Action and adventure
Action and adventure |
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Page 16 of 42  Cover, Superboy (DC Comics, 1950). Art: Curt Swan. It was decided to make Superboy's adventures part of Superman's boyhood, rather than making the character a junior version, so as not to dilute the original. Unsurprisingly, therefore, when comic books made their appearance in the mid-1930s, there was very soon pressure to include adventure material within their pages." Indeed, many early examples of humorous anthologies included adventure strip reprints (even the seminal Famous Funnies carried Buck Rogers). The influence of the pulps was especially strong because many of the early publishers had started as pulp publishers: this was true of both the big companies that came to dominate comics, DC Comics and Marvel. Similarly, it was true that the writers were often pulp writers, and the artists commonly pulp-book cover illustrators. Thus, the adventure comics developed a different aesthetic. Most began as anthologies of short stories, but developed into soap operas starring a single character. In the process, the publishers rejected the abstract poetic fantasies that distinguished the more arty newspaper strips in favour of a more representational style: the name of the game was bold, figurative art with strong colours, though as artists became more ambitious, they increasingly challenged traditional 'chessboard' layouts. In terms of content, the emphasis was again on simplicity: the heroic derring-do found in the pulps was perfect, and it is significant that two of the most important examples of early comics that developed original themes, rather than relying on newspaper reprints, were adventure-orientated titles: Detective Comics in 1937 and Action Comics in 1938.  Pages from Superman (DC Comics, 1971). Art: Curt Swan. |