Comics becoming “darker” during the 1980’s, I think had to do a lot with the time period. During the 80’s drugs and violence began to rise tremendously. Cocaine became a popular among celebrities and the wealthy and crack cocaine took over the inner cities making and created drug wars. The drug problem became the Reagan Administration launched the war on drugs in order to put a stop to the up rise of drug use. The comic book creators knew the people reading these comics were using drugs and the dark style of comics appealed to these people. The writers were also using these drugs and put them in a state of mind were dark and violent comics is what they wanted to write. The comic book industry also had a hard time attracting new readers. Most of the readers were older and have read comics since they were a kid. The writers need to make comics that appealed to a more mature audience and would keep their attention. The artwork in the comics also changed, the comics in the 1980’s and a more graphic and terrifying. The 1980’s overall created a new style for comic books.
Throughout the 60’s, comics were at the forefront of social transformation. Possibly the best example of this is through comics reflection of the public’s view of the Vietnam War. At the beginning of the war a majority of Americans fully supported the cause. The idea that communism, the most evil idea conceived, could spread first through South-East Asia and eventually to the US lead Americans to accept the need to occupy Vietnam. However as the war progressed it became more obvious that it was less to defend democracy and actually just a proxy war against Russia. As support for the war diminished, comics greatly altered their position on the war to question the causes of the war, and whether the US should actually be there. The comic Iron Man accurately represented this shift in support as he stopped dealing arms, and took a moral stand against their use. As well as Vietnam War culture, comics also accurately portrayed youth culture in the US throughout the 60’s. Comics suc...
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