"Superman. Red Son is a little-known American comic about a communist superhero who lands in Ukraine. Breaking the Comics Code. He Has Seven Names: Gaiman's Sandman

Mark Millar's comic book "Superman - Son of the Reds" has been republished in the USA. This is an alternate history where a rocket carrying baby Kal-El from the planet Krypton lands not in the heart of Kansas, but in one of the collective farms of Soviet Russia. The world's greatest super hero is being raised by communists! In American comics there are other, both positive and negative, images of Soviet heroes.

Black Widow

One of the earliest examples of a positive Russian hero, Black Widow was originally a Soviet spy, an opponent of Iron Man. She then defected to the US side and quickly became one of the most complex legends in Marvel comics history. Former ballerina Natalia Romanova was recruited into the KGB, where she received spy training. Also, with the help of chemicals in her body, aging was slowed down. Natalya Romanova could well be the heiress of the overthrown tsar.

Colossus

In 1975, the X-Men comic debuted. They decided to give the X-Men team an international character. This is how the heroes Storm, Banshee, the little-known Canadian mutant Wolverine and Colossus appeared in it - perhaps the most famous Russian hero in comics. His image is very stereotypical. These stereotypes were most evident when Colossus was recruited by Arcadia and became a proletarian, wearing a red jumpsuit with a hammer and sickle and a portrait of Vladimir Lenin.

Red Ghost and his super monkeys

Like many of Marvel's early creations, Fantastic Four has its origins in Stan Lee's anti-communist propaganda. Reed Richards launches his ship into a stream of cosmic rays to land on the moon before the Russians. He is opposed by evil rivals from the Soviet space program- an astronaut with three gorillas with superpowers.

Deadshot (Death Shot)

This character's political beliefs are not entirely clear. He is terrified of Batman, grows a mustache and shoots people. But in one of the early issues it is said that Deadshot joined the party and learned Russian to spite his father, a wealthy industrialist.

Collective man

As a result of the mutation, the five brothers gained the ability to merge into one, collective person. This Collective Man not only possessed the power of all five, but could further increase his power at the expense of the entire population of the Republic of China - the living embodiment of the power of communism.

Like the Collective Man, the Soviet super-soldiers represented various aspects of the USSR. Among them is the character Big Bear - a major in the Red Army.

Omega Red

Omega Red was created already in the 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR. Omega Red is a product of genetic engineering by the KGB. He was encased in ice and then thawed out to fight the X-Men. It was assumed that the Omega Red image was created to frighten young children.

Red Rocket

Red Rocket was a member of the Justice League, but then turned into Manhunter - one of the intergalactic robots. They were created by the Guardians of the Universe, who waited a thousand years and then betrayed their heroes.

Red Trinity

Anatoly, Bebek and Cassiopeia are three Russian super-agents who received superpowers as a result of an experiment. They could move at crazy speed.

KGBist

In one of the Batman comics, KGBiste appears, a Russian assassin who tries to kill the President.

1.Superman ushered in the Golden Age of American comics

The appearance of "Superman" in American comics marked the beginning of the "Golden Age" of cartoon stories. Comics have been published in the United States before. But most often they were humorous in nature. And so, in search of new readers and new experiences for them, it was decided to switch from humor to adventure. Back in 1938, the superhero Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 - and marked the beginning of the epic of superheroes that filled the pages. Many of them were very similar to their ancestor, but original, interesting bearers of superpowers were also born. Although the plot stereotypes were still invariably traceable... The heroic theme was very fond of readers and lasted for quite a long time, sensitively reacting to historical events: during the Second World War, the fight against evil concentrated on the fight against the Nazis and Hitler, then with the communists, it was rethought on the pages and the Korean War, and the danger of nuclear weapons... This is how the main direction in comics appeared, and American stories in pictures became one of the most popular around the world. Many comics were filmed and became the basis for cartoons, and characters with superpowers are known and loved by viewers to this day.

