The History of Comics in 500 Issues

Jess Nevins
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The History of Comics in 500 Issues

A leisurely walk through the history of comic books, one issue at a time. In each episode, I'll choose a single issue of a comic book (or comic book-like magazine) and talk about why the issue is important in the history of the medium, or particularly representative of a trend or a particular writer or artist's work, or is of significant aesthetic value. The first episode begins in the 1820s; the last episode, whenever that is, will be about a significant comic from the 2020s (or possibly the 2030s). I don't limit myself to American comics; I am going to discuss comics & comic book-like magazines from around the world.

Episodes

  1. 2 DAYS AGO

    Episode 12: "Tough is putting mildly the treatment you're gonna get!" Action Comics #1

    In this episode I discuss Action Comics #1 and its contents, including the fabulous new character find of 1938: Superman! I discuss what led up to the publication of Action Comics #1, how the mob and Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia were responsible for it, what the other strips besides "Superman" were in this issue and if they're any good (surprise--the Zatara strip is actually pretty good!), the state of science fiction in April 1938, and what the appeal of Superman was!

    27 min

  2. JAN 20

    Episode 11: "The Placid Shores of the Ipiranga:" O Tico-Tico #1

    In this episode I discusss the origins of the Brazilian comic book industry, beginning with the arrival of an Italian immigrant in São Paulo in 1859, his success as the first Brazilian comic artist of note and his first two comic strips, how and why O Tico-Tico (Brazil's first comic book) was published, Richard Outcault & Buster Brown & their Brazilian counterparts, some of the original characters to appear in O Tico-Tico, the short-lived competitors to O Tico-Tico, Brazil's southeast versus its northeast and the sertão, the "social bandits" of the sertão, what a "social bandit" is, Eric Hobsbawm and his books on social banditry, folhetos (Brazilian proto-comic books), the cangaceiro (the bandits of the sertão), the greatest cangaceiro of them all, the folheto about him, the rise of a challenger to O Tico-Tico, Suplemento Juvenil (the greatest Brazilian comic book of the 1930s) and what strips were inside it.

    37 min

  3. JAN 5

    Episode 10: "That's why I'm calling on Chang. He's helped me a lot on previous cases that have baffled me." Detective Comics #2.

    In this episode I discuss the people of color superheroes and sidekicks of comics' Golden Age, beginning with Detective Comics #2 (on-sale March 10, 1937) and ending with the last day of 1949, the end of the Golden Age.  I discuss the long history of white Americans making people of color into heroes, starting with Crispus Attacks during the American Revolution. I provide a reading list of past and modern books which describe the histories of peoples of color in America and which also include the stories of figures lionized by white Americans. I compare the situation for heroes and sidekicks of color in comic books with newspaper comic strips. And I break down the situation numerically, with a whole bunch of statistics.

    29 min

  4. 12/15/2024

    Episode Nine: Becassine

    In this episode I sketch the history of the French comics industry from its beginning in the 19th century following Rodolphe Topffer's debut to 1939, when World War Two disrupted everything.   I define "bandes dessinnées" (b.d.), I describe the four most successful artists who were influenced by Topffer and brought out proto-b.d. (Cham, Gustave Dore, Leonce Petit, Christophe), I discuss La Semaine de Suzette (which published the adventures of Becassine, the first ongoing character of the b.d.) and its importance in the history of French comics, I discuss Louis Forton's “Les Pieds Nickelés" and its importance, I discuss Alain Saint-Ogan and his strip "Zig et Puce" and its importance, and then I conclude with a long look at Hergé and "The Adventures of Tintin."

    41 min

  5. 12/08/2024

    Episode Eight: “Are y’gonna talk or do I get the pleasure of splashin’ up the walls with your face?”: Detective Comics #1

    In this episode I go in-depth on Detective Comics #1 (Feb. 10, 1937), DC's first comic book issue.  I also discuss the mob's involvement in comic book publishing, how DC would never have existed without Frank Costello, spicy pulps, why DC's first comic book was a detective comic, anti-Asian racism in comics, the history of detective fiction, how Americans viewed the Chinese in 1937, each of the detectives in Detective Comics #1, the Tong Wars, Chinese immigration to the US, the history of chow mein, spy fiction as of 1937, and DC's particular animus for the Soviets.

