Seduction of the Innocent

Nowadays, comics seem pretty harmless to most people. Usually people think of comic books as picture books with superheroes saving the world. We allow our kids to read them if they want to because --- well --- we just want our kids to read!

There was a time not long ago, however, that the public began criticizing comics, calling them dangerous, violent, and unsuitable for children. I am not here to tell you whether comics are appropriate for children or not. That is for you to decide. I will just state the facts.

In 1954, Frederic Wertham (pictured above) wrote a book entitled Seduction of the Innocent. This commentary against comic books really got the ball rolling for the anti-comics movement. In the book, Wertham claimed that comics promote violence in adolescents. He attempted to persuade his audience that comic books were unsuitable and downright immoral.

Not much later, the Comics Code was adopted by publishers of comics across the country. The new code required comic books to "clean up" the violence and graphic images. It even called for comics to remove or replace words such as "horror" and "terror" on the front cover!

The Comics Code led to a new movement in comics called underground comix.

Eventually, publishers disregarded the code. By 2000, most publishers did not advertise under the code any longer. The public was no longer worried about such content in comic books.

Today's Superheroes

The superhero still exists today in many TV shows, movies, books, and even advertisements! Check out this recent television commercial for Crunchy Nut Cereal.

Manga

Manga is the name for the Japanese version of comics. Of course, in Japan, the word manga really refers to any and all comics, but in the West, we understand manga to be Japanese comics. (Click here to read some manga online for free!)

Manga is very closely related to anime. Anime is basically moving manga. Anime is animated, as you might guess. Anime is for TV or movies, while manga is for books or any other place where the images could be drawn. In Japan, anime refers to any moving cartoon, but in the West, we understand anime to specifically refer to Japanese animation shows and films.

There are many unique characteristics in manga that do not occur in other comics. The most obvious characteristic is the size and shape of characters' eyes. Also, characters' emotions tend to be exaggerated in manga, possibly because of certain exaggerated facial features of the characters. (Click here to see a website about how to draw manga!)

Osamu Tezuka is considered to be the "father of modern-day manga." He was a 20th century artist who developed some of the most integral attributes of the manga artistic style. Many people refer to him as the "Walt Disney of manga." (Click here to see a timeline of Tezuka's life.)

Below is an example of some of Tezuka's artwork. He created the manga comic, Astroboy.

You can see other artwork by Tezuka at this website. There is also a museum in Japan dedicated to Tezuka's life and work. Below is a picture of this building.

Vocabulary

Just like any other medium, comics have a specific vocabulary. (Check out this online quiz to test your knowledge of more comics vocabulary.)

Novels and movies alike have vocabulary like "characters," "plotline," and "setting." Painters might needs to use specific vocabulary such as "oil-based paint," "texture," and "line of sight." Photographers use words and phrases like "rule of thirds" and "framing."

Similarly, comics as a medium has its own set of vocabulary, some of which has been borrowed from other media. These are a very few examples of comics vocabulary.

Balloons (or speech bubbles) - These are usually of a circular shape. They contain words to indicate what a character is saying.

Thought balloon - Similar to the speech balloon, however,  it takes the shape of a cloud and contains the thoughts of the character.

Panel - a space, often rectangular in shape, that contains a "scene" of the story. Panels are placed one after another to tell the story. The following comic strip has 4 panels.

Gutter - the usually empty space between the panels. The above comic strip shows the gutters between each panel. In this case, there are 3 gutters between the 4 panels.

Splash page - a full page drawing in a comic book. Basically, the artist uses a full page as one panel. The example below comes from Watchmen, which contains a splash page for the beginning of each chapter.

Motion lines - lines drawn by the illustrator to signify movement.

