62. Literacy
Literacy (strict definition) - the ability to
read and write. Literacy as a set of skills for
interpreting information in:
• Oral or written • Equations
language
• Gestures
• Images • Videos & animation
• Symbols
• Sounds
June 1938: First superhero in Superman, Batman appears a month later in Detective Comics
1939: The Flash, Hawkman
1940: Batman no. 1
1940: The Spirit strip in newspapers
1940: Walt Disney Comics
Not a coincidence that comics arrived in in time for WWII -- many of the creators, isolated from their homes, refugees, Superman = ultimate immigrant
Need for heroes strong
June 1938: First superhero in Superman, Batman appears a month later in Detective Comics
1939: The Flash, Hawkman
1940: Batman no. 1
1940: The Spirit strip in newspapers
1940: Walt Disney Comics
Not a coincidence that comics arrived in in time for WWII -- many of the creators, isolated from their homes, refugees, Superman = ultimate immigrant
Need for heroes strong
June 1938: First superhero in Superman, Batman appears a month later in Detective Comics
1939: The Flash, Hawkman
1940: Batman no. 1
1940: The Spirit strip in newspapers
1940: Walt Disney Comics
Not a coincidence that comics arrived in in time for WWII -- many of the creators, isolated from their homes, refugees, Superman = ultimate immigrant
Need for heroes strong
June 1938: First superhero in Superman, Batman appears a month later in Detective Comics
1939: The Flash, Hawkman
1940: Batman no. 1
1940: The Spirit strip in newspapers
1940: Walt Disney Comics
Not a coincidence that comics arrived in in time for WWII -- many of the creators, isolated from their homes, refugees, Superman = ultimate immigrant
Need for heroes strong
June 1938: First superhero in Superman, Batman appears a month later in Detective Comics
1939: The Flash, Hawkman
1940: Batman no. 1
1940: The Spirit strip in newspapers
1940: Walt Disney Comics
Not a coincidence that comics arrived in in time for WWII -- many of the creators, isolated from their homes, refugees, Superman = ultimate immigrant
Need for heroes strong
June 1938: First superhero in Superman, Batman appears a month later in Detective Comics
1939: The Flash, Hawkman
1940: Batman no. 1
1940: The Spirit strip in newspapers
1940: Walt Disney Comics
Not a coincidence that comics arrived in in time for WWII -- many of the creators, isolated from their homes, refugees, Superman = ultimate immigrant
Need for heroes strong
June 1938: First superhero in Superman, Batman appears a month later in Detective Comics
1939: The Flash, Hawkman
1940: Batman no. 1
1940: The Spirit strip in newspapers
1940: Walt Disney Comics
Not a coincidence that comics arrived in in time for WWII -- many of the creators, isolated from their homes, refugees, Superman = ultimate immigrant
Need for heroes strong
June 1938: First superhero in Superman, Batman appears a month later in Detective Comics
1939: The Flash, Hawkman
1940: Batman no. 1
1940: The Spirit strip in newspapers
1940: Walt Disney Comics
Not a coincidence that comics arrived in in time for WWII -- many of the creators, isolated from their homes, refugees, Superman = ultimate immigrant
Need for heroes strong
June 1938: First superhero in Superman, Batman appears a month later in Detective Comics
1939: The Flash, Hawkman
1940: Batman no. 1
1940: The Spirit strip in newspapers
1940: Walt Disney Comics
Not a coincidence that comics arrived in in time for WWII -- many of the creators, isolated from their homes, refugees, Superman = ultimate immigrant
Need for heroes strong
1941: Captain America 1 – Captain America punches out Hitler
Superheroes dominated because of the need for heroes in wartime, as well as the customary habit of creating clear enemies and heroes
Comics became a kind of propaganda, despite the fascism inherent in the idea of superheroes, something the creators would not outwardly wrangle with until later
December 1941: Wonder Woman first appearance, 1st female superhero,
Hidden elements of S&M flying under the radar
Batman, of course, accused of being homosexual (just what was Robin up to?)
