Reyes 1 Anastasia Reyes Ms.

Bell English 4 1 September 2013 Comic Book Research Comic books have been around for decades and can be found mostly anywhere. A vast majority of people think they are just for their humor or even action, but have never thought to dig a little deeper. Next time you pick up a comic book, look a little harder and indulge your mind with the wonders you can find.

THE HISTORY OF COMIC BOOKS Originating in the late 1800s, the comic book uses everyday language, slang, and idiom, as well as color and an interplay between text and image. A comic book is much more than just a series of words and pictures with marginal cultural importance (randomhistory.com). The comic book is actually an important historical text that compares how young people and adults identify political and cultural issues. Comic books are for more than the entertainment of children. They are a sophisticated art form that both feeds off of and creates cultural formulas and historical constructs. The comic book industry has been dominated by the two major publishers of superhero books, Marvel and Detective Comics, since the 1960s. To distinguish periods of comic book history, many fans use the term ages (randomhistory.com). Certain ages have different storytelling techniques, marketing strategies, styles of art and writing, and approach to genre

Reyes 2 conventions. These ages can be identified by the Golden (1938-1956), Silver (1956-1971), Bronze (1971-1980), Iron (1980-1987), and Modern (1987-present). The era of the Golden Age has been disputed, but most agree that it was born with the launch of Superman in 1938. The sales of comic books increased markedly during World War II (pbs.org). They were cheap, portable, and had inspirational stories of good triumphing evil. Although superhero comics were the top sellers, other genres emerged during the Golden age. Some of the newly emerged genres were horror, crime, and science fiction. After World War II ended, the superhero genre lost some interest, thus marking what some would consider to be the end of the Golden Age. The Silver Age began with new companies delivering new characters to a new combined audience of kids and adults. Amidst the clamor of moral righteousness, the government decreed the formation of the Comics Code Authority (pbs.org). The Comics Code Authority was a governing body to make sure that the youth were not exposed to lewd or obscene material. Publishers agreed to control content and display the CCA logo in the top corner of the book. Once comics were no longer considered to corrupt the youth, a resurgent industry fueled DC and Marvel with more money. Stories could now span multiple issues and, in some cases, multiple titles for the same hero (pbs.org). Later, it was found out that the most valuable men in the industry were not sharing in the financial success that the companies were causing cracks to form and the end of the Silver Age. In the Bronze Age comics got real with darker story lines and shady elements attracting and older audience. Realism and relevance invaded the comic world as heroes fought less against aliens and more against drugs, racism, and death (randomhistory.com). More and more comics were dealing with real world issues rather than caped adventurers battling

Reyes 3 extraterrestrials. The Bronze Age showed that comics werent merely just entertainment but an intelligent literature that gave people a harsh outlook on themselves and their own ideals. The Iron Age brought the best and worst that the comics had to offer, polarizing the industry. Amidst the clamor of great works coming from just about everywhere, the Dark Age also saw the Speculator Market boom and crash (pbs.org). With the rise of specialty comic shops, price guides, and the desire for rare and valuable special editions, publishers released an endless stream of alternate version covers for collectors. HISTORY OF BATMAN The original concept of Batman was developed by writer/artist Bob Kane. Inspired by Sherlock Holmes, Zorro, a Leonardo Da Vinci sketch of a bat-winged flying machine, and his own imagination, Kane sketched an early version of the character. Kane took his idea to Bill Finger and together they further developed the concept of Batman. During Batman's early appearances, the character was still somewhat pulp-influenced, either killing his opponents, or, at least, letting them die. Batman was a success, and soon after, it was suggested that the character receive a youthful sidekick who the readers could use as an audience surrogate. Kane initially suggested an impish character like Puck, while Finger suggested a more down-to-earth character. The name Robin was suggested by Jerry Robinson who had arrived at the studio while Kane and Finger were throwing names around. Finger continued to write many of the early Batman stories, including making major contributions to the character of The Joker, as well as other major Batman villains. After the publication of Fredric Wertham's juvenile delinquency treatise, Seduction of the Innocent, and the adoption of the Comics Code Authority, Batman's more violent and darker aspects were removed to focus on relatively wholesome detective stories. In addition, with the

