Category Archives: Wow

The Reality of Indigenous People

ENG810-022 Monique Tschofen, Wow, WOW Comics, , , , , ,

Copyright 2017 Sarah Patriarca, Ryerson University

Introduction

During World War II, the family dynamic in Canada changed as fathers and brothers went off to fight in the war while the women were left to not only tend to the children, but also take over occupations typically held by males. As children were more or less left in the dark, the rise of comics provided Canadian children with a new source of entertainment. The comics illustrated different super heroes and plots based around the war at the time. Most of these stories included crude stories or depictions of events that helped the children to better understand what was going on without revealing too much for them to worry. In retrospect, the comics are a very good distraction to these kids. However, looking at the comics now as young adults, we can clearly see the crude humor of racism, and the facts of the war are displayed throughout these comics. In my comic, Wow Comic Issue. 16, there was one comic in particular that illustrated crude humour towards Indigenous people specifically. The specific comic I will be looking at is the “Jeff Warring” comic that uses the character of an Indigenous man and native setting to represent the Indigenous people in a certain way.  The research question I will be analyzing will be: How are the Indigenous People displayed in the comics? I believe that this comic displays Indigenous people as inferior to European Canadians, which in turn makes the audience perceive them in a different way. By using the simplistic language and illustrations of the comic, I will be able to show the difference between both characters. This topic will not only shed some light on how First Nations were seen as, but also give some perspective against stereotypical beliefs. Over the years, the First Nations of Canada have been characterized in a certain way that depict stereotypes and representations that are false, usually made by European Canadians.

 

European Canadians vs. Indigenous Canadians

In addition, the relationship between Indigenous Canadians and European Canadians are both the same in reality and in the comic. This relationship can be seen throughout the comic with the use of its illustrations and the text from speech/thought bubbles to analyze it more closely. In examining this, the reader can see that the European Canadian seems to have a speech of a superior tone over the Indigenous Canadian. The speech shown in the comic can be seen as very simplistic once the First Nation talks compared to when the European Canadian talks. For example, in my comic Jeff Warring would be considered as the European Canadian whereas the Chief of the tribe would be considered to be the Indigenous person. Throughout the entire comic, Jeff Warring speaks down toward the Chief in a condescending manner. It is also good to notice that the speech bubbles when Jeff Warring is talking contains more words, whereas the Chief have very little to no words involved in the speech bubble. Another way of looking at the difference between both races would be through the illustrations provided in the comic. The illustrations and the speech bubbles help the audience to see the difference of both characters when analyzing it. These very small details that show the comparison between both races. The illustrations are built to tell the viewer the story, while also building up knowledge for the reader as well. However, there are other stories that involve Indigenous people that are not

Source: Native American Heroes in the Comics: An Overview (Part 1), Kevin Breen, Blue Corn Comics (2005). © Whitman Publishing Company; 1st Edition (1940)

as inferior to European Canadians. In some comics, the Indigenous people are seen as doctors, business people and other higher positions in occupations (Dither and Larsen, 2010). This shift of representations displays how Indigenous people helped out in the war, even though this is rarely shown in history. On the contrary, there is one example where the comic displays the Indigenous person in more of a popular demand than the European Canadian character. The comic examines a Native hero, Big Chief Woohoo. Originally, he first appeared alongside a European Canadian hero named Gusto, however soon after Big Chief Woohoo, got the lead role in his own comic. Although, in this perspective, the Indigenous character was seen as superior over the European Canadian characters, the reasoning why Big Chief Woohoo became so popular was because of pop culture’s stereotypical approach towards Indigenous people. It is noted that “He fit the role of the ignorant savage” (Breen 2005) and much of the reason he became so popular is because the author made him ignorant to technology. This is a great example of the use of using illustrations and simplistic language to help depict a character. The only reason his character became a favorite to the audience is because of the crude humor and illustrations that made him seem inferior to a white character like Gusto. “You couldn’t find a better example of the ignorant savage than Wahoo. Besides the language cited above, the way he wrote letters in pictures, and his attempts to ride a car like a horse.” (Breen, 2005).  Even though, Big Chief Woohoo, is seen as superior to Gusto, he only became popular because his character lacked knowledge that supposedly more European Canadian’s have. The illustrations in the Jeff Warring comic specifically, reflect this approach in the differentiation of both races.

 

Stereotypes in Appearance: What Do You Think?

Furthermore, the illustrations in the comic help to support the case of how Indigenous people are perceived to its wider audience. The illustrations aid the reader to look deeper into the meaning of the comic and pick out certain characteristics that stand out when looking at the relationship between European Canadians and Indigenous people. When looking at the comic character of Jeff Warring and the Chief, the audience can see that the relation between both characters are very different. The comic displays Jeff Warring has an average looking man, with appealing features that captures the eyes of the audience. While in comparison, the

Murray Karn. Panel from “Jeff Warring.” Wow Comics, No. 16, August 1943, Bell Features and Publishing Company: http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e447/e011166678.pdf

Chief is made to look non appealing, with features that get overlooked. When looking at the comic now, the reader can see that the illustrations tend to favour the appearance of a stereotypical Indigenous persona, and also display stereotypical movements in the illustrations of how they would have acted. This misinterpretation and inappropriate facts used against Native Americans shifts the audience’s perception on how they are viewed. Comic books, specifically a part of Pop Culture, details the prominence of anti-Indianism in comic books, particularly as means through which Euro-American authors and audiences have made claims on and through Indianness (King, 2008).  The audience when viewing the comic, takes the illustrations of the comic and reads in between the lines and perceives in a way that makes sense to them. For example, if the Chief is displayed with a racial appearance that goes with the stereotypes, as seen in the picture below, then the audience will see the Indigenous Chief in that manner because it was handed to them. These illustrations prove that our perceptions are made based on what the media shows us. In particular, the media and general sources, such as Encyclopedia’s and news documents, only display the negative aspects of the Indigenous people’s history and their war efforts as well.

 

Are the Media and the Government the Real Culprits?

Moreover, when researching this paper, I took note that most of the information about Indigenous people’s efforts in the war were erased from the mass media. This became very problematic when dealing with this topic because sources for this essay became scarce. In the perspective of the audience, this becomes an issue because lack of information means that many readers are not educated on actual facts. Instead, the media are sources that display these stereotypical approaches, which is the only thing the people know. We as millennials know in the 21st century, the mass media has become one that encompasses all knowledge and is used in everyday activities. As the people, we cannot deny that the media is a very powerful thing that can control how people perceive the world. In particular, history is effective and powerful, as we have come to realize with past historian rulers, whether they produced positive or negative impacts. However, in regards to Indigenous people in the media, it has been left out in majority of sources that Indigenous people did aid in wartimes. However, North American resources have wiped out majority of their efforts and in turn, shifting all the contributions on to the European Canadians, glorifying them in a sense. This is a problematic aspect because society forms a stigma and stereotypical approach to the Indigenous people rather than educating themselves. “The paper concludes that it is a responsibility of society to educate all students to understand that any portrayal of history comes from a particular vantage point and to understand that dominant society privileges some representations and disadvantages others” (Iseke-Barnes, 2005). People lose out on greater knowledge when the government decides to erase their efforts from the mass media. More so, the government is part of the blame for the stereotypical and prejudice the Indigenous people face in the comic, and in reality. In particular, what I have observed from my comic, is that women play a huge role in part of the prejudice that is associated with the Indigenous people. Looking at the comic from a child’s perspective, it can be

Murray Karn. Panel from “Jeff Warring.” Wow Comics, No. 16, August 1943, Bell Features and Publishing Company: http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e447/e011166678.pdf

seen that there could be a romantic association with Jeff Warring and the Chief daughter, Tana, who is the main female character apart of the comic. However, looking at the comic through the lens of a researcher, you can observe that the relationship between Jeff Warring and Tana is submissive and dominant. Tana’s character goes against her own father, to help Jeff Warring escape and fight against her own kind. This can be related to the events of a women named Dorothy Chartrand, who was a part of the Metis tribe and had to be a service woman because her husband joined the war. In this journal article, she recounts her experience and the reasons she joined, as well as how she was treated and discriminated for her race. Her “grandmother’s teachings about oppression and its operation in the lives of Métis” in which she described the role of government to take away “your pride, your dignity, [and] all the things that make you a living soul. When they are sure they have everything, they give you a blanket to cover your shame” (Iseke and Leisa, 2013). They explain how even though their efforts were purely voluntary and not paid, the government still discriminated against them. This point in time, really shaped the lives of these women and were a critical point for these Indigenous women. The character Tana was stripped of everything, and aided Jeff Warring. In relation to the mass media, pop culture makes it so that when we perceive it as an audience, we see it as two characters falling in love, when in actuality it has a deeper meaning that children reading these comics will not understand. Children at a young age reading these comics take that interpretation and bring the stereotypical information with them into their adolescent and adult years.

