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orlissa · 3 years

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Short History of the American Comic Book Industry, Part I (1929-1954)

No-one asked for it, but I can, so here it comes:

The 0th hour

The turn of the century: comics exist as political cartoons and comic strips in Sunday newspapers

Then we have The Funnies (1929-1930), which was, well, like a comic magazine, but not really. It was published weekly/monthly, was sold at newsstands, had new materisl, but it was described as “more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper.” It also folded quickly.

But then in 1933 some clever guys at the Eastern Color Printing Company had the great idea to reprint Sunday comics, so the printers wouldn’t be standing idle during the night. This became The Famous Funnies, which was given away as a promotional item by Procter & Gamble. It was a HUGE hit.

So the next year came Funnies on Parade, which is considered the first real American comic book. Because it was sold for money! (10 cents) And it had new material! First in black and white, then soon in color. And people loved it, and bout hundreds of thousand copies of it.

And then of course people started to realize that there was business in comics, and within a couple of years, everybody and their mother was publishing comics.

The Golden Age

Started with Superman—with Action Comics #1 in 1938

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who were high school buddies, had actually been working on the character since 1933. At some point, he was meant to be a villain. At another, he was meant to have been sent back from the future. They got $130 for the script.

He is also a Jewish assimilation fantasy (PSA: most of the big name from the early days of comics were Jewish) and kinda like Moses—somebody who is different, and is loved for being different.

And it was a total fluke that he ended up on the cover of Action Comics. If I remember well, publisher Jack Liebowitz decided on the cover the day before the issue went to printing.

Superman was everything that people loved: sci-fi, fantasy, mythology, pulp. They loved it.

Soon, everyone is doing superheroes. Like, everyone. There are a bunch of publishers, too, because everyone wants a slice of the profit. Most characters never get their own series, and are soon forgotten.

Batman came in 1939. Marvel also started publishing comics that year, but back then they were known as Timely comics. Their first characters were Namor and the Human Torch, but not the Johnny Storm Human Torch. Nope, this was an android.

People love comics, everybody is reading comics, and the most popular titles sells more than a million copies per issue. But it’s embarrassing to work on comics. If you want to be taken seriously as an illustrator/writer, you won’t admit that you’ve worked on comics. I bunch of comics from this era is uncredited.

Stanley Lieber started working for Timely at 17, in 1940 (he was a relative of the boss’ wife, that’s how he got the job). He wanted to be a serious a writer, so he knew he couldn’t have his real name featured in comics. So he signed his stuff as Stan Lee instead.

Most comics are about three times as long as the ones today, and they feature a wide range of different stories: superhero stuff, talking animals, western, slapstick… There is a huge variety of genres. Each story is about 10 pages long, and those are separate, self-contained stories. Comics are printed in cheap, bad quality paper, and they’re not meant to last, so there’s not really any point in creating much of a continuity.

Only Timely is kinda doing it by sow the seeds of the shared narrative universe.

Also, of course, Wonder Woman also debuts in 1941. Holy cow, her creator, William Moulton Marston, was some character. Even more so than how he is depicted in Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, which does a great job at showcasing his theories and a terrible job at showing the origins of Wonder Woman.

Atomic Age, transition, and witch hunt

The superhero bubble bursts after the end of WWII. The biggest characters were all about the war effort and patriotism, and we don’t really care about it anymore. The interest shifts to science fiction, horror, true crime (these two mostly read by returning GIs, NOT by kids), and most superheroes are forgotten. Some people call this period the Atomic Age of Comics

William Moulton Marston dies in 1947, and Robert Kanigher takes over writing Wonder Woman, replacing WMM’s bondage-infused “feminism” (the quotation marks are justified) with traditional femininity. Now it’s not about Diana bringing peace, but about her getting Steve marry her.

Captain America fights commies for a couple of issues in 1954, and it’s surreal.

Also, TV sets were becoming more popular, so kids turned to TV instead of comics.

Criticism against comics it also growing. Because it’s bad. It’s immoral, and it hurts the kids’ eyes, and it goes against physics and stuff.

The real problem is that for the first time, kids are deciding for themselves what to read—comics are cheap enough that they can buy them themselves.

People actually hold comic burnings in the late 1940s.

Then here comes Dr. Fredric Wertham, psychiatrist, who was working with juvenile delinquents in Harlem, and he had this idea that kids turned to crime because they were reading comics. And he was loud about it.

In 1954, he published a book titled Seduction of the Innocent, where he said stuff like Batman and Robin promoted a gay lifestyle (I’ll give it to him, those early Batman comics were pretty gay), Wonder Woman was a bad role model for girls (they weren’t supposed to want to be like her, because WW was independent and badass and stuff), and Superman made people believe physics didn’t matter.

