established than
the superhero followers. The science fiction community also has more
cross-overs to other science fiction venues like novels, short stories, tel-
evision shows and movies. However, superhero comicbooks in general
are more sought after and are more collectible in terms of price and
nostalgia value in the comics collector's market.
7 Robert Overstreet, The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide
(Tennessee: Overstreet Publications/House of Collectibles, annually).
8 See various interviews in David Anthony Kraft, ed. Comics Interview
(New York: Fictioneer Books, published monthly since 1984); Comics
Scene (New York: O'Quinn Studios, published quarterly since 1985);
and Comics Journal (Seattle, Washington: Fantagraphies Books, pub-
lished monthly, n.d.).
9 An ideal example to show how influential the opinion of comicbooks
fans can be is the infamous telephone poll which decided the death of
Robin in 1988. For more details on the editors' decision about Robin's
death, see Pearson and Uricchio, "Notes from the Batcave: An
Interview with Dennis O'Neil," in idem, The Many Lives of Batman
(London: Routledge, 1991): 20-23.
10 Patrick Parsons, "Batman and His Audience," in Pearson and
Uricchio, The Many Lives of Batman (London: Routledge, 1991): 67.
11 P. Parsons, ibid., 65-89.
12 The next ten pages are translated from a non-published essay written
148 Reading Comics
in German by Jan Philipzig.

13 Eddy Christman, "Direct Sales Rescues Comics," Advertising Age
(June 25, 1984): 110; "Speciality Stores Increasing Share of Comic
Market, Boosting Sales," Variety (July 8, 1987): 28; Kurt Eichenwald,
"Grown-ups Gather at the Comic Book Stand," New York Times
(Sept. 30, 1987): 1; "Biff! Pow! Comic Books Make a Comeback,"
Business Week (Sept. 2, 1985): 59.
14 The disco-fever had actually cooled out by 1981, but Marvel stayed
put with this 1970s' concept, A curious, but minor, information: the
illustrator of the series is Paul Chadwick who later impressed both crit-
ics and fans in Concrete which came out in 1987.
15 Very clearly an exception, The Spririt (1944) by Will Eisner reflected
rhe current trend of superhero comics with adult elements. The Spirit
looked and sometimes acted like a superhero, he even had the obliga-
tory identity-concealing mask, but there was a sophistication in this
strip that had never been seen before: "Eisner was strongly influenced
by the pulps and film noir, and included in his stories femmes fatales,
great deal of adult humour and settings involving beautifully-rendered
shadowy cityscapes. He was also a master at conveying moods through
the ingenious use of 'camera angles': 'I always saw comics as an art-
form,' he later said, 'and 1 knew that there was a literate audience out
there who would appreciate what I was doing.'" (Sabin, op cit., 148).
Although never a bestseller, The Spirit soon became the standard
against which other comics would be measured, and would later be
"rediscovered" by the underground, and later still by key creators in
the 1980s. It is now considered as one of the classics of the medium.
16 Philip Gritis, "Turning Superheroes into Super Sales," New York
Times (Jan. 6, 1985): 6.
17 Lisa Towle, "What's New in the Comic Book Business," New York
Times (Jan. 31, 1988): 21; and "Arnerica is Taking Comic Books
Seriously," New York Times (July 31,1988): 7.
18 Cerebus began as a parody of the Conan the Barbarian series. Its main
character is a cartoon figure living within a world full of humans
(much like Jeff Smith's Bone which appears later, see Chapter Seven).
19 A Contract with God is Will Eisner's first graphie novel originally pub-
lished in 1978 by Baronet. The succeeding volumes were re-printed by
Kitchen Sink.
20 At this time, Japanese mangas were a big influence on Miller's graph-
ie style; accordingly, Wolverine's "true love" is a Japanese woman.
21 The first mini-series from DC was The World of Krypton (1979).
22 Although full of twists and surprises (as expected when a medieval tale
is transported to a futuristic setting), the series still revolved around the
conflicting tri angle of love between Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.
23 A young samurai avenges the death of his master by ademon. Since the
power of his sword can only be activated by spilling innocent blood

and he is unwilling to kill just anyone, the samurai kills hirnself and
then slays the demon while dying. The dernon curses hirn to a fight
aga in in the future. The story moves to an overly polluted New York,
gripped by public unrest, and tottering on the verge of disaster.
24 The Comic Book, 107.
25 Pears on and Urrichio, "Introduction," in idem, The Many Lives of
Batman (New York and London: Routledge, 1993). This transforma-
tion into a darker, more intriguing Batman is apparently also the rea-
son for the success of the first two Batman movies.
26 The interviews of various comics artists and publishers in The Comics
Journal provide many insights to their awareness, even excitement, in
the changes occurring in the industry.
27 Chris Sharrett, "Batman and the Twilight of the Idols: An Interview
with Frank Miller," in Pearson and Urricchio, op cit., 34 and 37.
28 Hence the quote frorn one of Generation X's most popular bands,
R.E.M., in the beginning of this chapter
29 Neil Gaiman, Black Orchid (New York: DC Comics, 1989) n.p.
30 Neil Gaiman, Black Orchid (New York: DC Comics, 1989) n.p.
31 There are other comicbooks that explored non-tradition al ways of por-
traying superheraes but came out after 1990. Some of these will be
mentioned in Chapter Seven.
32 That is, in terms of comicbook sales and figures from box office sales
of their movies in North America which is still the biggest market for
these two media. Despite the recent prevalence of Batman due to
Hollywood, more people around the world might still know about the
origins and myths surrounding Superman than the Batman.
33 According to Roger Sabin, op cit., 146, the quality of this sub-catego-
ry should not be exaggerated, however, since a crucial difference
between the superhero and detective is that the former replaced a cer-
tain cerebralness of detective fiction with a greater degree of action,
thereby appealing to a much younger readership.
34 Frank Miller says: "1 was lucky enough to have almost complete
autonomy and produce something that for me was ultimately very per-
sonal." (The Many Lives of Batman, p. 34).
CHAPTER SIX
Frank Miller's The Dark

Knight Returns (1986)
"Everything is exactly the same, except für the fact that

it's all totally different."
Alan Moore Introduction to

the bound issue of The Dark
Knight
"Then the world at large discovered it-people who've

never been in a comic shop were corning in and asking for this
new Batman thing-and it went to third, fourth, and fifth
printings."
Gerard Jones and

Will Jacobs
The Comic Book Heroes, 297
The title of the first issue that came out in March 1986 would give
Batman fans pause: The Dark Knight Returns-returns? In his dis-
tinct costume, the most foreboding of all superheroes had been
appearing monthly to contral Gotham eriminals and bring them to
justice. But Miller's Batman was coming out of retirement. Was
Miller implying that the Batman comics that had appeared in the
last years, some of which were dutifully collected by fans, insignif-
icant and meaningless? That was exactly Miller's intention. The
151
152 Reading Comics
Dark Knight Returns brings the Batman to the modern present

that had changed drastically, and takes him away from the stagna-
tion of the issues sold since the 1970s. Miller's daring re-interpre-
tation of the Batman begins in a Gotham Cityalmost unrecogniz-
able in its desolate atmosphere with the duskiness and melancholy
distinct to Miller's illustration.! More importantly, Miller's
Batman is an aging anti-hero who does not blindly conform to the
current power status, but actually questions it. 2 As Alan Moore
clearly states in his introduction to the book:
As the naivety of the characters and the absurdity of their sit-
uations become increasingly embarassing and anachronistic
to modern eyes, so does the problem become more corn-
pounded and intractable.3
In Miller's departure from traditional superheroes, Alan
Moore did not see a decline but instead the elevation of super-
heroes into legends." Miller changed the superhero engaged in
nothing but endless and repetitive fighting by lending it the dimen-
sion of time.
Miller managed to shape the Batman into a true legend by
introducing that element without which all true legends are
incomplete and yet which for some reason hardly seems to
exist in the world depicted in the average comicbook, and
that element is time.
All of our best and oldest legends recognise that time passes
and that people grow old and die... With Dark Knight, time
has eome to the Batman and the capstone that makes legends
what they are has finally been fitted.5
This chapter provides an analysis of how the elements of time
affects, and concretely manifests itself in, the narrative structure of
Dark Knight Returns.
BATMAN RETIRED
In the beginning of the graphie novel, a much older Bruce Wayne
alias Batman lives in a world safeguarded by his money "in a mil-
lion-dollar mansion miles away" (Issue 1, p. 5). While the city suf-
fers under a heatwave and a spate of horrible crimes, Bruce
Wayne is in a car race, whereby a newscaster comments 'Tm sur-
prised anyone can even think of sports in this weather" (I, 2). In
The Dark Knight Returns (1986) 153
withdrawing his Batman identity a decade ago, Bruce Wayne also

seems to have departed from present reality. By recasting his
Batman mask into a racing helmet, Miller seems to comment on
traditional Batman comics where the hunt for criminals gives an
impression of being only asports competition, without once mak-
ing any headway on actually squashing the roots of criminality.
Even within the arena of a dangerous sport, Bruce Wayne
remains dissatisfied and is thrown into amental and emotional
tumult. The first page hints at his desire for suicide (perhaps a
desire to withdraw from the current world) as he intentionally
turns off the computerized gadget in the car and pushes the race
car into suicidal speed, thinking: "This would be a good death...
but not good enough" (I, 2). A life beyond reality proves to be
impossible for Bruce Wayne, a reality he had nevertheless only
learned to confront with his.Batman mask on. His hesitation in the
thought: "This would be a good death... but not good enough"
reflects the duality of the Bruce Wayne-Batman character: a good
enough death for a more or less normal man like the retired
Wayne, but not good enough for Batman.
Just in the first page of the comics, we can see the motifs that
will run through the narrative:
• Allusion to the dual identity of the Bruce Wayne-Batman fig-

ure
• The possibility of death gives the dimension of a past and the
appearance of "real" time in the life of Batman who never
aged in the last 50 years
• Bruce Wayne"Batman has to comprehend and deal with the
present times
• Television reports only sensationalism and does not dig into
the core of truth; therefore, the second identity of Bruce
Wayne is preserved
Two pages later, it is clear not only tu fans but also to novice
Batman readers that there is only one way out für Bruce Wayne: he
must concede to his Batman identity which had been suppressed
until then. At one point, Bruce dieks glasses with Commissioner
Gordon, who says: "You've certainly learned to drink" (1,4). The
retraction of his Batman identity unsettles Bruce, drives hirn to
drink, gives hirn suicidal tendencies and feelings of torment not
154 Reading Comics
unlike those of a schizophrenie: " ... in my guts the creature writhes

and snarls and tells me wh at 1 need ... " (I, 4) that push hirn to
return into the Batman's costume. Gordon totally misinterprets
Bruce's anxiety, as he suggests: "You just need a wornan." (1,4). In
one interview, Frank Miller expounds on his view on Batman:
His sexual urges are so drastically sublimated into crime-fight-
ing that there's no roorn for any other emotional activity.v
This obsession never left Wayne-Batman in his retirement and

makes it impossible for hirn to have a meaningful relationship with
other people. "I am a zombie" Wayne says, "A dead man, ten
years dead ... " (1,4).
BATMAN RETURNS
From the start, it is very clear that Wayne's inability to have a ful-
filling life without a Batman identity necessitates the latter's return.
The return itself probably represents the artistic culmination sum-
mit of the story, and Miller shows it in three phases: The Murder
of His Parents, The Fall into a Cave, and The Bat Breaks Through.
I. The Murder of His Parents

The Batman is a creature of the night. Wayne suffers nightly anxi-
eties from the writhing, snarling creature in his gut and it is no dif-
ferent this evening after he and Gordon part ways. While walking
in the city streets that night, Bruce Wayne experiences a modern
version of what led to Batman's birth 40 years ago. His turmoil
propels hirn to the now dilapidated place where his parents were
murdered after the three of them watched the film The Mark of
Zorro, Of the former place, only astreet lamp remains, and Bruce
seems hypnotized by its light. He is swallowed up in the past,
where the impelling force of his Batman existence lies, as he gets
mugged once again, precisely in the same place. The young mem-
bers of the Mutant gang who assault hirn are not identical with the
previous murderer, but to Bruce Wayne, "These-these are his chil-
dren. A purer breed ... and this world is theirs" (I, 6). As the force
of the present lawlessness impels Bruce Wayne to his knees, the
awakening of his alter ego becomes imminent. The same place and
similar circumstances compel, for the second time, the birth of

Batman. Only in his mask and costume can Wayne thrive to meet
the challenges of present reality.
Another night, Wayne is again thrown into the traumatic
experience of his parent's murder as the television shows a re-run
of an old film, The Mark of Zorro; the film he saw with his par-
ents the night they were killed. (I, 14) In two pages without any
text, Wayne re-lives the murder which served as the origin and cat-
alyst for Batman's genesis. Although Wayne tries to thrust the
notion aside by changing channels, there is no escape from the
force of Batman. Impressions of the past mix with the crimes of the
present (I, 16) and the suppressed motif wins: "The time has come.
You know it in your soul. For I am your soul. ..You cannot escape
me... You cannot stop me-not with wine or vows or the weight
of age..." (I, 17) Batman will not be denied, this is becoming clear
to Bruce Wayne, who is reduced to a physical shell without his
alter-ego. The schizophrenie character of the situation is obvious:
Wayne can no longer stop his second self. The creature of the night
wins.
II. The Fall into a Cave

Chronologically, the focus of this section happens between the two
experiences mentioned above. Wayne is dreaming of a scene from
his childhood. His parents, Martha and Thomas Wayne were still
alive and a six-year-old Bruce was running after a rabbit in their
garden. Bruce was suddenly confronted with the purpose of the
innocent game with a question from his mother: "Bruce, wh at are
you going to do with it when you catch it-don't go into that hole!
Bruce!" Nevertheless, Bruce falls in while simultaneously losing
the rabbit which was the purpose of his chase. He falls into an
abyss where the rabbit, which he would not have caught anyway,
no longer plays any role. The cave is not the world of his parents,
nor their questions, nor the rabbit, but the world of bats which
first frightens the young Bruce, "No! Go away!" (I, 10) However,
in a few moments, a fascination with the torpid cave takes over,
and Bruce stares in wonder at one bat that symbolizes the cave's
lack of development:
"Gliding with ancient grace... eyes gleaming, untouched by
love or joy or sorrow... breath hot with the taste of fallen
foes... the stench of dead things, damned things... surely the
156 Reading Comics
fiercest survivor-the purest warrior... glaring, hating...

daiming me as his own" (I, 11)
In the world of the bats, Bruce feels secure from the questions
of adults that must be answered outside the cave, safe from having
to confront the purpose of his games. He perceives the bat as a
warrior, hardened in vast emptiness, and unafraid of anything new
or unknown. In aseries of eight frames, the bats approaches the
frightened yet fascinated child, until the bat's shadow initially cov-
ers Bruce, but eventually fills up the whole panel (I, 11). For Miller,
assuming a Batman identity is also an expression of a defensive
and parrying stance against the unknown-this will have a sexual
connotation for Bruce years later. Bruce Wayne transforms this
same cave into a secret Batcave where he takes on the traits of bats
and becomes Batman. The cave also acts as a mother's womb
where he comes back after his nightly patrol for justice. The cave
is the base of Batman's operations: " ... huge, empty, silent as a
church... " (I, 11) empty and still, diametrically opposed to actu-
al relationships or attachments.
In the lower half of the same page, a graying and half-clothed
Bruce Wayne stands in the Batcave, compelled by the Batman
inside hirn: "Brings me down here when the night is long and my
will is weak. He struggles relentlessly, hatefully, to be free... " (I,
11) The costume of the bat allows Bruce a retreat from a world full
of human relationships in constant motion which he cannot con-
trol. Bruce never learned to live in this world. His costume func-
tions as a fetish, a substitute for real, live relationships. The role of
the costume and mask in the divided Bruce Wayne/Batman per-
sonality becomes even clearer when Bruce gets out from his car
after his visit to Gordon. He bristles against conceding to his
Batman identity: "I cari't stand to be inside anything right now,"
(I, 4)-not inside a car, nor in a costume, much less "inside a
wornan." Alan Moore elucidates on this psychological disposition
of masked superheroes and their stilted relationships with women
in his maxi-series, Watchmen (see also Chapter Four of this book),
Miller's Bruce Wayne tries to resist the need to find personal
fulfillment in the identity of the Dark Knight, but only the Batman
outfit and identity offer arelief from the creature's nightly chal-
lenges. The death of his former sidekick Robin made Bruce
Wayne form aresolution to cease the nightly activities that
would give hirn peace: "I gave my word. For jason. Never. Never
again. (I, 11). But as the action progresses, Batman's vow to Jason
would find a different expression in the selection and development
of his follower, and no longer in the Dark Knight's renunciation of
its nightly combats. The creature of the night stirs and the retire-
ment that never really applied to Batman, ends.
III. The Bat Breaks Through

One night at horne, Wayne listens to the messages left by Harvey
Dent (Two-Face), Clark (Superman), and Selina (Catwoman) in his
answering machine-Batman is essential for both friends and foes.
As Bruce stands before a window, an approaching bat casts a shad-
ow on hirn through the window's frame which crosses out his face.
The bat breaks through the window and flies into the Wayne
Manor premises, its open mouth and bared teeth filling the last
page of this issue. Bruce Wayne's current existence which denies his
second identity finds an end with the intrusion of the bat.
The actuality of this scene is vague, but it is not important if
the bat was real or existed only in Bruce's mind. The scene is rem-
iniscent of the Batman's origin as first revealed in Detective
Comics # 33: as Bruce Wayne was thinking about his parents' mur-
der and wh at he could do to avenge this and stop similar atroci-
ties, a bat flies through a window and appears before hirn. Wayne
gets the idea to become a fearless creature of the night, and fight
crime dressed like a bat. This time is no different: in the lower pan-
els of this page, Bruce Wayne's face changes from an expression of
doubt and surprise to resolution and conviction. The bat did not
just break through the closed window in Wayne's mansion but
breaks through the "lies" in Bruce's mind that he can keep his
other personality suppressed.
After the scene with the bat, Miller moves us to a dark, stormy
night in Gotham. Apower outage has thrown the city and its suburbs
into total darkness-a perfect setting für the re-appearence of Batman
who thrives on stealth, concealment, and darkness. Two assaults are
stopped by an invisible figure, but we get glimpses of gloves and
shoes in the grey-blue colour of the Batman (I, 19-20). As the third
assault loomed, intended for two young girls, a dark blue glove so
familiar to American readers is raised right before Batarangs pierce
through an assailant's arm and one other attacker is lifted in the air.
158 Reading Comics
In the third assault, Batman saves a young girl, Carrie, who willlater
fight by his side as the new Robin and lead the aging vigilante into
the modern times.
BATMAN'S FOES
I. TheJoker
On page 6, a row of four frames shows the first phase of the return
of the Dark Knight. This is mirrored on the other side of the spread
by another series of four pictures: in a psychiatrie dinic, known to
Batman fans as the Arkham Asylum, the blinds roll up to reveal
the face of the oldest and most well-known of Batman's adver-
saries, the Joker. Batrnan's renaissance is attended with the simul-
taneous revival of his main protagonist who, during Batman's
absence, was tucked away in Arkham Asylum. In one interview,
Miller describes the Joker as Batman's "antithesis,7 a force of
chaos", which is directly opposite to Batman's being a "control
freak." 8
The dose link between Batman and Joker is shown again
when the television reports on the return of the Dark Knight, Eight
frames (I, 33) demonstrate the gradual transformation of the pre-
viously soporific and lifeless facial expressions .of the Joker. His
reawakening can be seen in his mouth, as it spreads into a broad
grin, a distinctive trait of this popular Batman-enemy, that Jack
Nicholson made even more popular to millions of people later in
a Batman movie. The grin gets wider and wider that it breaks
through one frame and becomes two frames wide. A similarity of
comics with film is shown in this instance: the series of pictures
just mentioned simulates the zooming in for a dose-up shot. At the
same time, Miller shows a feature distinct to comics-the film or
movie cannot go beyond the frarnes of the screen.
Within the series of these pictures, the parasitic dependency
between Batman and Joker becomes evident. The Joker awakes
while watehing areport that the Batman is back, and the first words
that break out of the Joker are "BB...BBBat...Batman. Darling."
(I, 38) as he "naturally" falls back into being the Batman's antago-
nist. From this time on, one can see a vitality and life in the Joker,
making the Batman also responsible for the existence of his most
intimate enemies, at the same time that he is trying to conquer them.