 

Conclusion

To conclude, there is a very big separation between European Canadians and Indigenous Canadians that an observer can see in the comic and in reality. In particular, to the Jeff Warring comic story in Wow Comics, we can see this relationship when looking at both illustrations and speech bubbles that are in the comic issue. The speech bubble’s that the Chief uses is more simplistic language, whereas the European Canadian, Jeff Warring uses more terminology that can make the audience see the superior and inferior complex between both characters. The illustrations are used to make Jeff Warring appealing to the eye, whereas the Chief is the latter, which creates an image in the audience’s head of what Indigenous people are supposed to look like. The audience can take note that the mass media and government play a huge role in how we interpret Indigenous people. Due to the fact that there are no records of Indigenous people which makes people have a lack of knowledge when it comes to the topic. As well, the observer can notice that the relationship between women and government, is related to Jeff Warring and Tana, which can seem to be romantic when in actuality it is something far greater. In result, with the use of illustrations and simplistic language in the comic, we can see the meaning behind the superior and inferior relationship between European and Indigenous Canadians. Indigenous people are seen to be inferior, that even with the efforts of being portrayed in a comic, popularity will always be predominant for the European Canadian.

 

Work Cited

Dither , Jason, and Soren Larsen. “Originality and the Arctic North in Canadian Nationalist Superhero Comics, 1940-2004.” Originality and the Arctic North in Canadian Nationalist Superhero Comics, 1940-2004, 2010.

Judy, Iseke M., and Desmoulins A. Leisa. “Critical Events: Metis Servicewomen’s WWII Stories with Dorothy Chartrand .” The Canadian Journal of Native Studies, vol. 33, no. 2, 2013, pp. 29–54. Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database.

King, C. Richard. “Alter/Native Heroes: Native Americans, Comic Books, and the Struggle for Self-Definition.” Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, vol. 9, no. 2, 31 Dec. 2008, pp. 214–223., doi:10.1177/1532708608330259.

Iseke-Barnes, Judy. “Misrepresentations of Indigenous History and Science: Public Broadcasting, the Internet, and Education.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 26.2 (2005): 149-65. Web. 11 Nov. 2017

Breen, Kevin. “Native American Heroes in the Comics: An Overview (Part 1).” Blue Corn Comics — Native American Heroes in the Comics:  An Overview (Part 1), Blue Corn Comics, 28 Sept. 2005, www.bluecorncomics.com/kbreen.htm.

 

Images in this online exhibit are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.

 

Social Redemption and Elevation during World War II in WOW Comics Issue #4.

2017 Canadian Whites, ENG810-022 Monique Tschofen, Wow, WOW Comics, , , ,

© 2017 Hallett-Hale, Thomas,  Ryerson University

 

Introduction

The Second World War was an event that sparked tremendous social upheaval in the western world, and entire societies were bent on achieving military victory. Such a focus on military service came to elevate it to the top of the social ladder. Soldiers in the service were praised for their bravery, sacrifice, and loyalty; being a part of the military effort during World War Two represented serious social elevation for all, making heroes of ordinary citizens. The status military service offered freely, regardless of ethnicity, represented for minorities and marginalized groups social redemption. Social Redemption here means an elevation of social status for groups who endured repression and discrimination in peacetime society. Media such as Issue #4 of WOW Comics offer a fascinating window into how wide audiences were fed this idea of wartime heroism. The characters of Lorraine and Elaine in WOW Issue #4, as well as women on the wartime homefront, are all excellent examples of how combat heroism and redemption was extended to a priorly marginalized group.

 

Figure 1. E.T. Legault. Panel from “Whiz Wallace.” WOW Comics, No. 4, January 1942, p. 42. Bell Features Collection, Library and Archives Canada.

 

Heroic Redemption for Female Characters

The largest marginalized group who found opportunity and redemption in the Second World War were Canadian women. Opportunities for work at factories, in the Royal Air Force, and in the Army brought women into the limelight. In contrast, the female lead of “Whiz Wallace” is treated with a spectacular lack of respect, and thus tackles social redemption more directly. Her name is Elaine, and in Issue #4 she becomes deeply distressed that other women are fawning over her dearest- the protagonist Whiz. She becomes overcome with despair in her rooms, despair that’s narrated with stark disrespect.“Lying across her bed, Elaine Kenyon, like a foolish child crying for no reason at all, sobs her heart out” (Legault, 36). These words make clear the esteem that the reader is intended to hold Elaine in. On the counter side, our protagonist is portrayed as an earnest hero being snubbed; “Wearied of trying to get an audience with his sweetheart, Whiz goes back to the gathering honouring him, to apologize for Elaine’s action”(Legault, 36). Later, as a seeming punishment for her behaviour, Elaine’s request to join in a combat expedition is rebuffed – and she is left behind. This immense collection of “flaws” that the writer amasses against her only serves to highlight her redemption, as she stows away and fights with the men. Elaine manages to save the life of her companion, despite her perceived weakness. After taking the initiative, Whiz goes from demeaning her to; “Good girl Elaine, I don’t know how you happened to be here, but you’re mighty welcome!” (Legault, 43). This stands as the perfect example of redemption through military action, even from a group so marginalized as to be scorned and left behind for petty misbehaviours. Elaine therefore serves as a figure who, by taking action to aid the military cause of her friends, becomes a heroic figure in her own right; one whose prior misdeeds are erased by bravery.

 

A New Kind of Wartime Character

A reflection of women’s new status is found in my WOW issue, in the character of Loraine. She inhabits the story of “Dart Daring,” as the love interest to the titular protagonist. My issue opens to her brave rescue of Dart from a tribe of angry natives, in which she scales a sheer cliff by herself, sneaks by a hostile camp, and unties our indisposed hero. This is a far greater display of agency than other female characters throughout wartime comics; who often find themselves the victim of unfortunate circumstances rather than the solution. The writer does, however, portray her exploits in language far less heroic than applied to Dart. “Her heart misses a beat,” “Loraine, fear gripping her heart…” (Legault, 5). Her fear is emphasized, and she does not exhibit the cool courage of her male counterpart. And yet, the fact remains that Loraine indisputably clambers up a towering cliff, and braves a camp full of enemies to untie her friend. These feats far exceed being tied to various objects to be used as bait- a fate that inordinately befalls other female characters in many wartime comics. In a time where love interests were often portrayed as kidnapped, threatened, or helpless to create tension, Lorraine’s agency is a heroic new tone. That a heroine could perform heroic deeds in a similar league as a male character is a new brand of story, a portrayal of new, redeemed women, capable of playing stronger roles in w society.

 

Homefront Heroines

Beyond the world of comic books, the concept of women engaged in the war effort blossomed into the idea of wartime Heroines. These women stepped up to aid the war effort, and were acclaimed for doing so. The acclaim was built into the image of women as selfless, patriotic individuals who stepped up to aid their country in its time of need. The wartime service changed the concepts of men and women’s work; instead lauding women for accepting jobs that they could only dream of a decade before. “The war effort and patriotism are presented as the artimcentral motivators for women’s work and the progressive national narrative is strongly endorsed” (Wakewich & Smith, 59), meaning that women’s jobs had become emblematic of patriotic service. The social redemption lay in this recasting of working women as noble heroines aiding their country, simply because the jobs they took were supporting the military effort. This massive shift in thought was so powerful that, even after the war, official wartime record favours the stories of exceptional heroines rather than the everyday exploits of ordinary wartime women (Wakewich & Smith, 59). Thus, the wartime saw women rising from the marginalized social dynamic of women in the 1930s, to be given both greater access to jobs and greater social standing. This social redemption was the prime example of the power the war effort had to elevate and even glamourize marginalized groups.

Figure 2, 1947 painting.”Parachute Riggers,” Paraskeva Clark. Canadian War Museum, http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/artwar/artworks/19710261-5679_parachute-riggers_e.shtml

 

The Unredeemed First Nations in Issue #4

However, the forth issue of WOW comics is not entirely generous with this idea of redemption. While women benefit from redemption in combat, the same cannot be said for the Native Americans depicted in the story of “Dart Daring.” These faceless foes are heaped with cultural stereotypes, but with none of the redemption experienced by Elaine. They are termed both as “Howling Redskins,” (20) and “A pack of blood thirsty savages,” (19). Both of these terms are meant to demean and demonize the Natives- a common practice for wartime comics that wished to display their enemies as inferior. Despite Natives being Canadian minority, the writer pulled no punches, as seen when Lorraine is told; “If your friend is wise, he will easily outsmart those varmints! They’ve been drinkin’ the fire-water given to them by some unknown renegade, and they’re on the rampage!” (17). What makes this stereotyping relevant is that Native Canadians, like women, were a minority whom where actively engaged in the war effort on the Allied side. In theory, the principle of redemption that applied to women should have aided them, however this was not the case. Native Americans were welcomed into the Armed Forces, distinguishing themselves there; “[Charles Byce] won the Military Medal in the Netherlands and the Distinguished Conduct Medal in the Rhineland Campaign. His citation for the latter was impressive: “His gallant stand, without adequate weapons and with a bare handful of men against hopeless odds will remain, for all time, an outstanding example to all ranks of the Regiment”(“Indigenous People”). Native American men were accepted and honoured for their service, same as any others. Furthermore, many in the Native community found social “redemption” of their own, a chance to be validated as true Canadians the same as anyone else; “We’re proud of the word volunteer. Nobody forced us. We were good Canadians—patriots—we fought for our country.” – Syd Moore” (“Indigenous People”). Thus, the failure of Issue #4 to portray the heroism that the Natives earned overseas appears to be the inherent preference of Comic writers to stereotype and simplify their villains for children to grasp easily. When contrasted to the respect that real First Nations individuals won through wartime service, the cruel portrayal in Issue #4 does not refute the theory of social redemption.

