Did Spider-Man get the U.S. stuck in Vietnam? (Just kidding. Sort of. Green Lantern may have been involved, too.)

Here is a another thought about the "power and responsibility" theme developed most explicitly in the Spider-Man stories of the 1960s. Spider-Man and the most of the rest of the Marvel Universe were products of the Kennedy-Johnson era, and while we remember that as a time of great liberalization in domestic policy, it was also the Cold War's deadliest phase. Just as Spidey was debuting, American leaders launched a massive military campaign, costing many thousands of American and Vietnamese lives, to prop up a corrupt, unpopular government (and thwart of the completion of the country's anti-colonial revolution) in the name of saving a faraway land from the evils of communism. I am referring to the escalation of the U.S. war in Vietnam. Were the new superheroes of the 1960s part of the same mentality? Was the superheroic ideal really altruistic and self-sacrificing or just a self-serving and self-deluding excuse for getting our way by force?

It may be helpful to compare and contrast Spidey's "power and responsibility" mantra with the more explicitly Cold War-oriented Green Lantern Oath.

Liberal comics of the 1960s: Power and Responsibility

Below you should see two panels that form more or less of a mission statement for the most beloved and influential superhero comics of the 1960s. Based on what you have read, how did comics reflect the politics of the Kennedy era, and after? What were (and are) their strengths and limitations as political and social documents of the time? (History 4004 students can post answers below for discussion credit.)

History 4004 students: Discuss Golden Age comics here

Remember there will be no class today, April 24. Work on your papers, but also participate in an alternative discussion right here. Leave comments under your real name, or else inform me by email of what screen name you used. You should all have received an email with links to some early issues of Action Comics featuring some of the first appearances of Superman. Read those and the "Golden Age" chapters of Comic Book Nation, and answer one or more of the following, or make some other relevant observation:

• How did the superhero concept change in the transition from the pulps to the comics?
• How are these early renditions of Superman different from what you are used to?
• What elements of these stories can be related to the late 1930s time period in which they were published?

Another early version of Superman, after the character had evolved a bit more, can be seen in the classic Fleischer Brothers cartoons from the early 1940s. The first one should be embedded below and the rest are also available on YouTube. How did Superman, and the superhero concept, change in the transition to the big screen?

Golden Age superhero comics

Here are some interesting resources on the so-called "Golden Age" (1930-40s) of comics:

• Golden Age Comics downloads
• Golden Age of Comics podcast
  
• Superman homepage (not terribly Golden Age-heavy but informative for neophytes)

more to come

Resources on the Pulp Era (and after)

Here are some sites we will be using in our discussions of the detective hero and the rise of the superhero. It all goes back to the cheap popular literature of the early 20th century, especially the pulp magazines.

• Cover Browser
• Raymond Chandler, "The Simple Art of Murder"
• Rudyard Kipling, "The White Man's Burden"
• The Page of Fu Manchu
  
• "The Shadow": cover mosaic; radio show; sidekicks
  
• Hero Pulp web site: Doc Savage novels; Doc's sidekicks
  
• The Spider: cast of characters; fang look; covers by year; list of novels; complete pulp story guide
  
• Miller Center Presidential Speech Archive

Davy Crockett and Jesse James on YouTube

Here are some links to the YouTube videos I was trying to use in class last Thursday, featuring modern renditions of the Crockett and James mythologies, with a Crockett-fied Daniel Boone as well. I still may show some of these, but you might want to check them out yourselves. This web site on 1950s Crockett mania is also well worth reading. Be sure to read both pages.

• Fess Parker sings "The Ballad of David Crockett" on a Disney television show -- video was a little hitchy on my computer.
• Fess Parker sings "The Ballad of David Crockett" on a 78rpm record, with a montage of Fess as Crockett and Boone, though you will not be able to tell the difference; also features some images of Crockett merchandise from the craze of 1954, when young baby boomers' enthusiasm sold $300 million of Crockett-themed paraphernalia
• Opening credits sequence from the 1960s Daniel Boone TV series, which was in effect a revival of Fess Parker's Crockett character -- this appears to be the Spanish-language version, but the visuals and theme song are the same
• "The Ballad of Jesse James" sung by an English skiffle band
• "The Ballad of Jesse James" performed by Ry Cooder, from the film The Long Riders, with footage of the Jesse James house in St. Joseph
• FYI, the lyrics of "The Ballad of Jesse James," or one common version of them
  

Evolution of the Western Hero in the Age of Early Mass Publishing

For my History 4004 students, here are some links to materials we will be looking at in class as we discuss the Jesse James mythology and its origins . They are well worth a look yourself if you are interested. The Jesse James books are so-called "dime novels" from the late 19th-century, precursors to the pulps that featured the superheroes.

• The Hunters of Kentucky: lyrics

• The Crockett Almanacks & the Myth of the West

• CROCKETT'S ALMANAC. Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Baltimore: Fisher & Brothers, 1841; 1847, and 1852.

• Jesse James Stories

• Jesse James' Midnight Raid, or, The Fight at Battle Mountain