This interpretation of the Joker is not new. Already in 1973, the
Joker hirnself states in Dennis O'Neil's The ]oker's Fiue-Way
Revenge (Batman #251): "Without the game that the Batman and I
have played for so many years, winning is nothing!"
This game, interrupted by Batman's withdrawal, has already
started for the Joker as his psychiatrist, Dr. Wolper, encourages
hirn to "Just be yourself" (III, 18) during their appearance togeth-
er in the Late Night Show. The Joker follows exactly the doctor's
prescription and gasses the psychiatrist, David Letterman, and all
those present in a gruesome act so typical of the Joker. This scheme
is meaningful in various levels:
• The Joker confirms his unchangeable destructive character;

proving he is incurable and his atrocity is an immutable trait
• The television is shown once again to prefer sensationalism
over responsible awareness
Figure 30. The Dark Knight Returns shows a grim Batman who breaks
a promise he made 30 years aga never to kill anyone. The Dark Knight
Returns. Art and script: Frank Miller © 1986 DC Comics
160 Reading Comics
• The Joker, who thickly applies his own red lipstick before
coming out on stage is shown as an embodiment of the
homophobe's fear
The third aspect is also demonstrated in the way the Joker

continuously calls Batman "Darling" and "My sweet" in the final
pages of the third book. Batman answers in the beginning of the
final book by unequivocally killing the joker,?
Frank Miller was criticised by, among others, The Village
Voice for mixing homosexuality and wickedness and immorality in
the figure of the Joker. The censure was not totally unfair as there
is no other, more positive homosexual figure in the book to count-
er the blatantly destructive figure of the Joker. All the same, the cri-
tique must be placed in proper context: for Miller, the Joker does
not represent an absolute evil autonomous of his surroundings-
much of his conduct is closely linked to that of Batman's.
Like Bruce Wayne, the Joker becomes "different" by an acci-
dent. Falling into a vat full of chemieals distorted his appearance
and gave hirn his singular smile. Joker's reaction to this mishap is
in direct contrast to Wayne's reaction to his parents' murder. The
Joker vowed revenge by overthrowing all structures of the civilized
world and to let chaos reign. Batman, on the other hand, overcame
his trauma, by trying to rid the world of disorder and confusion
which made his parents' murder possible. While the Joker pushes
for discord, Batman fights for order-one's reaction to a private
trauma is the other's aversion and outrage. When the Joker creates
chaos, the guardian of peace becomes his natural enemy. And
when the Joker wants to undermine this self-appointed custodian
of the law, who has never come to terms with his own sexuality
(and for years was swinging together nightly with another guy in
colorful tights), the most proven way is to play up to his homo-
phobie fears and force the Batman to reflect on his insecurities.U'
II. Two-Face
Another Batman foe, Two-Face, is deemed ready to rejoin to soci-
ety after a 12-year stay in Arkham Asylum. He underwent psychi-
atrie treatments and plastic surgery to restore his disfigured face,
after which the same psychiatrist who treated Joker, Dr. Wolper,
says: "You're fit to return to society... "(I, 7). Frank Miller's
graphics, however, belie this view: Two-Face's close-up spans two

frames, the middle gutter splitting hirn. Moreover, his experience
of oneness or entirety in the last picture is based solelyon a mir-
ror-reflection, and the mirror phase proves to be a misguided
process of self-realization for Two-Face.
A short detour to Jacques Lacan helps elaborate this scene.
Jacques Lacan is a French psychiatrist and post-structuralist who
analyzes the interpendence of consciousness (also, sense of self) and
language. He defines the mirror phase of a child as the first percep-
tion of its incompleteness. When a child looks into a mirror, it per-
ceives its reflection as an "Other" separate from its own self, and
the child perceives a difference between an imaginary self and a per-
ceived real self. After the plastic surgery but before seeing hirnself in
a mirror, Two-Face doubts his recovery, "Maybe Gordon ...is right
about me ... "(1, 7: Commissioner Gordon, who is skeptical about
the wh ole process done on Two-Face, vocally states on television
that Two-Face will never recover.) Upon seeing hirnself in the mir-
ror, Two-Face comments: "Oh, my God ... "(1, 7).
This complete, undivided "God" (the "other" as reflected in
the mirror) is separate from one's body and is not identified with
the self, according to Lacan: together, they do not make a whole.
On the contrary, the mirror phase induces or brings about a quest
for an Other. Two-Face, unable to resolve his outward appearance
with his inner self, then directs his attention to, of all things, the
likewise divided Batman-Bruce Wayne personality. The orientation
Batman provides as Two-Face's "Other" is obviously question-
able-it becomes impossible to overcome the divided self since the
patient has fixed its orientation for recovery and its search for
completeness on a personality that is also divided. The next step,
according to Lacan, is the entry to language-but since in Two
Face's case, the "Other" is a split personality itself, this next step
is problematic for hirn: "What can I say?" (I, 8). Which part of the
split personality is the language supposed to express? Two-Face is
rendered speechless by the inability to make a choice. As the read-
er turns over the page, the reader encounters only a new phase of
the book but not a new page in the life of Harvey Dent (aka Two-
Face). The plastic surgery changes his outward appearance, but his
psychological recovery fails.
In an interview, Frank Miller states that he considers Two-Face
as Batman's Doppelganger, "Two-Face is identical to Batman in
162 Reading Comics
that he's controlled by savage urges, wh ich he keeps in check, in

his case, with a flip of a coin. He's very much like Batman. "11
Two-Face first appears in August 1942 (Detective Comics #66) as
the popular Defense Attorney Harvey Dent. Because of his good
looks, the press called hirn "Apollo" until a criminal whom
Batman turned over to justice threw some corrosive ehernieals
which permanently disfigured one half of Harvey Dent's face. At
the brink of going mad, Harvey Dent scratches one side of a coin
which he uses to decide his behaviour and ultimately, the fate of
his victims: after a coin toss, leniency if the unmarked side
emerges, and atrocity or death for the disfigured side.
Bruce Wayne also developed a split personality after his par-
ents' murder: on one side a carefree playboy, on the other, a Zorro-
inspired vigilante in a bat outfit. If the Joker serves as Batman's
antithesis, Two-Face parallels the superhero's having a split per-
sonality. Like Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne developed an alter ego
although the objectives of their alter egos vary extremely. The
biggest difference between Batman and Two-Face is the way each
reacted to a traumatic experience, as Miller says: "Anyone can be
a victim ... It's how one uses the evil inside. Batman makes his dev-
ils work for the common good."12 Bruce Wayne had sponsored
Harvey Dent's treatments. Contrary to Gordon's skepticism,
Wayne publicly states his reason for sponsoring the treatments:
"We must believe that our private demons can be defeated ... " (I,
9). This remark seems more like a wish he expresses for hirnself. In
the next panels, we see Bruce Wayne dreaming of his parents,
falling into the batcave, and struggling with his own demons. Just
like hirn, Dent is unable to leave his personal "dernons" behind.
Harvey Dent's "recovery" becomes a media spectacle and a
newscaster reports: "A new life begins today for Harvey Dent ... and
he looks great." (I, 8) Then we see a beaming and good-looking
Dent holding up a new, shiny coin, unmarked at both sides. (I, 9)
Dent speaks about remorse, absolution, and a new life of serving
the public. Significantly, the four pictures showing the superficial
and media-ready face of Harvey Dent are divided into two different
pages of the book, split in two halves. This is an example how
Miller ingenuously uses a technique offered to a comic writer/illus-
trator not available to a conventional author or a film director.
On page 13, we see Dent already back in the underworld, sig-
naled by a coin scratched on one side falling onto a table full of
playing cards, money, and guns. From this page on, Two-Face is
only shown with a fully-bandaged head covering the plastic sur-
gery and the face he cannot live with.U' When Batman later finds
a coin scratched on both sides in the scene of a crime (I, 32), his
hopes for Dent's recovery evaporates. It is dear from the fully
marked coin that the external success of the plastic surgery was
totally subjugated by an inner malice. Whereas before, Two-Face's
split face mirrored the divided urges within hirn, now, his perfect-
ly pretty face only hides completely damaging intentions. The age
of television demands superficial perfection, but the results are
horrible.
The first chapter ends with Two-Face falling from a tower in
the city, until his doppelganger Batman comes and catches hirn and
observes. "We tumble like lovers." (1,46). Two-Face confirms their
reciprocality with his words: "I've been asport... You have to
admit that-I played along." (1,47). In the middle of page 47, two
rows of four panels each divided by the middle of the spread, give
the impression of a mirror reflection: the first row shows Two-
Face's head, the second shows Batman's face. The third frame in
the first row shows Batman's vision of Two-Face " ... As he is."
Right below the third picture of the second row, we see a sinister-
looking dose-up of a bat. Their demons are reflections of each
other, as ordered by the pictures. Batman hirnself is aware of the
parallel: " ... I see ... arefleetion, Harvey. Arefleetion." (I, 47).
COMMISSIONER GORDON AND THE PREVIOUS

BATMAN
Police Commissioner Gordon, who has been in service since 1940

and has since then become a regular in the Batman comics never
grew any older like all other regular supporting characters in the
Batman series. Miller shows Gordon just 1 month before his retire-
ment. Another significant deviation frorn traditional Batman
comics is that Batman's real identity is no longer a secret to
Gordon, as a result of a deep friendship that had developed
between Gordon and Bruce Wayne.
In this book, not only is Gordon almost retired, but his views
are also outmoded and old-fashioned. As an example, at the
beginning of the second chapter, Gordon bemoans the time when
a car was still "a symbol of wealth and power." (11,2). These cars,
164 Reading Comics
together with the other material possessions of the rich and pow-
erful, were exactly what Batman protected between the years 1939
and 1986. In The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne realizes (as the story
progresses) that with such a perspective, he only upholds status
quo and does not really get to the roots of crime. Gordon, howev-
er, is not able to learn nor accept the changes wrought by modern
times.
Another example is when Gordon finds out that the next
Police Commissioner, his successor, is a woman. His reaction: "A
woman. Christ almighty... " (11,16) Gordon proves to be extreme-
ly conservative, intolerant of progressive ideas, almost a fossil of
the war years as he and Batman were originally conceived. In The
Dark Knight, Gordon represents the ideology of the traditional
Batman figure of the last four decades. At the beginning of this
mini-series, we still see this traditional Batman figure right after he
came out of retirement, before he is directed inta modern reality by
the new Robin. In the first two books, Miller shows some parallels
between Gordon and Batman to clearly illustrate the relationship
or similarities between the two. Both men are incapable of a ful-
filled life outside the pursuit of criminals (11, 12); because of their
ultra-conservative views, both are held responsible (in television)
for the present crimes (11, 5), their old styles of fighting crimes go
against the changed consciousness of the people. Critical voices
descry the superhero of Gotham City as a fascist: "The only thing
he signifies ... is an aberrant psychotic force-morally bankrupt,
politically hazardous, reactionary, paranoid-a danger to every
citizen of Gotham." (I, 33).
The next pages bear out these charges as we see a brutal and
churlish Batman throwing one of Two-Face's cohorts through a
window pane: "You've got rights. Lots of rights. Sometimes I
count them just to make myself feel crazy. But right now you've
got a piece of glass shoved into a major artery in your arm." (1,37)
Even as Batman's principles still prevail during this time and he
refuses to kill, his methods of interrogation and detention are not
in accord with basic human rights. One cannot just dismiss the
arguments of his adversaries: "Makes me sick. We must treat the
socially misoriented with rehabilitative methods." (I, 37) The
observation of the parents of the new Robin, Carrie, runs:
"Obviously a fascist. Never heard of civil rights." (1,37) Batman's
attitude and procedures that have been familiar and accepted by
readers for many years now begin to grate against modern reali-
ties. Even the new generation of policemen does not accept
Batman's previously tolerated vigilante-style of justice and wants
to arrest hirn (I, 28). The traditional superhero totally lost his pos-
itive image in Miller's rendition of Batman as he initially sides with
the dominant power and refers to the petty gang criminals or
thieves as "punks." Only much later does Batman realize that the
present is much too complex for a clear delineation between good
and evil.
The first chapter ends with a interim climax-the confronta-
tion between Batman and Two-Face. The Dark Knight fights with
a US Military-issued weapon, but he starts distancing hirnself from
what has been his ideology until then: "It was developed by the
military during one of our more contemptible wars." (I, 41) But at
this point, Bruce Wayne alias Batman is still searching for his own
point of view. His momentary bewilderment gives rise aga in to a
wish for death, cut short by Batman's feelings of responsibilities to
the citizens of Gotham City: " ... a fine death. But there are thou-
sands to think of." (1,43)
The second chapter shows Batman reaching a turning point in
comprehending the new situation, as he maneuvers a confronta-
tion with the "Mutants" in the slums of Gotham City. Batman first
appears in the dump within the protection of an impenetrable tank
(a modified Batmobile) and gets the chance to shoot the Ieader,
but, at this point, Batman still refuses to kill. Eventually, and
against his better judgement, he gets out to fight a hand-to-hand
combat with the mutant gang leader (11, 19), his old body betrays
hirn, and he loses to the Mutant gang leader. In leaving the tank,
Batman starts to move away from the ideologies that kept hirn sid-
ing with the dominant powers in the past. Doubting the certainty
of the morals that had previously guided hirn, Batman becomes
vulnerable and loses to the gang leader. Significantly, Batman is
saved from death by Carrie, alias Robin. In Miller's narrative, this
is the turning point for Batman where we see that his traditional
ways of thinking and fighting do not guarantee his victory over the
new breed of scoundrels, and he has to depend on Carrie. From
this point on, we see Batman starting to leave his antiquated beliefs
and being ushered into the modern realities from a child of the
media generation. Batman begins to understand the decisive role
that Carrie can play for his own development: "She's more than a
166 Reading Comics
child." (11, 37) He stops sharing Gordon's conservative outlook

and is re-born a second time-this time born into the 1980s. As
usual, Batman retreats into the cave and takes strength from see-
ing a bat, but this re-birth does not mean a withdrawal from real-
ity. "Then something shuffles, out of sight ... something sucks the
stale air and hisses"(II, 31). On the contrary, this time, it is a
breakthrough into the realities of the present. The next time we see
Batman, he is explaining to Alfred his choice for the new Robin
and optimistically planning how to finally stop the Mutants:
"Carrie. She's perfect. She's young. She's smart. She's brave. With
her, 1 might be able to end this mutant nonsense once and for all."
(11,37).
ROBIN AND THE NEW BATMAN
Carrie is a young girl who is in touch with the trends and devel-
opments of her time. For example, she is particularly interested in
computer studies (I, 22), and wears green-tinted eyeglasses, which,
at first glance, are not unlike the glasses that identify members of
the mutant gang. Although Carrie, in direct contrast to
Commissioner Gordon, is up-to-date with the times, she has not
mutated into or been reduced an uncritical consumer of her peri-
od but has retained her individuality. While the many-colored
glasses of the mutant gang are mere slits, which hide their eyes and
simultaneously narrow their capacity to see, Carrie's eyewear have
big lenses through which clearly show her alert eyes. While she
belongs to a generation bombarded with images from computer
and television, her opinions are not limited to the ideology relayed
by the media. When TV reporters are interviewing people about
Batman's reappearance, Carrie is the only one who did not stare
wide-eyed at the camera and give sensational reports about hirn,
like: " ... Wild animal. Growls. Snarls. Werewolf surely." or
"Monster! Like with fangs and wings and it can fly ..." Carrie
says: "Reality check ... he's a man." (I, 26) Carrie is capable of
being critical of the TV as a mass medium, without shutting off the
developments of her time. Even Batman's authority is something
she does not blindly obey. Instead, through her ability to decide for
herself, she manages to effectively help hirn in his battles, and to
even save his life (III, 24 and 25).
The Mutants, on the other hand, the mutants are absolute