Japanese Canadians in the Military

A strong example of this idea of redemption through military service lies outside my comic, in the stories of the Japanese Canadians during World War Two. Japanese Canadians, unlike the prior two marginalized groups, belonged to a minority whose former country was actively opposed to Canada and the Allied cause. This caused deep suspicion to fall on an already maligned group. The majority of Japanese Canadians lived on the coast of British Columbia, where they were viewed with deep suspicion and distrust by English Canadians. Eventually, through a mixture of distrust, racism, and a desire to eliminate fishing competition, the Japanese Canadians were relocated all over the country, a great many ending up in internment camps (Sugiman). This kind of widespread social distrust perpetuated appalling conditions that this group were forced to suffer, their homes, possessions, and lives stripped from them. The awful conditions makes the “social redemption” that many young Japanese-Canadian men experienced by joining the Armed Services even more marked, perhaps more so than that attained by Natives and women. These men did not hesitate to join the Forces, since “For [Japanese Canadian] men, a symbolic demonstration of both loyalty to the nation and confirmation of manhood was enlistment in the armed forces” (Sugiman, 195). This show of loyalty was rewarded largely by an escape from internment camps, and a form of social approval. A young Japanese Canadian at the time, by the name of Akio, detailed in an interview the results of joining the Forces; “In almost every reference to his decision to join the army, Akio introduced two related themes: his father’s support of this decision, and his belonging in Canada as opposed to Japan” (Sugiman, 196). It seemed that joining the forces switched the social standing of Japanese Canadians from that of possible enemy agents to loyal, patriotic Canadians. This change is a drastic example of how the redemption process not only exists, but how powerful it was during the war time years. Akio goes on to detail how his military status served as a protection against the racism and discrimination of every day life; “In almost every memory story, Akio juxtaposed the harshness of such discriminatory acts with the loyalty and support of Hakujin [White Canadian] men in the army. Akio believes that his military status in some ways shielded him from the impact of the racism that Japanese Canadians encountered in daily life” (Sugiman, 207). Even the depths of suspicion that an entire ethnic group had fallen to could be redeemed by service in the military, and all that it represented- the patriotism and dedication to one’s country that endowed a social standing all of it’s own, above the stereotypes and judgements of ordinary society.

Conclusion

To conclude, the characters within my issue- Loraine and Elaine- provide an abstract portrait of how the wider society of World War II was taught that military and combat engagement meant social elevation, and in some cases, redemption. The Native Americans, portrayal adds more nuance to the idea, contesting the reality of this social redemption with what the widespread, propaganda-like media spread. What the oral and archival evidence shows is that the social elevation of military service was profound to many minorities and marginalized groups, despite the castigation the Natives receive in my issue. In the end, the drive to win World War II was great enough to defy even the cast iron social standards of pre-wartime society.

 

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Works Cited

Brcak, N. and Pavia, J. R. (1994), “Racism in Japanese and U.S. Wartime Propaganda.” Historian, 56. 671–684. Retrieved from doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.1994.tb00926.x

Walker W. St. G. James. “Race and Recruitment in World War I: Enlistment of Visible Minorities In the Canadian Expeditionary Force.” Canadian Historical Review 1989 vol. 70, 1-26. Retrieved from http://www.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/CHR-070-01-01

Wakewich, Pamela, and Helen Smith. “The Politics of ‘Selective’ Memory: Re-Visioning Canadian Women’s Wartime Work in the Public Record.” Oral History, vol. 34(2), 2006, pp. 56-68. Retrieved from www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/stable/pdf/40179897.pdf

Sugiman, Pamela. ‘“Life Is Sweet”: Vulnerability and Composure in the Wartime Narratives of Japanese Canadians’. Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d’études canadiennes 43(1) (2009): 186–218. Print. Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/367058

Dittmer, Jason, and Soren Larsen. “Aboriginality and the Arctic North in Canadian Nationalist Superhero Comics, 1940-2004.” Historical Geography, vol. 38(1), 2010, pp. 52-69. Retrieved from ejournals.unm.edu/index.php/historicalgeography/article/view/2864/2342

Legault , E T. “WOW Comics.” WOW Comics [Toronto, ON], vol. 1, Commercial Signs of Canada, 1942. No. 4, pp. 1–42.

Clark, Paraskeva. “Parachute Riggers.” Exhibition Theme – Work. Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, 1947. Canadian War Museum, http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/artwar/artworks/19710261-5679_parachute-riggers_e.shtml

“Indigenous People in the Second World War.” Veterans Affairs Canada, Government of Canada, 29 Nov. 2016, www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/historical-sheets/aborigin. Accessed 23 Mar. 2017.

WOW Comics No. 6: A Window to Past Culture and Ideologies

2017 Canadian Whites, ENG810-022 Monique Tschofen, Wow, , , , , ,

© Copyright 2017 Kristian Saflor, Ryerson University

An Academic Analysis:

Comic books in Canada during the second World War served as forms of entertainment for children. With its use of illustrations, stories, and advertisements, Canadian comics managed to attract children into reading them as it provides them with content that serve entertaining and fun through the eyes of children. However, comics are more than just forms of entertainment, but rather they are historical artifacts. Bell Features’ comic WOW Comics No. 6 contains what would be considered entertaining for children at the time; superheroes, advertisements for toys, contests, and eye-popping illustrations, but examining the content and analyzing the way it resonates with its audience suggests what culture was like at the time the comic was produced.

This exhibit will explore comics as a form of media altogether and emphasize the role of comics as an expression of cultural views and ideologies as opposed to viewing comics simply as forms of entertainment. The research provided throughout this exhibit seeks to correlate culture and entertainment, and how both of these aspects serve to educate contemporary readers of the historical context of when such comics were produced to the public. This exhibit will answer the questions; what does WOW Comics No. 6 provide besides entertainment for contemporary readers? And why is it important to view WOW Comics No. 6 more than just entertainment?

Reputation and Underlying Significance of Comics:

Comics, as compared to literary books, textbooks, and even film, are generally regarded to be inferior forms of entertainment, or simply just disregarded altogether. Mark Berninger states that comics have been largely marginalized by critics and academics (4), thus suggesting that comics have little to no value for academic analysis and examination. This notion altogether indicates that comics, to a vast majority of scholars and critics, are generally looked down upon. It is difficult to determine which specific aspects of comic books hinder scholars and critics to examine the medium as academic research and it is tedious to come to an overall general conclusion. It is important to view comics more than just forms of entertainment. Berninger emphasizes that comics are an extension of ourselves and uniquely suited to describe the human experience (3). With this in mind, examining WOW Comics No. 6 requires one to reflect upon the context of which it was produced and created. To expand on the idea of the human experience and how it relates to comic books, comics are heavily influenced by the culture it stems from, in regards to WOW Comics No. 6, the stories and undoubtedly, the advertisements are strongly influenced by wartime during the 1940s.

A Window to the Past:

Context at the time of a comic’s development and production is crucial for understanding set ideologies and values. Casey Brienza argues that there is an urgent need to study the context of a comic at the time of its production (107). WOW Comics No. 6 presents shocking, and somewhat comical imagery towards the depiction of Adolf Hitler, racist stereotypes, and misogyny. To modern readers, these representations may be deemed appalling and deeply offensive in many ways, but that was not the case for Canadians at the time WOW Comics No. 6  was produced. The offensive depiction at the time was deemed normal and part of culture, it was a different time, and different views were established in Canada during the 1940s. Annessa Ann Babic emphasizes that comic books, much like movies and music, are created to sell, and that they are sold according to consumer demands and preferences (111). Drawing from this notion, WOW Comics No. 6’s content is derived from consumers’ wants and preferences at the time of production, Babic states that the public makes demands on what themes should be presented in comics, and how the pages of a comic book provide a glimpse of the culture of when the comic was produced (111).

With this in mind, analysis of comics requires acknowledgement of culture and ideologies, in this case, the content presented within WOW Comics No. 6 reflects the desires and expectations of the people living in that era. Culture and ideologies within a country changes over time, a comic book produced at a time where war played a huge impact globally gives modern readers a small fragment of what culture was like at the time.

