Childrens comics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HISTORY OF CHILDRENS COMICS
Contents |
[edit] Earliest examples
The earliest comic strips were Egyptian hieroglyphs and the Bayeux Tapestry. However, the earliest proper example was ‘Dr Syntax’ by Thomas Rowlandson in the 18th century – with simple line drawings to tell a story.
[edit] 19th Century
In 1845, the Swiss artist Rudolph Topffler made comic strips to appeal to children and the masses. He introduced panel borers into his drawings. By the mid 19th century there was better distribution, better transport cheaper paper, better printing, more people in cities and increased literacy rates. Comics, therefore, were more economically viable. During the time, Penny Dreadfuls were released. These were cheap horror stories with gory drawings. They were very popular. The first naughty kid character was introduced in Judy magazine in 1867. His name was Ally Sloper; a working class skiver who was always trying to skive off from work. He is remembered notoriously for ‘Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday’. In 1874, ‘Funny Folks’ was launched; an 8 page supplement with humorous cartoons, this was followed by ‘Comic Cuts’ in 1890. It was released in colour and so the price doubled. Another coloured comic was ‘Chips’ with its recognisable ‘Pink’ paper. Towards the end of the century, 1896 to be precise, comics were mainly for children. This caused a big boom, and the cheap ½ penny comics were an instant success. They were referred to as ‘black comics’ during this era.
[edit] Early 20th Century
In 1908, ‘Magnet’ was introduced. It involved the adventures of school children at school. The most famous character was Billy Bunter: a fat kid who ate loads of pies. In 1921 DC THOMPSON was launched – followed by the launch of the ‘Rover’ and ‘Wizard’ titles. These comics were characterised by far-fetched stories and larger than life characters. Marvel Comics was launched in 1929 in America, with the Belgian comic of Tin Tin also being introduced in the same year.
[edit] The 1930s (Golden Age)
There were a large number of titles in publication specifically aimed at children. They aimed to provide education and entertainment.
- NURSERY MARKET: Tiny Tots, Chicks Own (0-4)
- PRIMARY SCHOOL: Rainbow, Playbox (4-7)
- JUNIORS: My favourite, Crackers (7 – 12)
The most significant event in comic book history occurred in 1938 with the publication of Jerry Siegel’s and Joe Shuster's Superman (by Action Comics #1). He was not the first costumed hero: The Phantom was!
Three ground-breaking comics were launched by DC Thompson:
A new style of comic drawing was introduced, with shockingly colourful visuals and speech balloons rather than picture and caption arrangement. They all stood out amongst other comic titles by their longevity, and the wealth of characters introduced. For example, Desperate Dan and Korky the Cat in the Dandy were popular characters. In all, these comics were an effective saturation of the children’s market.
Look at an old copy of a Beano comic, anything politically incorrect? Yes, there is a cartoon of a small black boy eating a banana. Although this was somehow viewed as comedy, it would be unacceptable in our society.
In Germany, between 1934 and 1937, the silent comic strip Vater und Sohn (Father and Son) appeared. It was one of the most popular German strips of all time.
[edit] WW2 (1939-1945)
The Second World War years were bad ones for comics in Britain, with paper shortages killing off many of the famous pre-war titles. The Beano and The Dandy published on alternate weeks and reduced the number of pages to save money. However, they were cheap entertainment in America where Captain America bravely fought Hitler as part of the war effort. American GIs brought their own ‘Superman’ comics to Japan. The Japanese took these ideas and applied them to their culture of Manga after the war.
[edit] The silver age (1950’s)
At the end of the war the Cold War began between the two great superpowers. This brought paranoia and a new youth audience. Comics in America turned to darker subjects. The graphic comics were referred to as ‘Comix’ – sold on the underground.
