'Nuff Said: American Graphic Media

Joseph Henry Simon: October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011 | The Comics Journal

What is the future for the superhero? The future of the superhero in my opinion us a very bright one. With films like Iron Man, Thor and Captain America opening up the Marvel Universal, Marvel can expand and bring out more super heroes. I believe comics can make a comeback based on in recent years the “nerd” like culture has become “cool”. We see this in shows like Big Bang Theory, even in rap culture with groups like Odd Future and Childish Gambino. Also Comic Book adaptions have become the most profitable movies in Hollywood. Usually, when movies are based from a comic book or movie, they go on to make hundreds of millions dollars in the box offices. This then causes sequels, television programming and merchandising. With the connection of the marvel cinematic universal it maks people grow from just liking maybe one super hero movie, to liking the entire super hero franchise. Iron Man set the tone with the Iron Man. Iron Man being my favorite hero and by far the best super hero, with...

The future of the superhero is up to the fans and the industry to decide. Since 2000, the superhero genre became part of a more advanced transmedia experience. Cartoons, video games, backpacks, lunchboxes, schoolbooks, movie sagas, and classes are now dedicated to various forms of the history and future of the superhero. The recent trend for the 90s generation has brought back some relevance to the superhero market. "Geek Chic" has influenced people (usually in their college years) that intelligence actually has a comedic or sex appeal, and the comic book culture along with superheroes has made a comeback. The summer of 2011 was dominated with new Marvel-based movies that have set the basis for other movies to cone, namely the Avengers. Other characters from both Marvel and DC are set to have movies of their own by summer of 2012. Lastly, DC's "New 52" has provided advanced art forms and plot-lines to open up to a new audience. Like Marvel, they plan to publis...

I believe the superhero will continue to be symbolic characters. Comics have been around for a long time and there is no reason that they should die out anytime soon. Superheroes are what young people look up to and that will never change. The comics make the reader love and want to read more. Also, with all of this new technology for making movies, a ton of superhero movies have been being produced in the last 10 years. Superheroes can be viewed as they never could 20 years ago. Just look at the difference between the batman movies from 20 years ago to a couple years ago. The viewer can get a serious view on superheroes and get a sense of what its like to be one. The darkness and horror of being a superhero is portrayed and people like that. The movie the "Dark Knight", portrays this horror especially. It shows how crazy gotham city was and how its hard to be a superhero. In my point of view, this was the best superhero movie made. It really got your senses going and showed ...

Just like everything else, its going to become a broader field. Our societies obsession with them isn't going to dry up or anything. web series like the LXD and Misfits are creating new classic heroes for the next generation. The boom of comic book movies that have come out really don't hurt, I feel like the super hero itself is going to branch into other genres more then before, i mean have you seen batman: Arkam Asylum? Superheroes will be fine regardless of what happens to comics. Human beings long to be vindicated as unique and pretending to be a super hero, wishing and believing maybe one day you'll be the first to be more then normal special? it more addictive then any drug. its why J.K. Rowling is a millionaire and Stan lee got his own fairly successful reality show. To be more then what we are will always be a storyline worth producing.

I think that superheroes will continue to reflect the times they are created in, like they have always done since the Golden Age. I think the characters will continue to be big influential figures in our society. However, I do think that comic books will eventually die out. They are already in the process of it and I don’t see them making a comeback. Superheroes however will live on in films and television shows until society creates something better then movies that they could pass on to. Honestly, I don’t think superheroes will ever die. People have too much fascination with beings that are able to push past our mortal limitations to ever allow superheroes or other supernatural entities to die out. I also think either DC or Marvel will create a character that will finally knock Superman off his pedestal. I mean, I love Superman, and Batman. However I know that comic book companies continue to create new characters that will better connect to the public and I am sure they try to cr...

I believe that the future of the super hero will be very different. Future super heroes will not be as flawless as the ones today. I believe that some super heroes will come from the "dark side" and turn to do great. I find it interesting that super heroes and villains never switch sides. People in our everyday lives go from being good to bad people or bad to good. This concept is simple to understand and i feel that it will add a lot more excitement and drama to super heroes across the board. If spiderman or superman turned evil and a team of super heroes had to stop them i think it would be very cool. Authors can play around with how they got to switch sides. It could be through blackmail or even a experiment gone wrong anything that could drive a super hero or villin to switch sides would probably be very extreme. I feel that if comic books spice up their characters and plots a little bit it could add a whole new branch of comics in the industry.

