The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles is hosting a new exhibit on the Golden Age of Comics.
The curator of the exhibit, Jerry Robinson — yes, the creator of the Joker — has an interesting interview with CNN, in which he discusses comics’ Depression-era beginnings, and compares them to the economic downturn that we face today.
Here’s a cool first-hand look at comics’ transition from Depression-era pulp to World War II-style heroism:
“The first villains in the comic books were hijackers, embezzlers, bank robbers. It was the era of Pretty Boy Floyd and so forth. Once the war came along, we felt a need for more patriotic heroes to fight Hitler… in fact, Hitler banned American comics, at least Superman and superheroes. He said they were Jewish. Little did he know that the creators were actually Jewish. … Hitler banned American comics, except one: Mickey Mouse, which was his favorite.”
Sorry, Mickey. You can read the rest of the article here.
March 18th, 2009 at 11:48 am
“All images and characters copyright DC Comics. DC Comics, like CNN, is a unit of Time Warner.”
Oh CNN, don’t you know that the Avengers, Thor, and Captain America are owned by Marvel? Obviously not.
March 18th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
great announce, good post
March 18th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Waid, Ross and I went to hear Jerry speak at the show earlier this month. Really great stuff. And a great talk. Here’s Waid’s take:
http://markwaid.boom-studios.net/2009/03/jerry-robinson/
C.
March 18th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
It is great to see Robinson getting some attention for his efforts. One thing, however: The “Hitler banned Superman” myth was debunked in a recent issue of Alter Ego. The issue has also been tackled by other sources who came to the same conclusion that the myth is false.