American comics: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Comics in the modern sense were born in the 1930s.

It is the product of the combination of two literary forms: popular literature magazines and newspaper comic strips.

Before that, comic strips were mainly serialized in newspapers, called strips.

Influenced by the way newspapers are distributed, comic strips are generally serialized one line a day (the length of Sunday's articles will be longer), and the narrative techniques are relatively fixed. The content and style of comics are diverse. In addition to the well-known humorous "four-frame comics", there are also detective and action themes.

Many well-received four-frame comic strips originated from popular novels, or drew a lot of inspiration from them. Among them, the representative is "Tarzan", which is adapted from the novel of the same name. Although its plot is not original, compared with pure humor comics, this kind of comics has made great progress in drama.

However, the emergence of the economic crisis and the Great Depression has changed the status quo of comics.

Readers are no longer satisfied with pure humor and funny things. The rising crime rate and the helplessness of reality make people expect stronger and more dominant characters to appear and reverse all this. He will be powerful, invincible, and unbeatable; he will uphold justice, eliminate the evil in the world, and bring hope to the world.

Crimes like "Bonnie and Clyde" are not uncommon, but they are not as famous as them. Except for a few fanatical pursuers of criminals, the vast majority of people are afraid and disgusted by them.

On the way home from get off work on weekends, people have to carefully guard their pay bags.

To guard against insidious and evil robberies and thefts.

In short, people are calling for heroes.

This is also one of the main reasons for the birth and popularity of detective comics such as "Dick Tracy". The "hard-core" private detectives who fight against crime have become the projection of readers' reality, and Dick Tracy's hard-core approach to fighting crime in comics has indirectly vented their dissatisfaction and frustration with real life.

Perhaps this is an opportunity.

Withdrawing his eyes from the "Dick Tracy" comics in Little John's hand, Colin's vague inspiration became clearer and clearer.

The cohesion of the imprint requires the will of [faith], and comics seem to be a good choice.

Unlike the past "Messenger", which relied on hate speech to absorb some distorted [beliefs].

Instead, it instilled the readers' consciousness [beliefs] into the characters of comics through deliberate guidance, just like in primitive society, people used all things as totems to open the road of faith.

Colin also planned to use comics as a pattern of imprint to absorb readers' [beliefs].

So, in fact, my identity is a missionary?

No, that's not right. I am neither a pedophile nor a pervert, so I am not qualified to be a priest at all.

...

Thinking of a way to change [belief] acquisition, Colin's expression became a little excited.

Following his thoughts, he began to think seriously about the theme of the comics serialized in the "Messenger".

As a time traveler who has been baptized by the Internet era in the future, Colin's choices can be said to be extremely wide, and the contents of various comics and even novels and movies are even more blooming for him to select.

However, such a rich selection of materials not only did not provide him with convenience, but instead became an obstacle for Colin in some aspects.

How to choose the most favorable story from so many themes as the next comic strip in the newspaper really tests Colin's vision.

"..."

A silent atmosphere flows in the Messenger newspaper.

Looking at Colin who suddenly fell into deep thought after asking about the content of the comic strip. Little John looked at Old John beside him with some trepidation, and the latter shook his head, motioning him to keep quiet.

No, that's not right, maybe I think too complicated.

Shaking his head, recollecting the countless thoughts that emerged in his mind, Colin began to think about all this from a realistic perspective.

The history of the positive world is in the Great Depression, so many comics that are too advanced or themes are not suitable for publication in this era. Then, considering the overall atmosphere of society in this period and the acceptance of the people, Colin gradually had an idea in his heart.

Looking at the content of Dick Tracy's fight against criminals in the newspaper, Colin's mouth corners slightly curled up.

Since people in this era are shouting and longing for heroes.

Then I will give them heroes, and they are superheroes.

That's right. After careful consideration, Colin finally decided to make the comics serialized stories into superhero stories.

The Great Depression was the original soil for the birth of superhero comics.

The bad economy led to the breeding of high crime. People living in this era not only had to endure economic problems, but also had to endure a more dangerous security environment than in the past. The poor living environment caused the public's faith to be shaken.

Many people who were not originally religious lied about their religious beliefs in order to get food and shelter provided by the "Salvation Army".

People urgently needed a belief and spiritual sustenance to get rid of the hard life and pain in the real world.

Radio seized this opportunity and ushered in the golden age of take-off. Comics were obviously also in such a special opportunity.

In fact, not long after Dick Tracy was serialized, a newspaper also serialized a comic similar to or the prototype of a modern superhero, The Phantom. The protagonist in the comic wore a tights, a mask, and had a secret identity. Except for not having superpowers, he was not much different from a traditional superhero.

These characteristics of The Phantom inspired many later authors and became the predecessor of superheroes.

Of course, the object that Colin chose to serialize the comic was naturally impossible to be the so-called The Phantom or the Phantom Man.

Although this character has a phantom in his name, he is essentially just an ordinary person in a tights. The plot is also mostly derived from the framework of detective comics. It is better to say that it is a variant of detective comics than a superhero comic.

Since he chose superhero comics as a pattern to gain [faith] during the Great Depression, Colin naturally could not have abandoned his martial arts and used an ordinary character without any superpowers as his object.

It is foreseeable that once he chooses "The Phantom" to condense the [Black Iron Mark], the result will not be much different from using Hoover.

On the contrary, since it is called a superhero.

Then, the character should be called super, so that comic readers will associate the existence of this hero as soon as they hear the name of superhero.

Thinking of this, a name immediately emerged in Colin's mind.

Superman!