2. The most popular comic book in Japan is about pirates.

Japan is the second country in the world. Where comics get so much attention. They are read by both adults and children, a huge number of animated series (anime) are made based on them, and ardent fans (otaku) organize entire cosplay festivals, where they dress up as their favorite characters, conduct themed photo shoots and stage scenes based on their favorite works. Each manga has its own army of fans, its own peak of popularity, but there is one that does not lose first place in any popularity ratings. "One Piece" - the story of the adventures of an unusual boy, Laffy, whose body can stretch like rubber, has been a favorite in Japan and beyond since 1997! Despite the fact that the heroes depicted on the pages do not shine with particular beauty, they regularly surpass in popularity any beautiful warriors with huge eyes, and various love stories rich in emotions... Travel, treasure hunting, loyal friends and insidious villains, adventures and Unraveling the secrets of the world - all components of "One Piece" are something of a classic, seemingly remaining timeless.

3. French comics about Asterix pleased both adults and children

France, which also pays attention to comics, calls them “bande dessinee” - hand-drawn strip. The French gave the world another beloved character - the Gaul Asterix. Comics about the travels of the cheerful Gaul and his touching faithful friend Obelix will appeal to everyone. Visually, Asterix stories amuse children, while adults appreciate the wordplay and parody of modernity. Later, Asterix and his friends became heroes of cartoons and films, which were also loved by audiences of all ages. It is curious that the creators of the comic specifically named the main character with a name starting with the first letter of the alphabet - so that he would always be in the first lines of the catalogs.

4. Satirical comics dominated in the USSR

In the USSR, comics were not very popular, and even now in Russia, rare comic book fans prefer to buy foreign ones rather than draw their own. IN Soviet era They published children's comics on the pages of "Funny Pictures" and adult, satirical ones, in the magazine "Crocodile". They, perhaps, became the most popular comics in the Soviet Union, because “Crocodile” was the only all-Union satirical magazine. Both small, everyday topics and major events in the life of the country were considered. However, the magazine contained not only satirical materials. But he also talked about the achievements of the USSR - in general, he was the official mouthpiece of politics. “Crocodile” was published in millions of copies and even received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

5. Garfield lives in each of us

Another very popular comic book character originally from America is Garfield. Initially, the author planned to make Garfield... a beetle, but the publishers of the story about the beetle did not accept it, so the appearance of the main character had to be redesigned. Now Garfield is a cat recognizable all over the world, fat and very charming, famous for his appetite, laziness and sense of humor with elements of sarcasm. However, in various situations, Garfield displays different traits that add up to a very multifaceted character. Moreover, the volume of each story is only three pictures (such comics are called strips). So, fitting a humorous story into three frames is a special style and skill. The reader is invited to laugh at the shortcomings, which are depicted, although exaggerated, but are found in almost everyone: to one degree or another, we are all a little Garfield. Especially on weekends...

More than one generation of teenagers grew up on graphic novels about Superman, Batman, Hulk, Iron Man. Comics have been and remain a cult subject, although explaining why superheroes excite the minds of young and old so much is not an easy task.

The history of comics, as surprising as it may sound, has very ancient roots that go back to the times when people lived in caves and hunted mammoths. It was then that the first examples of cave paintings appeared, in which, along with scenes from real life, the first superheroes appeared, embodied in the images of ancient gods.

Rock paintings of the Hopi Indians in Arizona, USA

The chronology of the development of such a genre as comics is very long and extensive, replete with numerous dates, therefore, listing the main milestones in the development of comics, we will limit ourselves to a journey through the 19th and 20th centuries, since it was during this period that a qualitative leap in the development of the genre took place and the known to us heroes.

The history of comics goes back to primitive times.

When talking about comics, we should start with the personality of Rodolphe Tepfer, a French-speaking Swiss artist who became a key figure in the history of the development of modern comics. At the beginning of the 19th century, he began to consistently illustrate stories, placing text under the images. These comics of his were reprinted throughout Europe and the USA. Due to the lack of copyright laws, pirated editions of "drawn stories" began to be translated and published everywhere around the world.

In 1843, satirical drawings that regularly appeared in newspapers and magazines received their name - cartoons.

Key figure in the history of comics development was Rodolphe Tepfer

The invention of photogravure in 1873 made newspapers relatively inexpensive and allowed them to be published a large number illustrations. This change in technology was the impetus for the development of comics and their mass production. The art of comics has received particular development in America. In 1893, Joseph Pulitzer published his first full-page color comic strip in The New York World, and in the same year, other newspapers began printing color comics.