Predicting the future is a very hard thing to do, but in my opinion the super hero has a bright future. Recently the super hero has been making a comeback in the movie industry. Creators are realizing the comic book era is starting to die out and different forms of media are taking over. Just about every super hero movie that has been released has done well in sales and even has one in the top grossing movies of all-time (The Dark Knight). Do to all the movies success, another outlet has been opened up, merchandise. There are clothes, lunch boxes, and tons of other items that are being sold with super heroes on them and a lot of the sales have to do with the success of the movies. Even though the movies are the main way super heroes are getting exposure nowadays I think they will become relevant in other forms of media in the future. Super heroes start to show up more and become more popular when there are major events going on in the world and right now there isn’t much for the writes...

It is always hard to tell what the future holds, and the same goes for the super hero. It is possible the super hero could die off and be lost for years and possibly even decades. Right now it does not seem like that is going to happen. Recently there has been a new surge for the super hero, mainly coming from movies. In the past 5 years there have been about a dozen super hero movies that have come out and have had great success, and there are only more to come. At this point in time I think the super hero is at a good place in American society. You see kids all the time wearing super hero T-shirts and backpacks, and although you may not see that as much with teenagers and adults, the fans are there. The new Batman movie that came out in 2010 brought back the almost dead movie character and with a sequel coming out in May of 2012 only good things can come. Although I have only seen the trailer for the new Batman movie I do not expect it to disappoint. There is also another Sp...

What is the future of the superhero?The future of the superhero will reflect the times in which they are created. Comics have always been a mirror image of what was going on in society. They portray social stereotypes and fads, as well as matching their plots with current events. For example Captain America was a form of propaganda used to boost patriotism and to be anti Nazi. The superhero of the future will also mainly be focused on movies. I think the future for the paperback comic book hero will be short lived, and that an explosion of superheroes in cinema will emerge. The future superhero will represent all the positive characteristics that past superheroes fought to defend, but they will fight their battles in futuristic cities and on new frontiers. These superhero’s will not fail to uphold their beliefs in the fight for good, but the technique and scenarios in which they do them will be new to the reader. The future of the superhero is bright, and has many different d...

The feature of the Superhero is difficult to predict. However, every character and superheroes have been changed into what society is needed. Especially, character like superhero has great influential power on our society, and it tells us what is lacking in our society and reflection of people's thirst of change in society. Therefore, in the 2oth century, there were a lot of Superheroes with super power and fighting crimes. However, this 21st century is bit different compared to the 20th century. Although, people are thirst of superheroes fighting crime and organizing society, people are somewhat sick of old fashioned superheroes and our society is quickly growing in capitalism and people want to relate closer to their real life situation. Therefore, my wild guess of future of the superhero might be somewhat related to the real life person with no superpower and person who overcomes real life issues. Issues, such as harsh financial problems, health problems, and many other hardsh...

The future of the superhero is very hard to tell, but I believe that the superhero archetype will remain prominent in the media and in our culture. Right now superheroes in the movies is a prominent genre. There has been a constant creation of superhero movies with characters that have been revamped to attract audiences in the modern era. Marvel and DC have been using old comic book characters and bringing them to a wider audience that might not have read the comics. Now more people are familiar with characters like Green Lantern and Thor than in previous decades. I believe that the future of the superhero in movies will remain prominent. It looks like superheroes in movies will continue into the near future just as long as audiences stay interested, which I believe they will. Although it is hard to say whether superheroes in all mediums from comics to movies will remain significant in our society. Part of what has changed the prominence of superheroes in our society has ...

In the 1960s Comics had a great fan base. Students that were more commonly in college were reading comics such as Spiderman and Superman. These comics appealed to the time of change and rebellion. Next came the 1970s, which was a pretty sad time for comics. This decade was considered a lost decade. Comics were in a slump because they were lacking in finding a new reader base. This was a major problem for the writers because there seemed to be no answer to get new readership. In the 1980s there was a realization to start creating comics that would be attractive to the aging readers. With new writers such as Frank Miller, a darker influence began. The first sign of this change was the Dark Knight Returns. In this graphic novel, Batman who is much older, fights his old foes in a different way. The fact that Bruce is older in the comic is a definite attempt to reach out to the older readership. In addition the way Batman was depicted was very dark. This was not the Batman from the Adam Wes...

The 1980's were a period of drastic change for comic books. Whereas in the previous decades, comics had struggled with their cartoonish and childlike manner, during the 80's they turned towards a more dark and mature route. The change occurred for several reasons, but one of the most important was that this was used to address changes in readership during the later part of the cemetery. Comics tried to become more serious, and they succeeded to a great extent, particularly once they were free of the Comics Code. Overall, the 1980's more than any other decade saw a change in the way comics were perceived, both by the creators and the readers. Superheroes in the 1980's became dark because the creators of the comics were trying to appeal to a more mature group of readers. With the creation of the comic shop and the slow death of the comic's popularity among children, the fan base that was purchasing comics was slowly becoming older. This meant that if comics didn...

