American Superheroes

Superheroes of the Past and Present In the article “American Superheroes and the Politics of Good and Evil,” Jiri G. Ruzicka lays it out from when comics were first becoming popular to comics today and how big the different is. Comics were originated in the late 1800s. However, they did not become very popular till the 1930s. They gained there popularity during a time of economic recession. Superheroes have always had one thing in common; they always fight for the good in things and are always victorious. Also, Superheroes are traditionally always lean to the right on the political spectrum as they try to protect the traditional societal values. During the cold war the superheroes fought against evil soviets and then during the time period
of 911, the villains were looked at as terrorists.
In the 1960s’ comics were changed for the purpose of children. They became less scary, used less vulgar language, and the violence was hidden between panels. This time period of underground comic book writings were referred to as commix. Ruzicka states how the villains of superheroes changes as the perception of society changes and he does a good job on conveying this point through this article by showing all of the different ways that comic writing has changed. Society changes all of the time and things need to change with it to keep its popularity. This is exactly what the writing of comics has done. Each and every time there is a major change or disaster in the world, they story behind superheroes and villains changed accordingly to fit the situation. I favor almost everything that Ruzicka says in this article. Comics become popular when times were at the worst it’s ever been. It helped people cope with the bad situations they were in and it also gave them an escape from reality. The 1930s’ was the time of the Great Depression and people looked at comics as a way to get out of bad situations they were in and gave them a change to see someone save the city or world from the villains. Then it moved on to the Cold War era. A
time where everyone in the United States was afraid of soviets and believed they were all evil. Then there was a time when younger kids started to read more and more comics, so the comic writers had to adapt the way they wrote to fit the standards of children That period was later changed to into the period after 911. This is when the hatred towards terrorists skyrocketed. I can relate to this because this is my generation. In times like today, if you see someone walking around that look like they are from Iraq or Afghanistan, you automatically start to judge them and sometimes you can’t even help it. It is because our society has painted the picture in our heads that everyone from the Middle East is villains. We find it easier to cope with our struggles if the superheroes are fighting the villains that we actually believe to be our villains in the real world. “Superheroes and their stories embody everything that our own world lacks, and operate on a rather naïve principle that, “someone,” must always intervene in the domestic and global squabbles that comprise human existence.” stated by James R. Fleming, in the article What Superheroes Really Tell Us. Humans like being able to relate to things that happen in their own life and comics can do that for you The superheroes and villains we look at today, will not be the same in about ten years or maybe a little more because we will be drifting into a new period of time where maybe the Middle East is not so bad after all. You can never predict what will be the popular superhero next because times will always be changing and the view of the American public will usually never stay the same. Comic book writing will always have a comfort level in its writing and I don’t think it will ever shy away from its endings of good and revert to evil endings.