Category: History

A Brief History on the Dual Life of Winsor McCay

The Palace Theater in Chicago was silent the night of February 8, 1914 as a lone well-dressed man stepped onto stage out of the darkness. The man was Winsor McCay, a cartoonist known for crafting imaginative comic strips for the New York Herald and New York American, he was carrying a whip. No one in the audience knew what to expect as McCay began talking about something new called “animation,” this was a vaudeville act, a stage play, after all. Then McCay turned to the film screen beside him and introduced “the only dinosaur in captivity.”

Continue reading “Dinosaurs Marching and Other Dreams Brought to Life”

A brief history on the birth of the comic book and Famous Funnies

By the end of the nineteenth century, every newspaper had a comics section, and the comics featured in that section determined the popularity of the paper. Comics were the driving force in selling newspapers. Since they were popular with readers from every walk of life, it wasn’t long before books of various shapes and sizes began appearing at newsstands and general stores featuring reprintings of comic strips. The comic book we think of today, however, would end up being created out of a need to keep an expensive printing press running. It would be an innovation spawned by two crafty salesmen who would inadvertently create an industry.

Continue reading “Dawn of the Comic Book”

The Origins of Hergé and Tintin

The platforms on Gore du Nord train station were overcrowded by hundreds of eager faces, all excitedly awaiting the return of a reporter from the “land of the Soviets.” The reporter was a young boy with a cheerful sounding name composed of just two simple syllables, Tintin. His exploits had been appearing in the weekly comic newspaper supplement, Le Petit Vingtième, for a little over a year. As a way to rally readers, the editorial staff dreamed up the welcome home event for their daring fictional foreign correspondent. They hired 15 year old Boy Scout Lucien Pepermans to play the comic strip character. Tintin arrived home in Brussels on May 8, 1930. Nothing could have prepared the young boy for the crowd that awaited him.

Continue reading “The Many Births of the World’s Most Famous Reporter”

A brief history of crime comics and Crime Does Not Pay

The night was damp and dreary as two shadowy figures hunched over a table in the Broadway Tavern in New York City. They sipped their drinks and plotted.

Continue reading “Blood in the Ink”

A brief history of Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and Superman

June 2nd, 1932, was a typical evening in Cleveland, Ohio. Jerry Siegel was hard at work on the next issue of his science fiction fanzine. Across town, his father, Mitchell, was busy closing up his men’s clothing store when the front bell rang.

Later that evening, a neighboring shop owner noticed the door to Mitchell’s shop was ajar. The light was still on long after closing time, but no sign of the store owner. He poked his head in only to find Mitchell’s lifeless body lying in a pool of blood from two bullet holes and an empty cash register on the counter. This is the catalyst that would make young Jerry Siegel dream of a hero that bullets would bounce off of. With the help of his friend, Joe Shuster, and a lot of science fiction stories, their creation would change the face of modern entertainment forever.

Continue reading “Men of Steel”

A brief history of MLJ Magazines and Archie

It was just another summer day at the beach for the Goldwater and Silberkleit families. The only thing that set it apart was that today John Goldwater, forever the salesman and creative, would convince Louis Silberkleit to go into the comic book business with him. Both men were already in the “pulp” business, dealing in cheap, fiction magazines who got their name from the low quality wood pulp paper they were printed on. Their jump to comics didn’t seem that tremendous, yet it was impossible for either of them to know that what they were discussing would eventually end up changing the face of pop culture and birth characters that would charm readers for the next 80 years.

Continue reading “The Mirth of a Nation”

A brief history of Shazam, the original Captain Marvel

In the early days of superhero comics, when Superman, the world’s first superhero, was still leaping “over tall buildings in a single bound,” there was one hero who managed to capture the public’s imagination and fly. By reciting a magical word made up of the gods, Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, a young orphan named Billy was able to transform into the world’s mightiest mortal. His name was Captain Marvel and, at his height, his comic book adventures sold 14 million issues a month, outshining even Superman. The Captain Marvel phenomenon would end up, not only capturing imaginations of millions but also ignite a series of lawsuits which would eventually lead to our hero losing his name… not that this was the first time it had happened.

Continue reading “A Hero Without a Name”

A Brief History of Tarpé Mills and Miss Fury

High above the clouds, a B24 bomber flies over the hills of Germany streaked across the nose is a woman, brunette hair flowing behind her and the words “Miss Fury” written above. This is not a one-off occurrence in World War II, a number of bomber noses are adorned with this woman of mystery. The woman chosen to strike fear into the hearts of the Axis power was, in fact, the first major female comic adventurer to see the printed page, beating Wonder Woman to the presses by over six months. Her name was Miss Fury and, while her likeness was soaring above the clouds, her adventures were being published in newspapers around the world.

Continue reading “Fury in the Skies”

The Origins of Milton Caniff and Terry and the Pirates

In October of 1941, the public mourned the loss of a young woman named Raven Sherman. Raven was a wealthy socialite who had given up high society to make a difference in the world. She worked in China providing medicine and shelter to those displaced by the Japanese invasion. Tragically, in an attempt to stop a group of hijackers from stealing medical supplies, she was shoved out of a speeding truck in the isolated mountains of China and suffered severe head trauma and massive internal injuries.

Continue reading “Pirates on the Horizon”

A brief history of the anti-comics movement and the birth of the Comics Code

In the quiet neighborhoods of Binghamton, New York, masses gather behind St. Patrick’s Parochial School around a roaring fire as parents and their children toss armfuls of comic books into the blaze amongst onlookers who watch with glee. It’s December 10, 1948, three years after World War II and comics are under attack. The rally in Binghamton would spark similar fires around the country as crusaders for children’s morality waged war against America’s newest medium. Continue reading “Boogeymen”