Two Comic Stories

[Elenor Waas]

TimSmyth, a social studies teacher at Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Pennsylvania, has read comic books since he was a young boy. While he has taught for 15 years, it was only in the last two years that Smyth decided to integrate his passion for comic books into his classes. But now he says comic books and graphic novels are powerful vehicles to engage students in both history and current events.

While I do not use comic books in every lesson, my classes are surrounded by images of diverse comic book characters which allows my students to see themselves in these titles. Many students learn to see past the idea that comics are about superheroes in tights and learn instead to recognize the current issues the stories seek to explore.

Comics serve as a time capsule for society and my students are encouraged to look at changes over time and analyze what they see. During Black History Month, I put out a variety of materials on topics such as the Harlem Hellfighters, Tuskegee Airmen, and even one on Senator John Lewis (March), which both students and teachers borrowed.

Tim Smyth teaches 10th and 11th grade U.S. and modern history at Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Pennsylvania. Smyth has spoken about how he uses comics in his classroom at numerous conferences including Comic Cons in San Diego, New York and Chicago as well as at the Pennsylvania and National Council for the Social Studies conferences. He has also guest lectured at Gwynedd Mercy University and presented at multiple school districts. Smyth created @EdCampHuman for local teachers to exchange ideas and to connect with one another. His blog is historycomics.net.

Don't believe me? Ask my wife. When we first moved in together, I insisted that I hang all of my superhero action figures on the wall. They were (of course) still in their original packaging and I thought it would look amazing.

I grew up in the '70s dutifully reading Spiderman, Batman, Marvel Team-Up, the Fantastic Four and more. And it's funny that I never questioned the race of my favorite heroes nor their sexual preferences that is, until I saw the cover of issue 153 of Captain America and The Falcon.

The cover showed Captain America pummeling an already knocked-out Black man in an alley. The Falcon is arriving at the scene and yelling at Captain America to stop beating on "one of my people" and to "come waltz with me."

It was a powerful cover. I've always remembered it and it opened my eyes to the power of comic books to tackle important issues. I always preferred these types of human stories. The Green Lantern and Green Arrow confronted drug addiction; Tony Stark, Iron Man, battled his own demons in a bottle.

That's probably why I always liked Spiderman the best. He was a teenager, like me, and he dealt with real-life problems like helping his sick aunt pay bills, acne and talking to members of the opposite sex. He was more relatable than some galaxy-jumping god or titan.

I remember when Luke Cage became the first Black hero to get his own comic book. Other Black heroes, like Black Panther or Falcon, had been supporting characters up to that point. Both would eventually star in their own comic book.

Comic books have since tackled myriad social issues, from discrimination and bigotry to sexism, genocide and substance abuse. They have also tackled sexuality over the years by revealing that several characters were gay or bisexual, though usually involving characters considered secondary, like Iceman, Northstar and John Constantine.

That changed in 2021. Not only did DC reveal that its infamous Harley Quinn was bisexual and married to fellow Batman nemesis Poison Ivy, but also that Superman's son, Jon Kent (the new Superman), was bisexual, too, and had a boyfriend.

Sure, there will always be haters who criticize the move, saying the comic book industry is kowtowing to the LGBTQ community. And some traditionalists will object, though they would likely object to any change in their favorite heroes and characters. Either way, DC reported "unprecedented" orders for "Superman: Son of Kal-El #5."

I have friends who are gay. Why shouldn't they be able to pick up a comic and find someone with whom they can relate? It's no longer really a big thing to see an Asian character like Shang-Chi, or a Black character like the Falcon, or a Latino character like Jake Gomez, the new Werewolf by Night.

Sweating and grunting notwithstanding, the decathlete analogy is also apt because writing across mediums requires different muscles. I use a different skill set to write a novel than I do for a screenplay, and call on still another part of my brain for a comic book; the single setting and limited characters of a play require yet another avenue of thinking, while a documentary demands not so much writing as harvesting a story from its parts and assembling it, like Dr. Frankenstein. And much like the story of Frankenstein, it all starts with selecting the correct brain.