products of modern society devoid of any individual characteristic.
They "rnutate" by watehing TV (IV, 11 and 17), their perspectives
are completely influenced and decided by the artificial and color-
ful world of the media age. Outside this illusory world, there is no
stability and truth are absent, and the mutants' confusion is
manipulated by their gang leader. The senseless killing of a cat (I,
6) shows adeprivation of a natural respect for life, defiling a
church shows scorn for any religious worth. There are no logical,
understandable motives for the mutants. The attack of Carrie and
Michelle seems to be nothing but an imitation of a bad horror film,
as one sees in the use of apower saw and the video arcade setting
(1,23).
This passive and uncritical consumption of media products is
not exclusive to the mutants as a marginal group, but extends to the
average citizen of Gotham City. Batman was described as a "huge
man dressed like Dracula," (1,24), others believed in having seen a
werewolf or a monster (I, 26). Legends conveyed, even created, by
television influence the perception of reality. Batman must come to
terms with this condition-how perceptions can be influenced and
changed-if he is to prevail upon the children of media. If he insists
on remaining with the rules of the past and keep denying the pres-
ent, he will never gain the respect of these children: "Young people
these days .. no respect for history." (II, 18) For the Mutants, and
younger citizens of Gotham, Batman can only truly function as a
legend and become a myth if he is current and up-to-date. Batman
had the potential for myth right from the start: "A recent survey
shows that most high schoolers consider hirn a myth." (1,3). In the
second chapter, Batman finally makes use of this potential as he
defeats the Mutant gang leader in a dramatic duel covered live by
television (11,42-46). Miller's introduction of the element of time is
central to The Dark Knight in two levels. Not only are Batman and
Gordon older, and the city of Gotham changed with time, but as the
narrative unfolds, Batman learns increasingly to deal with modern
realities. He realizes that one can only influence the media genera-
tion if one is presented as a figure or legend marketable to and con-
sumable by TV audiences.
During the match, the Mutants wear T-shirts which state "My
name is Rob" (11, 44). After his impressive, albeit staged, triumph,
Batman rises as a legend for the media generation. The "Rob"
becomes "Rob-in" as the Mutants now become fascinated with the
168 Reading Comics
Dark Knight and form "The Sons of Batman" gang. A mutant, hav-
ing replaced his slit-like glasses with the Batman insignia, declares
on TV: "The mutants are dead. The mutants are history. This is the
mark of the future. Gotham City belongs to the Batman" (11,46).
The change does not go smoothly. As "Sons of Batrnan," some
Mutants start dispensing "order" brutally, in a way even more
extreme than the old Batman which was publicly perceived as
oppressive and despotie. To stop the "Sons of Batman" from using
excessive violence, Batman once again makes an appearance in the
dump, this time sitting atop a horse while he smashes a rifle into
pieces, saying: "This is the weapon of the enemy. We do not need
it. We will not use it." (IV, 21). The declaration does not lose its
desired effect, since Batman has learned to work within the medi-
um appropriate to his TV-saturated audience. He is perceived as an
authentie legend: "You know-like in a Western." (IV, 23)
Although, and partly because, he succeeds in winning the
Mutants over to his side, Batman finally realises: "I've become a
politicalliability ... (IV, 24) as the television and police force more
than ever detest hirn andperceives hirn an anomaly in the present
times. Batman decides to end his unwanted Batman-existence, and
turn over his fight to Carrie: "Right there-in that saddle-is all
the reason I need. She has decades-decades, left to her... " (IV,
34). Batman then stages a fight with Superman, the prime sup-
porter of the dominant power, stages his own pseudo-death (IV,
43), and sanctions the media to announce his demise (IV, 45). After
the official wake and funeral, Batman is dug up from his grave by
Carrie-and Batman's new existence is closely linked to the young
generation.
Bruce Wayne's new reality is portrayed in the last page of the
fourth and final chapter: he lays aside his Batman garb because he
cannot deny the present: "here, in the endless cave, far past the
remains of a crimefighter whose time has passed ... Ir begins here-
an army-to bring sense to a world plagued by worse than thieves
and murderers ... This will be a good life good enough." (IV, 47) .
.Wayne does not consider it his task anymore to protect the
"Haves" (moneyed or propertied class) from petty thieves which
he, in the meantime, considers as victims of the reigning power
structure and relations. He aims for a bigger plan. Wayne had
always gone back alone to his "Batcave" to plan his next moves
away from any company and influence, now he shares this
"Batcave" with Carrie and the former Mutants who were his ene-
mies at the start of the book. The retreat to the Batcave no longer
means a withdrawal from or denial of the ever-changing world and
points of view-close alliance with the young generation assists
hirn in finding a position to counter past hierarchies and traditions
that make up the ruling political conditions. With this shift, Bruce
Wayne heeds Carrie's ideas and principles. From the beginning,
Carrie was the only figure who was simultaneously engaged in the
present and in a position to critically reflect on this present.
DARK KNIGHT SUMMARY
The strength of Frank Miller's works, before and after The Dark
Knight, does not lie in the incisiveness and entirety of the ideelog-
ical concepts he presents. Although The Dark Knight questions
supremacy and explores the need to come to terms with the young
generation, for example, Miller still ends with Bruce Wayne as an
authority figure that is male, imperious, and patriarchal (II, 38; III,
11; III, 32; IV, 47). Miller also shows a female influence necessary
to lead Batman into his new position in the modern world, but
Batman remains a figure devoid of any intimate relations with
women. In fact, references to sexuality are mostly negative (I, 4,
21; II, 39; III, 23, 27, 32, 37). One weakness in The Dark Knight
is the treatment of the relations between authority and power that
comes across as unresolved and not thoroughly thought out.
Despite these weaknesses, Miller manages to enthrall readers with
themes that address the current times. By exploring the power of
media and the fear of political renovation in The Dark Knight,
Miller shows how actual sociological and political phenomena
may be intertwined into a critique of the superhero genre.
OTHER BATMAN NARRATIVES
In America, The Dark Knight would be the impulse behind the

commercial success of the Batman film three years later. In turn,
the movie's success had a big impact on the comics market during
the late 1980s and early 1990s. Because of the uncommon demand
for these issues, The Dark Knight series was collected and pub-
lished in book format after the four issues were completed. This
practice has now become the norm rather than the exception.H
170 Reading Comics
Known as a "graphie novel", The Dark Knight enjoyed 38 weeks

in the New York Bestseller list, the first superhero comicbook to
have ever been included in the list. Miller succeeded where comics
publishers and other comics artists have not-he broke through
the limits of the comics ghetto and managed to get people to buy
a comicbook-people who were unaware of this medium or who
have not touched a comicbook since their childhood. The Dark
Knight became a media event and comics were suddenly the talk
of the town.
With the sensational success of his Batman narratives, Frank
Miller proved something that had long been lacking in this medi-
um, in particular, the superhero genre-that there are readers who
are interested in seeing complex aspects of modern life dissected in
comicbooks. In the following years, current political, ecological
and sociological problems found their way into American comic-
books, albeit quite late compared to other media.
The Dark Knight was not the first comicbook intended für
adult readers. Its novelty and consequent success lie more in the
radical way it eroded the traditional superhero genre from within
the genre. Miller did not create an alternative comics whose poten-
tial sales would be suspect in a market dominated by superhero
comics. Instead, he used Batman-second oldest of all super-
heroes l- and very popular in America-to vitalize his pioneering
ideas and produced comics that would be accessible to a wider
public. Consequently, there would be other attempts in using the
Batman to show innovations in comicbooks, as well as to tackle
issues more serious than have ever been included in earlier comics.
Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum, for example, plays with
very ambiguous standards for sanity and insanity. Two narra-
tives-the personal and scientific journal of a brilliant psychiatrist
Amadeus Arkham and the Batman's tribulations in the Asylum
more than half a century later-effectively intertwine and confuse
the boundaries and relations between intelligence, sanity, insanity,
and memory. Unlike most previous superhero stories, narrative
privileging is not conferred on the hero, Batman. Instead, the tale
constantly shifts between Dr. Arkham's memories, the accounts of
the current inmates in Arkham (most of whom are confined there
because of the Batman), and the Batman's encounters with these
bizarre creatures, as he struggles to go through the tunnels of the
asylum for a better understanding of hirnself and his enemies. With
the variety of languages and points of view that are textually and
visually built into Arkham Asylum, it is difficult to determine
whose story is being told, to whom, and why. In the expectations
and myths which superhero comics tend to create and reinforce, a
privileged mode of expression usually emerges as the narrative
unfolded. There can be languages that take prominent places in
turns, but eventually, there is only one that is chosen to speak the
truth and advance the narrative to its accepted conclusion. A very
common, though largely unnoticed, privileging in superhero
comicbooks presents the narrative through the perspective of the
ubiquitous crimefighter. In this way, specific narrative devices
grant the superheroes narrative centrality and, in addition, often
cede to them narrative authority through point-of-view frames,
first person narration and other textual and graphic cues which
foster reader identification with hirn and his exploits. This process
emphasises the hero's hegemonic role and function and fosters the
reader's acceptance of the hero's hegemonic traits and ideas.
But in Arkham Asylum, a systematic privileging of the
Batman, either textually or visually, is not conspicuous in the tale.
The Joker, for example, who leads the rebellion of the inmates
against the asylum's authorities, comes across just as imposing as
the Batman, and is even described by a psychotherapist as:
(The Joker is) a special case. Some of us fee! he may be
beyond treatment. In fact, we're not even sure if he can be
properly defined as insane.
It is quite possible we may actually be looking at some kind

of super-sanity here. A brilliant modification of human per-
ception. More suited to urban life at the end of the twentieth
century.lv
Dave McKean's richly-textured illustrations and use of photo

montage, in addition to the sombre colours and tight, overlapping
panel formatting and multi-tiered page lay-outs, leave a very cryp-
tic and erratic impression of the total narrative. The ending, as
well, is very vague-Batman's "freedom" and the permission to
leave Arkham alive is not gained through victory but granted
through a whim by one of his demented enemies, Two-Face.
Arkham Asylum is an excellent example of a "post-modern"
texture manifested in an increasing number of contemporary
172 Reading Comics
graphie novels which employ textual and visual pastiche of mate-

rial from books, newspapers, paintings, songs, scientific reports,
advertisernents.J? In only eight words, the Batman's origin is re-
told through aseries of dreamlike and seemingly unrelated images
juxtaposed with the Batman's controlled suffering and the Joker's
delight during a psychiatrist's interrogation (this particular re-
telling of the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, however, assurnes
a great deal of prior knowledge of the Batman's origins from its
readers). Two narratives about the journey to madness-that of
Dr. Arkham's and the Batman's-e-alternate and intertwine in this
book sub-titled "The Passion Play, As it is Played Today."
Citations and images from other books abound and overlap in
this text, particularly from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland. As well, references to real people like Carl Gustav
Jung lend realism to Arkham's personal and professional journals.
All throughout, however, no certainty is ever given the reader as
to the rationality of any of the characters in the book. An under-
current of volatile violence, delicately held in check, runs through
the whole narrative. Arkham allows a dangerous and demented
patient, Mad Dog Hawkins, to roam free. In a session with
Arkham, Hawkins claims that the Virgin Mary instructs hirn to
mutilate only the faces and sexualorgans of his victims. Hawkins
also states that he cuts hirnself with a razor "Just to feel. Just to
feel something!" Later, Arkham comes horne to find his wife and
young daughter butchered by the Mad Dog. Nevertheless,
Amadeus Arkham again accepts Hawkins as a patient and, one
year to the day of his family's massacre, straps hirn to the elec-
troshock and burns hirn-an incident treated as an accident by the
psychiatrie community. Arkham also kills his mother with a razor.
But he was not locked up in the asylum, however, until he
attempted to kill his stockbroker. Arkham's memories haunts the
asylum, driving the present Dr. Cavendish to free the inmates and
to kill the Batman. Lost in the jumble of recollections of others as
well as his own, the Batman impales his palm with a piece of bro-
ken glass to remind hirnself of the present and dull his anguish
over his parents' murder with physical pain. All these are punctu-
ated by the laughter and the jesting of the Joker, who reveals his
profound knowledge of the Batman and the other inmates of the
asylum in his wisecracks and badinage. A multitude of voices,
memories and dreams batde to relate the story of Arkham, but the
reader is left to his/her own resources as the Joker proclaims: "Let

the Feast of Fools begin! "
Batman is shown to have a special relation with, but also a
strange fear of Arkham Asylum, which is featured in many of the
new graphie novels published by DC, even those which do not
belong to the Batman series. The asylum is now treated as a repos-
itory of dark secrets, undisclosed life stories, revelations from rav-
ing lunatics, but nevertheless a place which superheroes-the
Black Orchid, Sandman, and the Batman, for example-have to
confront if they want to possess precious information unavailable
anywhere else. Access to information is increasingly becoming an
important object for control, power, and victory in the present
batch of superheroes who depend more on craft and cunning than
on brute strength. Whereas in previous comics, the seat of infor-
mation was usually some governmental or institutionalised centre,
proper information in the newer tales is accessed from unexpected
places like Arkham. The Killing [oke by Alan Moore, for example,
exemplifies the lack of information about the Joker, either in the
Batman's elaborate computers or in Gordon's precinct files. The
Batman usually has to make the rounds of the tougher spots in
town-bars, jails, the red light district, even talk to some crime
lords-in order to trace the Joker's whereabouts.lf The Sandman
not only went to Arkham Asylum, but conferred with three witch-
es and wandered the slums of London in order to learn how he
could regain the power-arnulets that were stolen from him.J?
Arkham Asylum seems to incarnate the inversion of standards and
the blurring of boundaries in the new graphie novels which
attempt to reflect the confusion in today's existence. This is
addressed by Dr. Arkham as he remarks:
I see now the virtue in madness, for this country knows no
law nor any boundary, I pity the paar shades confined to the
Euclidean prison that is sanity. All things are possible here
and I am what madness has made me. Whale. And Cornplete.
And free at last. l O
Another Batman comicbook, Night Cries by Archie Goodwin,

reveals qualms about the existence of a social reality that can still
be understood in relatively stable categories, and the underlying
structures that invisibly organise these categories. Night Cries
deals with drug use and child abuse and explicitly shows that these
174 Reading Comics
problems are experienced across social dasses. In the overpower-

ing sense of futility in both Commissioner Gordon and the Batman
as they deal with the crises in this tale, there are echoes of an
unstated conviction that the prime determinant of social order is
economic and political. However, social dass, which previously
was a key in both analysing and solving social problems, is
revealed to be a weak link in the cases spanning from the poor,
black families from "the Heights" to the rich, white families with
famous names. The identity and motivation of the criminal is log-
ical, but unexpected in that he is not as marginalized as villains in
superhero comics usually are. Another noticeable inversion in this
story is the hint that Bruce Wayne's money seems more effective
than the Batman in being able to deter child abuse. As well, the
usually upright Jim Gordon is portrayed ambiguously as trying to
solve a crime concerning child abuse that he hirnself is shown to
have suffered and now seems to be prone to repeat. The building
up of the situations and circumstances which prevent direct action
from either Gordon and the Batman in the tale's condusion pro-
duce some discomfort, uncertainty, and an active desire in the
reader to think through contradictions in Night Cries, not only in
textual terms but also in the reader's social experiences.
Comicbooks like Night Cries show that, although certain con-
ventions within superhero narratives pull towards tradition and
repetition, and towards a particular brand of individualism and
faith in authority, there is nevertheless nothing necessarily conser-
vative in the medium per se. Different writers do, and have always
done, very different things with the medium's generic constraints;
this space of free choices has resulted in the development of more
sophisticated graphie novels available now. There is presently a
growing number of artists who continue to display exceptional tal-
ent with the medium-in telling sophisticated stories with innova-
tive narrative techniques, both visually and textually. With the loss
of constraints that used to bog the medium down-regarding
length of narratives, styles of illustrations, and what may or may
not be written or illustrated-eomics now demonstrate that they
can be used to effectively and artistically explore social issues and
abstract concepts while remaining entertaining and accessible to a
wide audience. In today's world with rapidly and constantly shift-
ing landscapes, readers demand new themes, new insights, and
new characters. The more recent comicbooks show that the medi-
um can more than meet this challenge.
NOTES
This Chapter was mostly translated from a non-published essay written in

German by fan Philipzig.
1 In the following years, this gloom and doom would be copied and
become an almost typical mark of "modern cornics".
2 The Many Lives o] Batman, p. 39.
3 Introduction by Alan Moore to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
(New York DC Comics, 1986).
4 Moore's appraisal of the superhero genre changed as time passed (see
the section on :Crisis and Nostalgia" in Chapter Seven).
5 Ibid.
6 The Many Lives of Batman, 38.
7 Even clearer than Miller, Grant Morrison, in Arkham Asylum, would
interpret that Batman's opponents are simply the suppressed parts of
his own personality. Thus, it is not a coincidence that Batman's revival
this instant is poised against rhe recovery of the Joker-the one cannot
exist without the other.
8 The Many Lives of Batman, 36.
9 DC had always maintained that Batman, despite all his fights and use
of violence, never killed and will never kill-but Miller went against
this canon. Among Batman fans, The Dark Knight is a "closed" book
or a book on its own, and not part of the Batman universe so that the
Joker doesnot disappear from other Batman issues despite his unequiv-
ocal death in The Dark Knight.
10 Miller in The Many Lives of Batman, 37.
11 The Many Lives cf Batman, 36.
12 Ibid, 44.
13 Two-Face only removes the bandages during his last confrontation
with the Batman, as he admits that he never really feit he was cured.
14 Some comics shop owners and sellers say they prefer having the bound
collection of complete stories because they take up less shelf space and
can be sold for a longer period of time than individual issues.
15 Batman is second only to the original superhero-Superman who came
out in the Spring of 1939.
16 Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, Arkham Asylum (New York: DC
Comics, 1989): n.p.
17 In Watchmen, for example, quotes from the Bible, Nietzsehe, Elvis
Costello, William Blake, Bob Dylan, Carl Gustav Jung, to name a few,
litter the text. Newspaper clippings, scientific reports, pages from a
diary, pages from Treasure Island, posters, postcards and letters are
incorporated into the book. From Chapter Three onwards, the tale in
the comicbook of a boy in the sidewalk who reads about the moral
decline of a shipwreck survivor runs parallel to the commentary a news
176 Reading Comics
vendor gives about the decline of American society. In Black Orchid,

one of the main characters constantly sings and the texts of the songs
act to move the narrative forward. He also judges the personality of
another character through the latter's choice in the jukebox.
18 The Killing [oke. DC Comics 1988. Alan Moore (Story); Brian Bolland
and John Higgins (Illustration).
19 The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes. DC Comics Vertigo, 1991.
Neil Gaiman (Story); Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg and Maleolm
Jones (Illustration).
20 Arkham Asylum, op cit., n.p.
CHAPTER SEVEN
A Glimpse at the Comics

