Comic Progression

In my opinion, it was interesting to see the progression of comic styles throughout the years. To me, it mirrors the social changes and the progression of freedom of speech that have occurred throughout the twentieth century.

The first comics mentioned were primarily patriotic, which is a not-so-subtle effect of the decades of heavy war that began prior to the fifties. As time passed, and certain subjects became more acceptable, comics (and other media) became more liberal in their topics. It is interesting to ponder whether the social changes caused the changes in the comics, whether it was the other way around, or whether there was some third event that influenced them both simultaneously.  The documentary seems to imply that comics broke new ground regarding topics that were deemed acceptable.

I find it strange that they didn’t include political cartoons. If the creators of this documentary regarded some early comics as propaganda and some late comics as social diatribe, then I don’t see why they wouldn’t add a small section for this. If I recall, some political cartoons are sequential. Perhaps they thought it would make the documentary boring or twice as long as it already was, or perhaps political cartoons don’t count as comics, even if they are sequential. Regardless, I think it would have fit the theme of the documentary, which seemed to be the evolution of comics as a form of self-expression and social satire.

All in all, I thought the documentary was probably pretty accurate with reference to the major changes in comics over the 1900’s, but it’s difficult to say.