Rise of the Superheroes by David Tosh

Author:David Tosh [Tosh, David W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

CHAPTER 4

THE POP ART

YEARS: 1964-67

THE MID-1960S were like an explosion of vivid color in America. Comic books were hip again, thanks to high school and college-age kids who were buying Marvel. Pop music was peaking with The Beatles and other “British Invasion” bands like The Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five, and The Animals. Fine art made a drastic turn to the left with a number of artists inspired by pop culture in general and comic books in particular, with canvases by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Mel Ramos, and others commanding huge prices. Suddenly, superhero comic books were “camp,” where outrageous storylines, costumes, and villains were celebrated as being “so bad they’re good” by the mainstream. For kids like me who seriously read and collected comics, “camp” was a bit of an embarrassment, but welcomed nonetheless for the positive attention the comics were receiving. For a while, it seemed everyone wanted to jump on the superhero bandwagon, and costumed crime-fighters were everywhere.

By 1965, superhero comics began to reflect the pop-minded attitude of the country. The Beatles made their way into the comics world. Strange Tales #130 (March 1965) had the bizarre sight of the Fantastic Four’s Human Torch and Thing in “Beatle Wigs,” and in the story titled “Meet the Beatles!” where Ben (Thing) and Johnny (Human Torch) take dates to a Beatles concert.

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