{"id":62204,"date":"2025-07-13T12:20:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T12:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/62204\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T12:20:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T12:20:23","slug":"super-city-the-secret-origin-of-comic-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/62204\/","title":{"rendered":"Super City: The Secret Origin of Comic Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

PODCAST<\/strong>\u00a0 A history of the comic book industry in New York City, how the energy and diversity of the city influenced the burgeoning medium in the 1930s and 40s and how New York\u2019s history reflects out from the origins of its most popular characters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1890s a newspaper rivalry between William Randolph Hearst<\/strong> and Joseph Pulitzer<\/strong> helped bring about the birth of the comic strip and, a few decades later, the comic book. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Today, comic book superheroes are bigger than ever \u2014 in blockbuster summer movies and television shows \u2014 and most of them still have an inseparable bond with New York City.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Spider-Man<\/strong> without a tall building from which to swing? But not only are the comics often set here; the creators were often born here too. <\/p>\n

Many of the greatest writers and artists actually came from Jewish communities in the Lower East Side, Brooklyn or the Bronx.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For many decades, nearly all of America\u2019s comic books were produced here.\u00a0 Unfortunately that meant they were in certain danger of being eliminated entirely during a 1950s witch hunt by a crusading psychiatrist from Bellevue Hospital named Frederic Wertham<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

WITH<\/strong> a special chat with comics historian Peter Sanderson<\/strong> about the unique New York City connections of Marvel Comics\u2019 most famous characters. Sanderson is the author of The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City<\/a><\/strong> and The Marvel Encyclopedia<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

FEATURING<\/strong>: The Yellow Kid, Little Orphan Annie, Batman, Doctor Strange, the Watchmen and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!<\/p>\n

To get this week\u2019s episode, download it for free from<\/strong> your preferred podcast player.<\/p>\n

Or listen to it straight from here:<\/p>\n

AND after you\u2019re done listening to this history on comic books in New York City, check out Greg\u2019s appearance on an episode of This Week In Marvel<\/strong><\/a>, the official Marvel Comics podcast hosted by Ryan \u201cAgent M\u201d Penagos, James Monroe Iglehart, and Lorraine Cink. <\/p>\n

In this episode, Greg actually speaks about the Bowery Boys episode about comics and shares his own experiences with reading comic books as a kid. <\/p>\n

Find this show here<\/a> or on your favorite podcast player.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tom and Greg from their 2014 visit to the Marvel Comics offices in Midtown. <\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

The Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast is brought to you \u2026. by you!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are now producing a new Bowery Boys podcast every two weeks. \u00a0We\u2019re also looking to improve the show in other ways and expand in other ways as well \u2014 through publishing, social media, live events and other forms of media. \u00a0But we can only do this with your help!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are now a member of Patreon, a patronage platform where you can support your favorite content creators for as little as a $1 a month.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please visit our page on Patreon<\/a> and watch a short video of us recording the show and talking about our expansion plans. \u00a0If you\u2019d like to help out, there are five different pledge levels (and with clever names too \u2014 Mannahatta, New Amsterdam, Five Points, Gilded Age, Jazz Age and Empire State). Check them out and consider being a sponsor.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We greatly appreciate our listeners and readers and thank you for joining us on this journey so far. And the best is yet to come!<\/strong><\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

A young New York boy enjoys his comic book on the Bowery. Photo taken in 1940 by Andrew Herman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy Museum of the City of New York<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the comic book he\u2019s reading from March 1940, illustrated by George Papp.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy Comic Vine<\/p>\n

In this 1947 photograph taken by Stanley Kubrick<\/a>, a boy watches his baby sister and enjoys a Superman comic book while his mother shops inside.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy the Museum of the City of New York<\/p>\n

An issue of DC Comics\u2019 Superman from March 1947, with a cover by George Roussos and Jack Burnley<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy DC Comics \/ Comic Vine<\/p>\n

A girl takes a peek at some of the comic book offerings at Woolworth\u2019s. Photograph by Stanley Kubrick<\/a>\u00a0taken in 1947.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy Museum of the City of New York<\/p>\n

An issue of More Fun Comics from June 1947, produced by DC Comics:<\/p>\n

\"more<\/a><\/p>\n

The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, published in 1842, is considered by many to be the wellspring from which the comic medium derives. You can read the entire issue<\/a> over at the Darmouth College Library website.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy Dartmouth College Library<\/p>\n

A Yellow Kid adventure which would have sprung out from the newspaper due to its vivid colors.<\/p>\n

Both Hearst and Pulitzer ran versions of the Yellow Kid<\/strong> comic strip during the years that they were drumming up\u00a0propaganda which lead to the Spanish-American War. <\/p>\n