Scene after 1986
"Who cares that 20 years aga they used to actually

have dialogue in their pictures? The kids don't like that any-
more, obviously. They want books that have 22 blank pages.
Who are we to argue with them?
I don't have a long concentration span, you know what

I mean? I don't read Sports Illustrated because the articles are
too lang."
Todd MacFarlane,
founder of Image
Comics Comics Journal #152,
p. 52 and 63
DC RIDES THE WAVE OF SUCCESS
After The Dark Knight, DC Comics enjoyed a wave of success and

for a short time, even rose to be the number one comics publisher
in North America. In imitation of The Dark Knight, Batman edi-
tor Dennis O'Neil started lending an increasingly dark and grim
atmosphere to other, more conventional series like Batman and
Detective Comics. Unfortunately, he only managed to imitate the
surface, and the grit and realism of the mini-series turned into
177
178 Reading Comics
increased violence and brutaliry.s Miller's transformation of the

Batman narrative ends 50 years of the traditional series, or at least
is a deep cut in the constancy of this character. However, DC did
not feel compelled to follow this step, since the Dark Knight's suc-
cess also increased the sales of other, more conventional Batman
stories.
Another attempt to give previous products an aura of being
new and trendy was the re-production of the classic Superman,
with an alleged new start in aseries entitled Superman #1 (January
1987). In addition to playing with material from their long-estab-
lished or traditional material, DC also produced new and innova-
tive works like Alan Moore's maxi-series Watchmen (Sept. 1986 to
Oct. 1987). While Miller's The Dark Knight showed some contra-
dictions in authority and power in superheroes but still hinted at
hope for Batman's ideals in the ending, Moore goes further and
shows that humans have no need for superheroes whatsoever, and
that superheroes are even detrimental to society. This type of
reflection on the superhero genre, however, could not win readers
over who were not previously familiar with superheroes.
Nevertheless, the radical theoretical concept of the Watchmen
should be considered as a milestone in the history of comics.
By the end of 1986, there was renewed media interest in
comics. Articles about comics appeared in mainstream magazines
like Times and Newsweek, and Watchmen was mentioned on tele-
vision. A TVreport, (hypocritically) shocked over Catwoman's
portrayal as a prostitute in Batman: Year One drew the obligatory
cry for censorship from some Christian conservative groups. DC
reacted by printing "Recommended for Mature Readers" on the
covers of those comicbooks intended for older readers. This deci-
sion adversely affected DC in the long run-its two most success-
ful money earners, Frank Miller and Alan Moore, did not conceal
their anger over DC's concession to the advocates of censorship.
Moore declared he would never work for DC again, and has abid-
ed by this statement until now. After Batman: Year One, Miller
bade farewell to DC and chose Dark Horse as his new publisher.
THE BLACK-AND-WHITE BOOM
During 1986-87, other publishers benefited from the fact that

comics were suddenly "in," especially those producing black-and-
Glimpse at the Comics Scene 179
white comicbooks. Eclipse came out with Destroy, a giant-sized

comicbook from Scott McCloud, which was an overt parody of
the superhero genre. In Destroy, two superheroes leave a trail of
destruction in an amusing and facetious portrayal of explicit vio-
lence. The cover of Destroy even advertised the "truth" saucily:
"32 pages of meaningless, overblown violence, mayhem and
destuction!" (Plus one Naughty Word)." First Publishers landed a
hit with the adaptation of a classic manga (Japanese comicbook)
Lone Wolf and Cub. Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's classic
comics were first published in Japan in 1970. Frank Miller liked
the originals very much-he wrote introductions and did the cov-
ers for the first 12 issues for the North American market which
helped increase sales. Other well-known comics artists who did
covers are Bill Sinkiewicz (#13-24) and Matt Wagner (#25-36).
Mirage Studios, who had published a black-and-white series
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since 1984, shot up in sales with its
four, pizza-eating turtle heroes, and led the expansion of comics
into a multi-media experience such as the world had never known
before. Three commercially successful films, about 2 million toys
and action figures, and an animated TV series came out from this
simply drawn comicbook. Kitchen Sink registered surprising suc-
cess with a cartoon-style illustrated erotic soap opera, Omaha the
Cat Dancer, that positively portrayed sexuality, and gay, bi- and
disabled issues in a discerning manner. Dark Horse came out with
Paul Chadwick's intelligent stories about a boulder-like superhero,
Concrete, who continuously seeks to understand his body and
capabilities, his environment and the people who populate it. The
eco-sensitive stories trigger reflection on our environment, show
big city isolation, and feature an alternative romance in Concrete's
impossible love for the scientist assigned to hirn (see Figure 31).
Not all of the new black-and-white comicbooks at this time were
laudable, but Miller's success and the overall increase in quality
and quantity of comicbooks gave a considerable push to the bud-
ding collection of fans and assisted in the commercial sales of even
some inferior quality books.
MARVEL AND THE KIDS
As the superhero genre was cleverly deconstructed by Miller,

Moore, and McCloud, DC and Marvel reacted to the trend differ
180 Reading Comics
Figure 31. Concrete #4. Art and script: Paul Chadwick © 1987 Dark
Horse Comics, Inc.
ently. A disparity in their outlook regarding the future of comics
became noticeable between the two mainstream publishers. Marvel
held on to superheroes as the measure of all things, and focused all
the more on young readers with each issue. Marvel had neither an
intellectual interest for deconstructing the superhero genre nor a
concern for current political or sociological events. Instead,

Marvel's focus was to cater to the graphie preferences of children
surrounded by computer games and television. While DC sought to
lure older consumers to read comics, Marvel concentrated on the
changing expectations of its proven young buyers (known to the
industry as the "Marvel zombies"). In April 1987, a Canadian,
Todd McFarlane, illustrated The Incredible Hulk and, with his
impressive poster-like illustrations, became a big hit für kids who
grew up bombarded by colorful and dynamic MTV images.
McFarlane's upbeat and lavish illustrations for The Amazing
Spiderman not much later were an even bigger hit, propelling
McFarlane's popularity. In addition to fast-paced graphics, action
and violence were also being offered to the same audience of video
games and television, without any pretense of putting the violence
in a realistic-psychological or sociological-context. Chris
Claremont loaded his action-full adventures with more violent
scenes, and Marvel readers reciprocated with even more increased
sales. Marvel recognized this trend and dispatched a merciless
avenger with Steven Grant's Punisher, relentlessly cold-blooded in
a way comicbook readers had never seen before. The portrayal of
violence in comics reached a new level. In 1988, Marvel came out
with aseries, Punisher War Journal, full of guns, explosions, fight-
ing, and deaths, Illustrated by Jim Lee, the pages also boasted of
women with perfeet "silicone" figures, mimicking the ideal of beau-
ty being peddled in television, films, and video games. By concen-
trating on the appetites of adolescents immersed in mass media,
Marvel advanced pass DC to claim the first place once again in the
bestseller list..
DC AND THE ENGLISH CONNECTION
DC did not allow Marvel to completely monopolize the lucrative

teen-age entertainment scene without a fight and successfully came
out with a new series für [ustice League in May 1987. However,
DC was simultaneously attempting to win over more mature read-
ers. Already in 1980, DC made a contract with Brian Bolland,
Dave Gibbons, and John Bolton-all illustrators from England.
The average age of comics readers has traditionally been higher in
Europe than North America, and this tendency fits the market DC
was trying to target. If there was any skepticism that British illus-
182 Reading Comics
trators and writers would catch the interest of North American

readers, Alan Moore put these to rest with Watchmen and Saga of
the Swamp Thing. Moore proved that British authors and illustra-
tors, with their different perspective and sensibility, could lend an
impetus to American comics. By late 1980s, Karen Berger was offi-
cially given the responsibility to search for more British talent and
bring them over to North America. There followed something
akin to a "British invasion." This did not immediately resulted in
aseries of hits, but in the 1990s, this move would pay off for Oe.
Alan Moore had gained farne in England for his contributions
to Warrior and 2000 A.D., as weIl as his maxi-series Marvelman
and V for Vendetta. After taking over from issue 20, Moore began
to steer the Saga of the Swamp Thing with a concept different from
its previous issues. He re-wrote the origin story of the Swamp
Thing and gave the creature vital psychological dilemmas that the
series never had (#21). The biggest change was the way Moore
portrayed horror -instead of alarming the readers with superficial
sensationalism, the dread now came from sensing that horror lies
in the core of man's inner self or psyche. Moore's subtle stories did
not bring the Swamp Thing near the sales figure of the X-Men but
this marshy creature made an astonishing comeback with the older
comicbook readers. In addition, a relatively unknown Moore
began to rise as a superstar in North America and proved that
British authors can contribute to the vitality of the North
American comics scene.
Berger employed a friend of Alan Moore, Jamie Delano, and
gave hirn Detective Constantine to work .with, a character that
Alan Moore introduced in the Saga of the Swamp Thing #37. In
January 1988, DC launched a new horror series, Hel/blazer. Under
the influence of various British authors and illustrators, this series
gained a collection of devoted fans. Delano dominated the first 40
issues.I where he likened horror to social ills and decay. After issue
40, an Irish, Garth Ennis took over and focussed on Constantine's
shattered psyche and inner life, at the same time that "he really
piled on the gore and nastiness, which made the comic more suc-
cessful.t'"
Neil Gaiman, a British journalist, became aware of the possi-
bilities of comics when he interviewed Alan Moore for a newspa-
per. Gaiman's first comicbook, Violent Cases, together with Dave
McKean, earned them both some farne in England. 5 Alan Moore
chose Neil Gaiman to take over Marvelman, aseries Moore start-

ed. This series appeared under the title Miracleman in North
America and introduced Neil Gaiman to American readers. Next,
Gaiman wrote a three-part comicbook Black Orchid (again illus-
trated by Dave McKean), which showed traces of film noir and
played with the superhero genre in the tradition of Watchmen.
With hindsight, Gaiman says: "I thought Black Orchid was some-
thing important, so I treated it as such, as a result of which it is
lumpy and overly portentous, and it thinks too much."6
Nevertheless, Gaiman managed to pull some narrative tricks to
perplex the readers-for example, the superheroine already dies on
page 6-and made his mark as a talented storywriter. January 1989
saw the first issue of another series from Gaiman, Sandman. It
started with lean sales, and was almost withdrawn, but the tide
slowly gained popularity and even became the third most success-
ful production for DC, next only to Batman and Superman. The
centre of the stories is Sandman as the Lord of Dreams. Set in the
dreamworld, any semblance to reality is ignored in this series.
With its unusual perspective, Sandman gained the interest of many
readers who have never read or were never interested in comic-
books before, including female readers who traditionally shy away
from comicbooks.
Much like Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison's introduction to
comics in his native land was through Alan Moore-by reading
Moore's contributions to the British series Warrior 7 After
Morrison began to illustrate for comics (Captain Clyde), he tried
being a storywriter in both the series Warrior and 2000 A.D. In
1986, Morrison offered DC his ideas for Animal Man-a vegetari-
an superhero who fights for the animal world-and Batman:
Arkham Asylum. Animal Man started in September 1988. In a
completely post-modernistic situation in issue 26, the hero
becomes conscious of the root of all evil as he meets his own cre-
ator, Morrison himself. A drug-induced vision in issues 18-19, has
Animal Man seeing the readers of the comics looking at him. In
Animal Man, there is built-in satire and even reflection on the form
of comics. With characters conscious reflecting on the comicbook
nature of their reality, the naive suspension of disbelief disappears
the conventions in the medium are deconstructed. Later, Morrison
would go one step further in his contributions to the Doom Patrol
(Feb. 1989 to Jan. 1993). In a surrealistic manner, he liberated
184 Reading Comics
superheroes from any vestige of reality-eontrary to the way

Miller and Moore had intentionally maneuvered realism within
the genre into a dead end.
BATMANIA AND SPIDER-MAN #r
While only some older readers were interested at the start of the
British influences in American comics, two major events stirred up
the comics industry. On May 1989, after an extravagant publicity
campaign, Tim Burton's Batman film played in moviehouses and
became one of the rnost commercially successful hits at that time.
DC's conventional and mainstream series hardly profited from the
widespread Batmania that resulted-many fans of the film were
not comic buffs and only asked for products matehing Burton's
production of Batman, with its contemporary irony and detached
attitude. DC had expected this reaction, however, and had already
engaged Grant Morrison for his concepts in Arkham Asylum. If
Morrison had taken away realism in the world of superheroes in
Animal Man (and later in Doom Patrol), he offered the opposite in
Arkham: " ... my vision was of it being ultra-real to the point of
being painful."8 What he rendered realistic was not the characters
but each psychological realm that each character represented.
Dave McKean's abstract illustrations contrasted with the realistic
elements of the story, and the resulting product visually impressed
many who were already fans of the Batman film. Upon reading the
book, however, it turned out the story was not easily accessible to
people who were not real Batman fans because the narrative
depended a great deal on prior knowledge of the Batman mythos
and his cohorts. In addition, the symbolisms of Morrison did not
completely harmonize with the visual symbolisms of McKean.
Nevertheless, the book sold excellently and inspired many series of
Batman "graphic-novels." On the other hand, this trend also start-
ed the critique against the overuse of symbolisms in comicbooks,
an impression that critics predicted would eventually hurt the tar-
geted readership.
In November 1989, DC began a new Batman-series that took
advantage of the tide of Miller's revolutionary comicbook, as well
as the popularity of the film: Legends of the Dark Knight. This
was a succession of mini-series where various comic artists had a
great deal of freedom to present their individual interpretations,
compared to the more conventional Batman-series that kept on

coming out monthly. The quality of the short stories varied great-
ly in the following years depending on the author and artist.? It is
also interesting to note a sales strategy that DC used for the first
time: Issue #1 was published in four different covers with different
colours. Because of this trick, many collectors bought all four
copies the resulting sales easily cleared the million mark.
Besides the Batman film, a second major event shook up the
comics industry. Todd McFarlane's big and impressive illustrations
in Amazing Spider-Man pushed the stories more and more in the
background, and Marvel decided to market Spiderman two ways:
the Amazing Spider-Man series was to retain the narrative or story-
telling tradition, while Todd McFarlane was allowed to start his
own series, keeping the poster-like illustrations that were so popu-
lar with the kids. What other title could give his first issue the
atmosphere of a big media event: Spider-Man #1. This issue hints
at the other, darker side of the American dream in the form of
Spiderman's opponent, Lizard. Instead of an alien or an anomaly
to the human race, Lizard is portrayed as rising from America's
ghettos set to a rhythm that is uncontrollable yet hypnotizing. In
black-and-white morality, Lizard is deemed unequivocally evil in
the tradition of aseries like The Punisher. McFarlane explained
the superfluous role of an author in the introduction to this issue:
"I don't profess to be a writer, but 1 do think 1 can tell a story.
What this means is that most of the issues will rely heavily on the
artistic side." For his honesty, McFarlane won the sympathy of the
kids.U' Spider-Man #1 was illustrated with McFarlane's typical
flashy illustrations, teeming with prolonged and full-page fight
scenes. The issue was done in various covers with different colors,
some copies were sealed in plastic bags while some were not. All
of these lent an air of speculation and investment to Spider-Man
#1. When the issue appeared, McFarlane fans brushed shoulders
with curious speculators in comics shops, andd the sales of this
issue catapulted to a dimension unthinkable before: 3 million
copies were sold.
In the 1990s, there was a type of speculation in comicbooks in
a way the industry never had before. The young, amateur specula-
tors were interested less and less in the contents of a comicbook;
their main interest was only in being able to profit from selling an
issue some years after buying it. Spider-Man #1, for example, in
186 Reading Comics
sealed and mint condition, jumped in value shortly after it came

out and fueled the speculation scene.U Shops began to keep a big
part of the new issues in their back rooms to artificially keep an
impression of short supplies. Marvel and DC took full advantage
of this buying frenzy and started to publish one product with
minor variances that urged a collector to buy multiple versions of
one issue. But since the narrative contents of the comicbooks were
slowly but surely relegated to the background, the new speculators
did not seek "good" products, but mostly only those cited in tele-
vision or magazines, or those with extravagant or new-fashioned
covers.
IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPECULATION BOOM
Television reported the start of a new Batman or new Spider-Man

series, but there was no news about lesser-known titles from small-
press and alternative publishers. While, in general, the sales figures
of the comics industry rose, the smaller publishers who could not
publicize their wares and characters in film or television suffered
from the attention focused only on mainstream comics. Edipse
and First Comics dedared bankruptcy, and Tundra went out of
business a few years later. However, Kitchen Sink and
Fantagraphics proved that focusing on alternative titles for a more
mature audience was a viable choice for a comics publisher in the
late 1980s/early 1990s.
In addition to the Hernandez brothers, Fantagraphics suc-
ceeded in getting contracts from two more excellent comic artists:
Peter Bagge and Dan Clowes. Dan Clowes came out with his first
series, Lloyd Llewellyn 12 in 1986, and then with the exciting series
Eightball in October 1989, where he showed his talents both in the
visual and narrative domain (see Figure 32). Between 1986 to
1987, Lloyd Llwellyn came out in six issues, and in 1988,
Fantagraphics followed with a "one-shot" issue. Lloyd Llwellyn
showed influences of the 1950s visual style and Clowes' love for
kitsch from this era, as weIl as some elements that will be typical
for Clowes later on: strange characters, absurd handling of situa-
tions, and predicaments that are not totally resolved or explained.
For this series, the parody of the 1950s middle dass lifestyle
seemed to have been done more with a sense of fun rather than for
any relevance to the present times. In Eightball, the stories took on
more complexity, and the parodies covered more topics (example,

