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Were comics at the forefront of social transformation or lagging behind in the 1960’s?

During the transition into the 1960's and basically throughout the decade, comics were at the forefront of social transformation. This was for several reasons, starting with the large number of comic book topics dealing with real current events around the world. A lot of these just barely slipped by the comic code of 1952, such as comics dealing with issues from the Cold War and also the Vietnam War. Another great example of comics sticking with the times was the invention of the timeless character Spiderman. Peter Parker was the epitome of any 1960 high school student. He was just a normal kid and when he obtained his powers, his first instinct was to use them for making money. Marvel essentially created the perfect super hero for the times they were in, and since then, Spiderman has seen minimal changes in character, appearance, and storyline. This comic line also was one of the most humanly developed stories, in the sense that Spiderman dealt with many more "everyday" issues than the average super hero, in that his teenage life saw as much time in the comics as his superhero life. With Spiderman and other new super hero comics on the rise, the comic industry was without a doubt at the forefront of social transformation in the U.S. in the 1960's.

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