Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books
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A Decade of Instability for the Mainstream Industry A Decade of Instability for the Mainstream Industry
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And Comics Became Relevant And Comics Became Relevant
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Variations around the Superhero Variations around the Superhero
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Heroic Fantasy Heroic Fantasy
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The New Monsters The New Monsters
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Martial Arts Martial Arts
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The Retro Mode The Retro Mode
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A Secondhand Medium A Secondhand Medium
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The Agony of the Underground The Agony of the Underground
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The Appearance of the Alternatives The Appearance of the Alternatives
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7 Research and Development by Trial and Error (1969–1979)
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Published:15 December 2009
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Abstract
The comic book industry underwent dramatic changes in the 1970s, when the large publishers failed to arrest declining sales despite saturating the market with hundreds of new titles. It was also during this decade that the underground movement experienced phenomenal growth until 1973 and subsequently adjusted to the influx of artists who were in pursuit of creative independence yet external to the countercultural agenda. The industry’s restructuring took place at the same time that distribution networks underwent a major overhaul. The neighborhood and retail outlets that had been the main suppliers of comic books for the past thirty years witnessed the emergence of a new distribution system by the mid-1970s that could cope with the economic demands of the first comic book specialty stores. This chapter examines trends in the comic book industry from 1969 to 1979, first by describing its instability during the 1970s and how comics became relevant again. It discusses the introduction of a number of variations in the superhero genre by publishers such as DC Comics and Marvel Comics, the release of comic book adaptations of movies and television series, the decline of underground comics, and the emergence of cartoonists who desired freedom of expression that was refused to them by the mainstream publishers.
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