Comics, Wartime, and the Everyday:

The material and content of WOW Comics No. 6 is evidently influenced by wartime as it is clearly represented in sections such as the contest titled “What Would You Do With Hitler and his Gang?”. With the second world war in full effect, WOW Comics No. 6 implemented themes of war and nationalism in both the comic’s stories and advertisements. Looking at comics as a historical artifact, the contents and themes presented within the comic evidently identifies itself with what was going on in Canadian society.

With stories such as “Dart Daring and the Horror in the Hills” by E.T. Legault, and advertisements within the comic such as toy airplane advertisements, the notion of war and wartime playing a huge impact on Canadian society managed to find its way in merchandise and entertainment. WOW Comics No. 6 serves as a window to society at the time of the second world war, or as Frank Bramlett defines it, as the everyday in that the comic portrays notions of war and conflict through its superhero narratives. Bramlett emphasizes the notion of the everyday and the quotidian as presented in comic books through its story and characters. As Bramlett states, comics illustrates the quotidian to a high degree, the representation of the everyday in comics become reflexive to the reader, supporting the everyday through use of characters, dialogue, settings and narratives (247).

The everyday as shown in Dart Daring and Whiz Wallace presents the reader with the story’s heroes in a state of conflict and some sort of call of duty. The concept of the everyday expressed though the characters in the comic links to the everyday life of readers at the time. The stories and narratives presented in both “Dart Daring and the Horror in the Hills” and “Whiz Wallace and Two Worlds at War” evidently reflect the issues people had to deal with during the war. The distinction between the heroes and villains presents a stark contrast between the two groups where the villains are dehumanized and stereotypically labelled as seen in “Dart Daring”.

Comics are not only forms of visual entertainment for children, but it captures worldviews and culture through its presentation of stories, narratives, and characters. The link between war and conflict in “Dart Daring and the Horror in the Hills” and war and conflict in the context of the everyday of the readers during wartime indicate that comics do indeed mirror and reflect culture and ideologies at the time of the comic’s production. Comics encapsulate the everyday of the readers through its depiction of plot development, characters and character visuals. Looking more closely at “Dart Daring and the Horror in the Hills”, the antagonistic group, which appears to be Natives, are identified as “savages” (Legault 6). The name in itself suggests stereotypical views towards their enemies much like propaganda posters presented to the public. The advertisements within WOW Comics No. 6 clearly mirror propaganda posters with its stereotypical, comical and antagonistic view towards Germany, Adolf Hitler, and the Japanese. Bramlett emphasizes that comics rely on the reader’s sense of the everyday; comics incorporate culture’s view of the everyday into its characters, story and narratives (258).

Figure 1. E.T. Legault. Panel from “Dart Daring.” WOW Comics, No. 6, March 1942, p. 6. Bell Features Collection, Library and Archives Canada.

In regards to history, WOW Comics No. 6 mirrors societal views and ideologies and provides contemporary readers a brief understanding of culture and ideologies at the time it was produced. For contemporary readers, WOW Comics No. 6 demonstrates the reality and everyday notions of a country influenced by war. It signifies the way war has affected communication and depiction of people towards its readers, and for us contemporary readers, it signifies a tiny piece of history and the culture and ideology that comes with it.

Propaganda as an Agent of Ideology:

WOW Comics No. 6 contains heavy implications of nationalism, and antagonism towards Canada’s enemies at the time. It presents an abundance of nationalistic views, and propaganda, whether it be presented in a subtle or obvious manner.“Dart Daring and the Horror in the Hills” depicts Daring’s enemies as stereotypical “Indians”, are represented as hostile and villainous, and are referred to as “savage” (Legault 3). Advertisements are of war-related merchandise or purchases such as war saving stamps, and a contest titled, “What Would You Do With Hitler and his Gang?”, which bluntly antagonizes and ridicules Hitler and the Japanese, which they are referred to as “dirty japs” (32). The notion of propaganda presented in WOW Comics No. 6 and how it is presented gives contemporary readers an understanding of how communication was handled during the 1940s in Canada.

Figure 2. “What Would You Do With Hitler And His Gang?” Contest. Panel from WOW Comics, No. 6, March 1942, p. 32-33. Bell Features Collection, Library and Archives Canada.

With propaganda popping up in every page of the comic, it is important to explore the psychology behind propaganda in order to understand why this certain era relied on it to speak to its viewers. Ryan Jenkins discusses the concept of propaganda and who it really benefits. According to Jenkins, propaganda serves beneficial solely for the propagandist rather than the people who view it (1). With communication in mind, examining WOW Comics No. 6 requires exploration of the propagandist, Jenkins claims that the propagandist fill their needs and wants only if it furthers their ideologies (10). Propaganda plays a huge role in Canadian culture at the time, propagandist forced specific outlooks towards Canada’s enemies at the time. The question that comes to mind is, what is the significance of this in regards to comics as an agent of historical context?

Propaganda is meant to forcefully deliver the perspective and ideologies of the propagandist, because WOW Comics No. 6 is littered with propaganda, readers can interpret the perspectives and motivations behind the propaganda presented within the comic; what the propagandist is trying to communicate and what does it say about Canadian culture in the 1940s. For readers, analyzing propaganda within the comic enables us to decipher cultural outlooks on specific groups of people and the notion of war, an example of this is the representation of children’s interaction. Going back to the “What Would You Do with Hitler and his Gang” section, it is extremely difficult to deny that the outlook on Canada’s enemies are represented as overly comical, but perhaps there is a deeper message in regards to how Canadians sought to communicate with their readers. For the most part, Bell Features comics was catered towards children, the activities and stories were meant to be read and engaged with by children at the time.

Because WOW Comics No. 6 was focused on this age group, the inclusion of war related themes and propaganda suggests that Canadian culture during the second world war sought to involve children with wartime efforts in a very blunt manner, which also suggests that Canadian culture at the time made no effort to keep war discreet towards children. The inclusion of propaganda in a comic book further supports the idea that comics are an agent of historical context, as the messages being conveyed give modern readers a sense of how a country communicated to its consumers, in this case, how Canada communicated to children during the war.

WOW Comics and the Truth of Ideology:

Comic books as a whole serve as much more than what it is originally perceived as. To an extent, comic books are miniature history textbooks encapsulating a piece of history held together with paperback covers and printing paper. The comic contains Canadian ideology from the past, and provides, as well as educates readers of what culture was like at the time of the comic’s production. Perhaps most importantly, WOW Comics No. 6 encapsulates needed accuracy of Canadian ideology in the 1940s.

History textbooks and secondary sources speaking of Canadian history and views can potentially be altered to create a false image of Canada; a fragmented outlook on Canada and Canadians during the struggles and influences of war. The essentiality of the comic is that it is clear and unedited. The content is all there and everything is intact in terms of thematic elements and messages given to the reader at the time. With the lack of editing and possible fragmentation of information, WOW Comics No. 6 signifies a piece of history that is accurate of Canadian ideology.

Works Cited

Babic, Annessa Ann. Comics as History, Comics as Literature: Roles of the Comic Book in Scholarship, Society, and Entertainment. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, December 2013, pp. 111-22. ProQuest site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/lib/oculryerson/reader.action?docID=10823569

Bramlett, Frank. “The Role of Culture in Comics of the Quotidian.” Journal of Graphic Novels & Comics. December 2010, pp. 246-59. Schlars Portal Journals, journals1.scholarsportal.info.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/details/21504857/v06i0003/246_trocicotq.xml

Brienza, Casey. “Producing Comics Culture: A Sociological Approach to the Study of Comics.” Journal of Graphic Novels & Comics. December 2010, pp. 105-19. Scholars Portal Journals, journals2.scholarsportal.info.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/details/21504857/v01i0002/105_pccasattsoc.xml

Berninger, Mark. Comics as a Nexus of Cultures. McFarland & Company, Inc. April 2014. ProQuest, ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/lib/ryerson/reader.action?docID=1594826

Legault, E.T. and Henly, J.O. “Thrilling Adventures of Dart Daring Master Swordsman.” WOW Comics, no. 6, March, 1942. Bell Features Collection, Library and Archives Canada. data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e447/e011166669.pdf

Jenkins, Ryan. “The Thin Line Between Propaganda and Persuasion.” Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2013. December 2013, pp. 1-61. ProQuest, search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/docview/1524023363?pq-origsite=summon

Images in this online exhibit are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.

The New Children of 1940’s Comics

ENG810-022 Monique Tschofen, Wow, WOW Comics,

This post will focus on the second issue of the WOW Comics, printed in November 1941, part of the Canadian Whites Collection. In this issue three main stories are: Dart Daring and Perils at Sea , The Ring of Death and Whiz Wallace and the Kingdom of Awe. Out of these three two super hero stories that continue into the issues to come. Alongside the main stories there are interactive games and contests. For example, a drawing contest with the winning prize roller blades. This comic issue also holds, insight on the “Science of Wrestling” as well as war flags and fighter planes. On first glance, the comic seems to be a fun escape for children during the war, but the WOW Comics second issue can be seen as an instructional manual for both young boys and girls in the 1940’s.