in Pussy) . In Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iran, Clowes developed
a dre amlike, distanced, and more abstract way of dealing with
everyda y subject; but exac tly in its surrealistic and abstract
Figure 32. Eightball #2. Art and script: Dan Clowes © 1990
Fanrag raphies.
188 Reading Comics
moments, Clowes offered a diseerning view and soeial cornmen-

tary on Ameriean life. Ghostworld, about two girls on the verge of
ehanging or breaking up their friendship as they grow up, is
Clowes' least surrealistie work. Here, Clowes goes in different
direetion than in earlier works, but we still see a eomment on
soeial life. As a whole, Clowes ventures into the abyss of modern
Ameriea's soul, showing direet and piereing pieees of everyday life
with a detaehment reminiseent of David Lyneh's films. Like in
Lyneh's movies, not all seerets are solved, and not all questions
answered. This uneertainty is highlighted by Clowes' artwork
which sometimes takes on a haunting quality.
From 1985 to 1989, Peter Bagge's Neat Stuff stirred reflection
on family values during the Reagan and Bush era by showing the
everyday life of the Bradley family through an uncanny selection of
seemingly unimportant topics and details. By showing a more or
less regular family, a bit messed up but not totally dysfunctional,
Bagge provided glimpses into the aspects of American life not usu-
ally shown in comics or television then. In the Fall of 1990, Bagge
came out with Rate. This series focused on a Bradley family mern-
ber, Buddy, who moved to Seattle and survived the assumed apathy
of the Grunge generation through his abundant supply of cynicism
(see Figure 33). Bagge's biting commentary on modern life, corn-
bined with humourous and highly entertaining scenes, make Rate
one of the bestsellers for Fantagraphics. While at the beginning of
the Rate series, the humour was based on situations that came from
the dash of very different characters, in the later issues, the focus
shifted to the development of one or two established characters, in
particular Buddy and his girlfriend, Lisa. Although there is charac-
ter and situational development from issue to issue, Bagge made
sure each Rate issue may still be read alone without any loss of its
entertaining value. In Summer 1998, Bagge finished the Rate series
with issue 30. Together with Robert Crumb, the Hemandez broth-
ers, Dan Clowes, and Chester Brown, Peter Bagge is without a
doubt one of the greatest cartoonist of the past two decades.
By the 1990s, the roles were dearly divided among comics
publishers: the alternative publishers targeted the readers who are
in their twenties or older and, with its superhero foeus, Marvel
concentrated on teenagers and younger readers. DC found itself in-
between and started losing its younger readers to Marvel, while
having sporadic success with their titles "Recommended for
Figure 33. Hate #12. Art and script: Peter Bagge © 1993 The creator.
Mature Readers." Neil Gaiman's Sandman, at least, became a big

commercial success. But in 1992, DC's overall market share of
comics sales dipped under 20%.
190 Reading Comics
After leaving DC and Marvel, Frank Miller moved between

the alternative and mainstream scenes like Neil Gaiman. After hav-
ing provoked a lot of ideologically motivated critique in Dark
Knight, it is clear that his Dark Horse series, Give Me Liberty
(1990-91, illustrated by Dave Gibbons), made an effort to deliver
a politically correct adventure. However, the ideological positions
were too obvious in their two-dimensionality: Maria Washington
(poor, female, black) overcomes many obstacles that came with her
black origin, to fight for justice and democracy. In the process of
the story, Martha loses her mannish traits and after each obstacle,
becomes a personification of the American dream. Miller succeed-
ed only in a handful instances to lighten up the ideologies with
humour.
After the extremely brutal, and at the same time not so origi-
nal, beginning of the three-part series, Hard Boiled in 1990 13 ,
Miller started a new series called Sin City.14 Frank Miller had pre-
viously attempted to use hard-boiled storytelling influences within
the superhero-genre, but only in Sin City did he really manage to
transpose brutish elements in film and literature into the medium
of comics. Sin City is Miller's first black-and-white comicbook. It
is also the series where he honed his now distinct and impressive
black-and-white graphie style that meld seamlessly with his narra-
tives. Sin City boasts of very tough heroes, unusually cruel and
cunning villains, as weil as femme fatales of every kind, while insti-
tutions like the government, police force, even the church, are
shown to be rife with corruption. Of all black-and-white series in
the late 1990s, Sin City became the most successful series (of the
black-and-white series published regularly, the most successful is
Bane.)
Miller plays with the aspects of gangster literature much like
he played previously with the superhero genre. His heroes, not
unlike his superheroes, are rather odd but always able to overcome
physical and mental tests through their individual abilities and
audacity. Miller's characters, however, remain stylized.U Despite
these paralleis to his early works, Miller developed in two areas:
• He managed to smoothly blend his graphie style and narra-

tives like never before, and
• He found access to the clandestine world of the big city
underground that his Batman and Daredevil approached
but could not live in within the superhero genre. Sin City
begins where Dark Knight ends, in direct confrontation of
authority.
THE HIGH POINT OF SPECULATION
In almost all series, Marvel extended the use of the "West Coast
Style" popularized by Todd McFarlane and jim Lee. This new
style was based on the techniques used for fight scenes and action
sequences in earlier, well-known Marvel series, without the old
irony and playfulness. Instead, it showed a new standard in the
glorification of violence. Subtle reflections of the genre, like Ann
Nocenti formulated in Daredevil #254-291, were not in demand.
In demand were muscles which would shame the most serious
bodybuilder, and breasts that even the Baywatch-babes would
envy. Taking full advantage of the speculators who were led to
think that comics with Issue #1 marked on the covers would be
good investments, Marvel followed the manipulated success of
McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 with Jim Lee and Chris Claremont's
X-Men #1. As if following a proven formula, this issue came out
in different covers and was toted as a new series to run parallel to
the established X-Men series. By this time, the list of Marvel Hits
was pre-programmed.
The buying frenzy was hyped up even more by magazines like
Wizard which contained nothing but price lists, increase in value
of specific issues, blatant investment suggestions. Wizard told their
very young readers exactly what they wanted to hear: the new
Marvel Comics must be bought as fast as possible, for within a
short time these would be sold out but could be re-sold with an
impossibly high profit. However, if one really paid attention to
how many numbers of copies were printed for X-Men #1, one
knew at once that this issue will never be rare or in demand. The
comics shops played along with the speculation game, keeping
boxes of eopies in their backrooms. All those involved in the ruse
profited for a time. Perceived as investments, the time when comics
were part of a subculture seemed to be over.
By the early 1990s, Marvel celebrated its biggest and most sue-
cessful artists-the creators of the West Coast style, all from South
California: Todd MacFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Mare Silvestri,
and Erik Larsen. Full of confidence from their suceess, these creators
192 Reading Comics
arranged a meeting with then Marvel president, Terry Stewart, to

fight for creator rights, für more appreciation and recognition, and
for more better remuneration. While enjoying its success, however,
Stewart believed that it was the Marvel characters and tradition that
were drawing the readers, and therefore, artists and writers were
replaceable. He did not respond to the demands sufficiently and was
penalized for his presumption: the five Californians walked out of
Marvel and founded the Image Studios (together with Jim Valentino
who also worked for Marvel).
True to McFarlane's belief expressed in Spider-Man #1 that
writers are superfluous, Image did not hire writers. They trusted in
the imposing illustration style for which they became known. Even
the medley of characters in superhero teams reflected the charac-
ters in the titles each artist had worked on in Marvel, only the
names and some minor details were changed. MacFarlane alone
managed to come out with a comic that was not merely a copy of
Spider-Man. Spaum was distinct, although overall not a totally
new concept: a tormented superhero, a grim atmosphere, a con-
tract with the devil, an unfulfilled love, an impressive rival oppo-
nent. Nevertheless, Todd McFarlane's Spaum was a big hit, espe-
cially among the young comic fans: Spaum #1 sold 1.7 million
copies in May 1992. McFarlane may not be the best storywriter, as
he himself admits in an interview with Gary Groth in The Comics
Journal #152. But his sense of rhythrn for moments of suspense
and revelations are astounding, surpassed only by his impressive
illustrations made up of vivid colours, numerous full-page scenes,
and excellent use of layered frames and overlapping graphics. The
lack of substance in the stories did not matter as long as
MacFarlane did not tackle topics that were too complex für his
style. Issue #5, for example, only handles the topic of child abuse
in an unacceptable superficial level, reminiscent of an early after-
noon television talk show. But whatever aspect of intelligent criti-
cism was thrown at Spaum did not affect its fans. In fact, since the
heroes and villains in Spaum were extremely appropriate to mar-
ket as action figures and other toys, the comics crossed over to
other products. McFarlane proved to have a good business sense
and founded his own very successful toy line, McFarlane Toys. In
addition, the comics was turned into two movies, one had live
actors and the other was animated.
While the first issues of Spawn were ovedrall credible, the

other first issues of Image founders were nothing but overblown
fighting orgies without rhyme or reason. The least proficient were
the totally uninspired and amateurish works by Liefeld.
Nevertheless, issues still sold simply because these were part of the
Image line and marketing strategy. The big "i" Image Trademark
on the covers stood for "in", for California, for dynamism, for a
new generation of younger people who will not bow down to the
system (i.e., Marvel). At the beginning, the sales of all Image titles
were in the million-dollar area,16 and since there were no produc-
ers to cut into their profits, the Image founders became the richest
comics artists at that time. Image was suddenly dose behind
Marvel and DC as a third powerful player in the industry. Still, no
real writers were hired for Image. Spawn was again the exception
where well-known writers like Alan Moore (issue 8), Neil Gaiman
(issue 9), and Dave Sim (issue 10) made guest appearances.
As Image celebrated sensational success, Marvel initially did
not seem to suffer from losing its West Coast cartoonists. On the
contrary, Marvel even expanded. Taking full advantage of the
speculation boom, it published more and more series that, by the
end of 1993, Marvel was publishing 150 issues per month. The
multiple covers were done in holograms, glow-in-the-dark, multi-
ple colours, and so on until all marketing tricks were used up. DC,
meanwhile, lost its second place to Image in 1992, and its market
share dropped to under 20%. Nonetheless, DC remained con-
vinced that knowledgeable, older readers were the way to the
future. Against the mainstream market flow, they held on to this
conviction and made it visible with the Vertigo line which more or
less took over the comics marked with "Recommended for Mature
Readers.v l? Some exceptions were Animal Man and Doom Patrol
which were superhero material but published under the Vertigo
line.
To stay alive in the mainstream market, DC also feit compelled
to come up with a "media event" in order to profit from the spec-
ulation market. The decision was the ultimate strategem: in issue
75 of the new Superman series, the oldest and best-known super-
hero died after a magnificent Image-style grand fight. As expected,
the issue with Superman's death took on an aura of a cultural event
which attracted a lot of media attention. Even people who have
never bought a comicbook before, reached for the collector's edi-
tion, platinum edition, news-stand copy, or the direct sales copy,
194 Reading Comics
and naturally, some simultaneously bought one of each. Six million

copies were sold as people speculated on the increase of value and
investment returns for an issue that was made to be and became a
cultural event. It did not matter that Superman came back to life a
few issues later. What did matter to the speculators was that the six
million copies that were sold did not increase in price at all the
next year, or any year after that. This was not the first time that
comicbooks hailed as profitable investments did not become more
valuable, but this time, too many people were duped and comics
publishers simply went over the top in exploiting their market.
CRISIS AND NOSTALGIA
In 1993, Image comics sales figures, though still very good, had
just started to slide past its peak. Marvel began to withdraw some
of its 150 monthly titles. The speculation fever had been abused
heedlessly and the fans were catching on.l 8 Neither Legends of the
Dark Knight #1 nor Spider-Man #1 nor X-Men #1 nor Superman
#75 or any other issue #1 from Image increased in value. What
were encouraged in price guides hardly interested anyone any-
more, especially those issues that were lobbed to be good invest-
ments. Increasingly, first issues found themselves marked down or
in rummage sales because the shops had to get rid of them some-
how. Just as the speculation boom drove away older comic fans
who did not like the cynical commercial approach to comics, the
younger fans now started turning away. The manipulated specula-
tion market had not yet totally burst by 1993, but the symptoms
for its collapse increased.
Amidst the comic covers full of bulging muscles, older fans
started longing for the time when comics still had stories. The sto-
ries of 30 years aga may not have been too complex, but there was
nevertheless the effort to have a story. Looking around in a comic
shop in the early 1990s, it was clear that the comics industry had
molded itself to the consumer culture of the young. The cool West-
coast style magazines were only a succession of fight scenes. The
contents of the issues aimed no further than to look like invest-
ments and to participate in the competition for consumer dollars.
By the end of the speculation boom, older comic fans longed for
more innocent superheroes without the brutality that was becom-
ing increasingly popular among the younger readers. In addition,
older fans wanted more stories. They wanted areturn to a time

when illustrations of fight scenes were used as parts of a narrative.
However, this desire for comics from a more "innocent time"
could only lead to a dead-end: the naive superhero narrative could
never be a new direction for comicbooks. Superhero comics had
always propagated the view that fighting and winning over the
enemy is a symbol or a realization of the American dream. The sit-
uation in 1993 was only an ensuing continuation, albeit a bit
extreme, of the idea that perpetual victory is good. The origins of
this belief may be found in the same capitalistic society that gave
birth to the idea of the powerful superheroes. The comics industry
had become the victim of an ideology which gave birth to it, which
it represented, and from which it had never detached itself. With
this as a background, one can construe the trend of nostalgia
induced by older readers in 1993 as something like "selective
remembering," enshrining a past that was actually never totally
"innocent." Despite this ideological objection, this sense of nostal-
gia produced some of the more interesting comics of the early
1990s.
Once aga in, it was Alan Moore who recognized the trend. In
1993, he came out with the first comicbook of the nostalgie rnove-
ment titled 1963 19 published by none other than Image Comics
who previously flooded the market with the dullest orgies of vio-
lence and brutality. In Watchmen, Moore had actually intended to
retire superheroes, but he observed in the following years that the
effect of Watchmen and Dark Knight turned into another direc-
tion: the prevalence of superheroes could be confined within limits
but they cannot be totally removed or destroyed. Instead, their
fight scenes had only became more brutal and the atmosphere (if
the artist even tried to create an atmosphere) became more and
more sinister. 20 In 1963, Moore reacted by recreating the seem-
ingly harmless naivete of the early days. Having despaired of the
grim and downbeat superhero comics that Watchmen and Dark
Knight spawned, Moore took to the opposite by pretending it was
1963, down to the fake ads and editorial pages, and produced a
pastiche of early Marvel comics in all their enjoyable simplicity.
Excellent artists such as Dave Gibbons and Steve Bissette, lohn
Totleben and Rick Veitch imitated the style of jack Kirby and Steve
Ditko. The "affectionate parody" functioned quite well in all six
issues of the series, with each issue focusing on different charac-
196 Reading Comics
ters, some with intended superficial similarity to Marvel charac-

ters.
In the same year, James Robinson and Paul Smith threw a
glance at the post-war era in DC's four-issue mini-series Golden
Age. The superheroes, stripped of all missions by the end of the
war, grappled with internal conflict within America. A year later,
Marvel followed suit with the four-part series Marvels, where the
genesis of the Marvel universe is re-lived through the eyes of a
photo-journalist, Phil Sheldon:
Like his ordinary fellow-men, Phil has come to terms with the
appearance of superbeings and the effects they have on day-
to-day life. Through hirn, his family, colleagues and strangers,
we see mankind's fear, insecurity, helplessness and prejudice
laid bare by these awesome Marvels whose conflicts wreak
millions of dollars of property damage with apparent disdain
for the misery heaped upon affected innocents.
(Marvels) is an adult comic in the true meaning of the word,

with neither an ounce of exposed flesh nor exposed innards
in sight. 21
In Marvels, Kurt Busiek presents a low-key and understated
narration of a weIl-researched story,22 wonderfully complemented
by Alex Ross's excellently painted artwork. The most conservative
story of the nostalgic wave came from Mark Waid with his four-
part series Kingdom Come published by DC, and illustrated
(painted) by Alex Ross. Waid's view of the future was a dismal DC
Universe where traditional heroes like Superman and Batman have
retired (and were not accessible to the public anymore). The world
was overrun by a new generation of superheroes resembling the
West-Coast style heroes of Image and Marvel. When the young
breed of heroes caused a nuclear catastrophe, Superman comes
back to lead the older superheroes to discipline the new brood and
to control chaos through the old order. The clamor for father fig-
ures was intensified by Ross' graphics which depicted the old
heroes in a style reminiscent of national socialistic propaganda
material-the hero-figures were often lit from below and shown
from a worm's eye view. Kingdom Come sold 200,000 copies at a
time of crisis for other comic sales.
The year 1993 marked a turning point in the development of
the direct market sales, as weIl as in the history of modern
American comics. In the following three years, the concept espe-

cially represented by Marvel and Image-to target a specific group
of readers and to exploit them using all kinds of trick-collapsed.
Marvel started withdrawing one series after another, and had to let
go of half of its employees by 1996. From 1994 to 1995, the sales
and turnover in the comics industry were reduced by a third, and
in 1996, it lost half of its customers from the previous year. Many
kids noticed that they had been had and turned away in big num-
bers from the comics scene. From the 10,000 comic shops of 1993,
only 4,000 remained three years later.
ALTERNATIVES TO SUPERHERO COMICS
When I was about seven, literally, I was given these