He was wrong on many counts, of course, because, as said before, every kid was reading comics, and those who came from stable families didn’t turn to crime.

He eventually made such a noise that a senate subcommittee was set up to discuss whether comics were bad or not.

The side against comics was represented by Wertham, a charismatic professional. The side for comics was represented by the business heads of the comic publishers, who had no idea about the content of their publications. Because it just cannot go wrong, right?

(Except for William Gaines, the head of EC Comics, who said at the hearing that a cover featuring a severed head is in good taste for a horror comic. Not the best response in the given situation.)

In the end, the committee decided that there was little credibility in Wertham’s claims, but comics still might be a problem, so the industry should regulate itself.

So they formed the Comics Code Authority (CCA) as a self-censorship body for comics

They issues an editorial guideline that said stuff like good always has to win, authority figures cannot be shown in a bad light, crime cannot be shown, words like terror or horror cannot be shown on the cover, no monsters, no indecent clothes, etc.

If anyone wanted to publish a comic, they had to submit it to the CCA, and it decided if it was okay by the guidelines or it. If it was, it got a stamp—the seal of approval—on the cover.

The seal had no legal standing, but there was an agreement with the wholesalers that they would only carry comics with the seal.

On the short term, this led to the bankruptcy is a lot of publishers. It basically killed off the horror genre. On the long run, it created a market vacuum, that was filled in by a new wave of superhero titles (the Silver Age is coming, baby!), and also helped to establish the underground comix movement.

The CCA had a huge effect on the industry for decades, but it started to lose its power by the 70s. By the 90s, only four companies were in it. On of those, Harvey, went bankrupt in the 90s. Marvel left in 2001. DC, and finally Archie, in 2011.

#history of comics #mine #comics #golden age of comics #fredric wertham #cca

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comeoncomeout41 · 3 years

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I just watched the Elf episode of The Holiday Movies That Made Us on Netflix after remembering that I started writing an Elf supercorp AU for Christmas in 2018 (don’t judge me) and found my old notes app first draft so Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! MAYBE I’ll finish it this year... (she said as a lying liar who lies.)

*The fic in which Kara’s pod crash landed at the North Pole, 13 years later her adopted elf mother Eliza and her elf sister Alex tell her about her cousin Kal now Clark Kent and she decides to go to Metropolis to meet the only other person like her. She meets Lena “naughty list” Luthor. And Clark and Lois are Jewish.

🔥🎄🎄🎄🧝‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Some elves are born to work in Santa’s workshop. Kara Zor-El, however, was not born an elf or even from this earth for that matter.

When her pod crash landed at the North Pole thirteen years ago, she had no memory of a lost planet, no recollection of a cousin she was sent to protect who had already grown up to become Superman, and no idea how to be an alien living with elves. Santa was perturbed as to what to do with a skittish teenaged alien who cringed at the sound of tiny hammers building toys.

The elf doctor, Eliza Danvers, having a daughter around Kara’s age, naturally stepped in to help raise her, teach her elf culture, and attempt to control her powers. There were several mishaps of course.

Kara’s eyes lit up the first time she saw a Christmas tree. Literally. The green pine was burned to a crisp with her heat vision. But she quickly uprooted another tree from outside the elf village and helped Alex redecorate the new tree. And spent several hours carefully placing the new lights and ornaments, after breaking several of the glowing strings of light and the ornate red and blue colored bulbs. When Alex had trouble reaching the top of the tree, Kara swooped her up under her arms to help her place the star on the tree. And she managed to only break one of Alex’s ribs in the process.

After years of being at the North Pole, Kara was actually a wonderful toy maker once she learned to control her strength. When other elves managed to meet their five hundred toy quotas, Kara would have five thousand toys completed. The workshop wouldn’t need any teddy bears for another century, but finding storage for all of the toys Kara built was becoming difficult.

So from there, Kara’s primary job became Elf Master of Letters. She spends several hours each day answering letters for Santa as Santa’s tight schedule and the millions of letters he received each year became too much for the old bearded man. And although she always needed a little proofreading as the different Earth languages were sometimes difficult and much different than her native alien tongue, she enjoyed writing and speaking to children all over the world, bringing them the joy of Christmas.

Alex read over the letter Kara had just finished typing. Her younger but much bigger sister looked to her with a twinkle in her eyes and waited patiently. When Kara saw the red ink marked all over Kara’s letter she cooed and gasped, “That red is so pretty Alex. I know Raymond in Denver will love it! He told me red was his favorite color. I wanted to tell him that’s Santa’s favorite color too! But I didn’t want to give all of the big man’s secrets away, you know?”

