Cartoon in the United States
The American cartoon or comic is one of the three great traditions of cartooning globally, along with the Franco-Belgian and the Japanese. The first to spawn a true industry and to consistently adopt the speech balloon, it led the world in production for the entire first half of the century XX, thanks to series like Flash Gordon, Krazy Kat, Li'l Abner, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Prince Valiant, Popeye, Terry and the Pirates or The Spirit.
Dominated since then by the superhero genre, whose most popular characters are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Punisher, Hulk, X-Men, The Fantastic Four and The Avengers, it has contributed works as diverse as American Splendor, Calvin and Hobbes, Conan the Barbarian, Den, Jimmy Corrigan, Maus, Hate, Peanuts.
Among its most recognized authors, we can mention Neal Adams, Carl Barks, Richard Corben, Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, Burne Hogarth, Jack Kirby, Harvey Kurtzman or Frank Miller.
It has awards such as the Eisner and its most important event is the San Diego Comic-Con.
History
Origins (1871-95)
The model of the British magazine Punch (1841) was imitated throughout the world, giving rise in the United States to Puck (1871), Judge (1882) and Life (1883), where authors such as Arthur Burdett Frost and Frank M. Howarth made their careers and began, among others, Richard Felton Outcault and George Herriman.
In the heyday of the American press, the country's two leading publishers, William Randolph Hearst and his rival Joseph Pulitzer, decided to use the comic strip as a way to sell their papers to an immigrant population that didn't understand English very well. but he could read the comics. Series with fixed characters soon appeared, such as The Little Bears, by James Swinnerton in 1892. The following year, color was incorporated into the Sunday supplement of Pulitzer's New York World.
Modernity (1896-1923)
In Outcault's The Yellow Kid (1894), the small episodic gags of a cartoon were fragmented into self-concluding strips, its protagonist being the one who guaranteed continuity. Because of this, the editors tried to steal these characters from each other until the courts ruled that a series and its protagonists had to change their title if they changed newspapers. In 1914 William Randolph Hearst founded the first strip distribution agency or syndicate: the Kings Feature Syndicate.
Other seminal series included Frederick Burr Opper's Happy Hooligan (1904), about a beggar who gets everything wrong but never loses his smile, and The Katzenjammer Kids (1912) by Rudolph Dirks, starring two mischievous children, blond and dark-haired, inspired by Max and Moritz by Wilhelm Busch. Also clumsy is Rube Goldberg's Boob McNutt (1915).
Soon, daring series arose that explored the chromatic, rhythmic and schematic possibilities of the page and which today rank as the best classics of the press comics: Little Nemo in Slumberland (1905) by Winsor McCay and Krazy Kat (1907) by George Herriman. Other avant-garde series include Gustave Verbeek's The Upside Downs (1903) and Lyonel Feininger's Wee Willie Winkie's World (1906).
However, the most popular strips of the time oscillated between the physical humor of slapstick and the problems of adaptation to modernity and liberality of customs by a group of characters. The group could be a family or a couple, always polarized between a father and his children or his wife or between two companions of different character. The most famous examples were Bud Fischer's Mutt and Jeff (1907), which started the daily series, Cliff Sterret's Polly and her pals (1912), Bringing up father (1913) by George McManus, Gasoline Alley (1918) by Frank King, Thimble theater (1919) in which Segar would create Popeye, Little Orphan Annie (1924) by Harold Gray and The Bungle Family (1924) by Harry J. Tuthill. There are also "girl strips", such as Tillie the Toiler, by Russ Westover, in 1921.
From March 1897, again by Hearst, the strips were collected, with at least 70 compilations appearing between 1900 and 1909 alone.
The adventure between two wars (1924-37)
The modern experience would be cut short by the depression of 1929, which would push for a renewal of the press comic. No more sociological commentary, now dangerous, and artistic excesses, now too expensive, in favor of pure entertainment. Despite the existence of notable comedy series such as Chic Young's Blondie (1930), Otto Soglow's The Little King, Alley Oop (1932) by V. T. Hamlin or Li'l Abner (1934) by Al Capp and the avant-garde picture novels by Lynd Ward, the following years would be marked by adventure strips. Following the commercial success of Roy Crane's Wash Tubbs (1924), which introduced the long shot, Lyman Young's Tim Tyler's Luck (1928), Buck Rogers (1929) by Dick Calkins, Dick Tracy (1931) by Chester Gould and Brick Bradford (1933) by William Ritt and Clarence Gritt; this genre would be propped up in 1934.