    41 min

  6. 11/25/2024

    Episode Seven: "They called me mad in school, you know": Puck #1

    In this episode I describe the British comic Puck #1 and its mad scientist/wacky inventor, Professor Radium, who turns out to be more influential than one might suppose. I go in depth on the history of the mad scientist and the wacky inventor, with stops at Faustus of Mileve, Roger Bacon, Dante's Inferno, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, Gulliver's Travels, the Marquis de Sade, Frankenstein, penny dreadfuls, the Romantics, the furor poeticus, the Victorian burlesque, Heath Robinson, the radium girls, Vannevar Bush, and much, much more!

    40 min

  7. 11/10/2024

    Episode Six: "Treachery on the Trail!" Star Ranger #1 & Western Picture Stories #1

    In this episode I discuss the history of the genre of the Western, beginning early in the 19th century as frontier fiction and proceeding up to the late-1930s, when the first two Western comic books--Star Ranger #1 and Western Picture Stories #1--were published. Among the topics discussed: frontier fiction of England, France, and Spain; James Fenimore Cooper; the Mexican-American War; anti-Mexican racism and pro-Mexican racism; the novelettes; the dime novels; Deadwood Dick, Frank and Jesse James, and the progressive (verging on revolutionary) politics of the dime novel Western; the first Western novel; Owen Wister's The Virginian; how a club of elite Easterners not only created the Western as we now know it, but shaped the discourse of the Western, with effects that are still felt today; the Western pulps; the Western comic strips; and the eleven interesting things in Star Ranger #1 and Western Picture Stories #1.

    1h 3m

  8. 10/27/2024

    Episode Five: "The Empire, Long Divided, Must Unite": The Story of the Three Kingdoms

    In this episode I describe the early history of the Chinese comic book industry--specifically the lianhuanhua industry--from its beginning in 1899 to its first end during the Cultural Revolution. I discuss the history of pictorial communication in pre-modern China; the influence of lithography on Chinese publishing; the Romance of the Three Kingdoms; the "Four Famous Female Roles," i.e. the four major lianhuanhua writer/artists of the 1930s; The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple; Lu Xun; and Mao's opinion on lianhuanhua.

    31 min

  9. 10/13/2024

    Episode Four: "The Clock!" "That is right, gentlemen--and striking just in time!" Funny Pages #6

    In this episode I go back to 1935 and 1936 and discuss how business was actually done in the early comics industry the rise of Comics Magazine Company Everett M. "Busy" Arnold's career in comics the unsavory intersection of "Busy" Arnold, Joe Paterno, and the realities of big-time college football in the 1930s Funny Pages #6, and why it's an important issue in the history of American comics

    29 min

  10. 09/30/2024

    Episode Three: In England's Green and Pleasant Land: Comic Cuts #1

    In which I take a look at British comics during the 19th century, talk about some of the notable and important people who were a part of it, and describe what led up to Comic Cuts #1, the most important British comic of the 19th century and the comic that set the standard for British comics for the next forty years.  The transcript, complete with illustrations, can be found at my Patreon page.

    44 min

  11. 09/16/2024

    Episode Two: "A new cargo of mystery and thrills!" New Fun #1

    In which I briefly sketch the history of comics between Rodolphe Topffer and the 1930s, discuss the first comic books, and then describe New Fun #1, the first comic book that featured all new material rather than reprinted newspaper comic strips.  I also discuss Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, the failson behind New Fun #1, and what makes New Fun #1 notable besides the presence of entirely new content.  The transcript, complete with illustrations, can be found at my Patreon page.

    26 min

  12. 09/02/2024

    Episode One: To Begin With: L'Histoire de M. Vieux Bois

    In which I begin the series by taking us back to Switzerland in the 1820s and 1830s and describe how Rodolphe Topffer, a Swiss teacher and caricaturist, invented the modern comic book.  It's a bit more complicated than that, of course.

    37 min
  • 12 Episodes

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About

A leisurely walk through the history of comic books, one issue at a time. In each episode, I'll choose a single issue of a comic book (or comic book-like magazine) and talk about why the issue is important in the history of the medium, or particularly representative of a trend or a particular writer or artist's work, or is of significant aesthetic value. The first episode begins in the 1820s; the last episode, whenever that is, will be about a significant comic from the 2020s (or possibly the 2030s). I don't limit myself to American comics; I am going to discuss comics & comic book-like magazines from around the world.

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