Top 23 Comic Book Storylines from ‘The Age of Freedom’: Part 1

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To help better understand the choices made in The List, below is a brief introduction to the world of Comic Books.

The Beginning:

One of the most important contributions the United States of America has made to modern civilization is the creation and the popularization of the comic book genre. It is widely accepted that the present form of the comic book, in which word balloons are used, began in New York in 1896 with ‘The Yellow Kid’. This simple comic about a “snaggle-toothed child with a goofy grin” was the genesis of what has become a multi billion-dollar sector of commerce known as the Comic Book Industry.

In the early years free artistic expression was encouraged, resulting in growth and prospering. Initially it was humor, horror, mystery, adventure, and science fiction stories that dominated the medium, nurturing the imagination of millions of people around the world. Entrepreneurial artists with creative minds who wanted to share their perspective on reality formed small companies producing some of the greatest visual and literary works of the 20th century. Unfortunately however, the conservative minds that dominated the political spectrum of the United States at the time regarded most of the content morally unacceptable. As a result the Comics Code Authority (CCA) was created in 1954 to censor undesirable elements from the American conscience.

Creatures such as vampires, werewolves and zombies and words such as ‘crime’, ‘horror’ and ‘terror’ were forbidden to appear in print. The result of the suppression of this freedom of expression was the termination of some of the greatest stories ever told.

One of the worst tragedies occurred when EC comics, which was one of the most imaginative companies to have emerged from the American empire, was forced to only concentrate on its humor magazine, ‘Mad’, and cancelled all of its crime, horror, satire, military and science fiction comics. This lost opportunity for creating an extensive library of materials based on these forbidden genres is unimaginable. As Diane Di Prima once stated, “The only war that matters is the war against the imagination”, and the restrictions in intellectual and social development imposed by the CCA was a devastating blow for humanity.

With the censorship of comics that delved into the deeper and darker side of human nature, Superhero comics flourished. Certain underground comics that refused to abide by the CCA obtained a cult following, however, in general, it was the companies that abided with the government regulators, hence giving them a wider distribution, that gained in popularity.

The Rebellion:

For the next few decades after 1954 there were minor skirmishes between artists and the CCA. Over time these confrontations resulted in the softening of some restrictions, such as the ban on referring to homosexuality in 1989. This allowed the first mainstream character to be to be outed in 1992 with ‘Northstar’ from the ‘Alpha Flight’ series. This event was heralded as a major breakthrough and embraced by comic book enthusiasts, but it was condemned by certain religious and conservative organizations.

The independent comic book companies however were ahead of their time and were more innovative then the large corporations that self-censored their artists to maintain their good standing with the government regulators. Before Northstar was outed, Kitchen Sink Enterprises had already introduced gay characters in 1980 with the first issue of ‘Gay Comix’. After Northstar’s minor claim to fame and the cancellation of the series in 1994, it was the independent comic book companies that challenged the status quo. The same year that ‘Alpha Flight’ was cancelled, ‘Go-Go Boy’ was released through select comic book retailers as the first openly gay, lesbian and transgender monthly superhero comic book dealing with such important issues as AIDS, gay-bashing, personal identity and family, as well as evil corporations that wanted to rule the world.

Even though during the 1980’s and 90’s the mainstream companies maintained their dominance of the industry, Alternative Comics gained in popularity. This forced the large corporations to take an aggressive stance staving off the coming onslaught from the independent creators while trying to retain their market share. Marvel Comics tried to reduce exposure of comic fans to the independent publishers by flooding the market, hence retail shelf space, with poorly developed stories and shallow characters. In 1994, they even went as far as acquiring Heroes World distributors to exclusively distribute their comics. This started what is referred to as the “exclusivity wars”, the end result of which was that most distributors went out of business by 1997, and 90% of the Direct Market share went to Diamond Comic Distributors. This futile attempt to stifle creative evolution also almost bankrupted Marvel Comics.

