Comic books and corruption.

   I had stated in my first post the I was quite the adherent to the superhero genre comics from the age of 8 and to last about 10 years from that time. As far as comics go the golden age  is a label given to publications from the late 1930's to late 40's and featured the introduction of Superman (Action Comics #1,1938), Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern by the company that would become DC, as well as Captain America, The Human Torch (pre-Fantastic Four), Sub-Mariner and others from Timely Co. which would become the well known Marvel Comics. The list is huge and and includes Fawcett Comic's Captain Marvel (Shazam), one of my father's favorites, as well as the legendary Will Eisner's The Spirit. Circulation on monthly basis for some books, like Captain Marvel, were in the million+ range and dawned a new age trailing the birth of the Superhero, a great contribution to pop culture and fueled also by WWII, I take. Legendary names of the period are numerous and I believe that Stan (The Man) Lee, although not in comics at this time was obviously largely inspired by what was produced in this period. This is the part I will be addressing as Mr. Lee's contributions to the media are pioneering, while at the same time largely responsible for comics, in America, taking oh so long to be considered anything other other then a child's pastime and a low form of art.

   I tend to think of the period between the early 80's-early 90's as being, if not a golden age, surely the "Enlightenment" of the comic genre. Comics grew up in this time. I would imagine the wide spread popularity of Star Wars, Alien and the original Conan the Barbarian movies as being a bit of a catalyst for more mature and profound content finding it's way to the newsstand books and wider audiences. What Frank Miller and Kluas Janson did for the DareDevil series is without measure one of the most obvious examples of comics "coming of age" as the DD title was a newsstand title ,with mainstream readership as opposed to Epic Illustrated and, of course Heavy Metal, both of which were entirely geared for adult readers. Heavy Metal is actually the US version of the Mobius and Co. created French comic magazine ( Metal Hurlant). Adult themed comics in mag. form had been around for years but the Miller drawn and written Daredevil was unique for its time. I know full well I have merely glanced over the evo of the comic book but I believe I have hit on some of the larger notes. Which brings me to a subject that still haunts me.

   From the mid-late 80's it was as much as conceded that those who grew up reading comics in the 60's were still reading them and also were responsible for the opening of the comic book shop and other outlets. When I visited my favorite shop every Friday to spend my 10$ allowance I was talking with and mingling with, generally men in their 30's plus. At a small, bi-monthly convention in the area preteen boys like myself were not of the greatest represented number. Surely the creators of the books were aware of this shift and most book companies geared their writing and most of their marketing to reflect as much. This is what I believe is the true Golden Era for comics. The level of creativity was astounding, the art itself was morphing into a near fine art all it's own. Gone were they days of the "one off" story with no continuity, the level of draftsmanship increased across the board and remarks would be made when a book was failing to deliver...critique was not new, but now it was given more weight  as the comic field was also encountering and age of speculative investing and capital gains. It is no coincidence that the first adult themed Batman movie was released during these fast and furious times.

   Now here is the darker side of the story and what took comics into a completely new direction, mostly downward if talking readership numbers etc. It's back to Stan "the man" Lee, the guy who boast of creating near every Marvel character to appear from the 60's on till his best artist and writers jumped ship and sued Marvel for intellectual properties etc. Stan is a business man and had seemingly always taken a dim view of his audience. He wrote largely hack material and took credit for all the creative talents that came through Marvel's doors. In house at Marvel&DC the talent knew that they could create and write the most awesome material but that they were contractually unable to express any credit for it.  Why would anyone with a passion for what they do wish to have their work edited "watered down" and otherwise mangled to fit onto a Stan Lee template. Comics had to be dumb remember...cause the losers who buy them aren't ready for "real" art, and the rest are just dumb little snot nosed kids. right! Plus, since the artist were getting paid such low page rates why would they not mass produce for higher page rates if the contrary would mean less bread for their table...hell, Stan the Man couldn't care less as long as he was pulling down the good CEO money. A good case in point is, during the "Enlightenment" one of the breakout artist was the "Spawn" creator Todd McFarlane, who was hot,hot,hot at the time. He was paid more for his loan Spider-Man 300 annual (iirc) then the legendary Jack Kirby had made for his whole Marvel career. This payment comes about as Mr. McFarlane was so "going on" in the field at this time that he could leverage Marvel into finally coming off the dough. It was a serious win for the talent but it put the nue vue comic book investors in a bad position. I'l explain...

   Comics were not BIG money, publishing itself only generates so much and the average published author is no millionaire, and so the same holds true for the comic companies and artist. As long as the writers and artist were paid more "in-tune" with their passion for their field and not what they were worth, like not paying them royalties...the comic companies could make a nice profit form subscription and newsstand sales. Taking Marvel as example, Stan Lee being the owner of all intellectual property could make a very appealing presentations to stock holders and investors. If one can get the milk for paying out an average, low end salary why rock the boat with the purchase of a cow? On the talent side, these, for the most part, were men and woman who worked in their field out of strong passion and not to make it rich. You know the saying of how the best job for you is the one you would do for free, well that was an actuality in the comics industry. People like John Byrnes fought for and set up pension plans for their peers, no one else was going to lookout for them. Anyway, this all had a huge effect on comics.

   Lets look at the early 90's, the comics industry was bulging, like the sports card industry and speculation was rampant. Up to four different covers were produced to inaugurate a new Superman title...and the hijinks being fostered didn't start or end there. Many new titles were being pumped out and there were crossover plots galore, as that had become fad. The burgeoning creativity of the past several years was being replaced with flooding more and more of same onto the, apparently fragile market. There were bells and whistles galore but I have seen that little of the "new stuff" from that period has survived. What was innovative was becoming shtick all too often and at some point, because the readers and collectors were not as dumb or snot befouled of nose as Stan the Man had assured his shareholders, the whole thing collapsed under it's own ridiculous girth and rotten foundations! Much like our economy now, belts were pulled tight and staff, titles and vending outlets were tossed out like buckets full of water on a sinking ship. It wasn't just the laissez faire capitalization of a fragile industry that capsized the comic industry, but it also had to do with the talent asking for it's fair share and leaving the big two in order to own their own work...plus be paid a fair value to boot! Hence, creator owned comic imprints such as Image were popping up but on the whole many distributors and retail outlets closed their doors or stopped carrying comic books altogether. The tragedy lies in the fact that this was, like so many other debacles,a man-made and entirely avoidable one...greed, mostly by the company execs but also by the talent, and of course stoked by the cash and designs of the consumers led to the demise of the industry. One can still buy a comic book but it ain't what it used to be, the game had changed.

   I'd like to ramble on about this a little more in another post. I will be more precise in how the outlined events affected me and my friends. It's really a pity but like anything else, change is a must. I'd also like to hear form anyone who has a similar interest in the subject and receive their thoughts etc.

   Till I write up the next rant be well, Mark.