Many criticised this violence, particularly George Pumphrey in the UK. In effect, some American imports were banned through censorship. Pumphrey’s concern was also shared by Marcus Morris, who wanted to buy comics for his children at a train station – only to find ‘deplorable’ violence’. He appreciated the artwork, but called for a comic with ‘the right kind of standards, values and attitudes’. This led to the English comic of The Eagle to be launched in 1951 – production ended in 1969. It had good-quality paper, full color photogravure, excellent artwork and front-page hero, Dan Dare. He was created by Frank Hampson. There was also a ‘God Slot’ on the back page, adventures of cowboys and Indians, and cross sections of vehicles such as airplanes. Over a million copies of the first issue were sold.
Up until this time, comics had been aimed at both boys and girls, but a definite gender split began to open up, with the Eagle and Girl (1951-1964) clearly aimed at different markets. This was followed by titles such as Romeo and Judy for the girls market (with Enid Blyton style mysteries) and Lion and Tiger for the boys (with football and fighting). With ‘Girl’, Morris created a new trend. The girls were more rebellious with Kitty Hawke and her all girl crew, proving that they could fly their planes as well as those ‘glorious males’. However, the audience was misjudged and sales of this slumped.
[edit] The Swinging Sixties
There was a revival of the superhero genre. In Britain, squeaky clean superheros like Marvelman and Electroman were launched. They all had the same derivative, Superman physique. In 1961, Stan Lee created the Fantastic Four for Marvel Comics. The characters initiated a naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner demons, who squabbled and worried about the likes of rent money. In contrast to the stiff do-gooder archetypes of established superheroes at the time, this ushered a revolution. The Hulk was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in May 1962. It was made into a film and into a TV series about a man who changes into a green monster.
X-Men was launched in September 1963 by Marvel Comics. It has grown to become one of America’s most popular comics. They are mutants, born with superhuman abilities. The entire X-Men franchise is built on a sociopolitical undercurrent. The conflict between mutants and normal humans is often compared to conflicts experienced by minority groups such as Jews, African-Americans and Communists etc. Professor X has been compared to African American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, and Magneto to the more militant Malcolm X. The X-Men’s purpose is sometimes referred to achieving "Xavier’s dream" perhaps a reference to King’s historic "I Have a Dream" speech. X-Men comic books have often portrayed mutants as the victim of mob violence, evoking images of the lynchings of African-Americans in the age before the American civil rights movement.
Political comics such as ‘Mad’ and ‘Flashman’ appeared as a result of anti-Vietnam in 1965. These were out of the pockets of most children though.
[edit] The 70s
The term ‘graphic novel’ was coined by Will Eisner. It helped to differentiate between the longer narratives from the single doubled page spreads of the comic papers.
[edit] The 80s
There was also a high uprising in the Manga market in Japan. These were comics aimed at a wider audience spectrum – from a small child to a large adult. Do you think the audiences for comics are like this in Britain?
The manga designs have been influential for inspiring films like ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Kill Bill’. The most popular manga in the 1980s was ‘Akira’. It was about the student movement of the 1960s in post war Japan.
[edit] The 90s
The first issue of ‘The Simpsons’ comic was launched in November 1993. It was released in the UK in March 1997, and is based up the hit TV show, with identical characters and familiar storylines.
In 1994, Hellboy was also brought onto the market. It was the creation of Mike Mignola. It is,reminiscent of the pulp detective novels of the 1940s. Hellboy is filled with strange characters, bizarre monsters, conspiracies, shadowy agencies and secret Nazi armies.
[edit] 21st Century
Popular interest in superheroes increased with the success of feature films such as X-Men (2000) and Spider-Man (2002) and Hellboy (2004). It is important to realise that a film storyboard is similar to comic storyboard. As with any adaptation, the challenge lies in converting one type of storytelling into another. One of the rules in film storytelling is: Show, don't tell. This can be quite a challenge when adapting the story of a book or graphic novel into a film.
Even today, the Beano and the Dandy remain popular. The Beano has comic strips like ‘Roger the Dodger’ and ‘Minnie the Minx’. There are also the classics of ‘The Bash Street Kids’ and of course ‘Dennis the Menace and Gnasher’.