As a tool of popular culture, involving the use of both artistic and literary skills, comics successfully reflected social problems of its time. By the beginning of the 20th century, regular strips appeared in newspapers in major US cities.

The 1920s and 1930s were a period of active development of the comics industry around the world: in 1929, comics were published, the main character of which was Popeye the sailor. A special feature of this character was the increase in strength after eating spinach. On June 1, 1938, comics were released, the main character of which was Superman, and in 1939, Batman and the first Human Torch appeared on the pages of comics.

In the second half of the 20th century, comics were a popular collector's item.

During the second half of the 20th century, comics became a very popular collectible, and American comics of the 1970s became the basis for comic book collections.

Plastic Man comic cover, 1943

Comic book heroes appear during this period:
1961 - the first issue of the Fantastic Four is published - comics about a team of superheroes with various supernatural abilities;
1962 - the time of the birth of Spider-Man and the Hulk;
1963 - comics about Iron Man, Doctor Strange and the X-Men were released;
1966 - the appearance of the Black Panther;
1970 - a series of comics about Conan the Barbarian is published;
1977 - the appearance of comics " Star wars»;
1984 - the “birth” of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The founder of the comics genre in Russia is lubok

Despite the fact that comics are considered typical representatives of “Western” culture, they have a fairly long history in our country. The first domestic comics, with a slight stretch, include popular print books, which became widespread at the beginning of the 17th century.

Such a book was a small scroll on which pictures were depicted describing the most relevant news in the world. at the moment event of social and political life. That is why the name of such books sounded like “funny sheets.”

"Strong and brave hero Ilya Muromets." Lubok 1868

The next stage in the development of domestic comics art is associated with the name of Vladimir Dahl. His work “The Adventures of Christian Khristianovich Violdamur and his Arshet” was in many ways reminiscent of modern comics, since the plot, or rather the narrative, was based on a story in pictures. This unique form of presenting the material was not appreciated by Dahl’s contemporaries, so “stories in pictures” did not receive further development.

In August 1914, the association “Today's Lubok” appeared in Moscow, whose members included such representatives of the domestic cultural elite as Kazimir Malevich, Aristarkh Lentulov, David Burliuk, Vladimir Mayakovsky. The society published propaganda leaflets on military topics, which contained both pictures and text information.

The comic book was not widely distributed in the USSR

In Soviet Russia, comics were not widely used: domestic ideological services did their best to prevent the appearance in our country of any elements of “Western” culture, including comics. However, this did not stop him from creating his own alternative to comics, which manifested itself in the release of the collections “History in Pictures”, the illustrated story “The Adventures of Makar the Fierce” by Boris Antonovsky, published on the pages of the Leningrad magazine “Hedgehog”, and the comics “Smart Masha” by Bronislav Malakhovsky.

“A story about bagels and a woman who does not recognize the republic” - a poster from the series “Windows of GROWTH”. August 1920. Artist: Mikhail Cheremnykh. Text author: Vladimir Mayakovsky

The spread of comicsography led to the fact that in the 1930s the authorities officially banned it, calling comics “a bourgeois-American way of fooling young people.” For a long time, the only source of new stories and illustrations continued to be children's magazine"Murzilka". Only in 1956 did the Komsomol Central Committee begin to publish new magazine“Funny Pictures”, which actively began to use the comic book genre as its main content.

Subsequently, in the USSR and Russia, comics about Oktyabrin, a series of comics “Hare Pts and his imaginary friends: Shch, F, a hot water bottle and a pork chop with peas” and a collection of comics “Cat” appeared throughout the world and became famous throughout the world.

USA Comics.

From the middleXIXcentury, American newspapers introduced an innovation: on their pages there was much more illustrative material than in newspapers of the Old World. In America, a whole system of visual symbols is emerging, many of which were created by Thomas Nast, the author of “Uncle Sam.” The emergence of the American comic strip occurred during the period of struggle between two famous newspaper magnates: Hungarian immigrant Joseph Pulitzer and Californian William Randolph Hearst. The struggle for readers required the use of new printing technology and the introduction of color on the newspaper page. Yellow color turned out to be the most technologically advanced in many respects. It was first used by Richard Outcault.

