Doug: Happy Humpday, kids! We have a new writer to feature today, and it's our pal from the UK, Colin Bray! Colin sent us a topic several weeks ago, and just a few days past turned in the finished product. It's a perfect Open Forum topic that we're sure you'll enjoy. Thanks, Colin!
Colin Bray: What is a “youth subculture”?
A youth subculture consists of some or all these elements:
- a source of personal identity.
- its own exclusive language.
- its own style.
- culture beneath the mainstream radar.
- culture given time to grow naturally, like a petri dish in some forgotten corner of the laboratory.
- a narrative for exploring and explaining the world.
- an ethical space or dimension.
- a space created for people ‘in the know’ by people ‘in the know’.
During the entire history of comics, I would argue they have only
existed as a widespread youth subculture in the Silver Age (Marvel only) and
Bronze Age (both Marvel and DC). In fact the wonder and beauty of comics in the Bronze Age was that they
were drenched in youthful subcultural-ness (is that even a word?) and yet
wore it lightly for such an extended period of time.
During the Silver Age…
It all started with Stan, of course. Perhaps accidentally he hit on the appeal, the language (‘Excelsior!’) the storytelling and the sense of an in-club (‘Marvelites’) in the brief years before Beatlemania and the rise of teenage dreams. Marvel then surfed on not only their own creative power but the wider 60s cultural wave through the rest of the decade.
Prior to Fantastic Four #1 a few of these subcultural elements had existed in proto-form. So Julius Schwartz and other DC creators were early sci-fi fan boys, and comic art stood out on the racks for those who had the eyes to see. But their full potential was yet to be explored and comics were generally seen as and remained a preteen thing.
It all started with Stan, of course. Perhaps accidentally he hit on the appeal, the language (‘Excelsior!’) the storytelling and the sense of an in-club (‘Marvelites’) in the brief years before Beatlemania and the rise of teenage dreams. Marvel then surfed on not only their own creative power but the wider 60s cultural wave through the rest of the decade.
Prior to Fantastic Four #1 a few of these subcultural elements had existed in proto-form. So Julius Schwartz and other DC creators were early sci-fi fan boys, and comic art stood out on the racks for those who had the eyes to see. But their full potential was yet to be explored and comics were generally seen as and remained a preteen thing.
During the Bronze Age…
If we fast-forward to the early 70s the factors that made the Bronze Age
unique were falling into place:
- the 60s fans had grown up, or were growing up, and still bought and read comics.
- new micro-generations of readers were coming through every few years and creating a dynamic, varied readership, immersed in a shared language and universe(s).
- the newer creators were fans themselves so knew and spoke to an audience they understood
- the relaxation of the comics code - but crucially the Code itself stayed in place to set creative limits/challenges and give parents the trust to let their children read these often-subversive stories.
- stories read, absorbed and discussed (mainly through the letter pages and to
a lesser degree at cons and in the small fan press) completely out of mainstream
view.
The Copper Age Onwards…
The golden age of the Bronze Age had to end sometime but by the end of the 1980s the three ‘Ms’ - movies, mainstream and marketing – had pretty much killed the original subculture. After the crash comics went back to being the niche product they remain today, movies notwithstanding. And not ‘niche’ in the same, cool way they were during the 70s – the innocence has gone and cannot be regained. Superhero characters and trademarks are now ubiquitous but comics themselves will never recapture the strange, wonderful combination that marked the Bronze Age as a shaper of young minds.
The golden age of the Bronze Age had to end sometime but by the end of the 1980s the three ‘Ms’ - movies, mainstream and marketing – had pretty much killed the original subculture. After the crash comics went back to being the niche product they remain today, movies notwithstanding. And not ‘niche’ in the same, cool way they were during the 70s – the innocence has gone and cannot be regained. Superhero characters and trademarks are now ubiquitous but comics themselves will never recapture the strange, wonderful combination that marked the Bronze Age as a shaper of young minds.
| From Daredevil #77, offering a link between one youth subculture and another – the inspiration for the name of Liverpool post-punk band The Teardrop Explodes. |