The unscrupulous nature of their efforts earned them the phrase \u2018yellow journalism\u2019, inspired by their war of the popular comic strip by\u00a0Richard Outcault.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy the Library of Congress<\/p>\n

A section of the colorful comics section of the New York Journal, 1898.<\/p>\n

\"\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Familiar<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Familiar Sights of a Great City\u00e2\u20ac\u201dNo. 1 The Cop is Coming!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Walt McDougall, New York Journal, Sunday, January 9, 1898 via New York Review of Books<\/p>\n

Little Orphan Annie became the biggest crossover star of the early comic strip era. Long before there was a musical, Annie starred in this 1932 melodrama, one of the earliest comic-to-movie crossovers.<\/p>\n

\"annie\"<\/a><\/p>\n

New Fun Comics #1, the very first comic book to contain all new material, and not merely reprints of newspaper comic strips.<\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Batman debuted in Detective Comics in 1939, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The city features in these adventures was Gotham City, startlingly similar to the city outside the creators\u2019 windows.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy DC Comics<\/p>\n

Gotham City, aka New York City, in 1939<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation<\/p>\n

Vault of Horror, one of an assortment of shocking comic books produced by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The cover art is by Johnny Craig.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy EC Comics<\/p>\n

Bill Gaines, publisher of EC Comics, at his offices at\u00a0225 Lafayette\u00a0Street.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy Tebeosfera<\/p>\n

Dr. Fredrick Wertham, the writer of Seduction of the Innocent, who lead a charge against the comic book industry.<\/p>\n

\"fred\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"seduction\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A young Stan Lee during the war as a member of the US Army\u2019s Signal Corps. He even managed to do a bit of illustration for the cause!<\/p>\n

\"stan<\/a><\/p>\n

The Thing from the Fantastic Four with the Yancy Street Gang, a variation on Delancey Street in the Lower East Side.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy Marvel Comics via Comic Viine<\/p>\n

Doctor Strange\u2019s Sanctum Sanctorum is located on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy Marvel Comics<\/p>\n

\"\"The adventures of Luke Cage, who debuted in his own Marvel Comics series in 1972, could be found mostly in Harlem. But he wasn\u2019t the first African-American superhero from the neighborhood; in 1947 a character named Ace Harlem first appeared in a Philadelphia-published comic book called All-Negro Comics<\/a>. <\/p>\n

What would Spider-Man be without New York City? The image of the Brooklyn Bridge (called the George Washington Bridge in the story) is featured in a classic tale involving the death of his girlfriend Gwen Stacey,\u00a0written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Gil Kane, John Romita and Tony Mortellaro.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy Marvel Comics<\/p>\n

And \u2014 oddly enough \u2014 Staten Island<\/strong> in the world of Marvel Comics has become Monster Island, ruled by Deadpool<\/strong>. Yes, Deadpool. Haven\u2019t they suffered enough? (Check here <\/a>for more information.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A page from Maus by Art Spiegelman, the graphic novel that brought the medium to a new level of respectability in literary circles.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy Art Spiegelman<\/p>\n

The comic book\/graphic novel continues to evolve and reach new heights of success and respectability. Roz Chast\u2019s Can\u2019t We Talk About Something More Pleasant, published last year, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for best autobiography.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy Roz Chast\/Bloomsbury<\/p>\n

The Avengers defended New York during an alien attack in their blockbuster film in 2012<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>Courtesy Film Frame\/Marvel<\/p>\n

All images on this website are owned by the original comic book companies which produced them. \u00c2\u00a0Please see individual companies for more information.<\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED READING:<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re into digging more into this subject, here are a few sources that I used for this podcast:<\/p>\n

Jews and American Comics: An Illustrated History of An American Art Form, with written contributions by Paul Buhle<\/p>\n

The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America by David Hadju<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangster and the Birth of the Comic Book by Gerard Jones<\/p>\n

Comic Book Century: \u00c2\u00a0The History of American Comic Books by Stephen Krensky<\/p>\n

Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution by Ronin Ro<\/p>\n

The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City by Peter Sanderson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PODCAST\u00a0 A history of the comic book industry in New York City, how the energy and diversity of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":62205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,18061,15660,44650,44651,42026,405,403,44652,44653,5226,5225,5228,5227,44654,5553,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,44655,44656],"class_list":{"0":"post-62204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-central-park","10":"tag-comic-books","11":"tag-foley-square","12":"tag-joseph-pulitzer","13":"tag-little-italy","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-newspaper-row","17":"tag-newspapers","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-park-row","23":"tag-publishing","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-usa","30":"tag-william-randolph-hearst","31":"tag-wnyc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114845897909062508","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}