Introduction of Children in Literature:
In the mid 18th and early 19th century, the Romantic period, the child came fully into its own as the object of increasing social concern and cultural investment; which in turn brought a new genre into writers’ attention, children’s literature. The previous belief was the Puritan belief, that all humans are born sinful as a consequence of mankind’s ‘Fall,’ which led to the notion of childhood to be a perilous period.

Construction of the Child:
From around the middle of the 18th century, many people in Britain began to think about childhood in new ways. Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau is one of the architect’s whose work rejects the doctrine of Original Sin and maintains that children are innately innocent, only becoming corrupted through experience of the world in Émile, or On Education (1762).
Following Rousseau’s lead, romantic poets such as William Blake and William Wordsworth, childhood became close to God and a force for good. Both Blake and Wordsworth work with the suggestion that the “child-like state of innocence [is] morally and emotionally superior to the condition of adult experience,” (Benziman, 69). Childhood was now associated with nature, innocence, the unconscious, most instinctual being. In children’s literature, the idealized version of childhood became prominent and remained enormously influential throughout the 19th and into the 20th century. The child like state of innocence is viewed as higher ranking to a condition of adult experience,” (Reynolds). Add to that this child-like state is rather artistically productive.

Perpetual childhood:
However, not everyone saw childhood as a state to be hurried through in order to achieve adulthood. The 19th century saw the development of what is occasionally referred to as the “Cult of Childhood”, with adults delighted to celebrate childhood in texts and images. The connections with the Romantic ideal of childhood are clear, but many writers of the ‘Golden Age’ of children’s literature went further, even expressing a longing themselves to be children once more. But perpetual childhood is impossible, and there is a notable tendency in some of the best-known Victorian fantasies for child characters to die in this world in order to be reborn or to stay children forever elsewhere. The Cult of Childhood persisted into the 20th century, reaching its height in J M Barrie’s Peter Pan (who first appeared in a play of 1904), who famously refused to grow up (Reynolds).

Break in the Romantic Image:
Working-class children were sent to work at an early age with the beginning of the industrial revolution, as it was a common belief that children should contribute to carrying on the industries of their country. This notion was of equal importance as education, urging factory owners to use children to their advantages. For example, using children in coal mines, as they were small enough to fit in the crawl spaces as well as they did not know any better.

Brief Re-account :
On 1 September 1939, German forces invaded Poland, and the Second World War began. Donald Macdonald, then a boy in Winnipeg and later a federal Cabinet minister, remembered huddling around the radio in his grandparents’ living room, listening to the CBC reports of the Nazi invasion. “Even as a seven-year-old I understood that the world had just changed for the worse,” (Canadian Encyclopedia). The six-year-long war brought changes to the world and forever altered Canada. Then a nation of only 11 million people committed more than one million men and women to uniform, (Canada War Museum).

Changes in Children’s Lives:

New Responsibilities:
The adults started to disappear from children’s lives after the war started. Soon male teachers abandoned classrooms for service in the armed forces. “They went from men in civilian dress to uniformed heroes — and sometimes martyrs,” (Canadian Encyclopedia). While fathers and older siblings were away on duty, children were expected to help around the house. Young children were assigned new chores, anything from cooking to cleaning. Mothers entered the workforce in white or blue-collar jobs forcing older siblings to look after the younger ones. Later, young girls, sometimes around the ages of 10 or 12, were employed in positions such as “general housework” or baby sitters. These children were expected to do this as they balanced homework and other duties.
Schools were plastered with posters encouraging students to do their bit. They were taught to avoid careless talk that might aid the enemy and to be on the lookout for spies, specifically Russian. Teachers taught lessons about the war overseas and Canada’s contributions to beating the enemy.

Helping the War Effort
Victory Gardens were encouraged, at school or at home, anywhere a free patch of soil could be found. Children planted seeds and tended to their vegetables. “Every bunch of carrots or canning of jam was portrayed as a blow in battling the Nazis,” (Canadian Encyclopedia).
To further the war efforts recycling was also depicted as essential to the war effort. Paper and metal scraps were gathered in large salvage drives. Canadians were instructed to recycle and reuse. Nothing was to be wasted in the fight.
Babysitting money and allowances went towards purchasing war stamps. The stamps were sold in schools and stores; children purchased each for 25 cents. Sixteen stamps filled up a $4 card, which was sent to the federal government. In return, the child received a War Savings Certificate worth $5, to be cashed in after the war, (Canadian Encyclopedia).

Harsh Realities:Germans, Italians and Japanese
Not all Canadian children were allowed to participate in the war effort. Canadians of German or Italian descent were teased, taunted or assaulted by other children at school and home.The victims sometimes fought back, insisting they were as Canadian as anyone else, but most slunk away to the shadows, not anxious to draw any more attention to their heritage, or firm the stereotypes portrayed in political propaganda.

The war in Europe ended on 8 May 1945, and children were among the millions of Canadians who were swept up in the excitement. Most young people took pride in having done their bit, with their service marked by knitting socks, helping in the home or on the farm, having dirty fingernails from gardening, and collecting mountains of scrap metal for recycling (Canada War Museum).

Early Childhood Literature:
As a result of the Puritan belief much of the earliest children’s literature is concerned with saving children’s souls through instruction and by providing role models for their behaviour, (Reynolds). Children’s literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are enjoyed by children. Modern children’s literature is classified in two ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries became known as the “Golden Age of Children’s Literature” as this period included the publication of many books acknowledged today as classics (Burke M. Eileen, 108). One of the engineer’s leading towards children’s literature is William Blake. His work in the Songs of Innocence and Experience illustrate and conceptualize the new image of the child that was formed in the romantic period. The content of these poems revolved around purity and the angelic child that falls into experience as they transition into adulthood. Blake’s work was printed in a two part series, the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. This formatting created a divide in the content that was considered acceptable for children, and what happens after they live and experience. For example, the introduction to the Songs of Innocence illustrates the differences between the boy in the cloud and the piper who is tainted by his experience.

WOW Comics Literature:
As mentioned earlier the second issue of the WOW Comics can be seen a piece of literature that sets examples for children during the war time. With all the changes to their daily routine the children lacked the knowledge on how to accomplish what is expected of them. The ban on the importing of comics from the States allowed Canadian artists and writers to really gear the content towards the expectations of Canadian children in the 40s. The content of the Canadian Whites is specially geared towards the new image of the child surfacing during the war.

For example:

The Science of Wrestling: One side of the page is taken up with visuals of different wrestling holds, and how to successfully do them. On the other side of the page there is a detailed description of the holds, and how to perform the various holds if

Legault, E.T. (w). “The Science of Wrestling.” WOW Comics, no. 2, November, 1941, pp. 31. Canadian Whites Comic Book Collection, 1941-1946. RULA Archives and Special Collections, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.

the images were not clear enough. This page is geared towards young boys, or men, training them so they feel confident when enlisting into the army. This page allowed the boys to feel as if they are part

of the movement and learning to fight is giving them a leg up in the fight. They now felt prepared to tackle whatever enemy came into Canada, or when they themselves were fortunate enough to fight overseas.

On the other hand, young girls were taught how to be submissive girls, calm and subdued.

Legault, E.T. (w). “Elaine Kenyon Cut-outs .” WOW Comics, no. 2, November, 1941, pp. 30. Canadian Whites Comic Book Collection, 1941-1946. RULA Archives and Special Collections, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.

Elaine Kenyon Cut-outs: On the page there is a female dressed in an undershirt with calve length boots, in red. And there are three dresses, 2 styles of hats and a pair of boots. A young child can cut them out and dress up the doll in various ways, and there will be more outfits in issues to come. Young females were basically told they do not need to learn to fight because the boys already know how, they just need to relax and let the men do the saving. Young girls were employed as babysitters and they were encouraged to garden because that is all they could possibly accomplish.

Super Hero Comic:

Dart Daring and Perils at Sea: Dart Daring, is a youthful, dare-devil, sword fighter and so forth, begins his story in this issue discovers a treasure at an old shipwreck. Dart faces many predators, the octopus, 2 sharks, Captain Ajabe Maruk, who captures Dart and punishes him. Lorraine rescues Dart. Savages take over the ship and Dart must help Ajabe and his crew. Dart and Lorraine jump over board find themselves lost at sea, waiting to be rescued by a passing ship. Dart is an average man, with the skills of an

Legault, E.T. (w). “Dart Daring and Perils at Sea.” WOW Comics, no. 2, November, 1941, pp. 10. Canadian Whites Comic Book Collection, 1941-1946. RULA Archives and Special Collections, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.

experienced fighter. He takes on ever challenge thrown at him, whether it be wrestling sharks or seizing a ship all by himself. Dart is the example for what young boys should strive to be; the average man that can be a fighter and warrior. A heroic average man, ready to bravely tackle any enemy.

