Multiversity’s history column turns the clock back to 1941 for a two-part look at the state of the industry. In this first half, we’ll look at raw numbers, content trends, and public opinion. Come back next week for a closer look at what was going on at specific publishers.
Numbers
In 1941, the American comic industry traded explosive growth for steady growth. Cumulative monthly sales were in the 10 million – 15 million range, which was on par sales from the previous year. Market studies found each comic was shared between four or five people, meaning the nation read about 720 million comics books in 1941.
There were about 160 comic titles published in 1941, which was actually down from the 1940 high of 168. This decrease comes into sharper relief when you consider that the number of comic publishers rose by at least four to a total of 20 or 28, depending on how you count. Why the uncertainty? Everyone wants to be in on a market boom, and many existing book and newspaper publishers dipped their toes into the comic waters in the industry’s early years. About half left just as quickly as they entered, so you can count the total number of publishers over the course of the year (28), or the highest number in a particular month (20).
So, why did the the number of comic titles reach a plateau in 1941? You might guess it had something to do with market saturation, but you’d be wrong. The real limiting factors in comic production was the number of printers and the availability of newsprint paper.
Of those 160± titles, a majority were about superheroes and the most popular were selling over a million copies per month. The lower selling titles had a circulation somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 copies. Sales under six figures was a fast track to cancellation. The popular superheroes were receiving their own titles or getting a second title to headline, but they were in the minority. Most new superheroes appeared only one time.
Trends
The United States didn’t join World War II until after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December, but that didn’t stop comics from jumping into the fight early. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Captain America early in 1941, and there were a host of other patriotic heroes battling the Axis powers throughout the year. However, Dell was the first to publish propaganda in comic form when they released “USA is Ready,” a comic about the various branches of the military.
In addition to obvious responses to the threat of approaching war, some publishers began turning from contemporary fantasy to nonfiction and traditional tales. A trend of “real life comics” presented historical events and biographies of American heroes. One of 1941’s new publishers was Elliot Publishing, founded by Albert Kanter and two partners. Contracting Lloyd Jacquet’s packaging shop to produce the content, Elliot released a line of comic adaptations of classic literature named “Classic Comics” (later “Classics Illustrated”) starting with “The Three Musketeers”.
Public Opinion
Although it wouldn’t peak for another 12 years or so, the storm of comic criticism was starting to build even in 1941. Following a widely reprinted attack on comics by newspaper columnist Sterling North in 1940, DC (then known as National) responded by putting together an editorial board made up of psychiatrists, child welfare experts, and some respected public figures. Even though this board was often cited in news reports and members’ names were listed in every new issue, it was almost entirely symbolic and some members of this content oversight committee admitted they rarely looked at the comics. Fawcett, publishers of the popular “Captain Marvel” franchise, used DC as a model when they created a similar in-house decency code. When some reactionary members of the press suggested comic books should be prohibited, publisher George J Hecht believed substituting educational alternatives like ”True Comics” was psychologically a better option.
Meanwhile, the comic book boogieman Frederic Wertham took his first steps onto the national stage with his popular 1941 book “Dark Legend: A Study in Murder”. It was a detailed account of the nine years Wertham spent treating a boy who committed matricide at age 17. The book had a happy ending – Wertham rehabilitated the boy, who went on to marry and have a successful adulthood. One of Wertham’s core foundations laid out in the book was his belief that people were naturally nonviolent, and that all violence was the result of social influences. Building on that, he felt fiction amplified antisocial impulses that were already present in an individual. As Wertham’s attention fell on comic books in later years, this conclusion would have disastrous results for the industry.
At the same time comics were getting some bad press for maybe being the reason kids were distracted in school and causing their eyes to degenerate, people who were paying attention found different results. An article in “The Journal of Experimental Education” #10 by researcher Paul Witty found no difference in intelligence between children who read comics and those who did not. His study looked at 2,500 children in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, half of whom self-identified as regular readers averaging 13 comic titles a month. In “The Modern Language Journal” #25, first grade teacher Helen E Netzer recommended using comics to enhance English skills for non-native speakers based on her experience with Mexican immigrants. Over in “The Clearing House” #16, Irving R Friedman wrote about letting his seventh and eighth graders bring comics to class because he noticed comic readers had a better vocabulary.
End of Part 1 – Look for Part 2 on Monday!
