Comics and the World Wars: A Cultural Record PDF
Preview Comics and the World Wars: A Cultural Record
Miningcomicsandcartoonsashistoricalsources,thisisaninnovative,theoret- ically sophisticated study that crosses national and geographical boundaries. It makesapioneeringcontributiontoprint,labour,genderandnewculturalhis- toryandtheexpandingfieldofhumourstudies,throughacaptivatingseriesof casestudiesfrombothWorldWars. –BridgetGriffen-Foley,MacquarieUniversity,Australia Thisstudy’sfocusonhomefrontandfront-linecomicsfromthetwoworldwars brings welcome attention to texts generally ignored by scholars of history and comic art alike. Its argument for the significance of these largely overlooked comics as valuable source material opens the doors for further studies in these twofieldsandbeyond. –GeneKannenberg,Jr.,NorthwesternUniversityLibrary,USA Thisbookestablishesthesignificanceofcomicsasaculturalrecord,withlesser- known and forgotten titles giving important insights into everyday lives and mentalities across the English-speaking world in times of war. Comics are an excitingadditiontotherepertoireofsourcesthatinformcommemorativeactivi- tiesinthetwenty-firstcenturyaswellashistoricalstudiesoftheperiod. –SarahLloyd,Directorof EverydayLivesinWar,anAHRC-funded FirstWorldWarEngagementCentre,UK IfoundparticularvalueintheclosereadingsofcomicsofWilliamHaselden,more obscureartistsfromtheleft-wingpressinAmericaandAustraliaandsoldierartists fromthetrenchpapers.Theauthorstackleissuesofgenderrepresentation,and certainlyKathleenO’Brien’sWandatheWarGirlcomicwarrantscloserattention. –IanGordon,NationalUniversityofSingapore PalgraveStudiesintheHistoryoftheMedia SeriesEditors:ProfessorBillBell(CardiffUniversity),DrChandrikaKaul(DepartmentofModern History,UniversityofStAndrews),ProfessorKennethOsgood(McBrideHonorsProgram,Colorado SchoolofMines),DrAlexanderS.Wilkinson(CentrefortheHistoryoftheMedia,University CollegeDublin) PalgraveStudiesintheHistoryoftheMediapublishesoriginal,high-qualityresearchintothe culturesofcommunicationfromthemiddleagestothepresentday.Theseriesexploresthe varietyofsubjectsanddisciplinaryapproachesthatcharacterizethisvibrantfieldofenquiry. Theserieswillhelpshapecurrentinterpretationsnotonlyofthemedia,inallitsforms,but alsoofthepowerfulrelationshipbetweenthemediaandpolitics,society,andtheeconomy. Advisory Board: Professor Carlos Barrera(University of Navarra, Spain), Professor Peter Burke(EmmanuelCollege,Cambridge),ProfessorDenisCryle(CentralQueenslandUniver- sity,Australia),ProfessorDavidCulbert(LouisianaStateUniversity,BatonRouge),Professor Nicholas Cull (Center on Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California), Profes- sorTomO’Malley(CentreforMediaHistory,UniversityofWales,Aberystwth),Professor ChesterPach(OhioUniversity) Titlesinclude: JaneL.Chapman GENDER,CITIZENSHIPANDNEWSPAPERS HistoricalandTransnationalPerspectives JaneChapman,AnnaHoyles,AndrewKerrandAdamSherif COMICSANDTHEWORLDWARS ACulturalRecord ChandrikaKaul MEDIAANDTHEBRITISHEMPIRE MichaelKrysko AMERICANRADIOINCHINA InternationalEncounterswithTechnologyandCommunications,1919–41 ChristophHendrikMüller WESTGERMANSAGAINSTTHEWEST Anti-AmericanisminMediaandPublicOpinionintheFederalRepublicof Germany,1949–68 JamesMussell THENINETEENTH-CENTURYPRESSINTHEDIGITALAGE NealM.Rosendorf FRANCOSELLSSPAINTOAMERICA Hollywood,TourismandPublicRelationsasPostwarSpanishSoftPower JoelWiener THEAMERICANIZATIONOFTHEBRITISHPRESS,1830s–1914 PalgraveStudiesintheHistoryoftheMedia SeriesStandingOrderISBN978–0–230–23153–5hardcover SeriesStandingOrderISBN978–0–230–23154–2paperback (outsideNorthAmericaonly) Youcanreceivefuturetitlesinthisseriesastheyarepublishedbyplacingastandingorder.Please