Action and adventure
Action and adventure |
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Page 21 of 42  Captain Marvel (Fawcett, 1950; British black-and-white edition, L Miller and Son, 1950). This first wave of superheroes soon gained international fame and distribution. Yet, for all that, it is worth noting that the superheroes were never particularly successful in Britain before 1959. Why not is still a matter for debate: possibly the pulp tradition was not as strong or possibly the prejudice against American culture in general was too pervasive. Nevertheless, small coteries of British fans developed who were passionate about the imported titles, while some British publishers either reprinted them or attempted to introduce strips into anthologies.'8 There were even some (slightly off-key) home-grown efforts to imitate the genre, such as 'Wonderman' and 'The Bat'. As the 1940s moved on, so too did the American industry: other genres became popular as superheroes waned. The war had ended in 1945, and patriotic supermen temporarily lost their appeal. To try to rejuvenate the market, publishers attempted to target older readers, and as a result the range of subject matter expanded. Many of the genres that had been popular in the pulps now vied against each other for attention on the newsstand shelves, including westerns, detective, crime, war, science fiction and horror.  Cover, Captain Marvel (Fawcett, 1950; British black-and-white edition, L Miller and Son, 1950).  Panel from Captain Marvel (Fawcett, 1951), demonstrating other members of the 'Marvel Family'. Art/script for all: CC Beck. |