That year, King Features Syndicate hired Alex Raymond as an illustrator to draw two Sunday series: Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim, and one daily: Secret Agent X-9 (with screenplays by writer Dashiell Hammett). Both Raymond and the Harold Foster of Tarzan (1929) and Prince Valiant (1937) would define the new aesthetic of adventure strips: pictorial, masterful and meticulous; elegant and, above all, atmospheric. Therefore, the safe value of realism was recovered to the detriment of the most avant-garde graphics of the twenties.
Also in 1934, Terry and the Pirates by Milton Caniff began to be published. In addition to introducing the American shot and imitations of the sequence shot, he definitively replaced the episodic with continuity, making it fundamental the challenge of suspense at the end of the strip or page to maintain the climax.
Paradoxically, by driving this renewal, the depression of 1929 consolidated the American comic strip which, through the publisher Kings Feature Syndicate, invaded the European arena with Le Journal de Mickey (1934). In the country itself, screenwriter Lee Falk would continue the format with The Phantom (1936) and Mandrake the magician (1939), Burne Hogarth would take over Tarzan in 1937 and The romantic soap opera would be inaugurated with Mary Worth (1939) by Allen Saunders and Brenda Starr (1940) by Dale Messick, but in 1938 the press comic suffered a severe blow with the birth of superhero comic books.
The rise of the comic book (1938-1945)
Although the first comic book (Funnies on Parade) had been published by Max Gaines in 1933 and small companies such as All Star Comics or Detective Comics in the middle of the decade, it was not until 1938 that the first superhero appeared: Superman, created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. Subsequently, there will be Batman (1939) by Bill Finger/Bob Kane, Captain Marvel (1939) by Bill Parker/C. C. Beck, Wonder Woman (1941) by William Moulton Marston/H. G. Peter, Captain America (1941) by Joe Simon/Jack Kirby or Plastic Man (1941) by Jack Cole.
Most were created during World War II and initially appealed to the patriotism of the American public, featuring US-related names or uniforms or its national symbols, and generally taking on Nazism. This brought them great commercial success, but also led to a great crisis after the end of the war, after which only a few titles remained active.
Superheroes had narrative schemes very similar to adventure strips: a story between reality and fiction, in the form of a continuous series, based on a charismatic protagonist with a double identity, mask/disguise or accessories. Well seen, the only thing superheroes added were superpowers, but from an industrial point of view they would put an end to the golden age of American press comics.
Other series from these years, very different from each other, are Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (1938), Spirit (1940) by Will Eisner or Archie (1942), not to mention the so-called Tijuana Bibles, markedly erotic.
In the field of the comic strip, Nancy (1938) by Ernie Bushmiller, Brenda Starr (1940) by Dale Messick, Barnaby i> (1942) by Crockett Johnson, Sad Sack (1942) by George Baker or Little Lulu (1945) by John Stanley.
Trouble in Paradise (1945-55)
In the aftermath of the war, American comics are at their peak, with enormous sales and an audience of children, adolescents, and young adults, both male and female. However, it will soon run into serious limitations: format, for newspaper strips, and themes, for comic books.
- In the pressThe call is imposed daily strip (‘tira daily’), which occupies one of the horizontal fragments of a heterogeneous content page and could be, depending on the genre, a complete or serial narrative. There were also full-page publications on Sundays, although the authors were different. This imposed a spatial limitation on dialogues and action, harming the most realistic comics, such as Johnny Hazard (1944) by Frank Robbins, Rip Kirby (1946) by Alex Raymond or Steve Canyon (1947) by Milton Caniff; in the years to come, the most important would adopt predominantly child-oriented protagonists, but would show a strong intellectual burden, such as Pogo (1948) by Walt Kelly or King Aroo Jack Kent and Peanuts Charles Schulz, both of 1950.
