Busiek's Marvels and the Modern Age

The History of the Comic Industry through Marvel’s Fiction

Aug 14, 2008

As Busiek's "Marvels" ends, it gives hints as to what the comic book industry will turn into.

Birth of the Bronze Age and On

The innocence of super hero comic books ended when Gwen Stacy died. From that day forth, heroes could die, get into drugs and fail. The move in the late 1970s and early 80s was to deconstruct heroes and make them dark and grim. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Alan Moore's Watchmen were just the tip of the iceberg (Waiter). The mainstream comic books would take on a darker hue as the X-Men would have characters killed, and sometimes massacred. Even DC became a darker world. Superman died in horrific fashion in 1993 (Carlin).

These events all led to a more realistic view of heroes as well. Sheldon states, "I lost it somewhere. I've seen too much. And I'm inside now. Where I can't see anything straight (4.44)." The black and white heroics were erased forever.

Dramatically speaking, Marvels shows the world's viewpoint shifting in its view of comic books. Wonder and excitement were abroad in the Golden Age, and World War Two added to it. People everywhere, including Sheldon, embrace heroes, up until Seduction of the Innocent appears. Once again, Sheldon's fears for his family resonated the general feelings of Americans during the 1950's.

The next dramatic shift is to enjoy the heroes as escapist entertainment, or in the case of Sheldon, a crutch to rely upon when needing something to believe in. Finally, Gwen Stacy's death causes Sheldon to become disillusioned and take a realistic view of heroes. The wonder is gone, and by the 1980's, that is where comic book writing had gone in the United States. These dramatic shifts in Marvels are surprisingly close to the social reactions in America.

Marvels is a piece that chronologically succeeds in showing the history of Marvel Comic's fictional world from 1939 through the early 1970's. More than that, it dramatically parallels the history of super hero comics in America, and the socioeconomic reactions given towards the publications from various groups.

Utilizing modified forms of formalist, new criticism and new historicism, it was shown that Sheldon shows the public's response through his interactions with the stranger heroes of his world. Marvels is a complex piece whose chronological drama succeeds in giving the reader a view into how heroes are seen by not only the fictional world, but by the real world as well.

Bibliography

O'Neil, Dennis. The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics. DC Comics. New York: New York, 2001

Waiter, Stanley. Bissette, Stephen r. Comic Book Rebels. Donald I. Fine. New York: New York, 1993

Benton, Mike. The Illustrated History - Superhero Comics of the Silver Age. Taylor Publishing Company. Dallas: Texas, 1991

Daniels, Les. DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes. Little, Brown and Company. New York: New York, 1995

Wright, Nicky. The Classic Era of American Comics. Contemporary Books. Illinois: Chicago, 2000

Duffin, Jacalyn. "Wertham, Fredric: Seduction of the Innocent." Literature, Arts and Medicine Database. December 21, 2003. New York University, 2005. <http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/wertham1562-des-.html>

The copyright of the article Busiek's Marvels and the Modern Age in Graphic Novels/Comics is owned by Andrew David Christianson. Permission to republish Busiek's Marvels and the Modern Age in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.