contactyourbookselleror,incaseofdifficulty,writetousattheaddressbelowwithyournameand address,thetitleoftheseriesandoneoftheISBNsquotedabove. CustomerServicesDepartment,MacmillanDistributionLtd,Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire RG216XS,England Comics and the World Wars A Cultural Record Jane Chapman, Anna Hoyles, Andrew Kerr and Adam Sherif UniversityofLincoln,UK ©JaneChapman,AnnaHoyles,AndrewKerrandAdamSherif2015 Foreword©KentWorcester2015 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorshaveassertedtheirrightstobeidentifiedastheauthorsofthis workinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2015by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN978–1–137–27371–0 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Chapman,Jane,1950– Comicsandtheworldwars:aculturalrecord/JaneChapman,Anna Hoyles,AndrewKerrandAdamSherif,UniversityofLincoln,UK. pages cm.—(Palgravestudiesinthehistoryofmedia) Includesbibliographicalreferences. ISBN978–1–137–27371–0 1. WorldWar,1914–1918—Socialaspects. 2. WorldWar, 1939–1945—Socialaspects. 3. Comicbooks,strips,etc.—History— 20thcentury. 4. Comicbooks,strips,etc.—Historyandcriticism. 5. Popularculture—History—20thcentury. I. Hoyles,Anna,1978– II. Kerr,Andrew,1986– III. Sherif,Adam. IV. Title. D523.C4552015 940.3(cid:2)1—dc23 2015012850 Contents ListofIllustrations vi Foreword vii Preface xii Acknowledgements xiii 1 Introduction 1 2 AProposedTheoryandMethodfortheIncorporationof ComicBooksasPrimarySources 15 3 HaseldenasPioneer:ReflectingorConstructingHome FrontOpinion? 35 4 ProtoComicsasTrenchRecord:Anti-Heroism, DisparagementHumourandCitizens’Journalism 56 5 TheRiseandFalloftheFirstWorldWarGullibleWorker asaCounterculture 77 6 AdjustingtoTotalWar:USPropaganda,Commerceand Audience 101 7 TheCulturalConstructionofWomen:Pin-Ups,Proactive WomenandRepresentationinCombat 125 8 CollectiveCultureasDynamicRecord:TheDailyWorker, 1940–43 150 9 Conclusion 172 Notes 180 Bibliography 192 Index 208 v Illustrations Figures 1.1 Thegullibleworker,HenryDubb,refusestolistentoa socialistactivist 9 2.1 TheworldwarservesascontextforWonderWomanas shesavesaUSAirForcepilotfrom‘certaindoom!’ 30 3.1 BigandLittleWillie–a1914referencetonationalism, inspiredbyGermanicmedievalchivalry,iscontrasted withtheAlliedvictoryin1918ledontheWesternFront byMarshalFoch 39 3.2 Inthecontextoftotalwar,ColonelDug-Out’snewjob titleisironicallypompousandmeaningless,illustrating theMirror’seditorialstandpointofcriticisingthestagnant natureofBritishbureaucracy 46 3.3 MissJoyFlapperton,symbolisingthe‘flapper’cultureand thechangingroleforyoungwomen 52 4.1 ‘B.C.toArmageddon’ 62 4.2 ‘ByJove!TheverythingtotakebacktoBlighty!’ 70 5.1 HenryDubbprovidesasalutarylessonforreadersonthe subjectofwarandcapitalism 85 5.2 WilliamMugillustratesthesocialistviewpointthatlifein thenavyconsistsofinequalityandhardship 95 7.1 Wandaexemplifiesthenewroleforwomenthatemerged duringtheSecondWorldWar 136 8.1 ‘TheFrontLine’(finalpanelmissing),illustratingthe scarcityofonionsand,intheopinionoftheDailyWorker, theinequalitiesoffooddistribution 161 9.1 HenryDubbexhibitshis‘incorrect’political consciousnessbyopposingwomen’ssuffrage 177 Tables 4.1 Broadthemesofcontent 61 6.1 Percentagesofmenandwomenwhousespecificproducts theyseeadvertisedinnewspapercomics 104 vi Foreword In recent years, there has been a surge of scholarly interest in graphic narrative. To a significant extent, this new wave of comics scholarship reflectstheconcernsofresearchersinliterarystudies,mediastudiesand cultural studies – the contemporary-minded wing of the humanities, broadlyspeaking.AsComicsandtheWorldWarsmakesabundantlyclear, however, comics and cartoons offer