- In the comic book, it reached a wide variety of themes, triumphing those of science fiction ("Planet Comic", since 1940), crimes (Crime Does Not Paysince 1942); funny animals (with the great Carl Barks at the front), terror (Frankenstein Comics, 1945), romance (Young Romance, since 1947) and westerns, highlighting above all those published by the company EC Comics, directed since 1947 by Wiliam Gaines. In 1954, the attacks by Fredric Wertham, author of the trial The Seduction of the Innocentand a Senate Sub-Committee for the Investigation of Juvenile Crime led to widespread declines in sales and the creation by surviving publishing houses The Comics Magazine Association of Americawhich instituted the Comics Code Authority (in practice a form of self-censorship).
In spite of everything, humor triumphs in magazines such as MAD (1952) and in series such as Beetle Bailey (1950) and Hi and Lois (1954) by Mort Walker, Daniel the Naughty (1951) by Hank Ketcham or Richie Rich (1953) by Warren Kremer. Among the strips with realistic graphics, we can highlight the incorporation of Dan Barry to Flash Gordon in 1951 and series such as The Cisco Kid (1951) by Rod Reed/Jose Luis Salinas, Judge Parker (1952) by Nicholas P. Dallis and Big Ben Bolt (1950) or The Heart of Juliet Jones (1953), both written by Elliot Caplin and illustrated by John Cullen Murphy and Stan Drake, respectively. It can be said, however, that "the bulk of US production, for the second half of the sixties, has dropped in level and is below French or Italian production".
A new resurgence (1956-75)
The so-called Silver Age of comic-books takes place thanks to the competition of publishers Marvel Comics and DC through superheroes such as the new Flash (1956) and Green Lantern (1959), The Justice League (1960), Fantastic Four (1961) or Spider-Man (1962), the work of authors such as Carmine Infantino, Steve Ditko, Gil Kane, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee or Jim Steranko.
Many of the new comics are also oriented towards an audience that is less and less children. This is the case of superhero comics with strong social themes, such as the Green Lantern and Green Arrow meeting that Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams carried out in 1970. New authors, such as Jim Starlin, would leave their mark on series such as Warlock (1975).
The characteristic horror comics of EC Comic would also be recreated in the black and white magazines "Creepy" (1964), "Eerie" (1966) and "Vampirella" (1969) by Warren Publishing, which ignored the restrictions of the Comics Code. Even DC and Marvel are testing the genre with Swamp Thing (1971), by Len Wein/Berni Wrightson, or Tomb of Dracula (1972-1979), by Marv Wolfman/Gene Colan, respectively. Marvel also launched its version of Conan in 1970 by the hand of screenwriter Roy Thomas and cartoonists such as Barry Windsor-Smith and John Buscema.
In addition, many small publishers publish successful series such as Turok (1956), Magnus, Robot Fighter (1963) or T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (1965).
In the mid-sixties an important countercultural movement had also emerged, underground comics, with authors such as Robert Crumb (El gato Fritz, 1965), Gilbert Shelton (Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, 1968), Vaughn Bodé (Cheech Wizard, 1971) or Richard Corben (Den, 1971). Since 1962, the erotic magazine Playboy published Little Annie Fanny by Harvey Kurtzman/Will Elder.
Other humorous series enjoy a more conventional diffusion: Comic books like Howard the Duck (1976) by Steve Gerber and above all daily strips like Miss Peach (1956) Mell Lazarus, the namesake of Jules Feiffer (1957), Johnny Hart's B.C. (1958), Bud Blake's Tiger (1965), Broom-Hilda (1970) by Russell Myers, Doonesbury (1970) by Garry Trudeau, Hägar the Horrible (1973) by Dik Browne and Heathcliff (1973) by George Gately. Among the decadent strips of realistic graphics, mention may be made of Mary Perkins, On Stage (1957) by Leonard Starr, Sky Masters (1958) by Dave Wood/Jack Kirby, The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist (1968) by Michael O'Donoghue/Frank Springer, Sally Forth (1968) by Wally Wood or Friday Foster (1970) by Jim Lawrence/Jorge Longaron.
Independence (1976-1992)
In the late 1970s, the underground publishing experiences of the 1960s and 1970s became a strong market sector, thanks to the new market of direct sales to specialized bookstores, and the rise of publishers such as Fantagraphics Books (1976), Eclipse (1978), Comico (1982), First (1983) or Dark Horse Comics (1986), and magazines such as RAW, Weirdo or Love and Rockets by the brothers Jaime, Gilbert and Mario Hernández, all from 1981.
