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The impact of socially relevance stories in the late 1960’s

The 1960’s is a time known for many social changes in society. The U.S. was going through the Vietnam War, which brought about many protests and riots from people who were against it. The majority of these protesters consisted of college students who were rebelling against the government and their laws on society. The younger generation was all about peace and prosperity, which is the main reason they protested against the Vietnam War. This also resulted in ‘hippy’ movements and a major increase in drug usage. The sixties was also a time of African Americans fighting for equal rights in society. With all this said, and based off of what we know about comics, it makes perfect sense that many comic books reflected the social issues of this decade in their stories. Comics are known for incorporating social issues into their comics, which is meant to send messages to their readers. For example, in the Amazing Spider-man series, an African American, who is completely high on drugs, jumps off the roof of a building. After Spider-man saves him, he says “My life as Spider-man is probably as dangerous doing as any but I’d rather face a hundred super-villains than toss it away by getting hooked on hard drugs!” (Amazing Spider-man #96). This is clearly a message to readers, influencing them against drugs. From this, it is clear that socially relevant stories had a big impact on comics in the sixties.



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