The Triumph:

During this time of strife, many of the top artists in the industry broke away from the major companies and formed co-ops in which they published their books under umbrella-corporations. The main benefit obtained from these alliances was that artists were able to retain the rights and the creative development for their characters. Once creative confines were removed, the caliber of comics drastically improved, shifting the mindset of readers into demanding more intellectually changeling material. As a result there was an explosion of creativity reminiscent of the early years before the CCA’s censorship. This era is referred to as the beginning of the Modern Age of Comics, and was the setting for the real life Corporate Comic Wars.

During this period, amidst this unsuitability, some of the most successful comic books in history were developed. The emergence of these Alternative Comics was a rebirth for the industry the impact of which can still be felt today. It is as a direct result of the commoditization of the Worlds created through these comics that the film and television, textile and toy, and the gaming industries have prospered to the extent that they have. Licensing agreements with publishers and creators have produced what is now one of the major business growth sectors within the United States.

The Implications:

During the 2006 Comic-Con, Deepak Chopra made the following statement about comic books:

"Comics engage both your left brain, because they are linguistically structured and there's language, and at the same time they engage your right brain because of the images. In fact, ... I’m sure ... brain waves would show coherence between the right and left brains, which is the prelude to creativity.

“Art has a function because it not only reflects what’s happening in the collective psyche and collective consciousness, but it also in many ways mirrors of the evolution of our collective consciousness. If you track the evolution of these comics… from the 1930s right up to this moment, you’ll see that they actually mirror human evolution and particularly, the evolution of human consciousness.”

By finally reducing the constraints set by the CCA from the development process of comic books, we have been ushered into a new era of imagination brought about by unrestrained creativity. The effects of this newfound freedom are still in its infancy, which means that we must continue to nurture its growth, providing a medium for artists to create without government censorship.

At a time when conservatives minds are trying to tightened their stranglehold on the American conscience, it has become crucial for us to remember what has been accomplished up to this point, and the long hard battle that has been waged to gain these freedom. For our society to flourish, government and corporate censorship must be removed in all its forms.

The List:

The period known as the Model Age of Comics is probably the most important era since the dawn of the Comic Book Industry. The shakeup that occurred in the 1980’s and 90’s resulted in a surge of creativity that tested the boundaries set by our society. I have dubbed this period ‘The Age of Freedom’ since it gave birth to Alternative Comics and marks the beginning of the dismantling of the CCA and the censorship of human thought from comic books. Below are 8 out of the top 23 of the most important comic book storylines from this period. Some were a brilliant desperate attempts by the major companies to retain market share, others a mastery of imagination and freedom of expression. In no particular order the list is as follows:

Cerebus: This series was started in 1977 by Dave Sim and ended in 2004. It is one continuous tale, spanning 300 issues and 6,000 pages, making it the longest running storyline in comic book history. With Cerebus, Sim demonstrated that an independent creator could obtain a core fan base and grow to be a formidable force in the industry. This inspired a whole generation of artists to create and distribute their own comics. As for what this comic is about, you could say it’s about everything: from morality to brutality, from sorcery to spiritually, from drunken debauchery to strategic warfare: Cerebus is an epic that has it all.

Love and Rockets: The first issue of this collection was released in 1981 making it one of the first self-published comics from the “alternative comics revolution of the 1980s”. L&R is not about a specific story line, but an assortment of intricate characters, primarily Chicano, that interact and grow over time from the late 70’s to the present.

Frank Miller’s Batman: Miller has produced two of the most important comics in history. First is ‘The Dark Knight Returns’, a fictional tale set 20 years in the future where Batman is forced out of retirement to deal with a crime ridden Gotham. This series reintroduced a darker Batman to a whole new generation of comic fans and helped usher in a new era of tougher and grittier superheroes. The second book is ‘Year One’. This time Miller recounted the origin of Batman in the same humanistic form as before. This storyline turned out to be just as popular as the DKR and galvanized Batman’s fan base created a year earlier. Miller was able to use the recognition he obtained from this work, and his work with ‘Daredevil’, to kick off his independent carrier which introduced the now classic ‘Sin City’ published through Dark Horse Comics.