Late 1940s: Romance comics (for girls), Western comics, Crime comics
1950: Horror Comics became the mainstream, science ficton
1950s: Korean War pushes war comics to the fore again
Late 1940s: Romance comics (for girls), Western comics, Crime comics
1950: Horror Comics became the mainstream, science ficton
1950s: Korean War pushes war comics to the fore again
Late 1940s: Romance comics (for girls), Western comics, Crime comics
1950: Horror Comics became the mainstream, science ficton
1950s: Korean War pushes war comics to the fore again
MAD magazine
1954: Frederick Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent
1954: U.S. Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency in the United States hearings
1954: Comics publishers got together to self-regulate, created Comics Code Authority
1954 onward: crime and horror comics almost extinct, romance comics had little romance, superhero comics returned and sci fi comics became more popular
1958: Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane comic
1959: Wonder Woman revamped and given new origin
1959: Aquaman, Justice League of America
1961: Silver Age, also known as Marvel Age, Fantastic Four, noted for natural dialogue, then Hulk
1963: Amazing Spider-Man
1964: X-Men
1969: al superhero titles failing, even Marvel
Marvel famous for adding humanity back into its heroes -- they were fallible, not invulnerable
Stan Lee (at 17) created Marvel, and often impressed by trying to tackle important issues within his comics -- X-Men the clearest, as a story of civil rights with two distinct points of view (Magneto vs. Xavier)
Much like Twilight Zone
Death of Gwen Stacey
The first major move to give a superhero “feet of clay”
Hero didn’t get there in time, shocking to readers
Getting closer to reality
Pushing Spider-man’s guilt to the fore as his motivator
Embraced 1960s counterculture
The “x” both differentiates from mainstream comics and indicates the X-rated contet
Harvey Kurtzman, R. Crumb,
“First” graphic novel
A Contract with God - stories of 1930s immigrant life in the Bronx in a Jewish tenement in
Will Eisner, creator of the Spirit, one of the first creators to aggressively push the format as a venue for serious and literary topics
Took the tearing down a step further
Just what would make a man dress up in a giant bat costume and run around being a vigilante? When you think about it, any one of those “heroes” would be unstable and potentially quite dangerous
Scene: in a group much like Justice League, one member proceeds to try to rape the lone female member
When another “Hooded Justice” comes to her rescue, he’s accused of getting off on violence, which he doesn’t deny
1986: Batman: Dark Knight Returns gives Batman a dark edge, John Byrne reinvents Superman with Man of Steel, Alan Moore’s Watchmen
Tearing down superheroes almost viciously
Superman leads to the detonation of a nuclear bomb in NYC, Batman the only one to try and stop him, leads to Batman starting a vigilante army to fight the U.S., Superman, and everything he once protected
Quite violent, reveals Batman’s darkest nature, especially his fascist streak, as well as Superman’s
Definitions of right and wrong much harder to distinguish, with both heroes committing atrocious acts
From underground comics hero, rather surprised those who knew him
Addressed a very literary, serious subject in the Holocaust memoir
Use of mice/animals to represent people quite groundbreaking
Speaks to format -- why mice?
The farther away an image is from reality, the easier it is for every reader to relate -- the more it looks “not like me”, the easier it is to dismiss it
1986: Art Speigelman’s Maus wins the Pulitzer
1986: DC starts marking titles “For Mature Readers” causing writers and artists to quit in protest
Sandman a masterwork of literary references, using numerous literary devices including foreshadowing, etc.
An elaborate, complex universe, adult concerns and storylines, existential ponderings
Nature of dreams, fantasy
Neil Gaiman created from old DC character from the 1940s
1987: Lone Wolf and Cub translated and published, Mai the Psychic Girl, first manga in U.S.
Layout the key -- leisurely storytelling, focus on emotion, cinematic style very unlike western comics
1987: Marvel’s The Punisher becomes favorite, violence and psychotic behavior
You don’t even need to be an artist!
Made up entirely of clip art for office brochures/presentations
Scathing critique of post Sept. 11 attitude in the U.S.
You don’t even need to be an artist!
Made up entirely of clip art for office brochures/presentations
Scathing critique of post Sept. 11 attitude in the U.S.
You don’t even need to be an artist!
Made up entirely of clip art for office brochures/presentations
Scathing critique of post Sept. 11 attitude in the U.S.
You don’t even need to be an artist!
Made up entirely of clip art for office brochures/presentations
Scathing critique of post Sept. 11 attitude in the U.S.