After the Comics Code was introduced, all comic books put that seal on the front cover. It was an indication that that comic book adhered not only to the rules of the comic book world, but also to the unwritten rules of society. They did not have overly sexual content or drug use or anything of that nature that the culture of the United States at the time would frown upon. In the 1980s however, comics took a turn to the dark side. The most notable of the comics that took this turn would be The Dark Knight Returns. Why did the industry take this turn though? The average age of comic book readers during this time was much older than in previous decades. What the industry was trying to do was to go back to its roots. Batman originally was a darker figure, someone who's parents were murdered in an alley. What they were trying to do was to get the comic book readers that may have ventured away from comic books to come back by trying to portray the new stories as similar to the ones at the beginning. The Dark Knight Returns also did not have the Comic Code seal on the cover. This was new for comic books, and it basically told people that this comic book did not want to follow the rules that were set for the industry. It was going on the edge to try to revive the industry and attract more readers. Did it work? The new superhero movies that have been rolling of the Hollywood assembly line are a good indication that this revival of the industry was successful.
To begin with, I really do like the idea of reading a comic about comics. I think it's a great idea and it's very well executed. As I was reading the first two chapters, I was surprised at how many examples there were of art in recent (and ancient, in some cases) history that are variations of "sequential visual art" and thus the foundations of modern comics. I'd never even thought about it before and it was hard to believe how many different kinds there were. I also love all the discussion about how our human brains automatically interpret certain images in a specific way, how we see others constantly but we identify ourselves when we look at cartoons, and how inanimate objects automatically becomes extensions of our bodies. The pyramid of styles was very interesting too as a way to conceptualize and almost graph or "place" a specific art style in comics. In Comic Book Nation , I enjoyed reading about the evolution of early comics from "funnies...
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