Superman

Did you know that Superman was created by two 19-year-old guys from Cleveland, Ohio? It's true. Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel created Superman in 1933. Of course, Superman is still popular today. (Take a look at the video below. Yet another movie about Superman coming out in 2013!) We not only see the character in comic books and movies, but also in video games, action figures, clothing, and birthday cakes! Virtually no one in this day and age has not heard about Superman! Certainly, due to Superman's popularity, someone must have made a killing off of the character! Sadly, the creators, Shuster and Siegel, were not the ones to really profit.

During the time of Superman's birth, it was common for company's to buy the rights to comic book characters. Writers and illustrators would create their characters and stories. If they wanted them published, they would probably go to a big comic book publishing company such as DC Comics. The company would pay the creators for that story --- and for all rights to the characters. The creators would get one check, and the company could possibly make millions of dollars over the next several years. Of course, many comic creators continued to work for the companies, creating more stories using the same characters. But the characters could not be called their own any longer, since the companies legally had the rights to the characters. This was the case with Shuster and Siegel. Not realizing that Superman would be such a hit, the boys sold their character for $130 to split! Can you imagine!!??!?!?? Since then, DC Comics has made millions and millions of dollars off of this single character!

What are comics?

What are comics? Some people might describe comics as being stories with pictures, but, if that's the case, then do picture books qualify as comics? The answer is no --- picture books and comics are not synonymous. So, there is a lot more to comics than just pictures. This is how artist and author Scott McCloud defines comics:

"Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer" (Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud).

(From McCloud's Understanding Comics)

McCloud also refers to comics as "sequential art," or panels containing a combination of images and words that are set in a specific sequence to tell a story.

Check out the following interview of Scott McCloud. He discusses a lot about his view of comics.

                                    

"I try to learn from everyone... I try to follow no one..." --- Scott McCloud

Comics? Really?

Yep, I said it. Comics are a real form of literature. As a Language Arts major, I  believe that comics/graphic novels are just as worthy of being called literature as poems, novels, and essays. I didn't always believe this, however. I didn't even think about comics much until I began taking this class --- Comics as Literature. This blog is a product of my thoughts, new knowledge, and reflection from this class.

So, comics are a worthy form of literature. This isn't to say that all comics have literary worth, just like not all novels have literary worth. (See The Literary Worth of Comics). Literary worth is mostly up to opinion and personal preference. I might think that a book --- let's say Twilight ---  is amazing while my best friend disagrees. To me, Twilight has literary worth; to my friend, it does not. But these opinions do not change the fact that Twilight is a piece of literature. It is a novel, and a novel is a worthy form of literature. Likewise, not all comics and graphic novels are good, exactly, but they are still literature. If you give them a chance, you will find that some of them are amazing, however, and you might even decide that some comic books meet your own definition of literary worth!

What is literature? According to the online Oxford Dictionary, literature refers to "written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit." Does this definition apply to comics? Well, first of all, we need to decide whether comics are written works. Most comics contain words, but they do not have to contain words. Does a written work have to contain words in order to fit the definition? As of now, I'm really not sure. This idea could be debated forever. For my purposes here, let's just say that comics are written works, as most do contain words along with images.

Secondly, are comics "considered of superior or lasting artistic merit?" Your initial response might be 'no,' but let's think this through. Certainly not all comics have lasting artistic merit, but some do. Think about superhero movies and shows, like Spiderman and Batman. These began with comics during the first half of the twentieth century. These characters still exist in mainstream movies and shows. They also exist on T-shirts, shoes, toys, etc. Wouldn't you say that these products of comics prove the lasting artistic merit of their origins?

Perhaps you still disagree. Let me guide you to some top-notch graphic novels. Works like Maus and Watchmen have received world renown. These graphic novels contain strong plot lines, complex characters, and deep, serious themes. It would take a  long time for me to describe every facet of these stories to you here, so I would encourage you to just pick them up and read them yourself! (It would be much more interesting for you to read them instead of reading about them anyway.) Once you've read a good graphic novel, then reevaluate your opinions about them. You might just decide that graphic novels qualify as literature!