a rich socio-cultural resource for historians interested in the intersection of cultural expression, polit- ical communication and key junctures and crises over the past two centuries. The focus of this volume, of course, is on graphic narrative and the twoworldwars.Indifferentways,eachofthebook’schapterspresents a compelling case for incorporating the study of comics and cartoons intotheprofessionaltoolkitofthemodernhistorian.Theauthorsdraw on ideas and concepts developed by prominent writers on historical methods to help reconsider and expand the palette of primary source materials;indoingsotheyengageinadialoguewithaNewCulturalHis- torythathasalreadyprovokedseriousrethinkingacrossthehumanities on a range of topics and issues. Even as the book’s authors investi- gate from a methodological standpoint the uses of comics as historical sources, they provide numerous examples of ways in which individual wartimecomicsreflectedandtosomeextentshapedthesocialcontexts withinwhichtheywerecreated,disseminatedandconsumed.Takenas awhole,thebook’schaptersprovideafreshwayofthinkingaboutwhat historiansandothersoftendescribeas‘theculturalrecord’andtheways inwhichcomics andcartoonsconstituteaneglectedbutsalientaspect ofthisrecord. While the present study opens up new lines of enquiry for scholars interested in the cultural and social history of the First and Sec- ond World Wars, it also raises useful questions for researchers in the fledgling and interdisciplinary field of ‘comics studies’. It is worth emphasising the rapidity of the field’s growth and maturation: while at the end of the twentieth century the number of serious books on comics could fill a bookshelf, the more recent outpouring of mono- graphs, biographies, edited collections and theoretical investigations could easily furnish a couple of large bookcases. And yet, while the term ‘comics’ encompasses a diverse array of formats, practices and vii viii Foreword genres, comics scholarship has mostly fixated on a narrow subset of themes,creatorsanderas.Thenewscholarshiptendstoprivilegeauto- biography and adventure stories above humour and parody; US above non-USAnglophonecomics;andcomicbooksandgraphicnovelsabove newspaper and magazine cartooning. Most importantly, from the per- spectiveofthepresentstudy,thefieldexhibitsamuchstrongersenseof engagement with contemporary rather than historical cartooning. The literature on nineteenth-century cartooning is much smaller than the literature on twentieth-century cartooning, and the literature on late twentieth-century cartooning is far larger than the literature on early twentieth-century cartooning. There are exceptions to these general trends;adeterminedresearchercanfindmaterialondelightfullyobscure corners of cartooning history and culture. It nevertheless remains the case that a select number of present-minded topics and approaches receivefarmoreconsiderationthanothers. Thepresentvolumeisthusanoutlierfromthestandpointofthestate of the field. At the moment, there is very little being published on the kind of short bursts of graphic humour explored in chapters 3 and 5, or the type of combative political cartooning profiled in Chapter 8. Australian, Canadian and New Zealand-based cartooning receive far more scrutiny in these pages than is customary, and in general there is not a lot of comics-related research that criss-crosses national and regionalboundariesinthewaythatthisvolumedoes.Theuseofcomics and cartoons as historical sources, a methodological issue that is care- fullyaddressedinChapter2,hasnottodatereceivedsustainedattention elsewhere, nor have the ways in which modern states have mobilised cartoon imagery for propagandistic