huge boxes of Marvel and DC comics and I read them. I came
to the conclusion that basically, fight scenes in comics work if
either you hit the bad guy a lot and then you win, or you hit
the bad guy a lot and he wins, but next issue you come back
and you hit hirn a lot and you win. And that seemed to lack
suspense.
Neil Gaiman
Comics Journal #169, p. 58
Books which are self-published (at least initially), such

as Bone ... are among the books which are setting the trends
which are bringing in new readers ... (Alnd in a couple of
years, we just might even be dating girls.
Paul Tobin
Comics Journal #188, p. 118
Fortunately for the American comics, there were activities in the
industry of the 1990s other than the musele-beund heroes and the
increasingly insipid fight scenes that dominated thc market. In the
late 1980s and early 1990s, there were some notable Canadian
cartoonists who came into the North American comics scene. Joe
Matt produced noteworthy contributions to the underground
anthology Snarf (Kitchen Sink, 1987-1990) before he successfully
started his own series, Peep Show (Drawn and Quarterly) in 1992.
In Peep Show #4, Matt portrays hirnself in his everyday life beset
198 Reading Comics
Figure 34. Peepshow #1. Art and script: ]oe Matt © 1993 The creator.
with sexualobsessions and a lack of motivation/inspiration to

work. The author's courage shows in his portrayal of himself in a
not-so-positive light, without playing on the readers' sympathy
(see Figure 34).
Another Canadian, Seth, took over the illustration of the series
Figure 35. Palookaville #4. Art and script: Seth © 1993 The creator.
Mister X (Vortex, 1984-88, Seth since 1985) from the Hernandez

brothers. In 1991, he started his own series, Palookaville, for
Drawn and Quarterly. Seth's comics show a quiet, introspective
narrative-style with elegant illustrations similar to the cartoons in
the New Yorker of the 1930s and 1940s. Seth reflects on this influ-
ence in It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken (Palookaville #4-9).
200 Reading Comics
In Figure 35, where Seth is talking to Chester Brown, the author

indulges in meta-text as he discusses the techniques and styles of
illustrations he admires, at the same time that his own illustrations
show influences of The New Yorker style he was praising.
The most expressive cartoonist from Canada, Chester Brown
tackles difficult stories with simple yet very perceptive choice of
details and in exceptional ordering of frames. His Yummy Fur
(Vortex 1986-1991, Drawn and Quarterly 1991-1994) is littered
with autobiographical elements. Especially in the later issues of
this series, Brown manages to lend a magical dimension, simulta-
neously humourous and melancholy, to his childhood, the central
themes being his perception of adults and repression of sexual feel-
ings. Brown is a master in visually rendering feelings of uncertain-
ty, fear, lust, and shame. He uses a wide assortment of narrative
tricks available in the medium, without letting these tricks interfere
with his stories: the way he lays out the pictures on a page, his
choice of pictures, the viewing angles and perspectives of each pic-
ture, textless pictures, repetitive pictures, slight variations in ges-
tures and expressions (see Figure 36)-all narrative tricks fuHy
serve the atmosphere and clarity of the stories. The visual impact
of Brown's comics is a phenomenon of modern comics. His new
series, Underwater (Drawn and Quarterly since 1990) leads the
reader through a world experienced through the eyes and ears of
new-born twins, with the dialogue starting out as gibberish and
slowly becoming familiar as the twins begin to understand a word
here and there. The interesting concept fails to be sustained, how-
ever, since the first issues prove to be rather inaccessible to readers
who are thrown into the orientation of newborns, an experience
not many readers crave. Time will tell if this series will, in the long
run, reach the high degree of its predecessor, Yummy Fur.
Juliet Doucet's Dirty Plotte (since 1990) is another distinctive
comicbook from Drawn and Quarterly, and Juliet Doucet another
artist that extends the limits of the medium, especially regarding
themes and characters. Doucet has a lovely and unique graphic
style, unbridled imagination, and complete lack of inhibition-
menstruation, castration, and cutting one's self with a razor are
just some of the topics she has set to comics with unfeigned emo-
tions. Debbie Drechsler's Daddy's Girl and Nowhere are also pro-
duced by Drawn and Quarterly (see Figure 37). Daddy's Girl is a
harrowing series of vignettes about growing up with sexual abuse
Figure 36. Yummy Fur #29. Art and script: Chester Brown ©
1992 The creator.
told with unflinching honesty; while Nowhere is a chronicle of

childhood executed in a striking two-colour style. Drechsler's illus-
trations are deceptive in their simple lines, but the overall effect is
202 Reading Comics
Figure 37. Nowhere postcard. Art: Debbie Drechsler © 1997 The

creator.
startling in the way they direct responses to her works. Securing

Adrian Tomine from the self-publishing scene was one of the latest
coup for Drawn and Quarterly. With Optic Nerve and Sleepwalk,
Tomine sets about spinning dry but affecting tales of ordinary life,
sleekly rendered in a Clowesian style (see Figure 38). Tomine was
born in 1974, was reading Love and Rackets by the time he was
Glim pse at the Comi cs Scene 203
Drt\v-."n & , Q\:tfn'U'':I"t;,V lli:il) l j(;WJöUll'J
Figure 38. Cover of Optic Nerve #4. Art and script: Adrian
Tomine © 1997 Drawn and Quar terly,
204 Reading Comics
Figure 39. A page from Optic Nerve #3. Art and script: Adrian
Tomine © 1996 Drawn and Quarterly
13, and started Optic Nerve the summer between his sophomore
and junior year.23 Quite remarkable for a very young man, he pro-
vides perceptive vignettes of relationships and tantalising glimpses
into lives, told with a unique detachment (see Figure 39). With an
exceptional roster of talents, Drawn and Quarterly proved that
money can be made with high-quality comics. Co-publisher Chris
Oliveros proudly states in the summer of 1998: "We've never had
a finer time financially in our existence these last eight years. "24
In addition to Peter Bagge, Dan Clowes, and the Hernandez
brothers, Fantagraphics succeeded in adding more first-dass comic
artists to its list. Some examples are: Bob Fingerman (Minimum
Wage, since 1995), Chris Ware (Acme Novelty Liberty, since
1993), and Roberta Gregory (Naughty Bits and Artistic
Licentiousness). Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library (see Figure
40) is "an astounding publication, presenting comics that engage
the intellect, and managing from the first issue to do so in a acces-
sible manner, thus succeeding where Raw failed."25 Ware's artistry
is impressive: his illustrations are dear and simple but convey a
wide range of emotions, his colors are striking, and he has a total
concept for each book, complete with fake ads and cut-out paper
toys reminiscent of another era (see Figure 41).
Pioneering cartoonist Roberta Gregory takes on pornography,
shopping, yuppies, dating, and office life with a central character
that is "permanently PMS'd and PO'd embodiment of the female
id" .26 Gregory sex comic about human-looking, normal people
with imperfect bodies and are as fucked-up as the rest of us;
Naughty Bits is a scathing and hilarious dissection of the relations
and frustrations of the thirty-something woman in the 1990s (see
Figure 42). Gregory gives us a cast of human-looking, normal peo-
ple with imperfect bodies, irritating manners and yearnings and
failures that are familiar to uso The aggressive character of Bitchy
Bitch often engenders accusations of being man-hating but this
assertion is absurd. Gregory's sarcasm spares no one, and female
characters are portrayed no less flattering than their male counter-
parts.
Beyond the list of Fantagraphics and Drawn and Quarterly,
there were other cartoonists contributing considerably to the
changing face of the comics industry. Another dynamic female car-
toonist is Donna Barr with her Desert Peach (published by MD
Press/Aeon). The series centres on Pfirsich Rommel, the gay,
206 Reading Comics
Figure 40. A page from Acme N ovelty Library #1, val. 5. Art and
script: Chris Ware © 1993 Fantagraphics Books.
younger brother of WWII Field Marshal Rommel (see Figure 43).
Pfirsich Rommel commands a battalion of diverse and trouble-
some ch aracters who make up the cast of a politically astute and
gleefully politically incorrect series. Barr's work is characterised by
Figure 41. An advertising page reminiscent of another era; from

Acme Novelty Library #1, vol. 5. Art and script: Chris Ware ©
1993 Fantagraphics Books.
delight in shaking the reader's eomplaeeney and splendid indiffer-
enee to "what the neighbours will think."27 Meanwhile, Alison
Beehdel's Dykes to Watch Out For (Firebrand books) provides
graphie eommentary on the quirks, erises, and joys of contempo
208 Reading Comics
Figure 42. Naught y Bits #26. Art and script: Roberta Gregory ©
1998 Th e creator. Her web page is www.robertagregory.com
rary lesbian life. Through ehe anger and anxieties of her characeers,
Bechdel disp atches quick-wicced and incisive social cornmentary in
a light-hearted approach , but ehe difficulties and politics of gay life
ar e never far from ehe surface. Since 1994, Slave Labor has pub-
lished an anchology, Action Girl, wich a very diver sified roster of
Figure 43. The Desert Peach #16. Art and script: Donna Barr ©
1991 The creator.
cartoonists, boasting of notable contributions from Sarah Dyer,

]essica Abel, Ariel Bordeaux, Patty Leidy, Chris Tobey, and
Carolyn Ridsdale (see Figure 44). This is a women's only series
which, due to the differences in style, and length and depth of nar-
ratives from various contributors, sometimes suffer from overall
210 Reading Comics
Figure 44. Cover of Action Girl Comics #1. Created and edited by
Sarah Dyer © 1994 Sarah Dyer
inconsistency where insipid contributions sometimes jump out. In

general, though, the issues are energetic and sufficiently diverse to
be enjoyable.
Kitchen Sink, meanwhile, remained active above all in the
1990s through the publication of Alan Moore's From Hell (illus-
trated by Eddie Campbell). They took over the series starting with
issue #4 after Tundra went out of business in 1994; the last issue
was #10 in 1996. From Hell is a very well-researched story about
Jack the Ripper's murders in the late 1880s where Moore delves
into the descent of human soul without moralizing. His detached
and analytical narrative style suits the recounting of the gruesome
murders in this series. However, the same style did not quite work
when employed in Lost Girls (Kitchen Sink, since 1995, artwork
by Melinda Gebbie). Instead, this attempt to produce intelligent
comics about sex gave the impression of being too insensible and
excessively stylized. Since 1995, Kitchen Sink has also been pub-
lishing Charles Burn's fascinating and disquieting series, Black
Hole about a disturbing sexually transmitted virus that only affects
teenagers. Burn's well-balanced graphics and storytelling that he
had only used in short stories until then were very apt to a longer
narrative about the horror of high-school social interaction.
Even beyond the alternative publishers that were increasingly
becoming established, there were more master works being pub-
lished. David Mazucchelli, who had worked together with Frank
Miller in Daredevil and Batman, turned away from the main-
stream and, with a complete change in style, managed to self-pub-
lish an ambitious project, an annual titled Rubber Blanket. A small
publisher, Adhesive, published an existentialist hero in Shannon
Wheeler's Too Much Coffee Man 28• The hero is "a paunchy guy
with a massive coffee-cup helmet on his head and that permanent-
ly caffeinated bug-eyed look. "29 His relatively dulllife is punctu-
ated with some superhero-style fighting which are travesties of the
"real" ones, and commenting on the meaninglessness of such
fights. Paradox Press, a New York-based publisher and a sub-
sidiary of Time-Warner Company, came out in 1995 with Howard
Cruse's Stuck Rubber Baby, a graphic novel with 210 pages about
a teenager's gradual awareness of his homosexuality set against the
emergence of the gay movement and fight for racial equality. Stuck
Rubber Baby achieves a fine balance between tackling weighty
themes, the use of convincing art, and providing good entertain-
212 Reading Comics
ment. Another self-published success is David Lapham's Stray

Bullets. Each issue in the series focuses on a different set of char-
acters with their own stories. Nevertheless, the series still manages
to weave a complex story between the issues. Lapham provides
subtle variances in forrns of violence while developing his charac-
ters involved in strange situations like the dysfunctional childhood
of Ginny, the violent urges in Joey who was mentally handicapped,
and the "troubled menage a trois on the run from the Mob."30
THE MARKET LEADER IN THE 19905
What about the market leaders? Image had come to realize that it
is unwise to simply depend on spectacular but shallow action and
the illusory speculative value of comics. The sales figure for Image
titles, which had soared from nothing to the second most com-
mercially successful comic publisher, had fallen from 700,000 in
1992 to 200,000 in 1994. Image knew it must raise the standard
of its publications so as not to disappear just as quickly as it
appeared on the comics scene. Alan Moore's 1963 was followed in
the same year with Sam Kieth's The Maxx (since 1993, dialogue by
Figure 45. The Maxx #1. Art and script: Sam Kieth © 1993 The cre-
ator.
Bill Messner-Loeb), a complex comics which places the schizo-

phrenie implications of the superhero-genre quite effectively in
relation to modern big cities realities (see Figure 45). The stories
are intriguing, constantly shifting from a big urban American city
to "The Outback" while delving into the thoughts, motivations,
and feelings of the Maxx. The Maxx is a very good comicbook,
not only in the complexity of its narratives but also in its illustra-
tions, layout, and dark, vivid colors that resonate with emotion
and beautifully set convincing atmospheres.
In 1995, Image managed a major coup when it took over the
publication of Jeff Smith's fantasy series, Bone (originally from
Cartoon Books since 1992).31 Smith's ability to render his charac-
ters and scenery in simple, clean lines is reminiscent of big names
in cartoon illustration like Walt Kelly (Pogo) and Bill Watterson
(Calvin and Hobbes). Bone is a charming story about three cousins
who were run out of their town and find themselves living near a
forested village with strange, mostly likeable characters. The sto-
ries are bustling with elements familiar to experienced fantasy fans
which are nevertheless revitalized by a delightful humour brought
about by the interaction of cartoon figures and human creatures.
Underlying moments like the great cow ra ce and the attempts of
Kingdok and the Lord of the Locusts to get Phoney Bone, is the
love story between the cartoon figure, Bone and the mortal
princess, Thorn-an amusing love story with timid emotions that
keeps readers glued to their comicbooks (see Figure 46).3 2
In 1995, Image also came out with Kurt Busiek's Astro City
(illustrated by Brent E. Anderson) which delighted many old
school superhero fans with its deliberate, well-planned concept.
Busiek expounds on his idea of a superhero in an interview in the
Comics Journal # 188:
"The superhero becomes a symbol, a simple character con-
cept into which, as Scott McCloud would say, we project our
own identity."33
"The superhero genre has historically been limited to the adven-

ture thrillers, actions stories that can be sold easily to boys in their
teen years or younger. But that's a self-imposed, marker-driven
limitation, not any sott of creative limitation of the genre, and I
wanted to explore the rest of the genre, celebrating the power it
has to make ideas come to life and seeing what it can do.,,34
214 Reading Comics
Figure 46. Bane Val. One: Out [rom Baneville. Art and script: Jeff
Smith © 1996 The creator.
In Astro City, readers can identify not only with the super-
heroes, but more so with the ordinary citizens whose perspectives
provide the insight into the superheroes. Busiek takes the whole
superhero genre as a tapestry of the familiar and the unknown. He
Glimpse at th e Com ics Scene 215
Figure 4 7. Astro City: Lire in the Big City. Art and script: Kurt
Busiek. Astro CityTM © 1999 juke Box Productions, All rights
reservcd.
presents well-known markers: secret identity, sidekicks, a corpo-

rate hero, and an ever-growing clash of values in modern era, but
we get to know these though the varying viewpoints of ordinary
216 Reading Comics
citizens like us, One example which won an industry award: the
portrayal of human conflict arising from a city full of superheroes
is very well depicted in issue #4 where Busiek explores the identi-
ty crisis of a wo man belonging to an immigrant family. When her
office suddenly turns into a battlefield for the superbeings, this ini-
tiates an evaluation in the woman about the big city, the values in
her "old" world, and where her she wants to take her future (see
Figure 47). Starting 1996, a new publisher founded by Jim Lee,
Homage, released a second series of Astro City with the same high
level of art and entertainment as the previous one.
Another feather to Image's cap was the start of the series
Soulwind by C. Scott Morse in 1997. Issues 1-4 were stories about
a young boy transported to a far-away planet he was supposed to
save. There are traces of aspects from McCloud's Zot, Jeff Smith's
Bane and the Star Wars films all mixed towards a fantastic, varied
and expressive adventure. Morse's blend of art styles is refreshing:
japanese drybrush art opens the book, then he shifts to a more
western style for the main story. He narrates the stories well with
shifts in subject matters, some vagueness in characters, and unex-
pected turns of events that keep readers wanting more.
In 1994, as the superhero-dominated comics market was
coming apart, another publisher had been leaning towards the
alternative scene-Dark Horse became the fourth most success-
ful comics publisher in terms of sales behind Marvel, DC and
Image. One of their smartest moves was ta king over Mike
Allred's Madman which until then was published by Tundra,35
Although Allred had previously produced Madman for another
publisher, it was not until Madman Comics (published by Dark
Horse Comics) that he wielded the graphic style that would
include him within the group of acclaimed comic illustrators.
Unlike Frank Miller and Alan Moore who deconstructed the
superhero-genre through realism in the hero's situations and
problems, Allred revealed the shortcomings of the genre by using
an imperfect hero who was continuously confronted with the
absurdities of pop culture and who dealt with reality only on an
abstract level (see Figure 48 and 49). Madman was infused with
the spirit of 1950s science-fiction films, with bespectacled seien-
tists and robots and eccentric inventors that heightened the pop-
ularity and visual appeal of the comics. Allred reflected on the
state of superhero comics by making his everything else but hero-
ic Madman well-aware of his insufficiencies. Despite his short-

comings, Madman is able to triumph over his surreal and strange
environs because he never tries to drive the absurdities away
from his world but accepts it as part of his identity and existence.
Any nostalgia in Madman is dissimilar in ideology from the nos-
talgie sentiments in Kingdom Come which situate the latter with-
in mainstream superheroics. In Madman Comics, Allred spiced
the pleasure in familiar superhero elements with a contemporary
and fitting irony that illustrates, the handling of superheroes
rests neither in insipid, hackneyed, banal brutality nor in dis-
heartening nostalgia.
In the same year, Dark Horse produced Mike Mignola's first
Hellboy mini series (Seed of Destruction, 1994) where adernon
originally summoned by the Nazis comes back years later to deal
with fantastic phenomena as a gruff private detective. Like in the
following Hellboy series, Mignola's strong visual expressions are
especially convincing, certainly more appealing than the lack of
logic in some stories or the bizarre resolutions presented to some
problems-"(Mignola's) artwork is stunning: bold and dramatic,
with colors by Mark Chiarello that make each panel flow like a
stained-glass window." 36
In contrast to Hellboy's spectral realm, The Tale of One Bad
Rat by Bryan Talbot (Dark Horse, 1994-95) subtly and delicately
deals with the difficult topic of sexual child abuse without moralis-
ing or sprinkling the story with superficial solutions or shallow
judgments. The story is told from the perspective of the victim,
Helen, as she runs away from horne and comes to terms with the
paternal sexual abuse she has suffered. Through her journey, her
constant companions are a pet rat and a fascination with Beatrix
Potter. Helen ends up in the seenie and uplifting surroundings of the
English Lake District where she finally is able to confront her father
(see Figure 50). This mini-series is a very good comicbook and an
excellent example of comics that is not limited by any genre and can
appeal to a wider audience outside the comics community,
In 1998, Frank Miller came out with a new series 300, which
is his first historically-oriented work, narrating stories of the past
without using the moral standards of today. In contrast to the
West-coast style of using large illustrations, Miller uses splash
pages and big graphics to effectively serve the narrative, lending a
rhythm, an almost a musical quality to the narration. 300 was one
218 Reading Comics
Figure 48. Madman Comics, Yearbook '95. Art and script:

Mike Allred © 1995 The creator.
of the biggest hits of 1998. By this time, Dark Horse offered a wide
spectrum of topics and styles in quality comicbooks. In addition,
this publisher also took advantage of the popularity of media
cross-overs and the profit to be made from it-Dark Horse aug-
mented its income through the self-production of films like The
Mask (starring Jim Carrey).
In DC Comics, meanwhile, the Sandman series was nearing its
last issues in 1996. However, DC's Vertigo line managed to extend
its success with the Preacher series that started in 1995. Its Irish
author, Garth Ennis, injects the road-movie style stories with
moments of extreme physical violence. In its postmodernist han-
dling of violent elements, the Preacher is suggestive of Quentin
Tarantino's films. Like the films, Ennis' simultaneously shocking
and entertaining use of violence comes from an astute reflection of
modern popculture. The violent elements, like all other parts of
Glimpse at the Comi cs Scene 21 9
Figure 49. Madman Comics, Yearbook '95. Art and

script: Mike Allred © 1995 The creator,
220 Reading Comics
Figure 50. Helen confronts her abuser in a sensitive and well-writ-

ten scene from The Tale of One Bad Rat. Art and script: Bryan
Talbot © 1995 The creator.
the narrative and graphics, are used as building blocks to enthrall

and startle. Unlike TV talkshows or traditional crime novels or
conventional superhero comics, however, the use of violence in
Preacher or Tarantino films is not framed by sanctimonious moral-
ising. Rather, it is used to expose that the regularity and degrada-
tion of violence have become mo rally neutral building blocks of
pop culture. Like Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction, Preacher is simul-
taneously a product of pop culture as weIl as an attempt to pro-
voke reflection on the reality of this pop culture.
An offshoot from Batman, Hitman # 1 (DC, since 1996) is
about a contract killer hired to bump off superheroes. Here again,
Ennis reveals a postmodernist handling of violence. Right from the
start, Ennis shows his typical postmodern approach to violence
with the hero's comments: "Cheap supervillains. I dunno. But I
gotta admit; if it wasn't for them, I'd be out've a job" (page 4).
Ennis' narratives critically reflect on violence and other aspects of
the superhero-genre, without undermining the genre's commercial
success and popularity as a product of pop culture. Without the
Batman series, for example, Ennis knows that he could not have
worked on Hitman. Without the superhero-genre, the rise and
popularity of American comics would have been unthinkable, and
Ennis would certainly not be in a position to make his living from
writing comicbooks. Garth Ennis is one of the most successful
comics authors of the late 1990s. Among his many publications,
his sense for dark humour, knack for gripping and realistic dia-
logue, and his awareness of the comics medium as vital for pop
culture come most alive in Preacher and Hitman.
In addition to Garth Ennis, DC Comics focused on Grant
Morrison in the latter half of the 1990s. Although Morrison's ear-
lier abstract interpretation of Batman in Arkham Asylum met with
some criticism, his conventional and not-so-original series for the
Justice League of America in 1997 was welcomed by both fans and
critics. Morrison learned from his experience with Arkham that
superhero fans are not keen on abstract and deep psychological
analysis of established superheroes. Rather, fans wanted appropri-
ate conformity to established elements with some updates or twists
that provide easy access to entertainment. Morrison met the fans'
wishes with JLA, while at the same time working on a personal
and innovative project not aimed at the superhero crowd, The
Invisibles (DC, since 1994). The Invisibles turns the good vs. evil
222 Reading Comics
schema of the superhero genre on its head, as the "good guy" in

this series is an anarchist group active world-wide, and the "bad"
are those wearing the hats for law and order.
In contrast to the three publishers mentioned above, Marvel
did not expand much out of the superhero ghetto. In 1996, only
six Marvel series showed increasing sales figures: Uncanny X-Men,
X-Men, X-Force, Thor, Fantastic Four and The Silver Surfer.
However, between 1994-95, all of these series already suffered
some loses that even the profit in 1996 could not make up for.
Marvel had to cancel many other series. In 1995, Marvel's decision
to stay with superheroes had already started causing them serious
problems:
Marvel's sales on Spider-Man and other Marvel superheroes
were at their lowest in 30 years. In addition, Marvel released
figures on May 7 (1996) whieh showed that their revenues
after expenses fell 4.4 million.
In arecent Compuserve posting, Marvel stockholder Mark

Steven Long gave his aecount of the eompany's May 21 stock-
holder's meeting. He related that Marvel CEO Bill Evans
claimed that Marvel will reverse their long-running downturn
by posting a profit for the seeond quarter of this year. If that
does happen, it may be due in part to the eompany's restruc-
turing in January, when they cut 275 jobs and eliminated
titles that were selling poody)? (emphasis mine)
The ruthless manipulation of direct market sales in 1993
annoyed fans, caused a downward trend in sales, and eventually
forced many small shops and retailers to elose down. The loss of
Marvel readers and the elosing down of so many retail shops
affected the comics industry in general. The comics industry con-
cedes that, since 1993, its consumer base has been shrinking.
THE CURRENT STATUS AND THE FUTURE
More and more, there is consensus in the industry that main-

stream-comics have analysed and deconstructed superheroes from
every angle imaginable, and that the next sensible steps for
advancement in comics lie beyond superhero comics. As always,
the well-known and most established superheroes like Batman, X-
Men, Spiderman, Superman and others like them make it still easy
to earn a buck when the author plays with tradition (as long as the
changes are not so revolutionary!). An author like Alan Moore, for
example, takes advantage of this situation and from time to time,
creates superhero-based comicbooks without much intensive
work. With the profit, he finances more ambitious or more per-
sonal projects like From u-u» Since 1990, Fantagraphics has had
another line-"Eros," that had been coming out with porno-
graphic comics. Apart from very few exceptions, the issues have
low standard which nevertheless enabled Fantagraphics to finance
other, more excellent magazines wh ich otherwise would have been
withdrawn due to insufficient commercial or mass populariry.I?
The one who suffered most from the recent apathy to main-
stream comics is the publisher who depended only on superheroes:
Marvel. In 1997, Wizard published a status that considered the total
money made for comics publishers, Marvel was behind DC for the
first time since it was founded: Marvel had 24.81 % and DC had
25.78%. Number three was Image with 14.58% and next was Dark
Horse with 6.50%. Marvel's "fall" seems to show that, in the long-
term, comics' chances lie in being freed from its "ghetto" of readers.
The collapse of the speculation market supports this: modern comics
cannot live off its superhero fans alone, hence, there is a need to
attract wider readership.
In many areas, especially in the future-oriented domain of elec-
tronic media, entertainment products are increasingly tailored
towards younger audience at the same time that this crowd's buy-
ing power is increasing. Electronic distractions like video games,
for example, have superior ways of delivering that form of enter-
tainment that appease pubescent appetites. In view of this compe-
tition, comics will find it increasingly hard to attract new readers
and gain acceptance among very young customers. Since 1995, the
average age of comics readers had gone up to 18-20 years old
instead of the previous 11-12. The speculation disaster turned off
many young comics readers, and 1995 saw a big decrease in sales
and turnover for superhero products. Overall, there have been
some radical changes to the comicbook readers: in the 1940s, the
readers of comics was estimated at a couple of million, and in
1992-92, there was about 200,000 real readers (not counting spec-
ulators buying multiple copies). In 1996, there was only about
100,000. 1995 saw a big decrease in sales for superhero products,
while alternative publishers like Fantagraphics showed some small
224 Reading Comics
growth. DC's Vertigo line also profited from its shift in readership
focus. But, while older readership and general dissatisfaction with
the mainstream may be a boon to alternative publishers, the loss
of young readers who later might pick up alternative comics, will
affect the total number of readers.
As the readership changed, the end of the speculation boom
also changed and improved the contents and the format of comic-
books: trade paperbacks became increasingly popular as well as
bound comic books (collected series published after the original
forrnat). During the speculation boom, trade paperbacks never
became an object of financial speculation (these were not "frag-
ile," had no nostalgie element, and were usually reprinted). Trade
paperbacks were actually bought for the narratives as the format
allowed for longer storyliness. The end of the speculation boom
gave rise to a surprising number of high quality, excellent comics.
The current offering of the medium is more multi-faceted, with a
bigger range in styles and topics compared to the start of the direct
market 20 years ago. 40 The number of comics publishers has also
increased, breaking the single dominance of Marvel. In addition,
comicbooks are now being sold in bookstores like Virgin
Megastores and Tower Books.f! But notwithstanding the
improved quality, decades-long of cultural prejudices about comics
cannot be removed overnight. There is still a lack of female read-
ers, whether children or adult, although there has been an increas-
ing number of comics of potential interest to them. As a medium,
there are still many preconceptions that rule the perception of
comics and unfortunately, the industry does not have a history of
sufficiently addressing these misconceptions.
Scott McCloud, a comicbook "theoretician," believes that
comics can survive the collapsing reader market by a crossover to
new media like the internet. He believes in the potential of digital
comics in 10 tolS years. However, computer-native comics would
allow comics to grow in a new shape, as long as it is not just a mat-
ter of slapping an old form onto new media. In addition, this new
form can allow the expansion of comics appreciation into the ever-
expanding computer market. There is still a big need to explore
this venue because so far, "digital" comics are merely comics in
their old forms archived into a CD-ROM.42
In the coming years, however, the future of comics is still in
being a pr inted material. However, there will be a pronounced rise
in the quality of North American comics. The improvement of

quality will lie more in the internationalization of the market and
comics scene, rather than depend on big changes in American self-
publishing or alternative scene. Even today, it is much easier to
find exceptional American, European, or Asian comics using the
internet than browsing in the comic specialty shops. Even now, the
format of American comics draws nearer to the japanese mangas
and the European album-format as the number of graphie novels
and trade paperbacks grow yearly. More and more elements of the
japanese mangas are found in North American comics, even as
American publishers have only started to scratch the surface of a
powerful reservoir of foreign talents. Only a handful of non-
English European artists have so far managed to make a name in
the States (for example, Herge, and Moebius). The magazine
Heavy Metal contributed a lot to introducing European artists, but
it was a slow start for a relatively small publisher who reprinted
works of artists like Enki Bilal, jacques de Loustal or Miguelanxo
Prado as graphie novels. There is a need to open up comics from
Europe and other parts of the world to North American readers.
Some believe that the English-speaking audience may not be privy
to the best comics the world has to offer, mostly due to the limita-
tions of language, but also because there are no sufficient efforts in
the industry to translate, publish, or sell foreign comics. There is
still a relative isolation in which the North American market oper-
ates, While comicbooks from North America and other parts of
Europe are regularly available in European stores, there are hard-
ly any foreign comicbooks regularly made available in North
America.
NOTES
This chapter translated [rom a non-published essay written by [an
Pbilipzig.
2 In the last issue of Animal Man, Grant Morrison comments on the

"grim and gritty" comics following the success of Miller's Dark Knight:
" ... we thought that by making your world more violent, we could
make it more "realistic," more "adult." God help us if that's what it
means." (Animal Man #26)
3 Delano's streak would be interrupted by guest contributors like Grant
Morrison (#25 and #26, together with David Lloyd) and Neil Gaiman
226 Reading Comics
(#27, together with Dave McKean). All three issues were highly suc-
cessful artistically.
4 Frank Plowright, ed. The Slings and Arrows Comic Guide (London:
Aurum Press, 1997): 266. After Ennis, Scot Eddie Campbell did a short
4-issue stint with Hellblazer, and was replaced by Paul ]enkins, writer
and Sean Philips, illustrator. The series is currendy not as popular as it
was before.
5 In Violent Cases, (also later in Mr. Punch), Neil Gaiman tackles the
topic of childhood memo ries and traumas, he intertwines these in
myths, parables, and rhe gangster stories (for Mr, Punch he uses a pup-
pet play). In Sandman, and Books of Magie, Gaiman places mythology
in the centre of his comicbooks more than in his previous narratives.
6 Comics Journal #169, p. 100.
7 Morrison interview in Comics Journal #176, p. 56.
8 Comics Journal #176, p. 64-5.
9 The first story that was sufficiently convincing was Matt Wagner's
Faces (#28-30). It is also noteworthy to mention the contributions in
this series from: ]ames Robinson and Tim Sale (#32-34), Bryan Talbot
(#39, 40), Mike Mignola (#54), Ted McKeever (#74, 75) and Garth
Ennis (#91-93).
10 In reading most of the Marvel comicbooks in the 1980s, it was clear
that there were no pretenses to tell any stories but nobody had admit-
ted to it yet,
11 That comics have to be sealed and in mint condition to fetch a hand-
some price meant that the buyers could never open or read the issue at
all. In some ways, this contributed to the decline of rhe need for good
narratives in comics at that time.
12 Dan Clowes explained his tide: "I'd had the name Lloyd Llewellyn
ever since I was a little kid, because in the old Superman comics, ...
they had this weird obsession with the double Ls. They were always
making a big issue out of the idea, 'Isn't it strange that Superman's girl-
friend is Lois Lane, and his arch enemy is Lex Luthor and then there's
Lucy Lane,' ... and they would underline the two Ls. Things like that.
I found that really strange and fetishistic as a kid, and I thought, 'What
if someone was named Lloyd Llwellyn? He would be the greatest
Superman character of all!" (Comics Journal #154, p. 64).
13 In Hard Boiled (1990-1992), Miller did not succeed in putting the
extremely detailed and violent graphics into any kind of perspective to
aid the readers' understanding. The attempt to position the spectacu-
lar but superficial issue as black comedy did not work either.
14 The first Sin City stories started in Dark Horse Presents Fifth
Anniversary Special and continued in Dark Horse Presents #50-62.
15 The solitude of the figures who inhabit Sin City find direct expression
in the depiction of their surroundings: no building or backdrop appear
twice, the reader is never provided an orientation point or map to the