Alex sighed and rested her hand on her sister’s shoulder, “Kara, these are your typos. Look here.”

Alex pointed to the last line, “Beleiving isn’t singing. Singing is beleiving.”

“He asked if he could see what the North Pole looks like. I set him straight. Believing isn’t singing. Singing is believing. That was in that one Santa Claus movie you had me watch, which I know isn’t historically accurate or based on true events, but I still,”

“Kara, remember your English spellings. I before e except after c? And it’s seeing not singing.

“Except in some cases like neighbor and weigh. And I just thought! It’s a play on words because ‘the best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear!’”

Alex smiled at her then, “You’ll get the hang of it.“

“Yeah, okay so I can’t spell that great, but the writing was good right?” Kara looked hopeful.

Alex shoved her shoulder, “You know you have more Christmas spirit than any other elf. Now come on and fix these typos, so we can go drink hot chocolate with Mom.”

That night when Kara had gone to bed, belly full of twelve drumsticks, eleven pickled peppers, ten cups of hot chocolate, nine hams glazed, eight glasses of milk, seven strudel pastries, six white chocolate goose eggs, five onion rings, four carrot cakes, three French bagels, two turtle chocolates, and a chocolate pecan pie, she curled up on her elf sized bed. Eliza had knit a fourth blanket onto her elf quilt the previous month when her toes started peeking out at the bottom. Alex had tucked her in tonight, making certain she was snug as a bug in a rug in the tiny bed, wishing sweet dreams of sugarplums dancing in her head.

She was content, happy, home and tomorrow would be her thirteenth birthday at the North Pole. What more could her life possibly be, what could be more rewarding than being apart of the magic that brought Christmas to children all over the world? And still Kara thought of that world and all of the little lights that wrote those letters to Santa, the gleaming eyes of all who opened presents on Christmas morning, and she wondered if any of them were like her. If they could hear the faintest sounds of snow falling or reach up and touch the clouds. If they could roast chestnuts with their eyes or see through all those pretty presents wrapped neatly under the tree. If the people of this world could believe that Santa would come every year to bring them gifts, then she had to believe that somewhere out there, there was someone else who was just like her.

That night Kara dreamed of a beautiful red sunset and little baby boy named Kal. It all felt so real, seeing him jet across the sky in a similar pod to the one Kara had found in an abandoned workshop years ago, knowing it must have been how she found her home. She wrote a letter to Santa as soon as she woke up, asking him to find a home for Kal for Christmas.

_____

Kara had been in trouble a bit, always an accident, because really how was it her fault if Blitzen couldn’t keep up with her? He could have flown faster if he hadn’t eaten all of that maple syrup and maybe then he wouldn’t have been left behind! She carried him back the whole way anyway! After she found him three days later in the Swiss Alps.

But this time when she was called to Santa’s office and Eliza and Alex sat patiently waiting for the charges from the big boss, Kara didn’t know why she was here at all, or rather, now she was on the floor with wood debris around her rear because the little chair was a lot lower than she had anticipated. That was the tenth one this month.

Santa cleared his throat and rubbed his white bearded chin, “I read your letter, and I spoke to your mom and sister. I think they have something they’d like to tell you.”

Kara widened her eyes and looked to her mom, “Are we going to adopt Kal? Like you adopted me? Please say we can Eliza. I promise I’ll teach him myself how to control his powers, and I can build him a crib myself. I’ll even chop down the tree for the wood and we can,”

Eliza cupped Kara’s face and kissed her forehead, a tear prickling at the corner of her eye, “Do you remember Kal now sweetie? Do you remember Krypton?”

Kara blew out her breath in bewilderment, “Krypton? What’s that? Is that where I’m from? Is it in Canada? I’ve always felt I was probably a Canadian because I don’t get cold at the North Pole, and I make the best maple syrup every year during the elf Christmas party.”

Santa nodded, “Its true, you really do.”

Alex gasped, “you know you’re not an elf?”

Kara chewed at her fingernails, “Well I’m not, am I? I’m bigger than all of you and I can lift a Christmas tree over my head like it’s mistletoe and fly with reindeer and all sorts of stuff. I’ve known for awhile I’m not from here, but this is still my home. You two are still my family.”

Alex held back all her unshed tears, “But you have other family out there, and we can’t keep you from knowing about Kal anymore.”