 

 

 

 

The New Construction of Childhood

According to the Comics

The content of the comics challenges the ideas of the ideal childhood introduced by Blake and other writers in the Romantic period. These comics present themselves as a binary to innocence and experience. The formatting of a comic book is considered equivalent to a picture book, but these comics tackle much greater political themes and questions. The child in the 1940’s was one of great responsibility and knowledge, as well as the duties of the home and contributing to the war. An advantage towards the war effort in whatever way possible.

Works Cited
Benziman, Galia. Narratives of Child Neglect in Romantic and Victorian Culture. United States Of America: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print.

Blake, William. “Songs of Innocence Introduction.” Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43667.Accessed 14 Feb.2017 (referenced the poem)

Burke, Eileen M. Early childhood literature: for love of child and book. Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1986.

“Canada and The Second World War .” Canada War Museum , www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931crisis_e.shtml. Accessed 31 Mar. 2017.

Legault, E.T. (w). WOW Comics, no. 2, November, 1941, pp. 10. Canadian Whites Comic Book Collection, 1941-1946. RULA Archives and Special Collections, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.

Reynolds, Kimberly. “Perceptions of Childhood“ WordPress.com. https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/perceptions-of-childhood, British Library. Accessed 15 Feb.2017.

Censorship: The Constriction of Artistic Choice in Issue #5 of WOW Comics

2017 Canadian Whites, ENG810-022 Monique Tschofen, Wow, , , ,

© Copyright 2017 Courtney MacKerricher, Ryerson University

Canadian Censorship Background

Censorship is a word most commonly associated with war. It is a word that has been fashioned to promote positively reinforced environments through negatively impacted situations. For decades, censorship has plagued the world to ensure that any truth that needs to be contained must be filtered in a way that serves to protect countries from themselves and those around them. Mark Bourrie describes Canada’s participation in censorship during World War II as “the toughest of those imposed by any Allied countries” (“Between Friends” 7). Canada’s position towards the usage of censorship was to warrant restrictions as a form of deterrence during times of civil unrest in order to “keep military and economic secrets out of enemy hands, and to prevent civilian morale from breaking down” (Bourrie, “The Fog of War” 10). These restrictions primarily pertained to forms of written expression, where laws such as Canada’s War Measures Act, The Comics Code Authority and other influential regulations served together to assure the public’s mind on issues relating to the war.

The Pressures of Persuading the Public

One area that suffered greatly from these constricting laws was the publication of comic books. Although Canada respected the rights of the media, there were scores of laws with loop holes that allowed the censorship system to be overruled by publishing companies, thus creating a sense of voice through the constriction. This active voice gave readers access to information that they were entitled to receive. There is no doubt that numerous comic book authors were driven by patriotism or a noble cause, such as Canada’s participation in the war, but there is however, proof that the pressure to illustrate the government’s dominant ideology of the war was detrimental to creation. This fact alone made it difficult for creators to illustrate the government’s limited view of the time. These creative limitations impacted the comic book industries immensely. One series in particular, the Canadian Whites collection by Bell Features, fell victim to Canada’s strict publication laws. While there was no set list for what needed to be censored in Canada, anything relating to graphic content such as violence in children’s literature had to be removed. The question remains, how does a comic book company write a story about a superhero with no violence?

Substandard superheroes

When it comes to most superhero stories, violence is inevitable; however, unlike your average superhero, Dart Daring and Whiz Wallace are strategically detailed characters created to illustrate ordinary individuals. In issue five of WOW Comics, both characters possess no super human abilities apart from conquering extraordinary tasks. With charismatic charm, a strong sense of determination and the ability to survive any ship wreckage, Dart Daring establishes himself as an adventurer of the seas. When it comes to Whiz Wallace’s attributes: unthinkable courage, sharp instincts and his undying love for a woman named Elaine, these characteristics shape him into an intriguing intergalactic being. Both characters share solid foundations of Canadian morals which emphasizes the morality of their stories, proving Bart Beaty’s point that “superheroes are…exemplars of nationalist ideologies” (428). Due to the presence of censorship, readers were brainwashed into believing that the decisions made by these superheroes are politically correct, when inadvertently, these comics books taught children that the death of Native Indians and other races alike was necessary to achieve peace.

A psychiatrist by the name of Fredric Wertham saw comic books as “one mass medium…which taught children that violence was a solution rather than a problem” (Duncan and Smith, 276). Wertham dedicated his life to preserving childhood innocence by protesting against comic books industries and other mass media corporations. His protests came to one conclusion: graphic violence was a flourishing source to influence negative behaviours in readers and it needed to be stopped.  Ultimately, his one number goal was to keep comic books out of the hands of children and into the flames of a fire; much like Germany’s Nazi book burning campaign introduced by the German Student Union. With sheer determination and several failed attempts to bring about any legislation against comic book companies, Wertham helped to create what he believed to be a solution to the comic book problem: The Comics Code Authority. This “self-censoring agency” worked efficiently and effectively to make sure that any comic books produced during the times of World War II and several decades after that, were “suitable only for children” (276). Although Wertham’s ideologies possess reasonable points, his protests to entirely ban comic books from children were too extreme for the public. Without the use of violence, comic books were challenged to narratively undertake opposing ideologies and conjure eye-popping stories.

Violation of the Superhero Code of Ethics

A panel of the emotional and physical destruction caused by the volcanic erruption
Figure 1. E.T. Legault. Panel from “Whiz Wallace and the Bat-Beasts of Aralee.” WOW Comics, No. 5, February 1942, p. 64. Bell Features Collection, Library and Archives Canada.

In “the Bat-Beasts of Aralee”, Whiz’s story juxtapositions to allegorical transposition, by which “instead of conflict between capitalism and communism…war [erupts] between earthlings and alien invaders,” (Arnaudo, 120) in this case, the alien invaders take the form of bat creatures. Like most children’s fiction, the hero saves the girl and lives happily ever after; consequently, Whiz makes a political choice not to save the rest of the Tizani men who await their untimely demise. In Figure 1, Elaine is seen weeping for the lives lost to the volcanic eruption while Whiz comforts her by saying that the Tizani men“only met the fate they had wished upon [him and Elaine]” (E.T. Legault, “The Bat-Beasts of Aralee” 64). The rule that a superhero can never kill an individual under any circumstance or let a civilian die when they can be saved, was not yet formed back then as it is today. Without the installment of the “superhero code of ethics”, Whiz Wallace and Dart Daring must identity themselves as “rugged protagonists who weren’t…worried about the lives and deaths of others” (Arnaudo, 78). With this in mind, their characters created an image that fulfilled the anxieties Canada felt during the second World War.

The Integration of Comix Contents

Although Canadian land was never attacked during either World Wars, the bubbling anxieties citizens felt on the home front were overwhelming. Physical violence was a caution that the government did not wish to integrate into children’s everyday lives. One of the reasons the government chose to censor any information pertaining to violence in children’s literature was because they were afraid that children would “get the wrong idea” and become more aggressive to those around them. Any visual violence was removed from children’s literature after considerable backlash came from mothers who were worried that their sons would develop aggressive behaviours. Comix contents, otherwise referred to as underground adult comic books, are believed to have been subtly laced into Canadian comic books during World War II as a way to embed alternative beliefs of the time period into government approved works. These comics were banned due to the warning signs of aggressive readers sometimes obtained as a consequence of reading and seeing such graphic violence. One of the reasons why distributors banned visually graphic violence from comic books was to encourage children to intellectually process the war in a less explicit matter; consider war as a platform to peace (Duncan and Smith, 56).

Troubles in Publishing

After the War Exchange Conservation Act completely halted the importation of non-essential materials, primarily from the United States, new perspectives were able to arise through the rush to build a successful Canadian comic book industry. Unfortunately, the Golden Age of comics did not survive for very long in Canada due to technical difficulties such as of paper shortages, on top of the pressures of creating a censored voice and style that would keep readers wanting more. Bell Features quickly realized they made a mistake after their first issue was completely printed in colour. The labour-intense work, time and money that was saved by formulating iconic black and white cores was what kept Bell Features alive for several years. But even at that, creators and artists were unhappy. On a daily basis, they faced multiple creative constraints which led many readers to think less of comic books. Not only were there space limitations, there was a problem with reproduction technologies. Paper quality and production was poor, not to mention the page-by-page ink process (Duncan and Smith, 119). Because of this, the artistic style represented in these comic books suffered in terms of encapsulation, layout and overall composition, “the very manner in which an artist…has expressive power” (146). Which makes one wonder, if these issues were erased, could be presumable that the production of comic books in Canada would have continued to thrive even after the years of World War II, instead of reverting back to selling only American-made comics?

