Are Comic Stories American Folklore

[M Dogg™]

In elementry school, one thing that stands out was being taught about Folktails. We were told these were fictional tales about people which Americans told back in the day. John Henry, Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, in many ways these tales were a way for America to mark it's sense of identity. George Washington and the Cherry tree story, for a young nation we were looking for a sense that our forefathers were honest people, and our nation was founded on this. Since the 19th century when Paul Bunyan was chopping down trees, and John Henry was building railroads, and Pecos Bill was taming Texas, America has changed, and the expansion west is completed. The old folktales of the past were great for elementry children, but America needed new heroes, something that reflected the times that they live in.

In 1938, as America was lifting it's self out of the Great Depression, film and radio had started peaking; as when the economy gets worst, the movie industry does better as Americans try to escape reality through film. It was also at this time that comic books were selling in large numbers, and comics were about to get a huge addition, Superman. Superman was influenced by the Depression, and his creators wanted Superman to be the symbol of fighting corruption, businessmen and follow FDR's New Deal ways of looking out for "society" and not self. In 6 years, on his radio program, Superman is fighting the KKK. Superman becomes a reflection of what concerns society. In WWII, Captain America emerges to fight the Nazis, and comic books are off and running. These idealist, who are fighting for American causes are the new stories of America. People that seem more than human, these Superheros, capture Americas Imagination, and become the new folklore of America. I've heard Superman describe as mythology before, but in fact all the major comic book charactors are also in that light.

Influenced by the stories of Zorro, Sherlock Holmes and other works, Bob Kane and Bill Finger created a mob fighting charactor named Batman, and released him in 1939. Darker than Superman, Captain America and all other Superheros, Batman would fight crime that had peaked in the Depression era, and go against mob bosses and of course, the Joker. Using his detective skills, Batman would go on to be one of the most important charactors in comic book history. His archenemy, the Joker was originally seen as a serial killer who caused anarchy and mass murders. As time went on, both charactors soften up, Batman gained Robin, and Joker became more of a harmless clown who play pranks, and the 1960's TV show was very childish, but the darker Batman would return.

Like folktales and mythology of the past, superheros stories would be told, and retold all the time, changed over time to fit how society is at that moment, and how that character fits into that society. Since the 90's, Superman has had a hard time dealing with the world, well as Batman is thriving, how Captain America is now dead yet some villians turn hero because of how society has come to want more antiheroes. These are our mythologies, like the Greeks and Romans and ancient people of the past talked of their Gods. Though we don't worship our heros, these are larger than life characters that we tell, and retell, their stories every generation.

[Don Jacob]

i guess.