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 has no response.
 * 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.
 * Debbie: So Bob Kane is a hack?
 * John: Basically. So Bill Finger saw Bob Kane's concept and did some reworking to make him somewhat resemble the hero we know today. But guess who took all the credit.
 * Debbie: Bob Kane.
 * John: Exactly. But, either way, National got what they wanted. They had a big hero who rivaled Superman and he debuted in the one and only Detective Comics issue 27. And Batman was sort of the point when things... exploded. Like, everybody wanted their own Superman, but now everybody wanted their own superheroes in general. Superheroes were beloved, everybody loved those weirdos in tights that beat up criminals and Nazis. And, since I think the question will come up eventually, Wonder Woman was actually a later addition, debuting after a bunch of other heroes. She was made so little girls had a hero to look up to.
 * Debbie: Aw.
 * John: It's about to get weird.
 * Debbie: Oh.
 * John: Cause the guy who made her, William Moulton Marston was... a character. He knew that boys bought comics the most and that a woman on the cover wouldn't get them to buy, so... he started putting Wonder Woman in bondage.


 * John: You good?
 * Debbie: How did... they let that pass?
 * John: It was the 30s, nobody knew about this stuff. They thought it was just the hero being put into danger, they didn't realize what the hell was actually happening. And, also, just to get it out of the way cause I know people will get upset if I don't mention it, yes. William Moulton Marston was also a polygamist and he was married to two women, both of whom had children to him.
 * Debbie: So William was really kinky?
 * John: Basically. And that bled into the comics in a few ways. But that is a story for another video or few. Anyways, National wasn't the only people publishing comics around this time.
 * Debbie: Marvel?
 * John: Yeah, but they were known at the time as Timely Comics. Founded by Martin Goodman, their biggest heroes were the Human Torch and Namor.
 * Debbie: Okay, I do know that it's not the Human Torch that most people know about.
 * John: Yeah, he was an android who existed way before the Fantastic Four. And, well, since Namor and Human Torch were their biggest stars, Timely thought it would be a great idea if they crossed over. So, they had their artists crunch like hell to have 22 pages ready by the end of the week.
 * Debbie: Oh my god, why would they do that?
 * John: Something you should note is that the comic industry has some weird standards. But, they did it. They had their 22 page spectacle where fire and water clashed for the first time. And that birthed the idea of a shared universe of superheroes. Suddenly, everybody was meeting everybody else. Batman met Superman, Wonder Woman met Batman, so on and so forth until one day National had this insane idea. What if they took their most popular heroes and put them into the same comic? So, they scooped up guys like The Sandman, Doctor Fate, Spectre, Hawkman, guys like that and put them all in a team they called the Justice Society, the first superhero team in the world.
 * Debbie: ...No Superman or Batman?
 * John: Weird story, actually, they were on the team but for ages they weren't allowed to be printed on the covers because the editors said so, worried readers would be confused. It took higher ups telling them to do it to just cave and agree.
 * Debbie: I realized you said the Justice Society and not the Justice League.
 * John: Yeah, the name Justice League didn't come until like thirty years later. Anyway, things were great, but... there is something I'd feel bad for glossing over. Siegel and Shuster were sort of... taken advantage of by National. They sold the rights to Superman to them, thinking it was how the business worked, and they eventually got kicked off of the comic cause they wanted the rights back. Now, who was in the right here is a debated subject, but I'm a big supporter of creator's rights, so I'd argue that Siegel and Shuster had every right to be angry.
 * Debbie: What happened to them?
 * John: That's... sort of another story all together, but Shuster eventually worked on this erotic horror comic.
 * Debbie: Erotic... horror... comic...
 * John: Yeah, I know. But, it almost feels like Siegel and Shuster got their revenge via the butterfly effect, cause that horror comic was eventually bought by this group of... really disturbed teenagers. I won't get into what they did cause I don't know enough, but they did a lot of bad stuff. And, while in jail, a man called Fredric Wertham visited them. He was a child psychologist and a big civil rights activist who opposed segregation in schools and opened up a lot of clinics to help at risk kids.
 * Debbie: Sounds like a good guy.
 * John: He was. And he's also the main villain of the comic book industry.
 * Debbie: Wait, but if he did all this great stuff, then why do people not like him...?
 * John: Well, you see, these kids told him that they read Shuster's comic. And it was a... really messed up comic, even by now's standards. So, Wertham, like a lot of people do even now, connected dots were nonexistent and blamed the comics for the things these kids did. So guess what he did.
 * Debbie: He sued the comic companies?
 * John: Worse. He published a book called Seduction of The Innocent, where he systematically blamed comic books for every horrible thing kids had done. He called Superman a fascist, claimed Wonder Woman went against the archetypical woman, and called Batman and Robin gay. Those last two being pretty big no-nos at the time.
 * Debbie: Isn't Robin a little boy...?
 * John: Yeah, but I really doubt Wertham actually read comic books so I don't think he knew that. All he saw was a man running around with another man with bare legs and who lived in the same house. And the worst part is that people bought into it. They genuinely believed that comic books corrupted their kids and turned them into criminals. They had goddamn book burnings for comics and the sales for horror comics dropped immensely, and horror comics were the industry's bread and butter, so they had basically just had their feet cut off and forced to crawl around in search for a way to survive.
 * Debbie: Dark.
 * John: Yeah, I might be getting a little too passionate about this... But there was a solution. Kinda. The Comics Code Authority. It was made to self-regulate comics and it kind of ruined the comics industry.
 * Debbie: How?
 * John: You know those horror comics?
 * Debbie: Yeah. I do.
 * John: Gone.
 * Debbie: What?
 * John: Can't be printed anymore. The Comics Code said so. No werewolves, vampires, undead, you can't even put the word "horror" in your comic's name.
 * Debbie: ...Then what can you print?
 * John: Sci-fi, westerns, and maybe superheroes if you handle it right. Though the only superheroes that survived this era were Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The rest got the boot. For the entie 50s, nobody was buying superhero comics though. Nobody cared enough.
 * Debbie: How did they survive?
 * John: Barely. They scraped by using sci-fi, romance, and western stories. They even converted their superheroes to be more like that. They rebooted The Flash, Green Lantern, all those guys to make them more sci-fi. And it was WEIRD. Like, really damn weird. Superman was sneezing galaxies out of existence, Batman was fighting space aliens, The Flash had a villain whose only power was that he made him fat, stuff like that. That's what happens when you're under the Comics Code, you scrape the bottom of the barrel and just toss whatever slop you find on to the page.
 * Debbie: H-how did comics get out of this. Like how did this not kill comics?
 * John: You can thank our pals at Marvel Comics.
 * Debbie: Huh?!