Huh, I had this marked to get back to and realized I never did! So, sorry for the late comment.
To the extent that I understand Golden Age superhero stories, I find this a pretty good narrative of the era. The only thing I can think of to dispute directly is "Even straight-laced Captain Marvel teamed up with Tawky Tawny and fought ever more goofy, cartoonish villains." Captain Marvel was a straight man (though not a dour one) in a comedy world pretty early on.
One of the things that really sets Golden Age superhero comics apart from modern, or even Silver and Bronze Age, examples is the uninhibited mixture of action and comedy. The "comics" were much closer to their four-panel roots in the 1940s, and of course they were on the racks with funny animals, teen comedy, and other unabashed humor titles, the most successful of which sold at least as well as the highest-circulation superhero books.
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Date: 2010-07-02 02:05 am (UTC)To the extent that I understand Golden Age superhero stories, I find this a pretty good narrative of the era. The only thing I can think of to dispute directly is "Even straight-laced Captain Marvel teamed up with Tawky Tawny and fought ever more goofy, cartoonish villains." Captain Marvel was a straight man (though not a dour one) in a comedy world pretty early on.
One of the things that really sets Golden Age superhero comics apart from modern, or even Silver and Bronze Age, examples is the uninhibited mixture of action and comedy. The "comics" were much closer to their four-panel roots in the 1940s, and of course they were on the racks with funny animals, teen comedy, and other unabashed humor titles, the most successful of which sold at least as well as the highest-circulation superhero books.