Comic books becoming geek chic with movie adaptations

By: Nathan Mattise

Posted: 4/15/08

Comic books, in the past 20 or so years, have been classified as a nerd activity. Didn't matter what kind they were, who the superhero was, they were a dorky thing to buy, read and collect. But apparently this wasn't always the case.

Growing up, they seemed more irrelevant than my "Goosebumps" collection does today. Comics were for the Bart Simpsons and Milhouses of the world. Milhouse was the rule when I was a kid, but in the 1950s and right now, it's all about Bart.

On Friday, former Entertainment Weekly editor, pop-culture aficionado and former SU faculty member David Hajdu is coming to speak at Newhouse in conjunction with his new book "Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America."

It chronicles comics in American popular culture post-World War II, when they were surprisingly the most far-reaching and culturally relevant form of entertainment. Hajdu cites that back in the 1940s and early 50s, anywhere between 60 and 100 million comics were consumed per week.

"I don't think we'll ever see that again," Hajdu said. "It's hard for me to imagine how any one thing can be that popular because the modes of distribution are so split, and popular culture is no longer as centralized. Think about the most popular TV shows today like 'American Idol,' and its viewership isn't 100 million - it's only a fraction."

Comics were so ingrained in society that in 1954 a self-governing body was formed to create publishing restrictions in response to a growing public concern that they were having negative influence on its readers. Some folks felt comics were influential to the point that they needed to be feared.

No crimes could be portrayed, the words "horror" or "terror" couldn't appear in the titles, obscenity and profanity needed to be gone and any comics focusing on love and romance needed to promote the values of home and sanctity in marriage. Talk about one single entity being highly bad ass, counter-culture or simply cool even back in the conservative 50s. Comic books were indie rock, Sundance films and alternative 'zines combined, times 10.

"For something to be cool it has to be not just edgy, it has to be enigmatic," Hajdu said. "It has to be a puzzle to the masses because it has to exclude the masses, if it doesn't it can't be cool. Membership in the club of cool has to be restricted by definition: the smaller the audience, the cooler comics can be."

Hajdu is right. It seems almost nothing will ever reach the "Comics of the 1950s" level of simultaneous hipness and prominence today or in the future. At the same time, I don't find myself dismissing comics as lame like I used to. Despite the idea that mainstream popularity varies indirectly with coolness (i.e. what's cool in popular culture typically isn't in mass culture), I think there's a new appeal in comics now.

Today's comic book industry is similar to how things work in the fashion industry - it's always cool to be one of the few people ahead of the curve. The Spider-Man trilogy may not be cool, but reading the series that inspired it still is.

Among this summer's biggest blockbusters you'll inevitably find the film renditions of "Batman," "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk." OK, but to be hip, head down to the local library or hobby shop to do your prerequisite reading. Watching Seth Cohen on SOAPnet doesn't increase your street cred (trust me), but if you can follow his references to "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" you're on to something. The same principle can be applied to comics related to NBC's "Heroes" or the ones drawn by Maynard from Tool. Today's comic books can be cool because they're a little known spin-off or inspiration for something that later becomes a massive hit.

So I'm not sure how my comic books will look next to the Power Ranger action figures still in my closet at home, but unlike my youth no one will be calling me a nerd when I own my first graphic novel soon. It may not as cool as it would've in the 1950s, but Woody Guthrie was cool then. I think I can live.

Nathan Mattise is a pop-culture columnist for The Daily Orange. His columns run on Tuesdays. He really does have the Power Ranger figures still and can name the original rangers by the order in which they morphed. He can be reached at nzmattis@syr.edu.