More expensive and luxurious formats are also created, and in general a more adult reader is sought, which Harvey Pekar is already targeting without any doubt with American Splendor (1976), a revived Will Eisner, who popularized the concept of graphic novels from his Contract with God (1978) and Art Spiegelman with Maus (1980).
Most of the new independent authors do not relegate, however, the most popular genres, publishing:
- In 1978, Elfquest of Wendy/Richard Pini and Sabre Don McGregor/Paul Gulacy;
- In 1981, Nexus by Steve Rude/Mike Baron;
- In 1982, Dreadstar by Jim Starlin, Grendel by Matt Wagner, Groo of Sergio Aragonés and Rocketeer Dave Stevens;
- In 1983, American Flagg! of Howard Chaykin;
- In 1984, Elementary Bill Willingham, Usagi Yojimbo Stan Sakai and Zot! Scott McCloud, and
- In 1986, Concrete of Paul Chadwick and Xenozoic Tales Mark Schultz.
Meanwhile, Marvel Comics triumphs with Chris Claremont/John Byrne's X-Men (1977), Frank Miller's Daredevil (1979) and the Thor (1983) by Walt Simonson, although the real revolution did not arrive until 1986 and already at the hands of DC with Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986) by Frank Miller and Watchmen (1988) by Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons. Two years later, thanks to the success of the anime version of Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo, the Japanese comic began to spread in the country, becoming imitated by autochthonous authors and giving rise to movements such as the amerimanga.
The most popular strip of the turn of the century XX, Calvin and Hobbes (1985) by Bill Watterson, for his part, recovered elements of physical humor from the now extinct golden age of newspaper strips. There were, however, other notable strips such as Life in Hell (1977) by Matt Groening, Garfield (1978) by Jim Davis, Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed and The Far Side by Gary Larson, both from 1980; FoxTrot (1988) by Bill Amend, Dilbert (1989) by Scott Adams, Baby Blues (1990) by Rick Kirkman/Jerry Scott, i>Wild Palms (1990) by Bruce Wagner/Julian Allen or Sherman's Lagoon (1991) by Jim Toomey.
Alternatives (1992-present)
The position of the creator within the American industry would change definitively with the founding of Image Comics in 1992 and the sales boom unleashed by Spawn or WildCats that same year or Witchblade in 1995. Other important independent series of the early nineties are Madman (1990) by Mike Allred, Bone (1991) by Jeff Smith, Sin City (1991) by Frank Miller, The Maxx (1993) by Sam Kieth, Strangers in Paradise (1993) by Terry Moore or Hellboy (1994) by Mike Mignola.
The publishing house DC Comics itself would found the Vertigo line in 1993 to host series aimed at a more adult audience, and generally intertwined with science fiction, fantasy and terror: The Sandman (1988) by Neil Gaiman, Hellblazer (1988) by VV.AA., The Invisibles (1994) by Grant Morrison, Preacher (1995) by Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon, Transmetropolitan (1997) by Warren Ellis/Darick Robertson, 100 Bullets (1999) by Brian Azzarello/Eduardo Risso, Y: The Last Man (2002) by Brian K. Vaughan/Pia Guerra or Fables (2003) by Bill Willingham. Also from this year and for Image are The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Wanted by Mark Millar/J. G. Jones.
Some of the new authors seek an alternative to the predominant genres and formats, often tending towards costumbrismo (even autobiographical) and experimental comics, such as Peter Bagge, Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, Jason Lutes, David Mazzucchelli or Chris Ware, while Joe Sacco cultivates his journalistic vocation.
In the field of strips, we can mention Mutts (1994) by Patrick McDonnell, Citizen Can (1995) by Mark O'Hare, Over the Hedge (1995) by Michael Fry/T. Lewis, The Norm (1996) by Michael Jantze, Zits (1997) by Jerry Scott/Jim Borgman, Liberty Meadows (1997) by Frank Cho, Get Fuzzy (1999) by Darby Conley or Pearls to Pigs (2001) by Stephan Pastis; in that of the innovative webcomic, The Perry Bible Fellowship (2001) by Nicholas Gurewitch or Little Dee (2004) by Christopher Baldwin.
Industry
In the United States, comic book copyrights have always been for the publisher and always betting on the mainstream market until the rise of underground and then alternative comics.