Superfans/The Highs and Lows of the Comics Industry

John and Debbie talk about the history of comic books.

Video
The intro plays.

He pulls out a copy of Action Comics No. 1.
 * John: Welcome to Superfans, my name is John Townsend and this is my friend Debbie Rhodes, say hi Debbie.
 * Debbie: Hi, Debbie.
 * John: ...Walked right into that one. So, do you wanna explain what this is or should I?
 * Debbie: You go.
 * John: Alright, well, this is a new channel that we've decided to make. Well... more me than her cause I'm a comics guy and she's pretty new to this whole thing.
 * Debbie: Yeah, I've only really read a handful.
 * John: And this channel will basically be me explaining comic stuff, reviewing comics, and recapping stuff to both her and to you, the audience. Hopefully in an etertaining way. And, for the starter video, I decided that I should probably break down what comics are... about, even, and why you should care. Also, just for the record, this is both of our first time being on camera, so sorry if we sound awkward at all. So, Debbie, tell me, what do you know about the comic industry and its history?
 * Debbie: I know that they existed since the 30s or something and they kept going on to this day. I also think that Marvel and DC rebooted a few times?
 * John: Oh my dear Debbie, so close yet so far at the same time.
 * Debbie: Figured you were going to say something like that.
 * John: Okay, so, basically, uh... Starting from the super, super beginning, before there were comics there were adventure strips. Right?
 * Debbie: Adventure strips...?
 * John: Yeah, basically, adventure strips were newspaper strips that were bigger and had a continous story. And by bigger, I mean physically larger, they had more panels. Some of them were, like, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, all those guys. You know those guys, right?
 * Debbie: I heard of Flash Gordon, no idea what his deal is. Hey, is Garfield an adventure strip?
 * John: No, Garfield is not an adventure strip. He is a newspaper strip but newspaper strips and adventure strips are different beasts.
 * Debbie: Oh. I see. Continue on then John.
 * John: So, the people of the... uh... I wanna say late 20s or so, they loved these adventure strips. The only problem though is that they wanted to reread them and there wasn't a clear way of doing that. Newspapers don't have reruns, so how would they reread their stories or read the stories they missed?
 * Debbie: Couldn't they just reprint it?
 * John: Yeah, but... I don't have a but, I don't know why they didn't do that.
 * Debbie: The host doesn't know something about the topic, we're off to a great start.
 * John: Shut up. But, either way, that eventually led to proto comics. Comics that were basically booklets with reprinted adventure strips inside and even some gag a day strips. Every so often there was an original story just to hold people over, but there was never a full-on original character made for these comic books, as they were called.
 * Debbie: Then Superman, right?
 * John: Exactly. But before that, there was National Comics, a publisher whose boss had the idea of maybe creating original properties for comic books, which he saw as a rising medium. So, he took a chance on these two, struggling Jewish boys called Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. They were an artist/writer combo, but they struggled to get work because of their inexperience and because of their faith and ethnicity.
 * Debbie: Jesus...
 * John: Yeah, the 1930s were pretty messed up... But, uh, see, Siegel and Shuster a couple years earlier had made this story called The Reign of The Superman.
 * Debbie: And they pitched it to National?
 * John: No, The Reign of The Superman was actually a sci-fi short story printed in a totally different magazine. The Superman in that story was a telekinetic villain with dreams of world domination.
 * Debbie: What...?
 * John: Yeah, weird, right?
 * Debbie: At least Batman was completely normal right?
 * John: Ummm, you'll see.
 * Debbie: That's not reassuring.
 * John: Continuing on, yea the Reign of The Superman was published for Science Fiction: The Advanced Guard of Future Civilization.
 * Debbie: I wonder why it didn't take off.
 * John: Cause it was the magazine didn't sell well.
 * Debbie: Yeah, that makes sense.
 * John: But, anyway, Siegel and Shuster went to the boss of National at the time, a guy called Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson who, fun fact, was a Major in World War I.
 * Debbie: And he became a comic publisher?
 * John: Yeah, I dunno what led him down that career path... But, like I said, he took a chance on these two, very young Jewish boys and he printed their story. They were inspired by all the stuff they loved, like Flash Gordon, John Carter of Mars, and they were even inspired by mythological heroes like Samson from the Bible and Hercules. So, throwing it all together, they made their new version of Superman, who was Clark Kent, the last son of the planet Krypton. They originally wanted it to be an adventure strip but, after they were rejected, they decide to take a chance on National and got it printed...

John shows a picture of the original concept art for Batman.
 * John: In this.
 * Debbie: Oh my god, you have that!?
 * John: No, it's a reprint. I just wanted to mess with you.
 * Debbie: I almost thought you were cool.
 * John: I am cool! Just not that cool! Nick Cage has one of these.
 * Debbie: What?
 * John: No, really, Nick Cage has one of these, look it up.
 * Debbie: Why?
 * John: I dunno, Nick Cage is a crazy person.
 * Debbie: I mean he did star in the Wicker Man so...
 * John: Alright moving on, guess what happens after Action Comics No. 1.
 * Debbie: It blew up and birthed the comics industry?
 * John: Bingo. Everybody wanted in and everybody wanted their own Superman. That led to stuff like obvious knock-offs like Wonder Man, published by Fox Features, and people who I'd argue were just inspired by him, like Captain Marvel over at Fawcett Comics. National didn't care though, they sued the crap out of everybody that even sneezed in the direction of Superman. That's how big of a deal he was. Like, you know how Disney will sue people over Mickey Mouse? Superman was the Mickey Mouse of his time.
 * Debbie: "Superman was the Mickey Mouse of his time"...
 * John: Look, if you can give me a less weird example then I'll use it.
 * Debbie: So when does Batman get involved? Cause isn't he like even more popular than Superman?
 * John: Well... debatably, but he definitely wasn't back then.
 * Debbie: Oh.
 * John: Yeah, Superman was, like, THE superhero. But Batman was, by the way I just realized this video's probably gonna be an hour or so long, anyway, Batman was made because National wanted another big hit. They wanted somebody just as popular as Superman.
 * Debbie: That's...
 * John: Insane? Yes, it was. Which is why the guy they tasked with it, Bob Kane, wasn't up to snuff. He made this.


 * Debbie: Oh my god.
 * John: Yeah, it's pretty bad. And the guy he pitched it to, the writer Bill Finger, agreed. Something you need to know is that Bob Kane was... not great at... most things. He stole story ideas and swiped his art.
 * Debbie: Swiped?
 * John: Stole. He traced over other people's art and drew Batman over it.