purposes, which Chapter 6 investi- gates. Furthermore, the book’s highlighted cartoonists – George Baker, Bruce Bairnsfather, George Dunstan (‘Zif’), Hugh Farmer, Jimmy Friel (‘Gabriel’), Fred Guardineer, William Haselden, Syd Miller, Kathleen O’Brien, Ernest Riebe, Dan Russell, Ryan Walker, the anonymous Hob- Nob and so on – are pretty much invisible from the vantage point of contemporaryscholarship.Allofthisshouldserveasareminderofhow littlewereallyknowaboutcartooninginthetwentiethcentury,letalone the nineteenth, despite appreciable advances in scholarly knowledge andinfrastructure. Not surprisingly, wartime cartooning has received minimal atten- tioninthesecondaryliterature.Whiletherearereprintresources,such as Matgamna (2014), Minear (2001), Schiffrin (2009) and Yoe (2009), scholarlycommentaryonthesubjectisnotexactlyabundant.Areview of the literature reveals a much greater level of investment in comics Foreword ix about past wars, and graphic reportage about wars in remote settings, than comics generated within the crucible of interstate violence. Yet neither comics about historical warfare nor graphic narratives about present-day conflicts that are written and drawn by journalists should be grouped under the ‘wartime comics’ label. By definition, wartime comicsarecomicsincubatedwithinparticularcontextsandtimeframes. Whetherissuedbygovernmentagencies,for-profitcompaniesorpolit- ical organisations, these kinds of visual narratives are rooted in, and necessarily reflective of, particular times and places. To write about wartimecomicsisthereforetoconfronttheproblemofconnectingwhat isdepictedonthepagetowhatwashappeningontheground.Thissug- geststhatthestudyofwartimecomicsspeakstothecorepreoccupations of professional historians in a way that the study of comics about war does not. Contemporary non-fiction comics about war in other times andplacesadmittedlyconstituteakindofculturalrecord,inthesense that they are suggestive of the context within which they were cre- ated.Buttheresearcherwhosetsouttoproduceanessayonnon-fiction comicsabout,say,ancientwarfareispresumablymorelikelytousethat opportunitytotalkaboutsuchmattersasaesthetics,formaldevicesand storytelling strategies, rather than what the comics might reveal about fighting in the ancient world, or what their pages disclose about our ownculturalmoment.Thereare,wecanassume,morestraightforward waystodocumentandinvestigatethecontemporaryculturalrecord. While the phrase ‘wartime comics’ denotes a quite specific set of meanings, and should not be conflated with the broader nexus of war and comics, the more familiar term ‘war comics’ should also be dis- entangled from similar-sounding phraseology. If wartime comics can be defined as comics directly produced under wartime conditions, war comics can be defined as comic books, comic strips and reprint col- lections that invoke and recycle stereotypical battlefield scenarios for youngadultaudiences.Warcomics,likehorrorcomics,romancecomics and superhero comics, constitute a genre, whereas wartime comics can incorporate a variety of genres, from kids’ comics and humour comics to political comics and government propaganda. War comics tend to be romantic in their treatment of military conflict, with an emphasis on good guys versus bad guys, and tidy story resolutions, and they are almost always temporally disconnected from the histori- calperiodsthattheyportray.Overtheyears,forexample,the‘bigtwo’ US comics companies, DC and Marvel, published such generic titles as G.I. Combat (1952–87), Our Fighting Forces (1954–78) and Sgt. Fury andHisHowlingCommandos(1963–81),whileBritishpublishersbrought
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