So that day Kara cried when Santa showed her the picture of Kal, or Clark Kent as he was called on Earth, glasses askew and a beautiful woman on his arm. Clark without the glasses bearing what she was told was her family crest, the House of El, taking up the mantle of Earth’s greatest hero, Superman. She had crafted thousands of figurines of her only living blood relative, and yet she hadn’t the faintest idea that she had been sent to protect him for all of these years. He had grown up, not alone at least. He was raised in Kansas on a farm, and now he lived in Metropolis with his wife Lois Lane and their son Jonathan Kent.

“Does he even know I exist?”

_____

Kara changed into her best elf attire and her bright red boots that Eliza had made her for Christmas, letting her open one present before she left. Today was the day that she would fly to Metropolis and meet her cousin for the first time. She couldn’t wait, but the dread at leaving Alex and Eliza settled deep in the pit of her stomach. And all of the letters to Santa she still wanted to respond to sat neatly at her desk in her room.

She was leaving behind her entire life at the North Pole. She told herself she wasn’t losing her home, but it still felt like it. Santa’s workshop, Eliza and Alex, it was all she had ever known or could remember. Would it be the same when she came back? Would her room still smell like a gingerbread house and would her stocking still hang by their chimney with care? Would Kal come with her or would she split her time between Kal and Alex and Eliza like some children who get double presents when their parents divorce?

Alex knocked on her door and waltzed in, “Hey Kara, mom made you something to take to Kal. There’s a winter storm over Greenland, you should probably get going soon.”

Kara wiped the tears from her eyes and her sister rushed to hug her. She had to bend down a little and lift Alex off the ground, but no way was she leaving without giving her sister a proper hug.

“I’m going to miss you and mom so much, Alex. I’ve never been away from home for more than a few hours, how am I going to make it to Christmas without you both? Will you even still want me back?”

Alex nuzzled closer, “You better come back because I don’t want to imagine this place without you. Who’s going to lift the fridge so mom can sweep under it hmm? Who’s going to change all of the light bulbs in the workshop when they blow out? Who’s going to drink hot chocolate with me and watch Hallmark movies in July?”

Kara laughed, shaking her head and deposited Alex on the floor, “I thought you hated the Hallmark channel.”

Alex simply rolled her eyes, “But I love spending time with my sister, and I love you, you big sap. I swore I wasn’t going to cry.”

Feeling slightly better Kara shoves her sister’s shoulder, a little too hard and catches her before she falls, “I love you too, dork. Don’t open the present I got you until you get back, pinky swear?”

Alex locks pinkies with Kara and kisses her thumb, “I’ll miss you. Please be safe. No breaking the sound barrier, watch out for pigeons because there’s a lot in Metropolis or so I’ve read. And when you see Kal remember to call him Clark Kent.”

“Got it, and don’t eat anything I don’t buy myself or anything not given to me by Clark, Lois, or Jonathan because there’s a high chance it’s not candy.”

Kara hugged Eliza for thirty minutes after that, and then Alex for another ten minutes before waving goodbye to Santa and all of the elves at his workshop. Metropolis wasn’t so far for her to fly, and she’d be home in no time.

She coasted through the peppermint sparkled glaciers, touched the northern lights, sailed through the skies above the Arctic Ocean, grazed the top of the Daily Planet, and landed atop the small two bedroom apartment building on the rent controlled side of town. Inside the windows of the corner apartment on the top floor, Kara saw Kal with his family, lighting candles, looking happy and calm. She decided to wait until morning to meet Kal, Clark, alone.

She listened into the city around her, all of the heartbeats like a million tiny hammers beating together, all except one. Kara flew the city, pinpointing the sound, admiring all of the lights on all the trees in all of the buildings and all the shining multicolored bulbs lining the streets. And it was there, in the tallest tower of the tallest building, one light shone through the wall to wall window, a small desk lamp in the large office. At the desk a woman with jet black hair and skin as white and fair as snow sat, typing away at her computer, nibbling on the pen in her mouth. She strained her long elegant neck, and stretched her arms above her head before getting back to work.

Kara glanced below the balcony to the street corner, finding what she knew the young woman needed. She floated down to the alley and walked into a coffee shop, took some time figuring out how to pay for a cup of coffee with the paper and coin money that Santa had given her before she left. Smiled and thanked the cashier for helping her, put one of the bills in his tip jar (it was a hundred.) She quickly flew into the woman’s office, left the coffee on her desk, and flew out of sight, feeling a little like Santa herself in the moment.

The woman grabbed the coffee absentmindedly and sipped, not expecting it to be so hot Kara sees her fanning her mouth and frantically searching the room with her eyes. When she turns to peer out her balcony, Kara sees her face, hard jaw line, soft endearing green eyes. She smiles as the woman screams and locks her balcony door as the windows go pitch black.