Reyes 4 writers' need for adventure, but with their freedom to depict violence curtailed, Batman became a daytime deputy of the police, and became involved in increasingly outlandish science-fiction type stories, often involving a transformation of some kind and trips through time and space. Partly to counteract Wertham's claims about Batman and Robin's homosexuality, various female characters were introduced in the late 1950s, including Vicki Vale, Batwoman, and Batgirl. These characters provided "love interests" for both Batman and Robin. During the 1960s, the Batman comics were near cancellation. Carmine Infantino was brought in to introduce a "new look" for the character in Detective Comics #327 in 1964. Later still, a new artist, Neal Adams, was hired. Together with writer Dennis O'Neil they brought back the old elements that originally defined the character. ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Bob Kane was born in New York City, on October 24th 1916. At age 15 Bob placed second in a drawing contest. The point of the contest was to discover who could draw characters from a Just Kids comic strip best. Bob later went to several art schools. First, he went to the Commercial Art Studio, then to Cooper Union, and then to the Art Students League. He got his first comic job as a staff artist at Fiction House. His first published comic work was in Wow, What a Magazine #3, in 1936. He also drew many other books/strips, such as Peter Pupp, Hiram Hick, Pluto, and Bobby. Around 1938, he went looking for work at DC comics and left to join them in 1939. The Superman craze was happening at DC and Bob wanted in on the action. At this time Bob was only making $50 a week, while the creators of Superman were making $800 a week. He first had an idea for a character when he was 18. Another writer named Bill Finger helped Bob out by creating the Bruce Wayne identity and also Gotham City. Bob sold his

Reyes 5 Batman story to DC, but kept a copyright interest in the Batman character because of advice given to him by a relative lawyer. Doing so would make him richer than either of the Superman creators over the long haul. Later Bob created Robin the Boy Wonder to be Batman's side kick. Robin was created for two reasons. One was so the young kids would have someone to identify with, and the second was to give someone for Batman to talk to while out crime fighting. But Robin wasn't so easily accepted inside DC. Bob's boss, Jack Liebowitz, didn't like Robin, but he was convinced to give him a try for one issue. Detective Comics #38 was that try, the issue almost doubled the regular sales of Detective Comics. Needless to say, Robin stayed on. Batman would get his own title about year after his first appearance. In Batman #1, the Joker and the Catwoman would first appear. Kane's assistant, Jerry Robinson would create the Joker ironically with the help of Bill Finger. Bill supplied a photo of Conrad Veidt, an actor that stared a movie called The Man who Laughs. Bob would work on Batman stories in one form or another until the mid '40's, but he insists he worked on the comic up to 1966. Bob was asked to go to Hollywood to help out on a Courageous Cat TV show in the 50's. He was asked back to Hollywood in 1965 to help with the famous Batman TV show. In 1969 he would create a cartoon called Cool McCool. He would also start exhibiting paintings around this time and then move to Hollywood by the 70's. Bob also helped out with the Batman movies as well. On November 3, 1998, Bob died. SUMMARY The Batman Adventures is a comic about a group of people who are trying to steal some sort of confidential book. Batman, notices them and tries to stop them. Once getting them, they destroy the book, leading Batman to think that it was just a decoy.

Reyes 6 After settling the dispute if it was real or fake, Batman goes to the boss of the men, Rupert Thorne. Once arrived, he succeeds in stealthy killing some of his men standing guard. Then finally he finds Thorne who informs him that the real book is in a car on its way to somewhere safe and tries to have another group of men kill him. Batman then knocks Thorne off a balcony and tells him that if his men shoot, he will drop him to his death. The men finally drop their guns and Batman swings out of the window to retrieve the stolen book. Astonishingly, he gets the book and sends Thorne to court. Although Thorne has the jury in the palm of his hand, Batman who shows up as Bruce Wayne, and the people he works with were happy to see him nervous about losing. PERSONAL REVIEW I myself am not a very big fan of comics, but I have to admit this one held my interest. It was very well written and illustrated in ways that I could understand. Although it wasnt meant to be humorous, I found some parts funny just because of the way it was either written or the scene to describe what was happening. This comic truly shows how dedicated Batman is to helping society fight crime. Although he could have died multiple times, he still continued to pursue what he was doing to conquer his goal and keep the citizens of Gotham safe.