American author and historian Bradford W. Wright has noted that "comic books are history", and that they are. And as they invariably help shape their young fans views of culture and history, teachers seeking to engage their students about 20th century history have a natural ally in superheroes. There are few landmark events of recent global history - be it the Vietnam War, the "flower power" counter-culture revolution or the fall of the Berlin Wall - that have not received ample attention in comic books. Admittedly, comics feature phantasmagorical plotlines and often take plenty of liberties with historical facts.
Nonetheless, they do draw inspiration from real-world events. For instance, Captain America, who first appeared in 1941 and came of age as a patriotic US soldier fighting Nazi Germany during the Second World War, is a natural for sparking his young fans curiosity about the period. So is superman, the granddaddy of superheroes. Dreamed up by two Jewish American high school students - budding writer Jerry Siegel end his friend Joe Snuster, an aspiring illustrator - in a flamboyant feat of teenage wish fulfilment, The Man of Steel burst onto the scene in June 1938, blazing the trail for all the other superheroes to follow in his wake.
Right from the get-go, he set out to tackle current problems, In that very first story by Siegel and Shyster in Action Comics #1, which would become a template for all subsequent superhero adventures, superman proved himself an indomitable social activist in the spirit of the eras New Deaf launched by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: be took on slumlords, crooked businessmen and shady politicians - all within just 18 pages. superman never looked back. Over time The Man of Steel, aka The Man of Tomorrow, aka the Big Blue Boy Scout, aka the Last Son of Krypton, would acquire new powers - X-ray vision, freeze breath, laser gaze - but in his essence he has remained staunchly unadulterated ever since: an incorruptible do-gooder who always acts as a benevolent elder brother to his earthling friends. In the hands of a series of writers and artists who have long taken over from Siegel and Shuster at DC Comics, superman has kept up his moralistic crusade with his bet causes reflecting the particular tears, worries and aspirations of each succeeding era and generation.
In this, he has been in lockstep with all the other greet Comic book heroes: from Batman, who first appeared in i989, to Spider-Man, who was created by the legendary Stan Lee in 1962. With his inimitable collaborator, the artist Jack Kirby, Lee also helped create The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk, and be was esoecialiy attuned to the seismic shifts in popular moods throughout his long career at Marvel Comics.
Lee made a point ot ensuring that the adventures and moralising tendencies of Marvel's nerves reflected contemporary issues and concerns; civil rights and scientific progress in the 1960's, nuclear proliferation and anti-war sennmemts on the 1970s, gay rights and rampant drug abuse in the 1980s, with Kirby, Lee also created the Hast African American superhero, the Black Panther, m tees, In their Fantastic Four stones, meanwhile, the two set out to tackle popular prejudices head-on in the characters of the eponymous teenage mutants who are each blessed with their Own special powers yet are stunned by society for being different.
Like many an angstridden teen, characters like Wolverine, Nightcrawier, Storm and Shaolowcat are outsiders on the margins of society yearning for acceptance. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman, who was created in 1941, helped bias the trail for female empowerment in the 1940s, 50s and60s by embodying a strong, independent-minded woman who pasted her male adversaries with nonchalant ease. Throughout her long career, many a girls favourite heroine helped lead an AlD awareness campaign and featured on the Cover of the first issue of Ms.
Magazine, launched by feminist icon Gloria Steinem in 1972. Both inside the classroom and outside it, these heroes can help history - and the teaching of it - come alive for students at various ages and levels of education. Teachers can explore how contemporary comic books align with or deviate from actual historical events, how they taclkle contemporary social issues and how they reflect trends in popular culture in an interdisciplinary approach tailored to students' age and level of education, from primary school all the way up to university.
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