From Ink to Reality

A few weeks ago, as you devoted blog visitors know, I posted an analysis of an image pulled from the cover of Best Comic Books No. 10. The image had wonderful examples of the use of line and space to comunicate powerful messages of propaganda, while incorporarating an artistic style unique to comic books themselves. Recently, I happened across another such image, and many others, in which I noticed a recurring pattern. This pattern is what I will attempt to formulate and discuss in this particular post.

One of the images which I came across is from USA Comics Vol.2 No. 5. Seemingly unfamiliar, the cover of this issue had just as many effects, particularities, and moral issues as the previous image I discussed. What makes it unique, however, is the idea it insantly shot into my mind, as an effect of all of the action on the page.

Examining this image carefully, we can establish the same groundwork of Nazi symbolism, action and movement, and the message of American superiority over the Axis forces, whether it be moral or physical. With all of this emotion and action, I couldn't help but realize that the image conveyed the feeling of being saturated with information. The Victory Boys are seen leaping from ropes and flags, Hitler ,as usual, is kicked in the mouth, a Japanese monster seems to be the commander of the Japanese forces, and even the background is filled with some sort of mysterious space-like aura. Along with having no more room for additional content, the comic also had no room for racial variety.

When I say there is no more room for racial variety, I speak for most comics bred of this time and developed in lieu of the war. World War 2 was the white man's war, and incorporating racial variety would seem out of place and off- putting to a 1950s comic book reader. In fact, I believe that if an African- American or Latino- American was put onto the front cover, that character would draw most of the attention away from the scene. This creates a unique problem for publishers and creators of the comics: is it beneficial to make the moral step to include gender and racial variety in comics?

Obviously, the industry at that time would have said, "No! Of course not!" Since we can all agree that the majority of businesses are in it for the money, comic books are no exception. By using a topic so closely related to the civilizations, cultures, and issues of the white man, the industry effectively made it impossible for them to include more racial variety. Hopefully this insight gave you a new and special way to analyze the comic books of different eras, and tie them to the moral issues surrounding the inclusion, or exclusion, of races seperate from the predominantly Caucasion characters of most graphic novels.