Who among us hasn’t read the comics in our daily newspaper (when there was one!) or a comic book from cover to cover?
It was the ever-popular dime novels from the mid-to-late 1800s that set the stage for comic strips, and later comic books, as we know them. Usually about 100 pages long and printed on thin, pulp paper, dime novels told serialized stories about cowboys, lawmen, outlaws, and Indians. Selling for 5-15 cents each, they romanticized the Old West and set the stage for the legacy of good vs evil and the tropes we still enjoy today.
Long about 1930 or so, the dime novels and the newspaper-bound comic strips made room for the arrival of comic books. Their bright, colorful panels really made the stories leap off the page. Shorter–about 32-64 pages–and selling for 10-25 cents, they were fast-paced with action-packed plots and larger-than-life heroes that truly brought Westerns to life, helping to launch their popularity in films and the actors that starred in them.
And then . . . came the graphic novel in the late 1970s. If you haven’t read one, visualize them as a longer comic book with more diverse themes as in a memoir, or something more serious as politics. Many have storied adventures, too, and are created by graphic artists for webcomics and digital platforms. Interestingly, graphic novels have achieved academic recognition as legitimate literature to be studied in schools and universities.
Those pulp-fiction dime novels have come a long, long way, haven’t they?
***SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT!***
Only a couple of days ago, my nephew (with a graphic artist degree) has self-published his very own graphic novel. The Flyman has been in his heart since he was a little boy, and thanks to the advent of self-publishing on Amazon, he has finally been able to publish his dream. Faith-based, packed with action, friendship, humor, and fantasy, the Flyman (ala Spiderman or Superman) battles evil in the name of God and will keep you captivated to THE END.
Did you have a favorite comic strip you loved to read in the newspaper?
Did you have a collection of comic books while growing up?
Do you like to watch movies featuring superheroes?