Being a comic book collector with about 37,000 comic books dating back to 1911, I fancy myself as a not-so-nerdy comic book know-it-all, with the only thing saving me from total geekdom being the fact that I like women, and have actually talked to one. I also play(ed) sports, and excelled at more than a few of them, or at the very least did not embarrass myself while playing them.
But self-congratulatory egotistic behavior aside, I do have more than a passing fancy when it comes to the spandex superhero.
I have long wondered why Japan never really seem to catch or latch onto the four-color mysterymen that so dominated American audiences during the 1930s and 1940s. Oh yeah - that whole 'let's try and dominate Asia-thing' probably got in the way.
But afterwards... especially when the Allies, notably the U.S. occupied or had a military presence in Japan from 1945 through the early 1950s... surely the Japanese were exposed to comicbook superheroes?
Well, probably not, seeing as how military personnel weren't really allowed to mix with the local populace. And when they did, it probably involved hooch and broads (alcohol and women - you'll have to forgive me - I just finished watching a Star Trek episode - A Piece Of The Action - in which the story was set during 1920s gangster-fascinated America) (I told you I was sort of nerdy for a geek.)
So... why would a G.I (general infantryman) have comic books to show the kiddies?
Then, by the time the 1950s rolled around, and there was a bit more fraternization allowed, surely someone would have passed some super-hero comic books around? Of course, by that time super-hero comics had fallen out of favor with the American kid... so why would they learn anything from the U.S.
Besides... by that time, after being humiliated and forced to kowtow to U.S/Allied demands, Japan wanted to maintain its cultural identity above all. Pride, after all, played a huge part in its manifest destiny since it opened up its doors to the world. It wanted to show the world that Japan was not a weak nation.
Regardless, Japanese manga (comic book) creators got to work and created a series of adventures that were pure fantasy and science-fiction, with such creations as Astroboy - a robot kid, rather than a copy of an American superhero.
By the way, most comic books during the war - especially from the big 2 - National Periodicals (now known as DC Comics) (DC Comics is actually Detective Comics Comics, a redundancy I find amusing - Detective Comics was THE popular comic book that debuted The Batman) and Timely Comics (later the Marvel Comics Group) - had some interest in WW2. DC kept its characters out of the war, but it was there. Timely - they were battling Italy's Mussolini, Germany's Hitler and Japan's Tojo constantly.
But that's not the point of this blog. Why didn't Japan ever take to the concept of the costumed superhero?
Well... it did, actually. And it did so in 1931, a full seven years before Superman officially took to the skies of Metropolis. And this Japanese super-hero had a cool look and a cool name - even though neither matched the other.
And I'm going to talk about this in my next blog, because this is all preamble.
Cheers
Andrew Joseph
But self-congratulatory egotistic behavior aside, I do have more than a passing fancy when it comes to the spandex superhero.
I have long wondered why Japan never really seem to catch or latch onto the four-color mysterymen that so dominated American audiences during the 1930s and 1940s. Oh yeah - that whole 'let's try and dominate Asia-thing' probably got in the way.
But afterwards... especially when the Allies, notably the U.S. occupied or had a military presence in Japan from 1945 through the early 1950s... surely the Japanese were exposed to comicbook superheroes?
Well, probably not, seeing as how military personnel weren't really allowed to mix with the local populace. And when they did, it probably involved hooch and broads (alcohol and women - you'll have to forgive me - I just finished watching a Star Trek episode - A Piece Of The Action - in which the story was set during 1920s gangster-fascinated America) (I told you I was sort of nerdy for a geek.)
So... why would a G.I (general infantryman) have comic books to show the kiddies?
Then, by the time the 1950s rolled around, and there was a bit more fraternization allowed, surely someone would have passed some super-hero comic books around? Of course, by that time super-hero comics had fallen out of favor with the American kid... so why would they learn anything from the U.S.
Besides... by that time, after being humiliated and forced to kowtow to U.S/Allied demands, Japan wanted to maintain its cultural identity above all. Pride, after all, played a huge part in its manifest destiny since it opened up its doors to the world. It wanted to show the world that Japan was not a weak nation.
Regardless, Japanese manga (comic book) creators got to work and created a series of adventures that were pure fantasy and science-fiction, with such creations as Astroboy - a robot kid, rather than a copy of an American superhero.
By the way, most comic books during the war - especially from the big 2 - National Periodicals (now known as DC Comics) (DC Comics is actually Detective Comics Comics, a redundancy I find amusing - Detective Comics was THE popular comic book that debuted The Batman) and Timely Comics (later the Marvel Comics Group) - had some interest in WW2. DC kept its characters out of the war, but it was there. Timely - they were battling Italy's Mussolini, Germany's Hitler and Japan's Tojo constantly.
But that's not the point of this blog. Why didn't Japan ever take to the concept of the costumed superhero?
Well... it did, actually. And it did so in 1931, a full seven years before Superman officially took to the skies of Metropolis. And this Japanese super-hero had a cool look and a cool name - even though neither matched the other.
And I'm going to talk about this in my next blog, because this is all preamble.
Cheers
Andrew Joseph
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