EXAMPLE OF SIMPLE COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS SERIES

Inside, hero Slam Bradley fights a cast of crudely imagined Chinese foes - characters with bright yellow skin, bearing caricatured names (Fui Onyui) and speaking stereotyped lines: “Velly solly. Researchers have used the Library’s comics collection to explore such topics as the changing roles of women and evolving perspectives on race and ethnicity.ĭetective Comics, for example, debuted in 1937 with a caricatured “yellow peril” Chinese villain on the cover - drooping Fu Manchu moustache, sawtooth teeth, wildly exaggerated facial features.

EXAMPLE OF SIMPLE COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS SERIES

The collection consists largely of print comic books but also includes special editions, color microfiche of early comics, self-published experimental books and, most recently, born-digital webcomics.Īmong the issues of Black Panther, Crimson Crusader and Green Lantern reside some of the most important comics in history: Famous Funnies №1, the first comic book sold on newsstands Detective Comics №1, the first issue in a series that spawned Batman and other iconic characters Amazing Fantasy №15, the issue that introduced Spider-Man and All Star Comics №8, which gave the world Wonder Woman.Ĭomics, and popular culture in general, have been a growing area of academic study for what they reveal about our society. The Library holds more than 140,000 issues of some 12,000 comic-book titles - an assemblage of Archies, Avengers and Aquamen that forms the largest collection in the United States. It’s also a reflection of the good and the bad of our society.” “They really document what we’ve been interested in for most of the 20th century and beyond.

It’s the ultimate popular culture of America,” said Georgia Higley, who oversees the comic-book collection at the Library of Congress. Three-plus decades later, the cultural revolution of the ’60s gave America a new, subversive kind of hero: Mickey Rat, a vulgar, hungover, womanizing reprobate who debuted in a story titled “The King of Rotten Stuff ” - a sure sign of how much society’s sensibilities had changed.Īmerican culture had evolved, and the pages of the era’s comic books showed it.

During the Depression, Mickey Mouse Magazine told the sweet, simple story of Disney’s iconic, wholesome character conquering a giant, saving a village and winning the hand of a princess, Minnie. 4 №1, 1939 - © Disney | Mickey Rat №1, 1972 - © Robert ArmstrongĪs evidence, consider two comic-book rodents.

Example of simple comic book characters