Physical and Visual Limitations of Censorship

With the overwhelming pressures creators faced to ensure that the views of the Canadian government where presented properly and promptly, publishing companies were kept under a watchful eye. Anyone who wrote, published, circulated, or possessed anything banned by the government was fined $5,000 and/or up to five years in prison (Bourrie, 21). These restrictive measures lead publishing companies to come up with clever ways to corporate their own ideologies into their work without the government knowing. Although most of Dart and Whiz’s battle wounds are visually disguised, in “the Bat-Beasts of Avalee,” Whiz’s cheek is subtly drawn to have an outlined wound. This the only time in the comic where one of Whiz’s several battle wounds appears. The rest of his wounds: claw marks, blooded fingers, ripped clothing and other lava burns are missing entirely from the drawings of his story.

Tactics Used to Avoid Censors

On page 49, Whiz makes his way up a volcano until he reaches the highest point of the summit, the last place he saw the bat creatures take Elaine. After a long struggle, he acquires several blooded fingers which are strategically placed outside of the image box, leaving the reader open to graphic interpretations. This is the one of the clever tactics comic book companies like Bell Features used in order to represent violence in a non-aggressive way, yet still demonstrating Whiz’s external and internal struggles in the process. Others tactics used in Whiz’s story include creating smaller images. By differentiating the size of his character when the narration refers to battle wounds “bleeding from many scratches” and clothes torn off of his body, readers cannot tell by Whiz’s small-drawn body that he obtains these marks.

Panel depicting Dart's fight against the Natives
Figure 2. E.T. Legault. Panel from “Dart Daring and Treacherous Trails.” WOW Comics, No. 5, February 1942, p. 25. Bell Features Collection, Library and Archives Canada.

In “Dart Daring and Treacherous Trails,” Dart and his newly acquainted friend, Bob Huntley, find themselves at the core of a “savage” attack, fighting their way through a sea of tomahawks. In Figure 2, the artistic dimensions of the page demonstrate how Edmond Good’s articulately-drawn triangular-shaped image boxes mask the evidence of violence displayed on the page. At first glance, a reader more then likely will not recognize that Dart is shown stabbing a “savage” to death on page 25. In many cases, readers put most of their visual attention towards the narrative aspect of the story, the middle of the page or image. With the clever use of puffs of smoke from the guns that Dart and Bob use, it is unlikely a reader would notice this display of violence. This could be why it was permitted to be published and distributed to children in Canada. These acts against the censorship of violence could have been detrimental to Bell Features, but instead, it allowed their readers a window of opportunity to experience what the brutalities of the second World War were really like.

 

Similar Acts Against the Censorship of Freedom of Voice

Throughout the years of the second World War, Canada’s Federal government used censorship for self-interested purposes but this never stopped individuals from pursuing and publishing the truth. Much like E. T. Legault’s clever uses of visual camouflage as a way to integrate violence and controversy into his comics, a team at the Globe and Mail newspaper company were considered some of the country’s earliest wartime censorship critics. A columnist by the name of Judith Robinson, fought with Toronto censors regarding the assertion of her opinion in a column dating back to December of 1939. After initially being rejected, Robinson’s original, uncensored work made its way to the lead paragraph of her column that was published, printed and handed off to the streets the very next day (Copp, 105). This story goes to show that censorship demanded too much of a societal constraint for those working inside and out of publishing companies; the voices of Canadian citizens were not being heard. In “The Bat-Beasts of Avalee,” the character of Elaine represents the suppressed voices of Canadians when she sheds a tear for the unfortunate lives lost to a volcanic eruption. In contrast, Whiz’s character is the perfect representation of Canadian government morality. These clashes of voices demonstrate the frustration that Robinson, along with numerous other writers, felt during the time period. With an abundance of frustration, criticism towards the government’s priorities was top on a writer’s list.

Criticism on Canadian Censorship

On December 11th, 1939, a newspaper article titled Newspapers and the War by the Globe and Mail, made its national debut. This article wrote to confirm that criticism is a writer’s rite of passage, you can choose to withhold it, or splurge. Criticism was something Canadian newspapers faced on a daily basis during World War II. The most criticism was initially presented towards the Canadian government “due to the fact that the nation’s preparedness for the war [had] been unwisely explained and overemphasized”. At the time, there was quite a sense of disappointment with the government but also “room to hope”. With the country becoming further and further submerged into the horrors of the war, censorship of graphic content was one of the few ways in which the government could provide a measure of innocence to a world full of destruction. However, Wilfrid Eggleston, the man the Canadian government appointed as their Chief of Censoring even questioned himself as to whether censorship “was an effective way of keeping secrets and maintaining morale,” (Copp, 98). It’s just like how children eventually understand that Santa Claus isn’t real; one way or another, everyone learns the truth. There will always be a constant battle of whether society will think that they went too far to suppress information or not enough. Dart Daring and Whiz Wallace’s visually disguised battle wounds demonstrate that even with the pressures of censorship, the ideologies of Canadian citizens were cleverly and dynamically expressed during the time period of World War II.

_________________________________________________________________

Works Cited

  • Arnaudo, Marco, and Jamie Richards. Myth of the Superhero. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.
  • Beaty, Bart. “Fighting the Civil Servant: Making Sense of the Canadian Superhero,” The American Review of Canadian Studies, vol. 36, no. 3 (Fall 2006), pp. 427-39. Pro Quest
  • Canadian Business and Current Affairs Database, http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/cbcacomplete/docview/214007738/abstract/6B9303D71CDE485CPQ/1
  • Bourrie, Mark. The Fog of War: Censorship of Canada’s Media in World War Two. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre, 2011.
  • — “Between friends: Censorship of Canada’s media in World War II.” University of Ottawa, 2009, pp. 1–448, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/docview/230969316?accountid=13631
  • Copp, Terry, et al. Canada and the Second World War: Essays in Honour of Terry Copp.Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2012.
  • Duncan, Randy, et al. The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture. New York City, NY, The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2009.
  • Legault, E.T. (w) and Good, Edmond (a). “Thrilling Adventures of Dart Daring: Master Swordsman.” WOW Comics, no. 5, February, 1942, pp. 1-64. Bell Features Collection,Library and Archives Canada. http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e447/e011166668.pdf
  • The Globe and Mail. “Newspapers and The War.” The Globe and Mail, 11 Dec. 1939, www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/newspapers/information_e.shtml.

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Images in this online exhibit are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.

Comics for Creativity: Why Comics Should Have a Place in Art and Literary History

2017 Canadian Whites, ENG810-022 Monique Tschofen, Wow, WOW Comics, , , , , ,

Introduction

Many art historians have deemed comics to be amongst the lowest form of art or simply not art at all. However, by turning comics away from the world of high art, literature and academic study, there are many opportunities for learning and creativity that are missed. Through integrating a close reading of WOW Comics issue 3, into a history of why comics aren’t considered art, how comics have similar movements to art history, the hybrid nature of comics and Roy Lichtenstein’s use of comics for creativity, I will raise the question as to why comics aren’t considered art and what opportunities are missed as literary and artistic thinkers by discluding comics from our discourses and serious history.

Comics Aren’t Art – Critics and Art History

In Bart Beaty’s book “Comics versus Art”, Beaty raises a point about Clement Greenberg’s critical approach to comics. Greenberg is a famous modernist art critic and Beaty summarizes his critique of comics by saying that “comics as among the lowest forms of debases and industrialized pseudo-culture” (20). Beaty goes on to explain that similar to many art critics’ problems with new movements in art history, comics are being disregarded in the same way. Beaty highlights that critics see comics as a medium that does not evolve from any practices in art that came priory to it (20-21).

With this understanding of how comics have been perceived throughout art history, Beaty raises an argument towards the way people look at comics as destructive. Rather than seeing comics as literature or art, Beaty argues that comics should be understood as a hybrid art form (21). A hybrid art form, when concerning comics, is the working relationship of images and text that make up the whole of any comic (Witek 34). With understanding that hybrid art forms are created by the merging of multiple different inspirations, ideas and mediums, it makes them extremely hard to categories. It is important to enter the discussion of comics by keeping in mind their hybrid nature. Within the hybrid form that comics present themselves, it is also important to remember that, unlike other forms of high art or literature, comics are printed cheaply and by masses.

However, by keeping the nature of comics in mind their placement in the world of literature and art becomes extremely important. With the marrying of both text and images, comics form the delicate line between the world of visual and literary arts. By focusing on the ideas that are open for expression through the hybrid nature of comics, their less academic appearance becomes irrelevant. Diving into the hybrid nature of comics, the printing process and consumer quality that fills up most of WOW Comics and many other comics coming out of World War One, will become less important. While their value in history, their relationship between visual and literary qualities, and the overall wealth acquired from looking at comics as art will become apparent.

