WAR COMICS 673
have been used for political purposes, and have been particularly useful in presenting
images of war that are at once emotive and entertaining. Th is is their power, but it can
also be quite dangerous if used to manipulate and misinform, as all kinds of propaganda
invariably are at some point.
War comics fi rst emerged as a distinct genre in 1940, with the publication of Wa r
Comics by Dell, a company known primarily for funny animal comics. However, the
comic was not an initial success, probably because America was not yet at war in 1940,
and the offi cial stance of the United States was still neutral and non-interventionist.
Such overt militarism may have been too much for readers, despite the fact that around
the same time superhero comics were preparing Americans for war with interventionist
messages. It would seem that readers needed the gloss of fantasy that the superheroes
provided. Regardless, by 1943 the genre of war comics started to disentangle itself from
superheroes, with titles that seemed to be directly targeted at the armed forces, such
as Th e United States Marines and Camp Comics , which featured pin-up girls and was
aimed at troops buying comics at the PX on military bases (Goulart 2000, 159–71).
Th e obvious change in circumstances was that American was now at war, and with the
conscription of millions of American men there was a large market for such stories.
Many of the covers of these comics looked exactly like propaganda posters, and com-
municated similar messages, sometimes about practical issues related to health, such as
how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.
An important factor when considering war comics is that some were created by
writers with direct experience of war or military life, which, combined with the fact
that they were written and drawn with troops in mind, meant that they were often
very accurate in how they presented military hardware. Th is was especially important
for cover artists, who were often chosen because they could render realistic aircraft,
tanks, and the like. In contrast, such realism was rarely an aspect of the writing, with
many of the stories being jingoistic, extremely patriotic, sexist, and occasionally rac-
ist, especially against the Japanese. Of course, a good proportion of the readership
was civilian, and quite young, so these aspects were sometimes restrained, though
war comics of the time could be quite lurid as well. Extremes of violence happened
out of frame, or were rendered in euphemistic terms, when the violence was directed
against American troops, although enemy troops were dealt with in much harsher
terms, with some of these comics being quite lurid in their depiction of the kill-
ing of the enemy. Th e appeal to morale was the recurring excuse for such excess.
Whereas the artwork could be quite striking and inventive, the stories were usually
quite predictable, with outnumbered and outgunned good guys versus the enemy,
who were presented as cruel, dishonorable, and monstrous. Th e enemy would resort
to “dirty tricks” like ambushing the Americans, and after scenes of disbelief, horror,
then anger, the American troops would get their revenge. It was a story seen over and
over again in Hollywood fi lms, such as Guadalcanal Diary (1943), and replicated in
endless comics. It was also a microcosm of the popular perception of the American
experience of the war.