city and can get lost anytime. Meanwhile, the characters are portrayed
as remote and isolated. Frank Miller says "I've deliberately made Sin
City a very bleak place, giving you few landmarks, so that it's a place
of very lonely people." Comics Journal #209, p. 66
16 In contrast to McFarlane's Spaum, the other Image titles profited from
taking full advantage of sales gimmicks like rnulti-covers and different
versions with very slight variations, a trend which the direct market
created. Only Spaum would last as aseries, the other titles were
stopped after a few issues, and new "first" issues would be produced
to lure readers into buy these "investments."
17 DC got rid of this labeling by mid-1990s.
18 As lohn Davis comments on the "Decline of the American Comics
Industry": " ...it's a combination of things: the cover price going up, the
fact that Marvel was putting out so many titles ...In addition to the fact
that the content wasn't strong for a lot of the titles, the price seemed
to go up steadily at a high rate and there was just more to buy. Instead
of having three Spider-Man, it was six; instead of having three X-Men
titles, it was eight. So whatever you were into, Marvel was asking you
to buy more and more of it just to keep current with the storylines."
(Comics Journal #188, p. 39).
19 There was no consensus in Image if a complex project like 1963 or The
Maxx was the right response to the problematic situation they found
themselves when sales dropped. Moore's 1963 did not become a corn-
mercial success as expected.
20 Since 1986, DC re-created almost all of its superhero series to give each
one an external appearance according to the "grim 'n gritty" trend.
21 Adrian Snowdon in a write-up about Marvels in The Slings and
Arrows Comic Guide, ed. Frank Plowright (London: Aurum Press,
1997): 365-6.
22 Busiek further explores the style he used in Marvels with Astro City. In
Astro City, he creates his own universe of new superheroes, but the char-
acters are strongly influenced by the classic heroes, "And for the main
heroes of Astro City...we tried to look for the archetypes underneath
things that work, and build a new character out of that. So certainly,
Samaritan is very Superrnan-like... " (Comics Journal #188, p. 89).
23 Adrian Tomine in The Comics Journal #205: The Young Cartoonist
Issue, pp. 45-76.
24 Ibid, p. 10. Oliveros does temper this optimism by adding these
remarks in the same interview: "My bigger concern would be: 'Will
there be a market in two or three years?' It always seems that things
could fall apart any day."
25 Frank Plowright write-up about Acme Novelty Library in The Slings
and Arrows Comic Guide, ed. Frank Plowright (London: Aurum Press,
228 Reading Comics
1997): 3.
26 12th Annual Fantagraphics Ultimate Catalogue, p. 11.
27 Howard Stangroom in a write-up about Desert Peach in The Slings and
1997): 157-8.
28 The character, Too Much Coffee Man also appeared in #92-95 of the
Dark Horse Presents series.
29 Frank Plowright in a write-up about Tao Much Coffee Man in The
Slings and Arrows Comic Guide, ed. Frank Plowright (London: Aurum
Press, 1997): 596.
30 David Roach in a write-up about Stray Bullets in The Slings and
1997): 548-9.
31 Jeff Smith self-published the first issues. Issue #1 came out exactly the
same time that Spider-Man #1 came out, and was lost in the hype gen-
erated by the latter. Ir took six months before Bone's merits were final-
ly recognized by comics readers.
32 As of the writing of this book, a movie has been planned for Bane
which will take its commercial success to another dimension.
Nickelodeon Movies have already obtained the rights to the film, and
Jeff Smith himself will illustrate and direct.
33 Page 89. Kurt Busiek interview.
34 Introduction to Astro City: Life in the Big City, p. 8.
35 Tundra published Madman in three parts in 1992, and a three-part
Madman Adventures in 1992 to 1993. Before this, Mike Allred had
already used the main character, Frank Einstein, in Creatures of the ID
(Caliber, 1990), Graphique Musique #1-3 (Slave Labour, 1990) and
Grafik Muzik (Caliber, 1990-91).
36 Fiona Clements in a write-up about Hellboy in The Slings and Arrows
Comic Guide, ed. Frank Plowright (London: Aurum Press, 1997): 267-8.
37 Greg Stump, "The State of the Industry 1996" in The Comics Journal
#188, p. 33.
38 Moore earns fast-money when he uses the popularity of series like
Spawn and Wild C.A. T.S. Sometimes, he publishes his own mini-series
of an established character, like he did for rhe evil Viola tor from
Spawn.
39 Eros still shows profit although the pornographie comics market had
had to take losses since 1995. Penthouse and Hustler shelved their
comics series in 1998. In the same year, Fantagraphies had ro withdraw
some of the less profitable regular series as Eros' profit shrunk.
40 Comicbooks have also started winning non-industry recognition
awards. In addition to Spiegelman's Maus winning the Pulli tzer Prize,
joe Sacco won the American Book Award 1996 for Palestine, a piece
of journalism in comicbook form where he records his experiences in
travelling through the West Bank and Gaza Strip while the conflict
raged over there.
41 Being sold in bookstores allow more exposure for comicbooks than
being sold in specialty comics shops. More people regularly wander
into bookstores while only those already exposed to comics would go
inside the comic shops.
42 The Spirit by Will Eisner is published in a CD-ROM format and dis-
tributed by mass market companies like Time Warner. Copies of old
issues of The Spirit are archived into this electronic format which allow
readers on-line viewing. While the attempt is laudable for archiving
old, hard-to-get issues, putting comics into this form will not advance
the medium as a whole-this CD-ROM is a classic case of a new medi-
um simply imitating the old, ta king the form of the old one as its con-
tents.
Index
accessibility of comics, 2, 25 homogeneity, 41

Acme Novelty Library, 205 inter action with comics,
Action Comics, 35, 95 86, 126
Action Girl Comics, 208,210 passivity, 23
adolescent fans, 22, 40, 32, 114, authority, 31,87,92,94,99,140,
115, 126 166
adult comics, 6, 12, 13,21
adult readers: see mature readers Bagge, Peter, 186
Allred, Mike, 216-217 balloons, 70-74
alternative publishers, 132- Barker, Martin, 10,42,51
137,197-212 Barr, Donna, 205-207
See also independent publish- bat-crazy, 98
ers and small press Batman, 96, 98,139,151-174
American Flagg, 134 Bruce Wayne, 143
Animal Man, 183 cave,155-157,168-169
apocalyptic, 134, 142 costume, 104-111,142
archetypes, 87 dark knight, 136
Arkham Asylum, 158,160,170- dual identity,
173,183 fans, 90
Astro City, 94, 213-216 loss of parents, 102, 144,
audience: 154-155,172
children, 34 Mark of Zorro, 154,155
girls, 126
231
232 Index
movie, 158 in the 1980s/1990s, 139, 191

origins, 154 comics shops, see specialty stores
popularity, 98, 100, 139, 143 Cancrete, 179
psychology, 145-146 corruption of children, 32
readership, 127, 222 costumes, 104-106, 117, 155
retirement, 151-154 creators of comics (artists), 33-34,
schizophrenia,154,155,213 134,137
women, 111, 154 Crisis on Infinite Earth, 136
Bechdel, Alison, 207-208 critical vocabulary, 14, 19
Black Orchid, 143-144,173 critics of comics, 20, 26, 28, 33
Bane, 213,214 books on comics, 6-13
British artists, 181-184 violence, 37
Brown, Chester, 200 crossover artists, 14, 24
Busiek, Kurt, 196,213-216 crossover to orher media, 9
crusade against comicbooks, 2-4
Camelat 3000, 139 Cruse, Howard, 211
Caniff, Milton, 47, 49 cultural hierarchies, 20, 21, 28
Captain America, 90, 97, 98, culture, concepts of 29-30
105, 106 cynicism, 142
Captain Marvel, 97
Carrie, see Robin Daddy's Girl, 200
Catwoman, 110 Daredevil, 102, 137-140
CD-ROM,224 Dark Horse, 178,216-217
censorship, 4 Dark Knight Returns, 94, 107,
Chaykin, Howard, 134 141,151-176
Claremont, Chris, 77,138-139 DC (Detective Comics), 95, 98,
Clark Kent, 101 128, 134, 135
Clowes, Dan,12-13 English connection, 181-184
collecting, 128,130,135 Golden Age mini-series, 196
Comics Code, 3-6, 26, 34-35, 98, market share, 139, 173, 189
99,100,127 strategies, 175, 180-181
color, 104, 105 DC Vertigo, 100,224
comics industry, 21, 24, 33, decline in sales of superhero
124-126 comics, 21
Index 233
defintions, 50-54 Ennis, Garth, 218-221

demographie trends 128 ephemeral, 23-25
Dent, Harvey, see Two-Face establishment, 92, 94
Desert Peach, 205-207 European comics, 3, 11, 13-14,
development of comics: 20,136,225
changes in production and eye movement in narration, 78-79,
consumption, 22 81
early critical attention, 9, 11
role of artists, 6, 12 fan community, 86,114,116,125-
sanitised contents, 4 129,139
Underground comix, 6 fan mail, 117, 126
direct market, 129-132,224 Fantagraphics, 132,186,205,223
Dirty Plotte, 200 fantasy, 39, 86, 91, 97
Disco Dazzler, 131 female protagonists, 111
discourse, 19, 29, 59, 88, 105 format, 86
distribution of comics, 22, forrnulaic production, 88, 89
127,129,136 frames in narration, 58
Disney comics study, 9 See also panel
Doomsday,115-119
Doucet, Juliet, 200 Gaiman, Neil, 182-183
Drawn and Quarterly, 197,203 Black Orchid, 143-144,173
Drechsler, Debbie, 200-202 generic conventions, 89
Dykes to Watch Out For, 207 genre, 42,87,90,93,141,144-
145
effects and influence tradtion, 2, 8, Golden Age of comics, 96, 97
30-31 good girl art, 107-108
See also responses to comics Gordon, Jim, 153,154,162-166
ernergence as literary form, 13 Gotham city, 151
Eisner, Will: government,143
A Contract with God, 137 grammar of comics, 46
balloons, 70 graphie center of focus, 63
Comics and Sequential Art, graphie novels, 21, 24, 27, 94,
11,50 135,170,225
The Spirit, 134
234 Index
graphics and texts, 46-50, 67, juvenile delinquency links, 2-3, 98

72,78
Gregory, Roberta, 205 Kent, Clark, 101
grim and gritty, 136, 143, 152,177 Kieth, Sam, 212-213
gutter,65 Kingdom Come, 196
Kirby, jack, 64, 128,137,138,195
Harvey Dent, see Two-Face Kitchen Sink Press, 134,186,211
Hellblazer, 100,182 krypton, 118
Hernandez brothers, 132-
134,141,186 Lady Death, 108
hero adventures, 90-92, 94, 101, language, 91
144
law, 65, 91, 94, 103, 143,160
homosexuality, 160
outside the law, 93
Hulk, 93, 98, 111
Lee, Stan, 53, 96, 100, 128
Legends of the Dark Knight, 184-
identity, 103-104, 106, 115, 185
117,153
literary criteria, 25-26, 45-46, 49
ideological effeets, 42
Lois Lane, 101, 106, 108, 113,
Image, 191-193,194,212 118
independent publishers, 128,131- Lone Wolf and Cub, 179
132,134-136
Love and Rackets, 133-
influences 134,141,202
audience, 34
early years, 33 Madman, 94, 216-217
industry principles, 33 Man of Steel, 117
Inge, Thomas manga, 72-74,140,179
Comics as Culture, 11 Mark of Zorro, 154
intertextuality, 90 marketing, 22
investments, 185 Marvel comics, 96, 98, 128, 135
maket share, 139
Joker, 110, 111, 158-160,171 strategies, 179-181,191-
Judge Dredd, 134 194,223
Justice League of America, 98, marvel-zombies,141,181
221 Marvels, 196
Index 235
masculinity, 113, 115-119 300 mini-series, 217

Mature Readers, 100, mini-series, 139
139,178,186 Moonshadow,100
Matt, Joe, 197-198 Moore, Alan, 136,156,178,182,
mass media, 8, 10,39,42 212,223
Maus, 11, 141 1963, 193,212
maxi-series, 140 Swamp Thing, 140
Maxx,212-213 Watchmen, 94, 100, 107, 141
Mazuccheli, David, 211 Morrison, Grant, 170,183-
McCloud, Scott, 52, 54, 224 184,221
Destroy, 179 Morse, C. Scott, 216
types of leap in narration, 66- mutants, 165-167
67
proportion in narration, 67 narrative, 54-58, 89
Understanding Comics, 13 balloons,70-74
McFarlane, Todd, 185,191-193 choices,63
Amazing Spider-Man, centrality, 113
181,185 elements, 58
Incredible Hulk, 181 eye movement, 78-79, 81
Spawn,192-193 frames, 58-65
media coverage, 142,162 improvements, 140
media crossover, 14,24, 190 manipulation of, 54-57
media discourse, 9-11 repetitions, 89,102
media events, 131,170,190 rhythm, 59, 75, 80
Miller, Frank, 190-191 time and timing, 74-82
Batman: Year One, 1446 Naughty Bits, 205
Daredevil, 135, 137-140 newsstands, 22, 85, 95
Dark Knight, Night Cries, 173-174
141,142,143,146, nostalgia,131,194-197
151-176
Nowhere, 200-201
Give Me Liberty, 190
move to DC, 140,178
O'Neil, Dennis, 126,177
Ronin, 140-141
Optic Nerve, 202-205
Sin City, 18,138,144-145
"Other" in Lacan, 161-162
236 Index
Palookaville, 199 recommended for mature

panels in narration, 58-65, 79 readers, 100
borders, 67-68 Red Sonja, 110
duration established, 79-80 renaissance in comicbooks,
Peep Show, 197-198 137,141
Penguin, 110 representation of reality, 31
perspective, in narration, 59, 65 responses to comics:
Plastic Man, 97 changes in the US, 20, 30
popular culture and comics, 19-42 effects and influence tradition,
2,8,30-31
popular forms, 22-23, 28
list of sampie analysis, 9-13
power relationships, 88, 93, 152
uses and gratification, 38-39
Preacher,218
retardation in narration, 75, 78
production of comics:
reviews in newspapers, 13
changes,22
rhythm of narrative, 59, 75-82
demands of production, 27,
57 Robin, 156-157,164-169
early practices, 33-34 Ronin, 140-141
pulp magazines, 96, 100 Ross, Alex, 196
Punisher, 185 Rubber Blanket, 211
readership, 1, 21, 24, 41 sales figures, 97, 127,184

adolescent boys, 40, 32 Sandman, 100, 173,189
children, 35 semiotics, 11,46
elassification, 38 sequential art, 20, 22, 29
elose relations and Seth, 198-200
interaction, 86 sexual power, 107, 160
expectations, 89, 95 Shadows Fall, 100
girls, 126 Shiach, Morag, 36-37
homogeneity, 28 Shuster, Joe, 95
identification, 28 Siegel, Jerry, 95
passivity, 23, 25 Silver Age of comics, 99
servicemen, 97 Sin City, 138,144-145
See also audience Sleepwalk, 202
realism, 139 small-press, 132-137
Index 237
Smith, ]eff, 213,214 first issue, 101

Soulwind, 216 #1 (Jan 1987), 178
space, use in narration, 59, 80 origins, 101
Spawn,192-193 popularity, 8, 145
specialry stores, 22, 24, 127,129- women,lll
132,135,197,224 Swamp Thing, 140
speculation,131,185-186,193-
194,223-224 Talbot, Bryan, 217
Spider-Man, 102 Tale of One Bad Rat, 217
defy Comics Code, 99-100 Tarantino, Quentin, 218-221
Spiegelman, Art, xii, 51, 132 Teenage Mutant Ninja
Maus, 11, 141 Turtles, 179
Raw,132 television, 26-27, 31, 85,
Star Wars, 138 127,128,131,143,159-
Stuck Rubber Baby, 211 160,166,178,179,186,22
Submariner, 93, 98, 102 1
superhero comics Thor, 98, 105, 111
characteristics, 86-87, 89, throwaway entertainment, 23
100-104 time in Dark Knight, 167
classic narratives, 92 timing in narration, 75-82
history, 95 Tomine, Adrian, 202-205
superheroes: transformations, see superhero
immortality, 94 transformations
key components, 89, 117-119 Two-Face, 157,160-163
longevity, 89
patriotism, 21, 94 underground comix, 5-6, 8, 20,
87,132
revival, 98, 135
Underwater, 19
transformations, 141,178
uses and gratification, 38-39
Superman, 35, 95, 98, 157
character launch, 35
Vampirella, 108
costume, 106
verbal and visual mix, 46-50
death, 115-119, 193-194
villains, 91, 93, 94, 103, 143
fight with Batrnan, 168
violence, 2, 36, 143,218
film, 138,181
238 Index
adolescent boys, 40
women,110
virility, 107
war shortages, 96
Ware, Chris, 205
Watchmen, 94, 100, 107,
141,142,143
Wayne, Bruce: see Batman
Wertharn, Fredric, 98
attack on comicbooks, 3-4,
20,32
Seduction of the Innocent, 2,
32
west-coast style, 191,194,196
western comics study, 9
Wheeler, Shannon, 211
Williams, Raymond, 30
Witek, joseph, 11, 12,64-65
Wizard price guide, 223
women, 91,108-111
excription, 111-115
Wolverine, 105, 139
Wonder Woman, 97, 98, 102, 105
costumes, 107
X-men, 138,139
Yummy Fur, 200

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READING COMICS

LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND THE

Published 2013 by Routledge

Roulkdge is an impnnl of the Tt!.Y1or & Frands Group, an injorma besiness

All rights reserved . No pa rt of th is book ma y be reprinted or repro-

Library of Cong ress Caralo ging-in-Publication Dara

Chapter 1: Comics and Cultural Studies: Sites for Struggle 1

Chapter 2: Responses to Comicbooks and the

Chaper 3: On the Language of Comics and the

Chapter 4: Superhero Comicbooks 85

Chapter 5: Factors that Changed Superhero Comicbooks 125

Chapter 6: Frank Miller's The Dark Knight

Chapter 7: A Glimpse at the Comics Scene after 1986 177

Many people assisted me in various ways in the course of putting

I regret the absence of illustrations from Marve1, and more illustrations

At the dose of the twentieth century, the American comics industry

done vary from genre fiction to autobiography, to meticulously

comics and to circumvent the confining limits of traditional liter-

1. Interview with Art Spiegelman in Time (November 1, 1993): 65.

Comics and Cultural

OVERVIEW OF CRITICAL ATTENTION TO COMICS

Browsing in bookstores, one sees an abundance of highly sophisti-

Legman, an authority on dirty jokes, the dirty limerick and

Almost by elimination, the comics were left standing alone;

Although the campaign against comics and the ensuing Senate

American crime and horror comics-rippled through to many

increasingly went beyond the thematic and narrative possibilities

bilities of bourgeois America (see Figure T). They defiantly

Figure 2. Hate is an example of a comicbook that treats sex candidly but

stories. However, these were generally more expensive and not as

By the 1970s, the popularity of comicbooks extended as their

dards on which earlier conclusions on media influence were

semiotic studies and an accompanying interest in the relations of

world. One of the most comprehensive book dealing with comics

Graphique," a Center wh ich has consistently been crucial to the

1 There have been intermittent attempts to sanitize the thematic and

length in Chapter Five of Martin Baker, A Haunt of Fears: the Strange

ily summarised, (b) it must cover a wide expanse of the counterculture

17 Martin Barker, Comics: The Critics, Ideology, and Power (Manchester:

This chapter focuses on how varying perceptions and discourses

and hierarchies, or even acknowledged that they might be

family as an institution, prevailing middle-class bourgeois values,

mid-1980s and are now part of a cultural landscape that would

THE POPULAR AS INFERIOR

The reasons why comics have been described as a form of popular

while comicbooks are overtly explicit and thus produce passivity.

THE POPULAR AND IMPERMANENCE

Sequential art is also described as "popular" because of its

of this medium. Only now are there noticeably more attempts to

guage, characters and narratives in comics do not exist devoid of

GENERAL ACCESSIBILITY SPELLS MEDIOCRITY

Comics are often described as a "popular" cultural form simply

The frequent movement between the realm of literary criticism and

One other way in which comics are implicated in discourses of the

current affairs}. The same is true now with sequential art. 3

social categorisations because of the lingering association of the

books might have had in the construction of notions of "the pop-

Evaluating responses to sequential art raises exactly the sorts of

As the concept of "eulture" splinters into varying directions,