Week Two: Comics

Comics: A medium for children or adults? A brief history.


Comics, as a medium, began to emerged in early 20th century America, usually appearing in newspapers and offering humourous subject matter. Initially, it was comic relief aimed at adults. Due to the form itself, comics held an essential attractiveness for children. The funny drawings and colours were aspects that would capture childrens attention, even if the children in question might not fully understand the content. Comic artist Hilary Price was quoted as saying "I think people understand that a newspaper isn't a child's medium, after all, the rest of the paper is full of death and destruction" (1). Despite the intended audience for these comics, parents quickly reacted to their children accessing adult material (although, this was roughly 1900 so the term "adult material" might be quite different to what this term suggests today), and subsequently, editors implemented a "family friendly" set of guidelines that comic writers and artists would have to adhere to.

Through the 20's and 30's, the comic market had extended across the globe. Publishers in America began releasing collected editions of newspaper comics, and eventually this led to original material being published in volume format. In 1938, Action Comics #1 arrived on the scene. The first thirteen pages of said book were dedicated to a new hero by the name of Superman, and this book is widely credited as kickstarting the superhero genre. Within one year, Batman had also arrived, as had Marvel Comics, which would later spawn X-Men and the Avengers. Superman's overwhelming popularity led to his defining of the American comics industry. Perhaps it was this that led many in Western cultures to believe comics were a child's medium; the fantastic strong man of alien descent punishing evil-doers and the like. On it's surface, the very concept of Superman is one easily dubbed "childish" by more mature readers.

Due to the superhero genre gradually becoming more violent, the Comics Code Authority was established in 1954, as a tool for the American comics industry to self-regulate. The idea of the CCA was to remove violence and sexual innuendo from the books, maintaining a more "family friendly" approach to the stories contained therein, obviously a move made under the presumption that comics are for children. Interestingly, the initial head of the association was an expert in juvenile deliquency. In the early 1970's, the Code was revised to allow more realistic depiction of certain themes (such as criminal acts, corrupt politicians, so long as "the culprit is punished"). This was a move towards more realistic content in comics, which, in turn, invited more discerning and perhaps grown up readers. By the 1980's, violence and sexual references had become more acceptable. In this period, DC comics published some dedicated adult comics by the likes of Allan Moore, Frank Miller etc. In the 90's, several of the main comic companies had established adult imprints (DC's Vertigo, Marvel's Epic) publishing without the CCA stamp of approval, and receiving great critical response. By 2000, virtually all comics companies had abandoned the CCA for their own, internal rating systems, where they could exercise a more case-by-case basis for what is acceptable in which title published for what demographic. Also, several companies have started up since the 90's that only publish comics for adults.


Comics historian R.C. Harvey went on record as saying "There are still legions of people who believe the comics are for children, even though they didn't start out that way and certainly aren't that way now" (1).

The question - are comics for children or adults? - is a bit like asking whether movies are for children or adults, to which most people would reply, "it depends on the movie". And of course, they would be correct.


1) O'Brien, K. (2005, August 15). Are comics for kids or adults? The Seattle Times. Retrieved from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2002439056_comicsaudience15.html