Action and adventure
Action and adventure |
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Page 39 of 42  Vampirella In conclusion, before we wind up this chapter on adventure comics, we need to return to their place in popular culture generally. This is obviously a complex subject, but of one thing we can be certain: adventure broadened the content of comics, but it also broadened the range of targets for criticism. Clearly, the 1954-5 crisis over the American horror and crime titles brought things to a head, but in terms of the 1930-70 period as a whole, a far broader range of opinions were encouraged. Certainly, there was an ambivalence towards the action genre, much in the same way as there was towards humour. There were basically two opposing viewpoints. On the one hand, many people, particularly adults and parents, saw adventure comics as 'blood-stirring yarns', robust entertainment for boys and adolescents, and therefore as nothing very much to worry about. Indeed, when it came to the 'improving' comics such as the Classics Illustrated line, in Britain and the United States, and The Eagle and Look and Learn, in Britain, many felt that it might even be possible that they had an educative effect. On the other hand, complaints against the medium intensified, often extending arguments first put forward against publications that were comics' predecessors (in Britain, the penny dreadfuls and story papers and in the United States, the dime novels and pulps), and were increasingly aired in press articles, radio and television broadcasts, and in academic books."  Psycho |