The history of sequential art, the same visual narrative used in comic books, reaches back thousands of years. But it wasn’t until this century that we saw the emergence of the superhero comic book genre, and since then American icons like Batman and Spider-Man have been unstoppable.
In the late 1930s DC Comics introduced their top properties: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The early stories of these heroes were based solely on heroics.
Then in the 1960s, Stan Lee and Marvel broke the mold. Lee and artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko gave birth to the stars of Marvel Comics: young heroes who lived among mortals and had their own sets of earthly problems, such as the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man.
Comic book sales surged in the 1990s, with some comics reaching a print order of 1 million copies. Then the company-wide crossovers and tons of variant covers caught up with the market and fans lost interest.
Today, comics are roaring back into mainstream pop culture, leaving some to question: after years of being a declining form of entertainment media, why are they still around?
This past weekend, Feb. 23 to 25, comic book professionals and fans from around the country gathered in New York City for the second annual New York Comic Convention (NYCC), held at the Jacob Javits Center. The turnout was a testament to just how many people still love comic books.
Part of the comic comeback of recent years can be attributed to the success of major motion pictures like ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘X-Men’ that drew in new fans. In the arena of printed comics, more adult stories are attracting an older audience. Society’s love of comic books has seeped into multiple levels of pop culture, and even education.
Peter David, writer of Marvel’s ‘X-Factor’ and IDW Publishing’s ‘Fallen Angel,’ explained the popularity of comics simply.
‘Comics have all the best aspects: visual and written story telling. It’s a unique form of expression that nothing can match,’ David said. ‘They’re the only form of visual storytelling that the reader has control over the story, they’re either going to take it in as quickly or slowly as they want.’
Jeff Smith, creator of the critically acclaimed ‘Bone’ series, said comic books are still prevalent in today’s society because they’re such a quick and accessible form of entertainment.
‘I learned to read because of comic books,’ Smith said while signing a stack of books for a third grade teacher.
Many comic creators agree in order to get more people reading, comic books in the classroom are very important.
Artist of the Marvel ‘Mythos’ line of books, Paolo Rivera said that teaching comics is a way to get students interested in reading.
‘Comics are an easy to read visual media, and a way to increase literacy especially in young kids. They’re a gateway drug to literature,’ Rivera said.
Rivera agreed that catching the attention of young readers is necessary, both for children and for the industry.
‘Anything that gets people to read is fine with me,’ David said. ‘The older audience is all we’ve got. They’re either getting bored, or they die. More has to be done to get younger people.’
Danny Fingeroth, a former Marvel writer and editor, is a BU alum, an educator at New York University and The New School and the author of the critically acclaimed ‘Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society.’ He credits his time at BU with preparing him for the comic book field.
Looking back on his years at BU, Fingeroth said majoring in cinema provided him with a visual way of thinking about narrative while scripting stories.
‘I became cognizant of the visual aspects of the universe,’ Fingeroth said.
On the topic of comic books in education, Fingeroth agreed with the others, saying comic books have become a media in which information and entertainment are delivered to the reader simultaneously.
‘It is appropriate to teach them, up there with literature and cinema,’ he said.
The future of comic books still rests in the hands of the readers and their desire to be entertained by the tremendous variety comic books have to offer.