#supercorp #elf au

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ambrose-watches-blog · 5 years

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Justice League

I know it's an oldie but I have a fondness for DC since wonder woman (and a fondness for Gal Gadot's and Jason Momoa's faces tbh), and I actually have not watched it yet, so I borrowed it from the library.

So far Superman kinda look like a dick

oh wait i shouldn't say bad things of the dead

wtf is that thing Batman is fighting (also does he have to do the manly throaty voice? it kinda sucks)

looking forward to see what Amy Adams and Jeremy Irons are doing in this movie. it looks like there's not a single unknown name there.

the music is good so far too

no wait amy adams can't be Lois, Lois has to have dark hair... and amy adams has to be Gal Gadot's gf

the image of the neo nazis kinda rising and being more open about attacking ppl after superman's death kinda drives home the metaphor of S as a jewish icon

Wonder Woman standing on Justice is also another fucking Icon

freaking Arthur, hiding among the fishermen and pretending he's just a dude who speaks english. with that face. and those eyes.

"let me get this straight, you do really dress like a bat? like uh, like an actual bat?" I love Arthur so much

the fan service of Jason Momoa's ass...

Alfred is a fucking delight

Themisciraaaaaa

THEMISCIRAAAAAA :(

did they just... get crushed... by those gates... without a second thought from anyone else?

Diana is fucking gorgeous

and why did they put so much makeup on Amy Adams

the story behind the Mother Boxes is super interesting and also I like that they actually filmed it, not like the backstory fights in WW

"we tend to act like the doomsday clock has a snooze button" wow. accurate.

"viola, web design, fluent in sign language, gorilla sign language" bless Barry! "competitive ice dancing"

WHAT IS BRUNCH

snackhole

"what are your superpowers again?" "I'm rich"

this movie is full of gems

The wonder woman I know would not be wearing heels

I don't think the Arthur of Aquaman would've spoken of his mom that way. also I'm not gonna go back to relisten but they're still talking like she's dead.

who is the lady who looks like Amber Heard anyways. and why did the evil manage to get the box so fuckin easily

what is that thing in the middle of the Central? are they at like, tchernobyl or something?

awww Barry <3 " for transparency I've never done battle"

dude. this woman is a semi-goddess. she's killed a god before. you're overreaching.

"the old gods died." did they now? Ares sure did! let's see how it goes for you

Arthur has perfect timing

"did he just bail"

"just like a bat! I dig it!" did i mention I love Arthur

Bruce, you lil baby. Diana can kick your ass a hundred ways to sunday. don't mention steve like that

and Barry going "you know that if she kills you we'll cover for her" is just amazing

"I was running the numbers while you were being an asshole" i love cyborg too. I especially love everyone teaming up to let bruce know he's being a dick

also how did cyborg's father manage to save him with like. just his head. i thought there was more of his body left than that...

yessss talk to him with the lasso...

or not...

cannot believe superman is stronger than all the others together. Arthur and Diana should be able to kick his ass

I KNEW the big guns would be Lois!!

Arthurs armour looks way more natural in this one than in aquaman

Diana looks really nice with the sash on her shoulders

I'm really not a fan of the idea that Diana was hiding for a century until she was forced out. every comic I've read that went beyond her first few months on earth, everybody knows Diana Prince. and they know she's WW. she's a freaking embassador. I do not like this Dark Diana

the Three-is-One thing is very... catholic...

I'm not sure who ever wrote this movie understands the mechanical limitations of engines. cyborg's not supposed to be able to push them beyond what they were made for... this is not just a tech thing

love Arthur getting tangled into the lasso. love love love! and diana knowing and just biting her lips and enjoying it

how did he know that would collapse the whole barrier

Diana is leadiiiing <3

not sure what's happening with the roots but I'm glad that family got out (so far)

"we woulda left you but she did not ask for a vote" yesss this is how you manage your team

and Batman who had an ejectable seat the whole time

"bug duty" by Barry looks super efficient

idc what superman did, Barry saved that lil girl!!

"i don't even understand the physics of how my toes hurt"

"I work with children!"

welp i don't pity the guy but that was a gross way to die for a superhero movie. also found it a bit anticlimactic

it's actually super nice outside!

wonder which of his new friends got barry the job!

... what happened to the boxes anyways. did they get destroyed or?

final verdict: a good two hours of fun with a meh last 5 minutes that did not really give me the warm wanna cry feelings I got from WW and Aquaman, but still a whole lot of fun.

(also why are they being like Marvel and putting end credit scenes...)

#ambrose watches #justice League

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