Beyond Bang! Pow! Zap!: Genre and the evolution of the American comic book industry.

Abstract

Comic books in America are produced and consumed in a particular environment. This environment has been shaped by three factors: the evolution of the industry as a system of production, the changing culture of readers of comics, and the generic conventions of the comics themselves. While the industry has a long history, two kernel events have been especially significant in its evolution. The first, the 1954 Comics Code, was a rigorous policy of industry self-censorship. It served a policing function by constraining the content of comics, particularly crime and horror comics. The second event, the development of direct sales distribution, occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Direct sales transformed the industry from a mass medium to a niche medium, one that focused on selling comics more efficiently to a narrower audience. The current structure of the industry is largely the product of these two events. One of the effects of the 1954 Code and the subsequent rise of direct sales has been the continued dominance of the superhero genre. Almost always the most popular genre, superhero comics have increased their share of the market since the early 1960s. The genre itself has remained largely stable throughout its history; its structures have proven flexible enough to accommodate cultural shifts over time. Throughout its history, the genre has mediated cultural oppositions between good and evil, normal and extraordinary, and order and disorder. One consequence of the dominance of a single genre has been the increasing importance of comics fans as the major audience segment. The culture of comics fans is manifested in a number of sites. Several aspects of the culture, including attention to seriality, collecting, and continuity, can be seen in the on-line forums where such fans congregate. The evolution of the American comic book industry has been shaped by both social and material factors. The continuing dominance of the superhero genre, its centrality to the culture of comics fans, and even the enduring structures of genre are all inter-related products of the social and economic factors that have molded the industry.