I want to sell some comic books on FBA, however, my main concern is putting the label for FBA on the said comic book. I fear it may devalue or might rip the page when attempted to be taken off. I was wondering if I could maybe put the comics in a protective sleeve and put the label on the sleeve but that would be another fee I would have to endure. Is there any other solution or is spending a bit more money on protective sleeves the way to go?

As a comic book reader, if I received a comic with an fnsku sticker on it I would be pretty upset! That for sure would decrease the value of the comic. I would say get some cardboard backing, plastic sleeves, and sell them fbm so that you can ensure they are being protected.

The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and widespread commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those featuring the superhero archetype. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books, the Silver Age is considered to cover the period from 1956 to 1970, and was succeeded by the Bronze Age.[1]

The popularity and circulation of comic books about superheroes had declined following World War II, and comic books about horror, crime and romance took larger shares of the market. However, controversy arose over alleged links between comic books and juvenile delinquency, focusing in particular on crime, horror, and superheroes. In 1954, publishers implemented the Comics Code Authority to regulate comic content.

In the wake of these changes, publishers began introducing superhero stories again, a change that began with the introduction of a new version of DC Comics' The Flash in Showcase #4 (October 1956). In response to strong demand, DC began publishing more superhero titles including Justice League of America, which prompted Marvel Comics to follow suit beginning with The Fantastic Four #1.

A number of important comics writers and artists contributed to the early part of the era, including writers Stan Lee, Gardner Fox, John Broome, and Robert Kanigher, and artists Curt Swan, Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Steve Ditko, Mike Sekowsky, Gene Colan, Carmine Infantino, John Buscema, and John Romita Sr. By the end of the Silver Age, a new generation of talent had entered the field, including writers Denny O'Neil, Gary Friedrich, Roy Thomas, and Archie Goodwin, and artists such as Neal Adams, Herb Trimpe, Jim Steranko, and Barry Windsor-Smith.

Spanning World War II, when American comics provided cheap and disposable escapist entertainment that could be read and then discarded by the troops,[5] the Golden Age of comic books covered the late 1930s to the late 1940s. A number of major superheroes were created during this period, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, and Captain America.[6] In subsequent years comics were blamed for a rise in juvenile crime statistics, although this rise was shown to be in direct proportion to population growth.[citation needed] When juvenile offenders admitted to reading comics, it was seized on as a common denominator;[5] one notable critic was Fredric Wertham, author of the book Seduction of the Innocent (1954),[5] who attempted to shift the blame for juvenile delinquency from the parents of the children to the comic books they read. The result was a decline in the comics industry.[5] To address public concerns, in 1954 the Comics Code Authority was created to regulate and curb violence in comics, marking the start of a new era.

In the mid-1960s, DC established that characters appearing in comics published prior to the Silver Age lived on a parallel Earth the company dubbed Earth-Two. Characters introduced in the Silver Age and onward lived on Earth-One.[17] The two realities were separated by a vibrational field that could be crossed, should a storyline involve superheroes from different worlds teaming up.[17]

The talking animal superheroes Supermouse and Mighty Mouse were published continuously in their own titles from the end of the Golden Age through the beginning of the Silver Age. Atomic Mouse was given his own title in 1953, lasting ten years. Atomic Rabbit, later named Atomic Bunny, was published from 1955 to 1959.

DC Comics sparked the superhero revival with its publications from 1955 to 1960. Marvel Comics then capitalized on the revived interest in superhero storytelling with sophisticated stories and characterization.[22] In contrast to previous eras, Marvel characters were "flawed and self-doubting".[23]

DC added to its momentum with its 1960 introduction of Justice League of America, a team consisting of the company's most popular superhero characters.[citation needed] Martin Goodman, a publishing trend-follower with his 1950s Atlas Comics line,note 1 by this time called Marvel Comics, "mentioned that he had noticed one of the titles published by National Comics seemed to be selling better than most. It was a book called The [sic] Justice League of America and it was composed of a team of superheroes", Marvel editor Stan Lee recalled in 1974. Goodman directed Lee to likewise produce a superhero team book, resulting in The Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961).[24]

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