Kids’ stuff. That’s what everyone called comic books. For decades, they were mere escape stories printed on cheap paper sold to young children scared of the new urban landscape. It was a far cry from what Will Eisner envisioned due, in large part, to the efforts of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency and Dr. Frederic Wertham in 1954. Shortly thereafter, the Comics Code Authority was formed as an attempt for the industry to police itself. As a result, genres such as horror, crime stories, and other pulp fiction disappeared from comic book shelves and according to Frank Miller, “the basic idea of ‘superheroes’ was made impossible by putting it in a world where it didn’t need any.”
Twenty five years ago, nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union seemed to be the only conclusion to the Cold War. Economic disparity ripped this country apart at the seams, favoring few and punishing the rest. With the emergence of crack cocaine, the stage was set for the U.S. to experience its highest crime rates in history. It seemed we needed superheroes once again. But in 1986 a new breed of comics refused to let us escape and instead held a mirror up to the gritty reality that we lived in. The door would be violently kicked open for subsequent writers to elevate this “kids’ stuff” to a true art form.
From 1966 to 1986 Adam West defined the caped crusader for a generation in the live action series, Super Friends, and the occasional Scooby Doo cameo. It was a fun version of Batman but it was a Batman without a past. In The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller not only reminded everyone what tragedy would spur on a young boy to strike fear in the heart of Gotham’s criminals, but what drove a 55-year-old Bruce Wayne to don the cape and cowl once more. With a few panels, no words, and barely any color, one of the most famous scenes in Miller’s masterpiece reminded the world what forever changed Bruce Wayne: the brutal death of his parents.
Frank Miller, a master of pacing, created a story that was akin to watching movies rather than reading comics. Thomas and Martha Wayne’s murders unfolded as if it were in slow motion. Shadows dominated the dramatic scenes displaying the influence that film noir had on Miller’s work. But it’s the hard hitting, wise cracking prose that tied everything together and would later become his signature style. The Dark Knight Returns would also be the first series that DC would publish on prestige format. The cover was heavier stock, the paper was literally shiny and new, and it would be a few pages longer than the average comic book. But most importantly, it told the story that Miller wanted to tell.
Not only does Miller pit the Dark Knight against authoritative figures but examines how a masked vigilante would affect the city he’s meant to protect. Wannabes followed in Batman’s footsteps, sometimes ending in violent death; an element that Christopher Nolan put in The Dark Knight. This negative attention is magnified a hundredfold by the media more interested in projecting opinions as opposed to delivering facts. Whether it was a gang called The Mutants, the police, or even Superman acting on behalf of the U.S. government nothing would stand in Batman’s way to bring order to his city. While The Dark Knight Returns resurrected the world’s greatest detective, Watchmen decidedly sought to deconstruct the genre all together.
In a world threatened by nuclear fallout, it only seemed logical to have heroes face the same problems we did. But Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons took it a step further and argued we would ultimately end up in the same place. All the characters of Watchmen were still, at their very core, human; all at once fragile and alone. Rorschach and the Comedian were sociopaths, Sally Jupiter was an exhibitionist, Dan and Laurie sought the approval of their parental figures, but all of them walked down the same self-destructive path. These adventurers set out to save the world, but they could barely save themselves.
At first glance, Watchmen is a simple mystery complete with colorful characters, red herrings, and a detective in a worn fedora. But the intricate plot served not just to keep the readers’ interest but fleshed out each character and the universe they lived in. Every word and image is filled with details that are only truly appreciated after multiple readings. The attention to detail on both Moore and Gibbons’ part is what helped create this world that is so different yet vaguely similar to ours. Not many comics, even to this day, can boast to have references from Bob Dylan and Carl Jung and still tie them all together to a single theme.
Alan Moore once said that “if you’re talking about superheroes, it’s very likely to be a meditation on power.” The most powerful character was Dr. Manhattan’s power won the Vietnam War in two months but drifted him further from his own humanity. The smartest man in the world, Ozymandias, sought to save the world by destroying it. Rorschach’s refusal to compromise “even in the face of Armageddon” solved the murder mystery but led to his demise.
With all the death and violence it would be easy to say it was a dark ending. But it does offer a glimmer of hope. It was a lowly intern named Seymour who (possibly) brought the truth to the world. Looking at the story as a whole, from Adrian’s grand scheme to the Tales of the Black Freighter to the very last panel of the novel it seems that, good or bad, the lesson lies in the fact that the fate of this world is “entirely in [our] hands.” Because superheroes dominated the landscape, it seemed there was little left to explore once Watchmen had thoroughly deconstructed the genre.
In stark contrast to The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, Maus was a personal story dealing with not only the struggle of a man to survive the ordeals of the Holocaust but an introspective look at Art Spiegelman’s relationship with his curmudgeon father, Vladek. Originally published as a short comic strip in 1972, Spiegelman would create a longer version of the story; Volume I of this version was published in 1986.
Alan Moore once referred to Art Spiegelman as “the single most important comic creator working within the field” and it is little wonder why. Despite working in only black and white, certain images seem to pop out and stay with you such as a road crossing in the shape of a swastika or people going insane on the train to Auschwitz. At first glance, the story seems to meander in every direction offering no real solution to hate. Vladek, even as a Holocaust survivor, still has racist tendencies. Even Spiegelman himself confesses, “It wasn’t to make the world a better place by explaining the Holocaust to anyone but to me.” By the end of the story, Art knows his father a great deal better and Vladek was even reunited with his wife, Anja. War can bruise and scar humanity but even if our future looks bleak we still have family and friends to lean on.
With the art form taking shape there were few avenues for new artists to burst onto the scene. The powerhouses that controlled much of the market were DC and Marvel, both of which were difficult to get one’s proverbial foot in. However, in 1986, a comic book store owner from Portland, Oregon named Mike Richardson decided to offer a new platform for amateur writers and artists to tell their stories. Dark Horse Comics was born. Ushering in new characters like Concrete, Usagi Yojimbo, The Goon, Hellboy, and the riffraff of Sin City, Dark Horse gave artists more creative freedom. Today, Dark Horse continues its legacy as one of the largest companies still accepting submissions from amateur writers and artists. Along with being the leading publisher of licensed comics, Dark Horse also publishes Star Wars and Buffy the Vampire Slayer stories to name a few.
There would be no war. The Berlin wall was torn down, Communism fell, and the threat of self destruction faded with the end of the decade. Comics were not responsible for ending that anguish and heartbreak but they did offer us a new perspective of our reality. It was heartbreak and as Will Eisner once said, “You can’t talk about heartbreak to a kid.” The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, and Maus told stories we could relate to. That is what true art should be able to do; to put up a mirror so that reality can make just a bit more sense. Nobody was able to predict what a banner year 1986 was going to be for comic books. Maybe it was tachyon interference. But one thing is for certain, twenty five years ago, comics grew up and they haven’t looked back since.
