Essay On The Golden Age Of Comics

As the depression cast a dark curtain over America in the 1930s, no one had much time for comics. The American economy had fallen into disrepair and the unemployment rate was at an all time high. Just as FDR set forth his New Deal plan to aid America, the second World War was soon upon the country, drafting hundreds of thousands of men into the army to fight the Axis Powers. Boys were sent to the training camps and mature men returned in their place. These soldiers came back and wanted to enjoy the simpler things of life. As the economy picked up, more people were captivated by the entertainment industry. Comic books and comic strips began to regain popularity. Thus, America was launched into what is now known as the Golden Age of Comics—a time period when comic books were first seriously published at high demand and when their popularity soared.

The iconic comic book characters easily identifiable today such as Superman, Batman, and Captain Marvel all emerged from this time period. Comic books and strips soon began to become a major industry and started to be known as a legitimate, mainstream art form. Many cartoonists from the Golden Age unknowingly defined and influenced traditional customs of the art form that are still used today. One such cartoonist, Charles Schulz, did just this with his renowned strip, Peanuts, which chronicles the misadventures of a beaten down and philosophical boy named Charlie Brown and his friends. Charles Schulz quickly became the most innovative and fresh artist of his time. By creating a new genre built on the humor of failure, character’s emotional depth, and the inner thoughts of children, Schulz paved the way for many new comics to come and revolutionized the way the world thinks of comics.

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...d faith” (Michaelis). Schulz’s accomplishments became internationally acclaimed and dominated television and books around the globe, which had never happened to a comic strip artist before Schulz.

Although Schulz achieved great success, he was always content with just living a normal life as a normal man. Charles Schulz eventually passed away from colon cancer on February 12, 2000 at age 77 in his home in Santa Rosa, California, leaving behind a legacy that lives on through his brilliantly crafted comic strip. Schulz died just hours before his last ever cartoon was to be published. His whole life had been dedicated to his work and the world that he had created; it was just a man and his kids up until the very end. As David Michaelis eloquently put it, “ his life [was] entwined to the very end with his art. As soon as he ceased to be a cartoonist, he ceased to be.”