Beyond funny: Exploring issues behind comics

"Cartoons and Comics" is a new Dalhousie class that encourages students to look at popular culture through comic books

Dr. Anthony Enns examines popular culture, propaganda and other issues through the pages of comic books. (Photo: Tony Ferguson)

Captain America as war propaganda. Class divisions between Archie and Veronica. The secret gay life of Batman and Robin.

This is a taste of the topics that will be part of a new English course at Dalhousie University this winter, called Cartoons and Comics. The readings will be taken right from the pages of Marvel, DC and other popular comic books.

Some may say this is juvenile reading but the instructor, Dr. Anthony Enns, disagrees. Popular comic books are another way to examine popular culture and the world around us.   

“The study of comic books is the study of mass culture,” he says. “If you just focus on the high brow art comics ... you're ignoring most of the work that comics actually do.”

Comics can do a lot. During the Second World War, issues of Captain America were distributed to American GIs to boost morale.

Propaganda is most effective when it’s clear, Enns says. The cover of the first issue of Captain America shows the superhero socking Hitler in the face as a bullet from an SS officer ricochets off the red, white and blue stripes of his shield.  No hidden messages there.

Bruce MacKinnon draws political cartoons for the Halifax Chronicle Herald and, as someone whose images are published in a daily newspaper, he recognizes the impact an image can have on a large audience.

“If a cartoon can say it simply, you're going to reach more people,” he says. “They can clarify things or cut to the chase in a sea of words.”

A simple and clear cartoon can deliver its message to more people, more quickly than print. This is one reason MacKinnon thinks cartoons should be given more attention in the academic world.    

Calum Johnston lives in a world of cartoons. He owns Strange Adventures, a comic book shop in downtown Halifax. He says it’s a shame more schools aren’t including comics in courses along with graphic novels. Comics are making a comeback and Johnston is selling more than ever before. With more comic readers out there, he sees a need for Enns’ course.

Cartoons and Comics is the first of its kind in Canada. Johnston says there is a reason why it took so long to find its way onto university curricula. In the 1940s, Fredric Wertham, a German-American psychiatrist, popularized a theory that reading comics was linked to juvenile delinquency. Wertham’s theory has long been disproved, but Johnston says traces of it still appear in many people’s attitudes towards comics. 

Johnston says comics can teach – “it’s been proven.”  He agrees with MacKinnon that they are harder to ignore than text, making them clear, easy to understand and very influential. He says this is why aircraft safety instructions, for instance, are explained in pictures rather than words.   

“Cartoons aren’t going away and there are more cartoons than ever before,” says MacKinnon. A good reason, he says, to be comic-savvy in an increasingly animated world.

Enns’ course is already full, with a few people on the waiting list.

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