'Nuff Said: American Graphic Media

Julian Chambliss and William Svitavsky received the Jerome Stern Award for best essay in 2008 Issue of Studies of American Culture . We won for our essay "From Pulp Hero to Superhero: Culture, Race, and Identity in American Popular Culture, 1900-1940"

One of the constant questions that I face as a historian is why do I spend time researching comic books and comic book culture. The reasons for these questions are numerous. On one level, it is a question of training (although seldom vocalized as such). This is fair question, I did not graduate from an American Studies Program—I graduated from a history program. Moreover, I do not focus on a “cultural” topic in same way some of my peers did. Indeed, I avoided the more exotic theory driven analytical approaches pursued by my peers. This was not from lack of understanding, if anything it was from annoyance (if you have ever been in a meeting with someone who won't shut-up, think about that person channeling dozens of other people who won't shut up—that is the grad student in love with theory. It gets old quick. These questions aside, my concern with the city has personal, professional, and ideological foundations. This is not a space I feel a need to explain every nuisance o...

The semester is over and now we will get to the hard work of considering the good, the bad, and the ugly of the class this semester. While I and my colleague felt good about some of the aspect of the class, we struggled with others. We will touch base about what the future holds later. What I really want to do is point out that overall, our efforts are paying off. This October our article on the transition from pulp era adventure magazine to golden age comics will be published in Studies in American Culture . If that was not enough, this month we were quoted in CNN.COM story on the Ten Cent Plague , a new book about the anti-comic scare of the 1950s. Follow the link for more information. http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/05/08/comic.books/index.html

When I first chose my topic for my research paper, “sexuality and body image in comics”, I figured that I would find many books and sources on that topic. It seemed to me, that the unrealistic body image representations in comic books would have caused much controversy in the early twenty-first century. Even though I did not find as many sources as I would have liked, I did discover some interesting information. A large part of my research paper was dedicated towards the effects of the portrayal of the super-heroines body images, and why comic book editors drew women in that particular way. First of all, women were drawn with large breasts and long legs to appeal to and attract young men. This is a very obvious reason since the allure of skimpy dressed women in tight costumes sparked comic books sales. However, another reason why super-heroines were dressed as they were is because it gave a chance for success. The super-heroine, Phantom Lady used her sex appeal to “distract...

Civil War must have been my favorite comic books that we read throughout the semester. I thought it was really cool how it took place in today’s age. Although it was always interesting to read comic books that appeared in the early twenty-first century, it was more difficult to relate to them since they reflected the lives of Americans at that particular time. Civil War, on the other hand incorporates important people of today’s society, such as Larry King on CNN and Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan in a night club. I also thought it was interesting that the conflict in Civil War symbolizes a similar conflict that the United States deals with today. The issue of Civil War is the fight between the “good” and the “bad”. The superheroes are supposed to sign the registration act which requires them to reveal their secret identity and work for the government for compensation. As many superheroes refuse to join the other side, the main theme of Civil War becomes “whose side are yo...

Although we didn't spend a great deal of time talking about it in class, I very much enjoyed reading Astro City - I felt that it was really fresh and, despite it obvious references to other existing superheroes, really unlike anything else that we had read. The characters had depth and issues and we got to see aspects of superhero life that just aren't ever discussed, such as dating and how exhausting it is to try to save the world even when you can travel thousands of miles a second. My favorite story (that no one else seemed to like very much :)) was the one about the woman from the haunted hill who comes into the city and is more afraid of what she encounters there than the monsters and demons lurking around her town every night. Obviously this story was a reference to tradition vs. change but even superficially, it was so strange and intriguing and that was what really made it interesting. I've always been fascinated by narratives, whether in literature or film, that j...

I think one of the comics I most enjoyed reading this semester was “ Astro City ”. While the characters could clearly be linked to the classic comic book characters, like The Samaritan to Superman and Winged Victory to Wonder Woman, they were far enough away to be portrayed differently and perhaps more realistically. They give a different spin on the old character types that draws the reader in. One of the things that has always bothered me about Superman is his seeming invincibility. He always succeeds and is happy about helping people- he is just the regular Boy Scout. The Samaritan, on the other hand, is a worn down Superman. He still feels it his duty to help everyone, but he feels the stress of always helping people and never having a spare moment to just relax. Showing this weakness, this perceived flaw, makes him a much more likable character. Rather than being the unattainable form of perfection, people can sympathize with him, if just to a small degree. I also like...