{"id":1145,"date":"2026-05-19T13:34:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1145"},"modified":"2026-05-19T13:34:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:34:57","slug":"bam-pow-krakoom-the-everlasting-allure-of-the-american-comic-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1145","title":{"rendered":"Bam! Pow! Krakoom! The everlasting allure of the American comic book"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>BARCELONA, Spain<\/strong> | Pick one up. Be seduced by its glossy cover. Gaze upon the impossibly muscular body clad in a skin-tight suit. Our hero or heroine will surely be soaring, shouting, blasting a villain into next week.<\/p>\n<p>They are ridiculous. They are addictively great. Comic books, of the superhero variety, are 100% American.<\/p>\n<p>Compare the thin comic book to Europe\u2019s graphic novels, and they come off looking flimsy, infantile. Compare the American comic to Japanese Manga and they appear innocent in their fixation with heroism; they hark back to a departed American age.<\/p>\n<p>Once a nickel, a dime, a quarter, now the price of a latte, they are objects of American consumer capitalism. The comic is literature in junk-food version. Candy for the eyes, candy for the mind.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Yet what truly makes them American objects is what plays out in their 32 pages month after month, decade upon decade.<\/p>\n<p>When the Fantastic Four took their fateful space journey in 1961 and \u201ccosmic rays\u201d transformed the quartet into unwilling superheroes, comics entered a weird realm where the all-powerful were also the unwilling, decidedly modern victims of science and circumstance.<\/p>\n<p>Spider-Man, the Hulk, Wolverine (the list goes on) were given supernatural abilities that made them outcasts, obliging them to be flawed messiahs.<\/p>\n<p>They were, by some quirk of the American character, bound to Peter Parker\u2019s moral imperative: \u201cWith great power comes great responsibility.\u201d They are versions of an American Sisyphus, bound to saving us over and over again.<\/p>\n<p>What could be more American \u2014 that might, when lashed to a sense of justice, eventually, makes right? So honorable, so na\u00efve.<\/p>\n<p>To this day, though the tone is darker, Marvel and DC, the two mammoths of comics, continue to reimagine the American character.<\/p>\n<p>Once side attractions in a world of leading white men, Gwen Stacy, Jean Grey and Susan Storm have in recent years emerged as leaders to reinvigorate the Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four sagas. Absolute Wonder Woman has broken ground with beautiful art. Miles Morales is Spidey for a new generation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yet the central fissures remain.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bruce Wayne can\u2019t connect with anyone other than his butler; he is the lonely individual in an atomized America. Steve Rogers bears the burden of representing the \u201cGreatest Generation\u201d from World War II. He is a Captain America forever out of place, even in his own land.<\/p>\n<p>And could there be a more iconic tech magnate toying with humanity\u2019s fate than Superman\u2019s nemesis Lex Luthor and his delusions of grandeur? If only our world had a bespectacled Clark Kent keeping an eye on things. Just in case.<\/p>\n<p>Part of a recurring series, \u201cAmerican Objects,\u201d marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more American objects, click here. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1139\">TUESDAY NEWS IN A RUSH: Top headlines in today\u2019s NewsMinute video<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1141\">Toon in Tuesday<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1143\">Created as IDs, dog tags became a crucial link between military families and fallen troops<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BARCELONA, Spain | Pick one up. Be seduced by its glossy cover. Gaze upon the impossibly muscular body clad in a skin-tight suit. Our hero or heroine will surely be soaring, shouting, blasting a villain into next week. They are ridiculous. They are addictively great. Comic books, of the superhero variety, are 100% American. Compare [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1101,1102,149,1116,152,1103,1104],"tags":[1620,1621,1622,1623,1624,1625],"class_list":["post-1145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-0-no-apple-publish","category-1gridmagazine","category-a-town-magazine","category-books","category-sentinel-lifestyle","category-uncategorized","category-z-other-galley","tag-batman","tag-captain-america","tag-hulk","tag-spider-man","tag-superman","tag-wolverine"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bam! Pow! Krakoom! 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