Lobo: The Last Czarnian: Lobo is one of the most controversial characters in comic book history and this is the series that kicked it off. Before this four part mini-series, Lobo was a secondary character introduced in ‘Omega Men’ and maintained in the DC universe. The Last Czarnian was a quirky tale of a bounty hunter bound by honor to carry out a mission which involved his fourth-grade teacher, a murderous gang of groupies, a vengeful truck driving Elvis look alike, ruthless paramilitary grannies, a pan-galactic demolition dance company, a planetary S.W.A.T. team, a Spelling Bee to the death, and a few secondary themes to boot. In 1990 it was surprising to see a major company like DC comics release a book which was based on pure violence and sadistically masochistic humor, which explains why it was completely sold out in the first few days. As if this wasn’t enough, DC comics followed the success of this series with Lobo being hired by a drunken Eastern Bunny to kill a “cross-dressing” sweatshop running evil Santa Clause, in the ‘Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special’.

‘Infanticide’

a reviewer noted,

Death of superman: The initial reaction from the comic book community to the ‘Doomsday’ storyline was lukewarm at best, however by the time the final battle took place the North American populace was in a frenzy. The mainstream media disseminated the news about the demise of Superman and people desperate to get their copy began to rush into comic book stores, to find out that there were no copies to be found. At the time this storyline was released, Superman fans were in decline and most comic book stores had not predicated the demand from the general populace. Regular customers who had pre-ordered their copy were selling their books to people on the streets for outrageous amounts. Rumors were circulating that the bagged issue of Superman #75 was selling for as high $200 on the day of its release. The importance of this series was not that Superman was dead, because everyone in the Industry knew that he would be revamped, it was the fact that the story generated so much interest. It proved to fans, artists, and companies that there was a huge market yet untapped. Considering that right now hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to create movies based on comic books, we can assume that the Industry was able to capitalize on this market.

Batman: Bane and Venom: One of the most important sagas in the DC universe began with Batman becoming a drug addict in Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20. This story introduced the drug Venom, a “strength-enhancing super-steroid” which was later used by Bane to break Batman's back in the ‘Knightfall’ epic. The result of this saga sent the Batman books into a tale spin with guest appearances by almost every major Batman villain and the introduction of Jean-Paul Valley as the new Batman, who later gained his own series with ‘Azrael’. This was DC’s way of shaking up the Batman universe in the same manner as ‘Death of Superman’, and resulted in two other mega-sagas in ‘Knightquest’ and ‘KnightsEnd’. The success of this storyline was compatible to the death of Robin in ‘Death in the Family’, a series where, for the first time in history, fans decided the outcome to a story by casting their votes for a possible ending.

Watchman: This series by Alan Moore, the creator of ‘V for Vendetta’, ‘From Hell’, and numerous other books, is considered by many to be the greatest comic book ever created. Moore accomplished more for the Industry, from 1986 to 87 in twelve issues, then had ever been done by any artist in the past. He and Dave Gibbons created a science fiction story that was regarded as a literary masterpiece and awarded the prestigious Hugo Award in 1988. The only graphic novel to ever receive this praise. The story “is set in 1985, in an alternative history United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.” In this not-so-fictional reality we are introduced to super heroes without super powers and serious personal issues. It is a masterpiece and if I was to have provided a ranking to this list based on a must read criteria then ‘The Watchman’ would be sitting near the top.

Spawn: Todd McFarlane, the creator of Spawn, gained fame within the Industry through his work with Spiderman. McFarlane worked on numerous projects for both Marvel and DC comics before venturing off to form Image Comics in 1992 with six other “high-profile illustrators”. Spawn, a netherworld character, was at best a cross between ‘Batman’ and ‘Spiderman’ and at worst a blatant rip-off. It is not because of the story that Spawn has become one of the most important comics from this period; it is because of what McFarlane was able to accomplish with the book. In the early 1990’s, I recall seeing an interview in which McFarlane was asked what he wanted to do with his art, and his reply was (paraphrasing) ‘I want to develop a unique style, and make millions of dollars’, and this is exactly what he did. By creating a character which pushed the boundaries of what was morally acceptable by the regulators he proved that by creating something beyond the constraints set by government censors, he could fill a gap within the industry. McFarlane set an example for other artists who wanted to break away from their shackles by showing them that monetary success was attainable outside of the corporate structure.