With the fallout of Vietnam, the continuing threat of mutually assured destruction, and other socio-political issues spilling over from the 70s into the 80s a darker tone in comics was inevitable. But that is just the backdrop for comics. Comics had to adapt their content for the direct market. Their readership was aging, and so, they had to adapt the content to reflect their aging readers. Inevitably, the comics grew darker. They became more violent. They grew more socially and politically aware of the world and would comment and parody it. Because of the aging readership, comics had to grow and adapt. So not only did they become darker, they became more self-referential, commenting on comics history and past issues. Instead of broadening their audience, comics selected and reduced their audience, focusing on readers that they already had.

During the 1980s comic books saw a drastic change in the way they were written. In the times leading up to the 1980s, super heroes such as Batman were almost treated as a friendly, silly character. He would wear bright colored suits while fighting all sorts of weird creators and aliens. This was not the same Batman that was around when it was created during the 1980s. The reason why Batman comic books became so bright and happy go lucky had partially to do with the comic book code restrictions. The comic book code restricted the writers from writing about the dark side of Batman, the side that we view him as today. Frank Miller was the man brought in to change in the image of Batman. Miller brought Batman back to his roots. He was older but much more dark an ominous. The violence in the issue that Miller wrote was also a great deal different than the Batman comic books that were created before. It featured characters such as the joker going on rampages and killing a large amo...

Comics became “dark” in the 80’s for two main reasons. This first is and ageing market. Comics customers have become loyal buyers instead of fast loyal kids. Fandoms were empires of preferences and predilections that writers had to work in. the biggest goal for a comics writer would be to write a story so good fans of another hero would need to pick it up. On the lowest levels they needed to create continuity to their story without making it to clichéd for their character. It was a new generation of writers in a whole new selling situation and they found the creative freedom they needed by using back stories that were already there and creating the personalities that should have come from them. These writers took the hero’s down from their pedestals and made them walk among mortal humans, if not below them. Justice became hazy, like it really is, and therefore the heroes sold well enough. The second reason comics became darker was because of the question of what justi...

Superheroes became dark in the 1980’s because they reflected the dark events happening during this decade. In the 80’s, crime rates, violence, and drug abuse were increasing in society. Cocaine, in particular, was used among many people. As a result, comic book creators added these elements into their stories to gain public interests in the Comic Book Industry. They wanted to attract a more mature age of readers, instead of the children that was their main audience. Also, the political and social events in the 1970’s left a mark on Americans entering the 1980’s. The country’s lost in the Vietnam War, The Watergate scandal, and protesters and riots against the government made many American confused and glum about the future. Superheroes, especially Batman’s in Frank Millers’ The Dark Knight Returns, reflected the countries need to pull out of their “funk” and return to time that was better for Americans. A time when American values were important and the country thrived and prospere...

Comics books in the 1980's. Were different from what they are now. Comics now have a lighter tone to them, Comics made for kids will have light happy endings. comic books in the 1980s had a much darker tone to them. There was a lot more violence in the books then there were in the 1950s partiallly because of the Comic Book Codes. But also in the 1980s violence rose, as well as druhttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=506136990609808607gs and the crime rate. The comic books of that time reflects that period. We saw super heroes making, basically PSA against drug usage. Or the Villian or Victim used drugs. This made the issues in comics more serious. No longer did we seem villians bent on World domination, but the villians were hopped up on a drug. Or the victim was using drugs, turning the villians from monsters or other characters but the villian was underlying and dark. Also super heroes like batman were re evented. Before making the Dark character Dare Devil, Frank Miller ...

Comics in the 1980's were different than another time. Comics in the 1980's were very dark.  In the 1980's there were increase of crime rates and violence and drugs were a big problem as well. The comics of this time were trying to reflect off of this. Comics had heroes who tried to stop these villains and this ended up becoming very popular. People were into this rebel type behavior and the sales proved it. Sales soared during the 1980's. As the market grew so did the readers. The average age of readers increased and this was a definite positive for the comic book company's. Comics in the 80's definitely had more of a dark tone to them and some people were very into that  dark tone. These comic book writers needed to relate their comics to the current times during the 1980's and they definitely did. Comics in the 80's were very serious compared to other years and the types of readers and fans were proof of that. The more serious the comics g...