The Comic Book

I can full-heartedly understand how people considered the comic book as unsophisticated…you can see it after reading the first page of any of the early Superman comics.  Honestly, it was really hard for me to even get through the first two pages or so.  I could the same as Little Nemo but after a bit I could get used to it and submerse myself in that weird world.  Superman was an entirely different story.  I never got into the groove of things and I found myself spending more time laughing at how horrible the writing AND visuals were rather than being invested in the story.  In fact, I couldn’t tell you one thing from the story I read. 

I will say that The Adventures of Tin Tin were a little better but I think it was the shining gem in it’s day and age only because it was a little more simplified than the failed attempted realism the other action comics tended to adopt.  The early Batman and Captain America comics were just as cheesy and poorly done as the Superman were.  We have come to hold them dear now however that is purely because this genre got better over time when artist had a better idea of how to improve the quality. 

They served their purpose, though, so I guess one could consider the early comic books as successful.  They were easy to access and affordable entertainment to treat the kids that were silly enough to be passed off as safe for the youth.  It also gave the children role models to aspire to.  Therefore, the comic book produced some really good characters that were later expanded upon to really make them timeless.  It really is amazing to think about how long characters like Batman and Captain America have been around and yet they have kept their popularity among the masses.  Even if one doesn’t know the characters exactly they have heard of them.

Art wise I think these early versions of the comic book were those awkward in-betweens an artist has when trying to figure out a new style.  They pass but they aren’t realized yet.  I’m grateful that over time artists figured out how to simplify the shapes better to make more dynamic compositions as well as get separate writers to work on the story and really expand upon them.  No longer is it just “beat up the bad guy because he’s evil”.  Also, puns now play a less obvious role in the dialogue for which we should all be thankful.