Richard Outcault, one of the artists for Pulitzer's New York World newspaper, created funny picture stories about the adventures of the little guy in the yellow shirt. In 1896, Hearst lured Outcault to his New York Journal and invited him to change the appearance of the series: now, under the name “The Yellow Boy,” it began to develop frame by frame into a comic strip that occupied from half to a whole page of the newspaper. The story told about the adventures of a little Chinese boy and the inhabitants of the poor street of Hogan's Alley. According to the owner of the newspaper, satirical stories were supposed to attract the attention of illiterate immigrants and significantly increase the newspaper's circulation. Along the way, this comic led to the emergence of the term “yellow press.”

Both Hearst and Pulitzer competed, poaching each other's artists to develop new comic strips. But it is important to note that the final formal form of the American comic was given to the artist Rudolf Derks in his less than twenty years. He introduced lines in "bubbles" into the comic book series "Katzenjemer's Children" (1897). According to the American M. Horn, Durks made the “bubble” the trademark of the American comic book.

The heroes of the series by R. Derks are two young, cheerful hooligans. The setting is an imaginary, very conventional Africa. Bullies don't want to grow up or become real Americans. They speak, like most immigrants, in wild German-American slang.

Hooligans and slang - brand names comics. From its very birth, comics stand in spontaneous opposition to the established social and linguistic values ​​of bourgeois society.

The Durks series continues to this day. Of course, other artists continue it, and this is another significant feature of the comic. It can be inherited from one author to another. A comic is stronger than its author. Indifference to his personality creates a special type of anonymity, which distinguishes comics from all other forms of art of modern times and brings them closer to “folk art.”

In parallel with "Katzenjemer's Children", in the same 1897, the first series of "animal" comics "Tiger Cub" appeared, authored by James Swinterson.

From 1905 to 1910, the artist Winsor McCay on the pages home application to the New York Harald he published the series “Little Nemo in the Land of Dreams,” dedicated to the boy’s magical dreams, and made comics a serious and high art. He painted fine decorative graphics in the Art Nouveau style: he was a master of fantastic landscapes and castles in the air, attentive to small details and precious “stained glass” tints of color. But McKay's greatest merit is that he discovered such a feature of the comic book as the composition of its sheet. He began to use the multidimensionality that the reader can see when he does not turn the page, but freely glides over it with his gaze.

The emergence of American comics, characterized by simple drawing (with the exception of the virtuoso technique of Winsor McCay), lasts until the 20s. Some of the heroes of the first comics are animals, some are people, but all of them are united by the social consciousness of immigration and belief in the “American Dream.” Some immigrants experience disappointment from the inability to assert themselves (due to mediocrity), which, as a rule, translates into social sphere and is experienced as disappointment from a collision with reality. The motives of loneliness, alienation, and orphanhood are important. The morality of the heroes is dominated by elements of the village mentality.

The second generation of American comics (20-50s) gives birth to heroes - carriers of ideas. Thus, the idea of ​​kindness is embodied by the dog Snoopy. The culturalization of comics is taking place. It is adapted to the needs of society. Political conservative Walt Disney gently teaches the art of cheerful survival. His comic didactically and entertainingly spoke the language of humanoid animals, providing each of them with a stable mental code. Having highlighted aggression as an inevitability of life, he contrasted it with imagination and ingenuity, which transform weakness into strength.

In the 20s, the direction of everyday comics (with elements of satire) emerged, reflecting the events of everyday life and family stereotypes. The most popular heroine of this type of comic is Blondie - the “typical American girl.” Only Little Orphan Annie can compete with Blondie, who stands up for traditional American values ​​in any situation.

During these years American comics acquires genre diversity. Under the influence of cinema, adventure comics with quite realistic drawings arose (in 1929 the first comic book about Tarzan was published). “Secular” comics are becoming popular, playing on the attributes of the luxurious life of high society, as well as melodrama comics (the “Mary Worth” series). Comics began to be published in separate books of monthly issues ("comics magazine", then "comics book"), for which they were writtenfull-length stories.

But the main characters of the second generation of comics were developed in series about heroes endowed with “superhuman” traits: Flash Gordon, Superman and Batman. Fictional characters and even prototypes of an artificially created “humanoid race” have become an integral and necessary part of the spiritual world of the American. Conformist comics are turning into a modern version of a fairy tale.

