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The History of Comics in 500 Issues

Podcast The History of Comics in 500 Issues
Jess Nevins
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 magazi...

Available Episodes

5 of 12
  • 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!
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    27:18
  • 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. 
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    37:11
  • 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. 
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    29:25
  • 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."  
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    40:38
  • 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.
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    40:55

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About 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.
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