Art and History – World History and Movements Within Comics  

When looking at comics as art, it is important to document that most comics that are being created surrounding a war, WOW Comics included, are almost always focused on the war occurring. With this recurrence of war within comic, a connection can be made between the goals of many famous painters and writers that include war in their works of art. This framework of seeing comics like other works of art, as a way to document history and/or movements in a society, help us to understand their artistic and historic value.

In Sabin Roger’s book Comics, Comix, & Graphic Novels, there is an outline of the movements in comics that occurred to fill a new motif. Here Roger describes action comics and their newly found way of artistic expression: “the name of the game was bold, figurative art with strong colours. In terms of content, the emphasis was again on simplicity: the heroic derring-do found in the pulps was perfect” (57). This shows how a movement within a comic books changes how the artists met new demands in their medium. This happens in action and hero comics, like WOW Comics where there is a demanded to draw more attention onto the hero and their call to action. This shift in relation to motif and visual representation proves that, like many other movements in art history, artist within comics are looking at past ways of dealing with medium and remodeling it to fit the ideas they want to share.

This demand for comic book artists to shape their work to fit the story line of action heroes, is also a challenge that they faced when drawing comics for World War One. Sabin Roger explains that in Britain, the First World War created a new demand for artistic representation within comics. “Artistically speaking, the genre made new demands on comics (54). Invariably, the style would have to be ‘realistic’ in order to carry the story, and this required a new attention to detail”(57). What Rogers speaks to in this quote, is not only the adaptation the comic must undergo to match the subject matter, but the hybrid relationship that all comics carry. The hybrid relationship is the marriage of the realistic images needed to coincide within the new storyline of World War One.

Showing that by understanding the comics’ way of shaping the artists format to match the subject matter and working between the relationship of imagery and subject to convey a coherent message reveals that comics should be recognized in art history.This hybrid relationship of the marriage between a comics media and visual representation is shown

A three panel of Dart fighting with shipmates.
Figure 1. E.T. Legault. Panel from “Dart Daring.” WOW Comics, No. 3, December 1941, p. 9. Bell Features Collection, Library and Archives Canada.

in WOW Comics Issue 3. Shown in figure 1 on page 9 of “Dart Daring’s” action packed fight, the medium is being used to convey meaning. The viewer’s eyes automatically go to the middle panel, where the gutters are being used to draw tension onto to Dart’s relentless fight. This overt feeling of tension being placed on the main character is drawn into full force by the use of medium to convey a message.

The Hybrid – Scout McCloud and the Lines between Art and Comics

While understanding the complex hybrid nature of art, it is important to look into Scott McCloud’s rich understanding of the comic’s place within high art. McCloud explains that movements in art, like Modernism, Expressionism, Dada and Surrealism, made their way into being ‘art’ the same way comics did – by the balance of “appearance and meaning”. While comics have a hybrid balance of words and images, they take on the birth that many  famous works in art history have (144-149). In further relation to the language in art and comics, McCloud expands on the expressionist use of line in relation to comics. McCloud explains that late nineteenth century artists such as Much and Van Gogh, worked with line as a way to express deep meaning, meaning that can also be found in comics (122-125). Although the comics use of line might not be as vibrant as one of Van Gogh’s night skies, it does mean that comics lack expression within their use of line or colour. It might mean that the comic is expressing something more calm and simple.

Dart is draw in a page containing three triangle panels. In panel one, Dart sits shirtless on his boat staring into panel two. In panel two Dart holds onto his lover while staring at the viewer. In panel three Dart holds his lover while knelling before a latter leading to a ship.
Figure 2. E.T. Legault. Panel from “Dart Daring.” WOW Comics, No. 3, December 1941, p. 2. Bell Features Collection, Library and Archives Canada.

This use of line as expression can also be found in WOW Comics Issue 3, when “Dart Daring” is show in a three piece triangular panel in the first section of his spread. Seen in figure 2, this early introduction to Dart is important as it requires the viewer to see him as an important character in their first encounter. Line is used here, like the expressionist, to render tremendous meaning. In its most obvious way the three panels are broken up by harsh lines, placing Dart in an altarpiece of panels. In panel one the reader makes their way from the horizontal lined waves that are forced into corners, arriving at Dart creating a line with his  body, leaning towards the next panel. As he looks onto himself in panel two,  he guides the viewer’s eyes. While the last panel uses line to create literal distance and give Dart, the only rounded figure in the panel, a chance to break free from the daunting lines of the boat and the adventure that lies ahead.

By recognizing how comics use line in a subconscious way, it can become clear how they hold as much meaning in relation to the way famous artist use line.  Continuing with McCloud’s comparison of high art to comics, he explains that “the father of the modern comic in many ways is Rodolphe Topffer” (120),  revealing that his cartooning and use of panel explores a combination of pictures and words. This made him a contributor to the understanding of comics. According to McCloud, Topffer was a master and creator of a form that was “both and neither” text and image (122). All of these recurring ideas that flow between high art and comics should be taken into consideration when understanding that these two art forms function similarly and should be treated as such.

Pop Art – Roy Lichtenstein, High Art and Comics for Creativity

When you combine high art and comics, you get Roy Lichtenstein, “being one of the best known pop artists of the 1960’s to use comics and cartoons as source material for their work” (Greenville 228). In order to understand the comics place in high art and academia, it is vital to understand how Lichtenstein took hold of the medium for an artist message. By diving into Lichtenstein’s goal of using comics in his art, we can come to a conclusion on why we should learn from Lichtenstein and use comics for creativity.

In Bruce Greenville’s book KRAZY! Roy Lichtenstein’s rendering of the comic is presented in full force, by Greenville saying that “Lichtenstein’s genius lay(s) in his ability to grasp the most compelling elements of comic composition and bring them forward for scrutiny”(Greenville 228). This quote acknowledges Lichtenstein’s tribute to comics. He also used comics to his advantage by working with a strong understand of the new visual culture that was emerging at the time. He used a medium as a vessel to express his artistic message (288), as many great artist of the past have. This use of medium in relation to message within high art is an idea that takes place in comics as well. In Rublowsky’s book Pop Art, he highlights Lichtenstein’s interest in comics and their mechanical creator, the separation within the comics that comes from the lack of viewing the artist’s hand (1-2). Here, there is specific definition of what Lichtenstein found so intriguing about comics.  

Continuing with a greater understanding of what Roy Lichtenstein was trying to achieve by using comics as a medium, it becomes clear that we should be following in his footsteps and use comics for our own artistic and literary expression. In Michael Lobel’s book Image Duplicator, there is an explanation of how art historians disapproval of Lichtenstein’s work allows for a deeper insight into the academic use of comics. The explanation states, “I think it is fair to say that art history as a discipline has tended to view realist painting of any period as if they were nothing more than accurate transcriptions of reality outside themselves” (Lobel 14). Lobel expands by using an art historians critic of Liechtenstein to his advantage saying, “I want to treat Fried’s components in much the same way Lichtenstein treated printed images: I will appropriate and strategically reuse them for my own purpose” (Lobel 15). By combining Lichtenstein’s use of comics for an artistic message and Lobel’s tactical way of turning art historians critique of Liechtenstein to fit his project, it is clear that the same should be done with comics. By looking at comics as artistic expression or a vessel in which artists (like Lichtenstein) can be inspired, their space within art history and academic study allows for more opportunities of creativity and learning.   

Conclusion

The evidence that comics belong in academic and creative discourse is overwhelming. The risk in not including this hybrid art form that is comics into the world of art and literary history allows for current gaps to form in creativity and learning. By understanding a critical reading of WOW Comics issue 3, the historical view of comics as ‘false art’, how comics work within movements similar to art history, the hybrid art of comics and the inspiring way in which Roy Lichtenstein’s uses comics for creativity, academic and creative thinkers must be called to re-evaluate comics as valuable components of our past and future history.

Work Cited

Legault, E.T. “Dart Daring”. WOW Comics,Volume 1, No. 3, December 1941, p. 2-9. Canadian Whites Comic Book Collection, 1941-1946. RULA Archives and Special Collections Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.  

Beaty, Bart. Comics Versus Art . University of Toronto Press, 2012. Toronto, Canada.

Greenville, Bruce,  et al. KRAZY!: The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art. Vancouver Art Gallery,University of California Press, 2008. Vancouver, B.C.

Lobel, Michael. Image Duplicator: Roy Lichtenstein and the Emergence of Pop Art. Yale University Press, 2002. New Haven.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art. Harper Perennial 1994. 1st edition. New York, N.Y.

Rublowsky, John and Ken Heyman. Pop Art. Basic Books, 1965.  New York, N.Y.

Sabin, Roger. Comics, Comix, & Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art. Phaidon Press Limited, 1996. London.

Witek, Joseph. Comic Books as History: The Narrative Art of Jack Jackson, Art Spiegelman, and Harvey Pekar. University Press of Mississippi, 1989.

Images in this online exhibit are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.