Having become an important part of US popular culture, comics were at the same time, until the advent of television, a powerful instrument of hegemony. It can be said that the entire history of modern American ideology is inextricably intertwined with the history of comic books.

How necessary “spiritual bread” comics have become for Americans is demonstrated by this incident. Shortly before the Second World War, a strike by printing workers caused interruptions in the supply of comics to kiosks. The indignation of residents was so great that during these few days the mayor of New York personally read comics on the radio to calm his beloved city. Residents of one town in Illinois held a referendum and renamed their city Metropolis, the fictional city in which Superman operated.

It is clear that alongside the conformist comics a dissident alternative had to arise. It was discovered in particular in the “Pogo” series by W. Kelly. He has various political forces operating under the masks of animals. At the height of McCarthyism, the author of Pogo scathingly satirized spy mania in a special comic book called We Have Met the Enemy, and He Is Us.

American comics are too destructive and antisocial. In 1946, about one tenth of all comic books were crime comics. However, already in 1949, comics of this kind accounted for half of all production, and in 1954 - the overwhelming majority. Crime comics emphasize violence as an element of entertainment. The words “crime” and “murder” are typed in bold to attract the buyer’s attention. By using police footage, such comics emphasize their documentary nature.

There is a powerful anti-comics opposition in the United States. Historically, the books by J. Legman “Love and Death” (1948) and F. Wertheim’s “The Mark of Cain” (1964) especially stand out in the anti-comics movement. The American Senate established a special subcommittee, as a result of which the American Comics Magazine Association, in a country where there is no censorship, adopted a “self-limiting” code, the so-called “Comics Code,” in October 1954. The Code did not federal law, but, for example, the authorities of the state of New York, relying on the provisions of the code, introduced legal restrictions on the sale of objectionable comics. Supporters of the code believed that it gave comics a more “respectable” look and gave them the status of an artistic product.

As a result of restrictions, “educational” comics have become widespread in the United States.

Not all American artists submitted to the provisions of the "self-limiting" code. Publishers like Dell defied him, citing the First Amendment, and began publishing underground comics in the 60s. This is where the third generation of comics begins. Breaking with the traditions of American puritanism, the underground comics openly spoke about taboo topics: ecology, police, racism, and a little later - about the Vietnam War.

The center of the underground comics was the Californian publishing house Rip-off Press. The coolest authors, R. Kremb, S. Wilson, J. Shelton and M. Rodriguez, who performed under the pseudonym Spain, created the group “Zep”. Young people were crazy about R. Kremb's comic book series "Mr. Natural" ("The Simpleton"). In it, a crazy guru talked about the problems of modern civilization. Comics by S. Wilson, who most provocatively mocked moral taboos, were repeatedly confiscated by the authorities.

Large studies using a range of independent methods have shown that in the mid-1960s, between 80 and 100 million people read newspaper comics every day in the United States. 58% of men and 57% of women read almost exclusively comics in the newspaper. Even during World War II, the average newspaper reader read the comic strip first and the war report second. People aged 30-39 years show the greatest interest in comics. And all the children school age(99%) read comics regularly. Discussion of comics they have read is the main topic of conversation among schoolchildren, which makes this genre of culture the most important mechanism for the socialization of children.

When the author of the famous "Lil Abner" series, Al Capp, introduced a new character, Lena the Hyena, "the most... ugly woman in the world," he asked readers to send their suggestions describing her facial features. More than a million letters with drawings came from readers. In the late 70s, Lil Abner comics were published in the United States in more than a thousand newspapers and had 80 million readers daily John Steinbeck nominated Al Capp for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Such an unusually effective "capture" of a mass audiencecomics were able to provide precisely by combining text with a visual image.

Comics played a large role in the formation and preservation of the mass consciousness of the American nation. They created a sense of community sustainability. Comics “led” the average American family from generation to generation, setting a stable “system of coordinates” and cultural norms. One of the books on the history of comics, published in 1977, provides data on the famous series, which by that time had been published without interruption for 80 years! A French comics researcher writes about their characters: “An American spends his entire life in the company of the same heroes, and can build his life plans based on their lives. These heroes are intertwined with his memories from early childhood, they are his oldest friends. Going through wars, crises, job changes with them, comic book characters turn out to be the most stable elements of his existence."

© V.V. Kharitoshkin, 2002